Cuts

Cheese & Dairy Cuts

Cheese Planing — Scandinavian Høvl Cut

Also: ostehøvel slice, cheese plane cut, høvl cut, Norwegian cheese planing, sveitserost planing

Drawing a flat-bladed ostehøvel (cheese plane) across the surface of a semi-hard block to shave uniform translucent or near-translucent slices 1–3 mm thick for open-faced sandwiches and smørrebrød.

The høvl cut is the technique of using an ostehøvel — the Norwegian cheese plane invented by Thor Bjørklund in 1925 — to produce even, wide, continuous ribbons of semi-hard cheese by dragging the flat slotted blade across the face of a block at a controlled, shallow angle. The plane's slot acts as a cutter while the flat body rides on the cheese surface, automatically regulating slice thickness. The result is a slice wider than the blade, typically 6–10 cm across, that is flexible enough to drape and fold without cracking. This technique is the standard breakfast and lunch preparation for Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish smørrebrød (open-faced rye-bread sandwiches), where two to three overlapping slices of Jarlsberg, Norvegia, Gudbrandsdalsost, or Gouda constitute the topping.

In photos

Cheese Planing — Scandinavian Høvl Cut in its raw whole-cut form on a butcher's board — The høvl cut is the technique of using an ostehøvel — the Norwegian cheese plane invented by Thor Bjørklund in 1925 — to produce even, wide, continuous ribbons of semi-hard cheese by dragging the fla… Identifying traits: Slice is uniform 1–3 mm from edge to edge — thicker than a deli slicer cut but thinner than a knife-cut slab, Wide, continuous ribbon that covers a full slice of knekkebrød or rugbrød without tearing, Surface is smooth and slightly shiny from paste compression against the plane body.
Cheese Planing — Scandinavian Høvl Cut in its raw whole-cut form on a butcher's board — The høvl cut is the technique of using an ostehøvel — the Norwegian cheese plane invented by Thor Bjørklund in 1925 — to produce even, wide, continuous ribbons of semi-hard cheese by dragging the fla… Identifying traits: Slice is uniform 1–3 mm from edge to edge — thicker than a deli slicer cut but thinner than a knife-cut slab, Wide, continuous ribbon that covers a full slice of knekkebrød or rugbrød without tearing, Surface is smooth and slightly shiny from paste compression against the plane body.
Where the cheese planing — scandinavian høvl cut lives on the source. Not an animal cut.
Where the cheese planing — scandinavian høvl cut lives on the source. Not an animal cut.
Cheese Planing — Scandinavian Høvl Cut prepared the canonical way — Smørrebrød. Remove the cheese from the refrigerator 10–15 minutes before planing — paste at 10–12 °C planes cleanly without shattering or smearing
Cheese Planing — Scandinavian Høvl Cut prepared the canonical way — Smørrebrød. Remove the cheese from the refrigerator 10–15 minutes before planing — paste at 10–12 °C planes cleanly without shattering or smearing

Where it comes from

Not an animal cut. Applied to the flat face or the 'side' of a rectangular or block-format semi-hard cheese; the plane shaves from the top face progressively downward until the block is fully consumed.

Slice is uniform 1–3 mm from edge to edge — thicker than a deli slicer cut but thinner than a knife-cut slabWide, continuous ribbon that covers a full slice of knekkebrød or rugbrød without tearingSurface is smooth and slightly shiny from paste compression against the plane bodySlice folds without cracking at room temperature; at refrigerator temperature it may split along the grain of the pasteEdges are clean and sharp rather than raggedMultiple overlapping slices create a layered, scalloped visual pattern characteristic of Nordic table service

Best for

Smørrebrød (Norwegian and Danish open-faced sandwiches on rye or crispbread)Macka (Swedish open-faced sandwich on filmjölk rye or kavring)Cold lunch tables (koldt bord, smörgåsbord) — slices fan-presented on a boardCheese layering in a hot sandwich or toastie (slices melt uniformly without pooling)Cheese course at breakfast (Scandinavian 'koldtbord' tradition)Topping crispbreads (knekkebrød, Wasa) where a knife-sliced slab would shatter the cracker

How to cook it

  1. 1Remove the cheese from the refrigerator 10–15 minutes before planing — paste at 10–12 °C planes cleanly without shattering or smearing
  2. 2Hold the block firmly on a wooden board with the non-dominant hand, pressing slightly downward on the side to prevent rocking
  3. 3Place the flat body of the ostehøvel on the top face of the cheese block at the far edge, with the slot blade facing forward
  4. 4Draw the plane toward you in one smooth, continuous stroke with even downward pressure — approximately 200 g of pressure produces a 2 mm slice; lighter pressure yields 1 mm
  5. 5Lift the completed slice off the blade surface; it will emerge through and behind the slot as a single ribbon
  6. 6For uniform width, keep the plane square to the long axis of the block; angling produces tapered slices that are thicker at one edge
  7. 7Stack completed slices on a plate with a sheet of wax paper between them if preparing ahead to prevent fusion

Prep & butchery

  • Wipe the plane blade clean before use — dried paste from a previous session will drag and tear rather than cut
  • If the rind is intact, remove it from the planing face with a paring knife before starting; the blade will skip and shatter over a hard rind
  • For Gudbrandsdalsost (brunost) — a whey caramel cheese — use a dedicated brunost høvl with a curved concave blade that scores the surface before lifting; standard flat planes tend to smear this variety

Substitutes

  • Mandoline with cheese insert

    Produces similar thickness but lacks the traditional wide-ribbon character and requires more setup

  • Deli slicer

    Yields comparable slice at high volume but is a machine, not a table tool; over-compresses soft semi-hard varieties

  • Vegetable peeler (Y-peeler)

    A serviceable substitute for single-use shaving of Parmesan or aged Gouda, but produces narrower, less even ribbons than the ostehøvel

Related cuts

Appears in

SmørrebrødScandinavian smörgåsbordNorwegian frokost (breakfast plate)Danish kolde bordMacka (Swedish open sandwich)

References

  1. 1.The New Nordic — Magnus Nilsson (Phaidon, 2014)
  2. 2.Smørrebrød: The Art of Open Sandwiches — Trine Hahnemann (Quadrille, 2020)
  3. 3.Thor Bjørklund original patent documentation, 1925 (Norwegian Patent Office)
  4. 4.The Oxford Companion to Cheese — ed. Catherine Donnelly (Oxford University Press, 2016)

Confidence: high

Notes

Temperature is everything

The ostehøvel is ruthlessly sensitive to paste temperature. At 4 °C a Jarlsberg block will shatter into uneven shards at the slot; at 18 °C the paste smears ahead of the blade and the slice arrives thick, ragged, and uneven. The target window — 10–12 °C, about 15 minutes out of a domestic refrigerator — is where the blade can engage and release a clean ribbon. Norwegian households keep their cheese in a side compartment of the refrigerator door, where temperatures naturally run 2–4 °C warmer than the main cavity.

Brunost: a special case

Brunost (brown whey cheese, sold as Gudbrandsdalsost or Ski Queen internationally) is a caramel-sugar matrix, not a protein curd, and it behaves differently under the plane: it smears rather than releasing cleanly from a flat blade. Dedicated brunost høvls have a concave, slightly serrated blade that scores-then-lifts. Never use a standard flat ostehøvel on brunost — the slice will curl, smear, and tear.