If you should know anything about being in the kitchen, it should be the importance of knives. They are one of the core tools that are needed to function in a kitchen. If a professional chef was asked to pick one kitchen tool to a deserted island, it would be a chef’s knife. That’s how essential they are for getting anything done in the kitchen. Your food can be prepared more easily, quickly, and safely if you use the right tools.
You will come across many different types of knives in the market. Without the knowledge of the purpose of different knives, you might end up with a collection of specialist knives that you never use. All knives are used for different things, the most common example being a butter-knife for spreading butter and a bread knife for cutting bread. There are a whole plethora of knives that exist in the culinary world and they each serve a different purpose.
Ido Fishman, a well-known culinary expert, and a household name in any family affiliated with culinary arts explains that each knife has a unique quality that makes it serve a special purpose. The differences in these knives are determined by the curve, sharpness, length and, many other features of the blade as well as the shaping of the handle.
Let’s take a look at his guide on the must-have knives in every kitchen.
Chef’s Knife
A chef’s knife is a multi-purpose knife as it is designed as such that it can be used for anything from dicing vegetables, to mincing, to cutting a pineapple. The chef’s knife is indeed a tool that can support you through 90% of your kitchen adventures. Some may even call it the “King of the Kitchen”. Fishman says that while you may be shocked to see the prices of some knives out there, there’s one thing that you should remember; knives are heirlooms. If you find yourself lucky enough to come across a good one, then it will last you a lifetime. Have you ever seen your mother bring home a new knife because the older one didn’t work anymore?
A chef’s knife has a curved blade that allows you to curve it back and forth on the chopping board while chopping or mincing. It has a broad handle (known as the heel) which makes it more durable in heavy-duty cutting of hard vegetables and fruits.
Paring Knife
Paring knives come next to chef’s knives because they can do what the other can’t. It has a slim and even blade that points at the top and is fairly short. A regular paring knife is around three and a half inches long. This knife is ideal for easy handling for delicate work, such as peeling, as it is very light in weight. This knife may be seemingly small but it can be used for just about anything. They are also remarkably affective during heavy-duty tasks like cutting meats, etc.
The design of the knife allows you to work effortlessly without adding extra pressure on the surface which makes for very secure handling. Although you still need to be careful when using it, it is a knife after all.
Serrated Knife
A serrated knife, also known as a bread knife, may look blunt due to their toothy blade, but don’t attempt to slide your finger, or any other body part on it because they are definably sharp. Serrated knives are not only used for cutting bread they are also used for cutting substances with a waxy exterior such as tomatoes, watermelons, peppers, etc. They will not crush the shape of these edibles thanks to the design of their blade. So, you don’t have to worry about tomato juice splashes on your face while using this knife.
Using serrated knives to chop or mince things is not recommended. The teeth on their blades will make you miss out on many areas to be chopped resulting in you ending up with a sloppy chopping job. Although, you can use these knives for slicing. The average blade length of a serrated knife is six inches.
Boning Knife
When you need to debone a wish, meat, or poultry, this is the knife to use. The slim blade of this knife has an extremely sharp edge which allows you to cut clean pieces out of any kind of meat. With this knife, you can cut through cartilages and joints. It is ideal for making sharp cuts. You cannot use this knife to cut through a proper bone instead its sharp pointy edge allows you to neatly cut around the bone.
Boning knives are sleek and slim but what they cute through leaves them stinky and bloody. They are specially designed to be flexible to allow ease of use.
Honing Steel
Even though it is not a knife, the honing steel has a noble place among the must-have-knives-in-the-kitchen list designed by Ido Fishman. Honing steel realigns the blade of a knife that deforms after excessive use and washing. While people around the world use different ways or sharpening their knives, such as rubbing the blade back and fro on a rock, using honing steel guarantees the safety of the blade. That is to say, the knife will become as good as new without any damage to the blasé when sharpened using the honing steel.
Don’t be fooled by the name though, the honing steel is available in various materials such as ceramic, and if you can afford it, diamond coatings.
Also Read: A Guide to Cooking for Yourself by Chef Ido Fishman
Now You Know
Now that you’ve read all this, what do you think? Do you have all these knives in your kitchen or are you about to go out and add them to your collection for an efficient and safe kitchen workplace? You will surely feel a difference if you follow these guidelines when using knives in your kitchen. The simple explanations of each knife clarify their individual purpose. You don’t need to spend a hefty sum of money on a prepackaged knife set when you can work just as neatly with just these 5 knives.
