Cooking Knives - Kitchen Tools
Selecting the Right Knives
Choosing knives is a very important aspect of being a good home chef. You should ensure that your knives feel balanced, comfortable, and fit well in your hand. You should choose knives that are composed of high-carbon stainless steel blades that run through the handles. The blade should be riveted in place carefully with great qualify metal.
Blades that are made of high quality, stainless steel do not corrode and are not as hard to sharpen as standard stainless steel.
Knives Every Home Cook Should Have
There are four types of knives that all home chefs should have.
Bread Knife: This type of knife is serrated and can easily cut through items like breads, tomatoes, cakes, and foods that have tough exteriors and soft interiors.
Chef's Knife: A chef's knife is meant to chop, dice and mince foods with precision. It has a wedge shaped blade that makes rolling it backward and forward easy.
Paring Knife: A paring knife is a short knife. It also has a short blade that makes it simple to peel and cut fruits, vegetables and other hard to handle items.
Utility Knife: This knife is thin and makes a smooth slice on sandwiches and other soft foods, like fruits.
Chef's Knife
Knives You Really Don't Need
There are some knives that are considered non-essential. Non-essential knives come in handy for some things, but are pretty much obsolete for most uses.
Boning Knife: Narrow bladed knife and makes it easy to remove meat from bones.
Carving knife: Long thin blade that makes it easy to slice cooked meats.
Fillet Knife: Long, thin flexible knife that is typically only useful for filleting fish
This image depicts a carving knife
Taking Proper Care of Your Knives
In order to ensure that your knives will not be damaged, you should always use a cutting board. You should wash them in hot, soapy water and rinse well. Make sure to dry your knives completely, especially around the handle.
Knives should always be sharpened using a grinding wheel or whetstone. The only other method that should be used is a knife sharpening steel.
Make sure to sharpen them on a regular basis to remove any nicks or rough edges. Wipe with a damp rag after you sharpen them.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2015 Cara Garrison
