Kitchen Knives


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Cook Like a Professional: Kitchen Knives
Importance of Professional Quality Knives & Types of Knives Needed for Culinary Expertise

"Knives are the best friends a cook can have,
to be treasured along with the family silver." James Beard

Frequently thought of as props in horror movies, knives are capable of mayhem, yet we contend that of all kitchen cutlery, there is nothing more softly sensual than high-quality, well sharpened kitchen knives. They glide, those sharp knives, working with ease and with the rhythm of the cook, cutting through meat as if it were butter. Well-designed knives become an extension of the most important of all culinary commodities - the hand.

Professional knives are the lifeblood of a chef. Chefs guard, protect and cherish their knives as if they were children. No other tools are as important as knives, and no kitchen task as essential as learning to sharpen a knife so that it works with the cook to create a culinary masterpiece. Ironically, when knives are well-sharpened, they are safer than dull knives: cutting with ease, there is less opportunity for a knife to slip and run amok across a cutting board.

All About Kitchen Knives

Though every dedicated cook probably owns many knives, we need only three or four basic knives.

Essential Kitchen Knives

The Chef's Knife

This is the most important tool in the kitchen. This is the go-for-broke knife. If you have a limited budget, this is where you splurge. Buy the most expensive knife you can afford, because price really does equate to quality. A chef's knife is an all-purpose knife, used for chopping, mincing and slicing. The blade is generally 8 to 14 inches long. It is a deep, solid blade, about 1 - 1-1/2 inches at the widest point. It should be perfectly weighted with the blade wide and heavy at the butt end, then tapering to a triangle at the point. The blade is thinner at the point. This is a rigid knife and the flat of the chef's knife is good for smashing garlic.

When you learn to master this knife, you, too, will chop with speed and efficiency. The length and weight of the blade helps you work more efficiently. It is the preferred knife of Alfred Hitchcock who possessed the talent to scare us to death, but also had a refined palate. Who knows where his inspiration lay.

Paring Knife

The paring knife is a shorter knife, with a two to four inch blade. You use this knife to pare and trim vegetables and fruits. This is the knife to use when a large chef's knife would be unwieldy.

Boning Knife

A boning knife is essential to separate uncooked meat cleanly from the bone. The blade is about 6 inches long with a pointed tip to work closely around bones. This knife is essential if you buy whole chickens and butcher them yourself, however if you ask the butcher to do that job, it will be done easily and efficiently. The need, then varies, according to the cook's style in the kitchen, though no professional chef would be without one. Even if you don't intend to cut up whole chickens, this knife will save you if you bring home a piece of meat that has not been properly trimmed of gristle and membranous tissue.

Slicing Knife

In the hands of a professional, the chef's knife will slice efficiently, but you may want this knife for carving a roast as well as for slicing raw meat. The blade on this knife is more flexible than the blade on a chef's knife. If you buy a carving set - knife and wide-tined fork for holding a roast steady, this will be the knife included in the set.

The Cleaver

This is another knife that needs mastery, and one that strikes terror in the uninitiated. There are two distinct types of cleavers. First is the meat cleaver with a thick blade and relatively dull edge. This knife is able to cut through bone cleanly and without splintering the bone. When laid flat, the meat cleaver can be used as a substitute for a mallet to flatten slices of meat such as veal used for a tender scaloppini.

The second is the Asian cleaver. This possesses that desired sharp edge and should never be used for chopping through bone as it will dull or knick the knife. They are sharpened in the same way as a chef's knife.

As we know, Asian chefs use cleavers exclusively.

Serrated Knife

This is a scalloped edge knife used to slice bread. The scalloped teeth are sharpened on one side to pierce a hard crust, then tear the soft bread so it doesn't flatten into a lump of dough. The serrated bread knife is log. Shorter versions are made for cutting a hard-skinned vegetable or fruit, such as a tomato, but the longer knife will do the same job.

Ceramic Knife

Only a diamond exceeds the hardness of a ceramic knife. They are made in Japan of a high-tech ceramic called zirconium oxide, and have been around for more than a decade. Ceramic knives hold that prized sharp edge longer than steel. Months, even years pass without sharpening. Additionally, they are not affected by food acids. There's no metallic taste or smell. The best-selling brand is the Kyocera knife.

When you puchase quality knives, you are on the road to being a professional. Now, learn to care for them. Continue to Part Two: How to care for knives, how to sharpen knives

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