Perhaps you just bought a knife set and didn’t know what each knife is for. Suppose you have a knife set and don’t use it. You’re probably wondering how it would make your life easier. With suitable knives, you’ll be able to cut food confidently and efficiently without worrying about how to cut something. Most kitchen cutting tasks can be handled with just a good chef’s knife.
In addition, naming conventions for knives can be extremely confusing, with many cutting tools having multiple names for the same style. To help you understand it all, we’ve compiled a guide to every type of knife and its uses, including advice on which one is best for various cooking tasks.
In this article, we will introduce the most popular types of kitchen knives and the tasks they are designed for in the kitchen. You will learn what to and to not include in your knife set.
Assembly: Different Parts of kitchen knife
To pick the right knife for a particular job, you should have a basic working knowledge of each part. Here, we will explain each part of a knife and what it does. The features you’ll see on the most basic knives are just an overview: some specialist knives may be constructed differently.
A kitchen knife is generally composed of two parts, the handle, and the blade, which are further broken down into different parts. You can also use the various parts of the blade for different purposes, so getting to know them is the first step to becoming a pro cook.
Parts of the knife blade
There are four parts to a knife blade: the tip, the spine, the cutting edge, and the heel.
- The tip is the top and front end of the blade that can be used for delegate cutting purposes. It can create guide cuts on hard fruits like melons and dense vegetables. It may be used to separate the meat and separate the cartilage from bigger meat portions.
- The spine is the upper portion of the blade. It can be used for scraping ingredients and other tasks like scaling fish. It’s best to place to put your fingers on it and apply pressure while cutting.
- The cutting edge is the magical portion where all magic happens.
- The heel is the portion opposite to the tip and starts just after the handle. It can chop hard ingredients like carrots, nuts, and even bones.
Parts of the knife handle
- The handle of a knife is also composed of four parts: the butt(pommel), the tang, the rivets(metal pin), and the bolster.
- The butt(pommel) is the last portion of the handle used for tenderizing meat.
- The tang is the attachment of the handle to the blade, usually secured with rivets(metal pin). It runs across the entire handle.
- The Bolster is an essential part of the handle is the bolster that covers some portion of the blade to prevent your hand from cutting.
Complete Guide: Types of kitchen knives and their uses
We introduce the most essential and frequently used kitchen knives – those that every cook, professional or amateur, should never be without. One knife can be used for many different purposes, but what works well for one type of food may not work well for another. This is why finding the right knife for the job is so important. This article will explain which knives work best with which foods and tasks.
Chief knife or cook’s knife:
As its name says, the chef’s knife is the kitchen’s most versatile and classic tool. It features a straight-edged, long, broad blade. It is the widest across the heel and tapers to a sharp tip.
Why would you use a chef’s knife?
A chef knife is a great all-rounder and perfect for everyday mincing and dicing tasks. Everyone from beginner to master chefs uses the chef’s knife for functions like complex cutting, slicing cheese and meat, and dicing fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The chef’s knife has a sharp point, making it adept at great cuts.
Avoid using it to carve cooked meat because it is too big to be precise, and don’t use it to peel little products.
Utility knife
A utility knife resembles a chef knife in design but is slimmer and trimmer. Some utility knives also feature a sharp tip that tapers up toward the spine to enable more complex work.
Why would you use a utility knife?
They’re used for chopping, peeling, and slicing small to moderate size vegetables, fruits, and cuts of meat. It’s not suitable for chopping or slicing large-size stuff, but the small tip and narrow blade allow it to perform tasks such as thinner slicing, filleting, and trimming much better than a chef’s knife.
Paring knife
A paring knife has a slim, short, super sharp blade with a pointed tip available in the serrated and straight edges. Paring knives are a perfect example that you should never judge a knife by its size.
Why would you use a paring knife?
This tiny cutlery is used for cutting, slicing, trimming, peeling, and chopping fruits and vegetables. It can be helpful when working with pepper, tomatoes, and foodstuff having seeds. Its super sharp blade peels, chops, minces, slices, and removes seeds.
Bread knife
A bread knife measures 7 to 10 inches in length; while cutting, a chef’s knife may slip or turn, but a bread knife’s broad handle and thick blade provide good grip and stability for the operator.
Why would you use a bread knife?
Long blades and serrated edges of bread knife cut quickly through soft, fluffy textured cakes without knocking the air out of the sponge or damaging the shape.
A bread knife’s long blade and sharp grooved edge make it the ideal cutting tool for many sorts of bread, including baguettes, bagels, crusty bread, and bread rolls.
Peeling knife
A peeling knife features a stiff, short, and somewhat curved blade. It typically has a straight, razor-sharp edge.
Why would you use a peeling knife?
A peeling knife can readily cut through tough skins and is generally used to peel fruits, vegetables, and potatoes. They include a robust blade and solid and comfortable handles that work together to keep the knife from slipping when peeling, making the operation much safer.
Santoku knives
The chef’s knife in the Western style has a Japanese counterpart called the Santoku. Some cooks, particularly those who choose a smaller, lighter blade, substitute it for the chef’s knife since it is a little shorter and thinner.
Why would you use a santoku knife?
Santoku knives are known for their sharp edges and drop-point tips, making them an excellent tool for cutting fish, especially sushi or raw fish, since the flat side’s dimpling will keep delicate items from sticking.
But santoku knives aren’t just good for fish; they can easily cut through veggies. They are an excellent substitute for chef or utility knives and are another superb all-arounder.
Nakiri knives
Nakiri knives, also known as Japanese vegetable knives, resemble smaller, more streamlined versions of meat cleavers. They have a broad, rectangular shape and almost usually have an extremely sharp, hollow ground edge.
Why would you use a Nakiri knife?
They are also an excellent option for shredding larger vegetables like lettuce or cabbage due to their deep, flat blade. If you want to add ribbons of veggies to dishes as a garnish, the razor-sharp edge is ideal because it can be used to cut skinny, even slices.
When slicing veggies, Nakari knives are a great tool to use. You may use them to chop right through to the kitchen counter because of their squared shape and straight edge; you don’t need to rock the blade back and forth; you can bring it down in a single motion to chop.
A guide to meat-preparation knives;
Carving knife
A carving knife is a long, thin knife with a sharp point. One of the most extended kitchen knives is the carving knife, also called a slicing knife. Because of its small width cuts through food with less drag, resulting in cleaner, more even slices.
Additionally, it can cut through larger fruits and vegetables like melons or courgettes, which can be challenging to cut through with smaller or broader blades.
Cleaver or butcher knife
Cleavers are also butchered knives and feature a flat, rectangular-shaped blade. Depending on their intended usage, they come in a range of sizes. They are among the most significant and heaviest knives and occasionally have a hole at the blade’s spine so they can be hung up when not in use.
When butchering raw meat or dividing it into smaller sections for cooking, a cleaver is used to chop the meat. The broad, heavy construction makes it one of the most excellent knives for preparing raw meat because it can cut through bone.
Boning knife
The ideal joint or cut before cooking can only be made with a boning knife, which can also be used to trim cartilage. It’s an excellent option for cutting around the bone without damaging the surrounding flesh due to its sharp tip and thin blade.
Additionally, cartilage can be sliced with a powerful, stiff blade. A more brutal knife works best when deboning hog or beef, whereas a more flexible blade works better for poultry. You can rely on boning knives to be convenient and comfortable to use because they are made to be light and maneuverable.
Filleting knives
A long, slender knife with a flexible blade is a filleting knife. It features an extremely sharp edge and a tip with a fine point to pierce the skin and enable complex bone-removal work. Although it resembles a boning knife in appearance, the blade is thinner and more flexible.
The thin, flexible blade is ideal for breaking up fish bones without tearing the delicate skin. They are used more frequently horizontally than vertically, distinguishing them from other knives and enabling chefs to cut precisely around the backbone of whole fish to produce fillets. If you enjoy experimenting with various recipes, filleting knives is your ideal tool. They are excellent for all types of fish-related activities.
Which material is ideal for knife blades? Titanium vs. Stainless steel vs. Damascus steel vs. ceramic
Knowing more about the best knife blade materials before buying might be helpful because the material used to make your kitchen knives can significantly impact their strength, durability, and sharpness.
Each type has advantages and disadvantages, and certain materials are more appropriate for particular jobs than others. Before you spend money on a new set of knives, read on to find out everything you need to know about knife materials.
Titanium blades
Titanium, one of the world’s most rigid materials, is also non-magnetic and incredibly rust-resistant, making it an excellent material for pocket blades and dive knives. However, compared to steel or ceramic kinds, it is less useful as a kitchen knife due to its tendency to be less sharp and weaker at keeping an edge. Many buyers will still value well-made titanium knives for their trendy dark grey coloring.
Stainless steel blades
Knives are typically made of stainless steel because of their excellent durability and resistance to rust and corrosion. Chromium is added to the alloy’s foundation of carbon and iron to provide stain resistance and a long-lasting bright surface. As a result, the blades are exceptionally tough, stain-resistant, and durable.
The drawback of stainless steel is that an extensive range of alloys is also commercially available. Therefore the steel’s quality might vary significantly based on the supplier.
Damascus steel blades
Strong steel with a complex, wavy pattern is created by crushing together a variety of distinct alloys to create Damascus steel. This type of steel has a long and illustrious history; it was initially developed in old Damascus and has been used to make knives, swords, and other weapons for hundreds of years. Although this type of metal is incredibly tough, strong, and sharp, it is now primarily prized for its lovely beauty.
Damascus steel knives continue for years and will retain their sharp cutting edges for a long time, but modern versions can be pricey due to the detailed crafting process. They, therefore, make fantastic knives for professional cooks or simply beautiful things for collectors.
Ceramic blades
A blade made of hardened zirconium dioxide is a ceramic blade. They are non-metallic and non-magnetic and are occasionally covered with other materials for added toughness.
They are more hygienic than metal designs and relatively lightweight, which many cooks prefer. As with our Zenith ceramic knives, another benefit of ceramic is that the blades may be printed with fashionable patterns, colors, or detailing, which makes them even more stunning to display on a table.
The main drawback of ceramic knives is that they are brittle and more likely to break or crack if dropped than other blades; therefore, they must be handled carefully. Additionally, they require professional sharpening because using standard whetstones will harm the blades. But with the proper care, they ought to continue to function well as a cutting instruments for many years.
The quality of your dishes will also increase as a result of using a set of professional chef’s knives to make food preparation in your restaurant kitchen safe, effective, and simple. Now that you are informed about the many knife kinds and their functions, you can confidently browse for a new collection.
This concludes with a brief overview of the various varieties of kitchen knives. Which knife from this list is in your kitchen? Do you like a Santoku or a chef’s knife for everyday cutting tasks? Are there any other significant knives that you feel belong on the list? Comment below with your thoughts and let us know:
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