Chef Knives - The Most Useful Knives in the Kitchen
73Chef knives (often called a “cook’s knife”) are the most useful knife in the kitchen. If one were limited to owning only one knife, but given a choice of knives, the chef’s knife should be it. A chef’s knife has a relatively wide blade and greater length (typically 6”, 8” or 10”) than most kitchen knives, which allows the user to take advantage of extra leverage and weight when chopping. But the knife’s usefulness is not confined to heavy-duty tasks. It is well-suited to mincing and dicing.
Different types of knives with different shapes and edges are designed for different kitchen jobs. Boning knives with their thinner, narrower blades and sharp points slide into tight places to sever connective tissue and knives with serrated edges efficiently saw through loaves of bread or pierce the skins of tomatoes. But a high quality, sharp chef’s knife should be able to perform these tasks too. An experienced chef can dispense with many kitchen tools, due to superior knife skills.
Knife Skills Are Key when Using Chef Knives
The two keys to good knife skills are safety, and how the knife works. Safety has three components: 1) never cut towards yourself; 2) always use a sharp knife; and 3) don’t force the cut. The proscription against cutting towards oneself is clear. Anyone who has tried to hack their way through a frozen hunk of beef or vegetables should be able to imagine the dangers of leaning on a razor sharp blade with fingers only a few inches away. Less intuitive is the idea of keeping knives sharp. A sharp knife is easier to control, hence less dangerous.
The second key to good knife skills is the cutting process. Cutting means movement of the knife across the food – a sawing motion. Too many cooks try to cut by simply pushing a knife down on their food – mushing it rather than cutting it. Adding a forward and backward movement or just a one directional slice corrects this.
How To Buy Chef Knives
When seeking out a good chef’s knife, the purchaser should consider the handle as carefully as the blade. The handle should feel comfortable in the user’s hand, should have no gaps which may trap food particles or pinch the user, and the knife as a whole should feel balanced.
There is much written on the merits of high carbon steel and whether American, Japanese, or German knives are best. The budget of the purchaser must of course be considered, but high-quality chef knives, if maintained, should last a lifetime.
Chef Knives Links
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