In the world of a chef, the most important tools in their arsenal are their knives! This is true of any type of chef, be it homemakers to executive chefs in high-class establishments. Investing in a good set of knives is essential to preparing your meals efficiently, and properly. The best way to choose your knives involves visiting a kitchen supply store near you that sells knife sets. Then, handle each knife brand and style until you find the one that feels the most natural to you.
When choosing a knife set, you should be familiar with each type of knife as well as what it is used for.
The butcher knife
This is a knife with a heavy blade. The butcher knife isn’t designed for detailed chopping or cutting of any kind. Instead, the butcher knife would be better used to divide meat and fish into slab sections.
The cleaver
Cleavers are knives with very wide, squared-off blades. They are not designed for anything other than chopping through bone-in meats.
The chef’s knife
The blade on this knife is narrower in shape than either the butcher knife or the cleaver. The chef’s knife is designed to slice through cooked meat as well as chop and mince vegetables and various other foods.
The slicing knife
As you may guess, the slicing knife is used to cut or slice something thin. Usually, it involves roasted meats which need to be held still with the help of a two-prong device while the knife does the slicing.
The bread knife
This is one of the long knives in a set or butcher block. The blade is thinner than most of the others and it is likely one of the only knives in your set with a serrated edge. The bread knife is used for exactly that cutting loaves of bread into slices.
The salad knife
This type of knife is not usually included in a standard knife set. You may have to look for one at your local kitchen supply store and find the right one for you. This type of knife is about medium length and is designed to chop the ingredients for salads.
The paring knife
This is a much smaller knife than the previously listed. It is developed with a narrow blade which is perfect for slicing small fruits and peeling skin off of other fruits such as apples.
There is also citrus knives which have small, thin, flat blades. They are used to peel, divide, and core citrus fruits.
Tools of the trade
My personal butcher block knife set is the Tools of the Trade brand. It is a 20 piece set which includes.
- A utility knife
- A chef’s knife
- A bread knife
- A boning knife
- A tomato knife
- A cooks knife
- A paring knife
- A santoku knife
- A slicing knife
- 8 steak knives
- A stainless steel sharpening rod
- Shears
This is a great set of knives, in my opinion. They work really well if you keep them sharp and hand wash them. They can be put in the dishwasher, but it will cause them to rust faster and for the blades to dull quicker. None of the knives are too heavy or uncomfortable when handled.
Hands and taste buds
While the knife is the most important tool that a chef can buy for their toolbox, the two things that nogreat chef can be without are his hands and taste buds! A chef requires hands to prep and cook the foods he or she is passionate about. They also need a perfected palate (which requires the use of taste buds) to put together complementary ingredients which results in a tasty meal!
