Introduction to Kitchen Blades Part 1
Chef’s Knife
What are the features of the chef’s knives?
Length of blade: 5 to 14 inches.
Heel width: 1¾ to 1⅝ inches for standard; 2¼ inches or more for wide blades.
It is used for?
You can use it to dice, mince, slice and strip all kinds of vegetables, chop herbs into little pieces and tapping off garlic skins. Want to skin a fish fillet? The chef’s knife can do that job too!
When you are deciding on which chef’s knife to buy, please take into consideration its length as well as weight. In essence, the smaller the blade, the greater force and stress you will need to apply, and the more strokes are required of you in order to complete a particular cutting endeavor. Preferably you should work with the heaviest chef’s knife that you feel most at ease with. I strongly suggest no less than 8 inches; 10 inches is just awesome in my experience.
You will find some sense in the above suggestion once you have become well versed in several basic cutting techniques and fully comprehending the functions of the chef’s knife.
Now straightaway, the biggest element that sets the chef’s knife apart from all other knives is not its length, but its weight as well as its width at the heel. When the cutting edge is positioned flush to the board, and the handle held in the correct fashion, a clearance will be created between the cutting board and your knuckles.
This is generally termed as the belly. What this clearance does is it enables the knife to glide smoothly across the cutting board which translates to hassle-free cutting for the user. The camber, or overall curve of the blade, will be different from one knife-making company to another, and it should serve as an essential part in helping you with your buying choice. Some people favor a curved blade over a straighter one, while some prefer the other way round.
Refer the photo above which depicts five 10-inch chef’s knives (from top to bottom: Wüsthof, Henckels, F. Dick, Victorinox, and Sabatier). Note the variations in handle shape and type, bolster style, as well as blade curvature. The bottom two knives stick out significantly. The Victorinox has had the bolster’s choil taken off, thus it is much easier to sharpen the blade. The one in the lowest position is the Sabatier chef’s knife, which is a typical example of a French-style knife.
Look closely and you can see that the blade is somewhat straighter than the German-style knife and the bolster is substituted with a collarlike ring. French knives are typically lighter (by approximately an ounce) and shorter (just shy of 10 inches) than their German cousins, and I find this to be a negative aspect. I also prefer a blade that possesses a bit more curve.
Depicted in the photo below are four 10-inch wide-blade chef’s knives, which are suitable for people with long fingers and require a larger belly for additional clearance.
Look closely and you can see that the blade is somewhat straighter than the German-style knife and the bolster is substituted with a collarlike ring. French knives are typically lighter (by approximately an ounce) and shorter (just shy of 10 inches) than their German cousins, and I find this to be a negative aspect. I also prefer a blade that possesses a bit more curve.
Depicted in the photo below are four 10-inch wide-blade chef’s knives, which are suitable for people with long fingers and require a larger belly for additional clearance.
(From top to bottom: Wüsthof, Dexter-Russell, Messermeister, and a wooden-handled Dexter-Russell stamped knife.) Note the lack of choil on the Messermeister as well as the absence of the bolster on the stamped knife. On top of that, Messermeister polishes the spine, which aids substantially in curtailing callous from developing on the middle joint of the index finger. I hope someday all knife manufacturers would follow suit.
Utility Knives
What are the features of the utility knives?
Length of blade: 4½ to 7 inches, but I find the smaller ones almost useless.
Heel width: Varies according to manufacturer. Some are as narrow as a paring knife.
It is used for?
You can use it to dice, mince and slice large-sized shallots, mushrooms, little onions and even medium-sized fruits. The utility knife is also perfect for butterflying shrimp.
Utility knives are suitable to be employed for those in-between tasks, which are considered not big enough to bring out the chef’s knife, but yet, too large to be accomplished by a paring knife. The 5-, 6-, and 7-inch chef’s knives and the Santoku ought to be regarded as utility knives.
What are the features of the utility knives?
Length of blade: 4½ to 7 inches, but I find the smaller ones almost useless.
Heel width: Varies according to manufacturer. Some are as narrow as a paring knife.
It is used for?
You can use it to dice, mince and slice large-sized shallots, mushrooms, little onions and even medium-sized fruits. The utility knife is also perfect for butterflying shrimp.
Utility knives are suitable to be employed for those in-between tasks, which are considered not big enough to bring out the chef’s knife, but yet, too large to be accomplished by a paring knife. The 5-, 6-, and 7-inch chef’s knives and the Santoku ought to be regarded as utility knives.
Note the variations in style of the knives displayed above, particularly the width of the blades, the shape of their handles, as well as the materials from which they were manufactured. Of course, the handle that sticks out the most is none other than the Henckels Twin Four Star II (third from the top)! Also distinctive is the Shun Japanese-style bolsterless blade produced by Kershaw, which is positioned third from the bottom. Its Pakkawood handle is constructed out of resin-impregnated hardwood veneer.
Paring Knife
What are the features of paring knives?
Length of blade: 3 to 4 inches, the ideal size and most popular is 3½ inches.
It is used for?
You can use it for coring, mincing, paring, peeling and slicing fruits and veggies that are not too large.
As far as style goes, the paring knife looks like a hybrid of French and German style knives. On the whole, the paring knife is comparable to a chef’s knife, though not as heavy and the blade is lighter as well as narrower.
A good paring knife normally offers features that are identical to the chef’s knife e.g. full tang, bolster, etc, but it has to be said that such features are not really crucial. In fact, a three-quarter is adequate – heck, even half tang would do it. The absence of bolster in paring knives is not a problem, as long as the blade is of excellent quality and can be sharpened and honed with ease.
A paring knife must not be excessively light! Basically you still want to feel as though you are holding a knife in your hand. The paring knife cannot be put to the same balance test as the chef’s knife, but it is best to steer clear of ones with heavy and bulky handles because they tend to make coring a huge pain in the butt.
What are the features of paring knives?
Length of blade: 3 to 4 inches, the ideal size and most popular is 3½ inches.
It is used for?
You can use it for coring, mincing, paring, peeling and slicing fruits and veggies that are not too large.
As far as style goes, the paring knife looks like a hybrid of French and German style knives. On the whole, the paring knife is comparable to a chef’s knife, though not as heavy and the blade is lighter as well as narrower.
A good paring knife normally offers features that are identical to the chef’s knife e.g. full tang, bolster, etc, but it has to be said that such features are not really crucial. In fact, a three-quarter is adequate – heck, even half tang would do it. The absence of bolster in paring knives is not a problem, as long as the blade is of excellent quality and can be sharpened and honed with ease.
A paring knife must not be excessively light! Basically you still want to feel as though you are holding a knife in your hand. The paring knife cannot be put to the same balance test as the chef’s knife, but it is best to steer clear of ones with heavy and bulky handles because they tend to make coring a huge pain in the butt.
The knives represented in the image above show the various forms of paring knives. The final two situated on the right are French-style knives crafted by Sabatier and Thiers-Issard. Their blades are noticeably straighter than their German-style equivalents.
At the far left is a Shun knife which has an intriguing appearance. It was conceived for the Kershaw company by Ken Onion who is a highly skilled custom knife craftsman. He crafted the knife for Alton Brown, who sought a paring knife with an angle that provides the user the ability to cut objects at the front edge of the cutting board without the knuckles getting scraped. It works extremely well, though such knife requires practice before one truly gets the hang of using it.
Positioned beside the Onion’s knife is yet another Shun offering, which is a straight-bladed, bolsterless knife suitable for nearly all chores with the exception of coring. The reason it is unsuited for coring is because the sharp point at the heel causes it to be very challenging for the user to support the knife without running into the point. Beside the Shun are paring knives by Messermeister, Henckels, F. Dick, Wüsthof, and LamsonSharp along with its wood handle.
Read the next installment
At the far left is a Shun knife which has an intriguing appearance. It was conceived for the Kershaw company by Ken Onion who is a highly skilled custom knife craftsman. He crafted the knife for Alton Brown, who sought a paring knife with an angle that provides the user the ability to cut objects at the front edge of the cutting board without the knuckles getting scraped. It works extremely well, though such knife requires practice before one truly gets the hang of using it.
Positioned beside the Onion’s knife is yet another Shun offering, which is a straight-bladed, bolsterless knife suitable for nearly all chores with the exception of coring. The reason it is unsuited for coring is because the sharp point at the heel causes it to be very challenging for the user to support the knife without running into the point. Beside the Shun are paring knives by Messermeister, Henckels, F. Dick, Wüsthof, and LamsonSharp along with its wood handle.
Read the next installment