A few appliances are a must-have in every kitchen. A quality pair of knives is a must-have for both serious survivalists or a regular person who spends time in the kitchen. Cooking would be almost difficult if they weren’t there.
Knives, on the other hand, are not all made equal. The types of kitchen knives each have a specific function in meal preparation, and they can’t exist without the other.
Try cutting bread without using a bread knife and see how it goes. It’s an exercise in futility and frustration.
Cutting fresh meat with a knife is like attempting to do the same thing with no cleaver. If you’re trying to be the best home cook version of yourself, then keep on reading for our full breakdown of the knives you need.
Types of Kitchen Knives 101: The Chef’s Knife
A chef’s knife will be your bread and butter if you do a lot of home cooking. The blade has a flat edge and is long and quite wide. Because of its design, it’s ideal for swaying back and forth on a cutting board.
You’ll be able to cut veggies quicker with this knife than with any other. It can handle a lot of abuse because of the wide heel. It will enable you to cut through tough materials like potatoes like butter.
The flexibility of this knife makes it a must-have in every kitchen. If you just purchase one item from this list, make it a Wusthof chef’s knife.
Utility Knife
It’s easy to mix up a chef’s knife with a utility knife when looking at various kitchen knife manufacturers. They’re about the same shape. Utility knives vary in that they are a little shorter and have a sharper point.
Its compact profile makes it perfect for cutting up smaller vegetables. It also works well for slicing cheeses and chopping certain meats.
A multipurpose knife will come in handy if you want to make a sandwich out of your bagel and cut it in two. It’s razor-sharp, as you can see, and the tiny size enables for more accurate cuts.
Santoku Knife
The santoku knife is a Japanese kitchen tool that can do a broad range of activities. It’s as versatile as a chef’s knife, but it’s not as long or as heavy. For individuals with tiny hands, this makes it the instrument of choice.
Between the blade and the meal, pockets of air develop due to the edge. This means you won’t have to worry about your vegetables clinging to the side of your knife while you chop.
Keep in mind that cutting with a Japanese knife differs from cutting with a Western knife. With the rest of your fingers on the handle, pinch the blade between your forefinger and thumb.
You’ll create a sliding motion when cutting. It may take some time to adjust.
Paring Knife
A paring knife has a sharp tip and a small, uniformly proportioned blade. Despite its little size, it is very sharp. It can cut up a variety of things you wouldn’t believe it could, like potatoes.
It’s simple to manage since it’s so little. This makes it one of the finest kitchen knives for peeling vegetables and delicate tasks such as seed removal.
Bread Knife
A bread knife does exactly what it says on the tin. Any kind of bread may be sliced with a long serrated blade. Chefs, on the other hand, don’t only utilize it for this.
It’s almost difficult to work with an uneven cake. With a bread knife, you can quickly level it. It can also handle tough-skinned fruits and vegetables.
The blade is long enough to slash through it in a single pass.
Carving Knife
A carving knife is a long, thin knife with a sharp tip at the end. A carving knife, also known as a slicing knife, is one of the longest kitchen blades available. Because of its small width, it generates less drag as it slices through food, resulting in cleaner, more uniform slices.
A carving knife is an ideal instrument for presenting meats like chicken, pig, lamb, or cattle because it produces thin, tidy, and uniformly proportioned slices. It may also be used to cut through bigger fruits and vegetables like melons and courgettes, which are difficult to cut through with smaller or wider blades.
The long, thin blades are particularly great for cutting cakes since they can make precise slices in one smooth stroke.
Cleaver Knife
In most kitchens, the cleaver is the bulkiest and heaviest tool.
A classic cleaver has a complete tang, a robust spine, and a blade that is extremely broad with little or no belly. In a chopping action, its shape enables it to cut through bones, flesh, and hard and thick materials like squash or pumpkin.
The cleaver’s broad and hefty blade makes it excellent for pounding and pulverizing meat, poultry, and fish, as well as crushing garlic.
Filleting Knife
A filleting knife has a long, thin blade that is flexible. It features a precisely pointed tip and an extremely sharp edge for piercing through skin and delicate bone removal operations. It resembles a boning knife in appearance, but the blade is thinner and more flexible.
The thin, flexible blade is ideal for removing bones from fish without harming the delicate flesh.
They vary from conventional knives in that they cut horizontally rather than vertically through food, allowing chefs to cut around the backbone of entire fish to produce beautiful fillets. Filleting knives are useful for a variety of fish-related tasks, so they’re ideal if you want to experiment with new recipes.
Home Cooking: Simplified
Between picking the best chef’s knife, and figuring out whether you need a filleting knife or choosing a cleaver instead, creating a collection of the best kitchen knives can be overwhelming.
Hopefully, our guide has shed some light on the different types of kitchen knives you’ll want to add to your kitchen.
And, if you liked reading our article, then you’ll love checking out our additional tips and home strategies. All of them (and more) will be available in our lifestyle section.