Sometimes called a chef's knife, the chef's knife is arguably the most important knife in a kitchen. It has a wide blade that tapers to a tip at the end of 6 to 12 inches. Chefs with smaller hands will need a smaller blade, so this variation in length is due to functionality. The chef's knife is by far the most commonly used knife of the three, so it pays to invest in a high-quality one and treat it well.
You can use this knife to cut, slice, julienne just about anything, besides carving a roast or crumble a watermelon. It should be a strong but light knife, with a long blade and a handle that fits snugly in the hand. You want a knife that works for you and that's something you're comfortable with on those busy kitchen days. Chef's knives usually come in an 8- or 10-inch blade.
There's no right length, it's all about what you're comfortable riding on your cutting board. For more information, check out this in-depth read on chef's knives and the best knife sharpener. A classic chef's knife is the most important knife in your collection. McDermott recommends an 8- to 10-inch chef's knife, which he recognizes may be a little longer than most people are comfortable at first.
However, the longer cutting edge makes the knife more versatile and efficient. The more blade you have, the more knife you have to do the work for you,” he explains. And the larger the blade you have to cut an ingredient, the safer it will be. A chef's knife is the ideal tool for more than 90 percent of daily kitchen tasks, says McDermott, which includes most sliced and diced fruits, vegetables, meat and fish.
And while a chef's knife may be the king of the kitchen, it shouldn't be used for butchering or carving poultry, for removing the skin from large vegetables such as pumpkin, or, as some people have tried, to drill a hole in cans. The breadth of a chef's knife blade makes it difficult to handle for tasks that best fit a smaller knife. Choose blades that are full tang (a full piece of metal with the two pieces of the handle attached to the sides) rather than half tang (a piece of metal that extends the entire length of the knife, but only part of the width, or that does not extend the length of the knife and is instead attached to the handle). Full-tang knives are more balanced, more robust and more durable than half-tang models.
Our test kitchen also often prefers forged chef's knives, which are made of a single piece of forged steel, heated and crushed to the desired shape. The other option is a stamped blade, which is cut from a large steel blade and is usually lighter, a quality considered undesirable in a chef's knife. Best for cutting and chopping items that are too small for an 8- to 10-inch blade, such as chopping garlic, peeling strawberries, or peeling fruits and vegetables. As the name implies, a boning knife is the best blade for cutting or boning fish, meat, or poultry of any size, whether it's a 3-inch long anchovy or a 150-pound pork garnish.
Most knives are designed to cut straight lines, McDermott says. But when it comes to anything with a rib cage and joints, there is no such thing as a straight line in the body, so you need a blade that can move and flex. A boning knife gives you that margin. A boning knife should not be used to cut bones, but rather to cut around bones.
A good boning knife will have the flexibility to deftly separate meat from bone, as well as cut joints and cartilage. While a steel sharpener isn't a knife, it's still an essential tool for your knife block. A honing steel is designed to keep your knives at their maximum point of sharpness for as long as possible. A honing steel is probably the second most important tool in the kitchen after a chef's knife, says McDermott.
Passing the knife along a steel realigns the teeth (or fibers) of the blade, leading to a sharper edge and therefore a cleaner cut. Knives should be sharpened every time you use them, but since sharpening doesn't actually sharpen the blade, McDermott suggests home cooks sharpen their knives professionally once a year. A great all-purpose knife, a chef's knife is one of the most versatile knives in the kitchen, perfect for daily chopping and dicing tasks. The boning knife may seem small, but in my experience, it's one of the most powerful knives in any kitchen tool kit.
A chef's knife is one of the most versatile tools. Any professional chef will tell you it's a must. It should feel like an extension of the arm. It is ideal for chopping and cutting vegetables, fruits and herbs.
In addition to cutting a variety of other ingredients such as meat, poultry and fish. They are usually 8 to 10 inches long and the blade is round at the tip. Don't use it to peel small products (it's too big to be precise) and avoid using it to cut cooked meat. Next, we'll look at each type of knife, including tips on what type of food and tasks is best suited for each.
Using the wrong knife or one with a blunt blade can damage a piece of fish, making it incredibly difficult to cook. But, if all you care about is the sharpness and durability of the cutting edge, you'll have a hard time finding a knife sharper than one with a carbon steel blade. A sharp knife is much safer and more effective than a blunt one, so once you've found the perfect cutting tools, you'll need to sharpen them regularly to keep them working as efficiently as possible. The serrated edge can grip and penetrate those slippery exteriors, while the flat blade of a chef's knife would slide and slide across the surface.
A paring knife looks like a miniature chef's knife, with a blade two to four inches long. Whether I'm eating hard foods, such as steaks or pork chops, or running out of table knives, the steak knife brings some power to the daily meal. It's stellar when I have things that are too long for a paring knife but too delicate for a chef's knife, but those situations aren't common. A knife is a cook's best friend, whether it's an experienced professional or a novice in the kitchen.
While a larger tool is better for cutting something like a cooked Thanksgiving turkey (I've found that electric cutters are better), the carving knife is excellent for thick raw meat. To help you understand everything, we've compiled a guide to each type of knife and its uses, including tips on which one is best for different kitchen tasks. In expert hands, a knife can do everything a chef's knife can do: slice, chop, fillet, scoop, crush and more. However, it tends to be less sharp and not as good at holding an edge, making it less effective as a kitchen knife than steel or ceramic types.
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