Despite large, alluring knife block sets on the market, truly upgrading your cooking game is less about quantity and more about quality. Ask any culinary pro and they will likely have the same advice: A few quality knives are all any chef needs to more than cover their bases in the kitchen.
Do I need more than these three? Not really. But just as essential as narrowing down the right type of knives for you in the sea of gadgets and accessories, is how you care for them once you start cooking. Another thing to keep in mind before knife shopping is that it all comes down to personal preference and how that option feels in your hand.
That way you can customize your knife collection to suit your individual needs. There are countless knife options in every price point to consider, as well as oversized sets with flashy components, so how do you determine the best investment for your needs? Prescott emphasizes that finding the right knife is extremely personal. Too light? This will ensure you have a good steel that will maintain a sharp edge.
A higher quality knife that costs more will typically hold an edge better and last longer because it is made from a higher quality steel, adds Proto, while their less expensive counterparts are made from cheaper steel that dulls faster.
Which is why Prescott advises sticking to those essential few and investing in the best quality you can afford. A honing steel is designed to keep your knives at their peak sharpness for as long as possible.
Running your knife along a steel realigns the teeth or fibers on the blade, which leads to a sharper edge and thus a cleaner cut. Knives should be honed every time you use them, but because honing doesn't actually sharpen the blade, McDermott suggests home cooks have their knives professionally sharpened once a year.
A honing steel can be used with any straight-sided blade, such as a chef's knife or paring knife, but it should not be used on serrated knives since the teeth won't glide along the steel. A honing steel is often included when knives are purchased as sets; however, they can also be purchased individually. All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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By Sarah Zorn and Wilder Davies. This is a bit simplistic, but if you could only get one knife for your kitchen, it should have a straight edge. These types of knives are the most useful and versatile. Plain edges are optimal when you have to make push cuts through food. A push cut is when you use force to make a cut, instead of using a sawing motion.
For example, if you're cutting through a piece of cheese or removing the skin off of an apple, you would push through the food. A serrated blade is not used as widely in the kitchen as a straight-edged blade. The simple reason is that there aren't many foods that require a sawing motion to cut. Bread and tomatoes are the most notable foods that require a serrated edge. If you try to push down on either with a straight edge, both will get crushed.
You might have also heard the term Granton edge or seen strange grooves cut out in the edge of a kitchen knife. A Granton edge, which is when there are hollowed out grooves in the side of the blade, is not really comparable to the plain or serrated edge. The purpose of a Granton edge is to reduce friction and enhance slicing ability.
You'll find these dimples on both straight and serrated blades. After the blade, the most important part of a kitchen knife is the handle because no matter how amazing the blade is, if the handle is uncomfortable and poorly made, you won't want to use the knife. When it comes to pocket knives, you'll find an array of different handle materials.
However, handle options are more limited in kitchen knives. Here are the most common types of handle materials you'll come across. Advantages : Wood is a very common handle material in kitchen knives and is well-known for its classic look and feel.
The softer material can be very comfortable on the hands. Another benefit is the sheer amount of options you can choose from. Handles are made with everything from olive wood to maple wood.
Disadvantages : Despite being the classic handle material, wood has plenty of downsides. First and foremost is its susceptibility to bacteria. It can be particularly difficult to completely clean and sterilize the handle, which is why you won't often see wood-handled knives at restaurants.
They also aren't as durable as some of the other materials and require extra care, including hand-washing and treatment with mineral oil. Advantages : In lieu of wood handles, laminated handles are made from laminated wood composites with plastic resin. These types of handles are becoming increasingly popular because of their similarity in appearance and weight to wood but without the same sanitary issues.
These are much easier to clean and take care of. Disadvantages : The cons of laminated handle materials are few, which may account for their popularity. Nevertheless, some diehard knife enthusiasts may get hung up on the fact that they're not actually wood. Advantages : Synthetic handles can be broken down into several different categories, such as polypropylene, fibrox, plastics, and Santoprene, but we're lumping them together here.
Synthetic handles, which use man-made materials, are much easier to maintain than wood handles because they don't absorb any bacteria. Disadvantages : When synthetics are exposed to extreme temperatures, they may become more brittle and susceptible to cracking. Exposure to UV rays may also wear down these handles. Synthetics are lighter than other materials, which may also cause an imbalance in the knife.
Advantages : Out of all the possible handle materials, stainless steel is the most sanitary and easiest to maintain. It's extremely durable and looks sleek. Disadvantages : Whereas synthetic handles are too light, stainless steel handles are too heavy. Stainless steel may shift the balance of the knife toward the handle, causing hand fatigue. Some companies have countered the problem with hollow-handled knives.
Yet another issue is how slippery stainless steel can be when wet. Again, some designers have added bumps or ridges to provide a better grip. Think you can name every type of kitchen knife? Unless you're a chef, you'll probably have a hard time coming up with all of them. To help you get a better idea about the knives that exist, we've created this list of different types of kitchen knives. This is an incomplete list, but these are the most common you'll encounter. Description : A chef's knife is a straight-edged knife with a belly that curves toward the point.
Blade length varies from about 6 inches to 14 inches, but the typical length is 8 inches. Uses : This is an all-purpose knife in food preparation. It's used for everything from cutting large pieces of beef to chopping vegetables. It's also great for mincing, dicing, slicing, and more. Description : The paring knife is a smaller knife and acts as a complement to the chef's knife.
The blade length ranges from 3 inches to 4 inches. Uses : This does all the finer work a larger chef's knife can't, such as deveining shrimp, peeling fruits, and slicing small vegetables. Description : The utility knife has the same appearance and function as a chef's knife, but it's smaller and more versatile.
The blade length is between 4 and 7 inches. Uses : Before the rise of the chef's knife, this was the multipurpose knife that did pretty much everything in the kitchen.
Now it's been mostly relegated to basic tasks like cutting pieces of meat or preparing small dishes. Description : With its large serrations, the bread knife is one of the most recognizable kitchen knives.
Average bread knives can feature blades up to 10 inches with serrations the entire length. Uses : The bread knife has one main use and it does it exceptionally well. Using its serrations, the knife is able to saw through bread to keep it from being crushed. Because it has serrations, its uses are limited, but you can also cut other items like tomatoes. Description : Look in your kitchen drawer and you'll see a table knife, which is sometimes called a butter knife.
This is a standard kitchen knife that comes with every utensil set. It has a dull, rounded blade with light serrations. Uses : The table knife is a versatile tool used while eating. Although a steak knife does the heavy cutting, the table knife does much of the grunt work, including cutting things and spreading butter.
Description : The steak knife is a complement to the butter knife and is usually only given when eating a meal with tough meat. It typically boasts sharp serrations and a point. Uses : As the only sharp knife given at the dinner table, the steak knife is designed to cut tough food items like meat. Description : The butter knife, also known as a spreading knife, features a blunt, flat blade that's not meant for cutting.
Uses : The primary use of the butter knife is for spreading. It can be used with butter, certain cheeses, and more. Description : The cleaver is one of the most iconic kitchen knives because of its prevalent use in horror movies. It's typically a large knife with a rectangular blade. The blade does not need to be extremely sharp for it to be effective.
Uses : While the cleaver is most commonly known for cutting through soft bones and meat, it is also used in hard vegetables. Description : This knife is often bundled together with the slicing knife or used interchangeably, but they are two different knives.
A carving knife is what you see at a Thanksgiving table when the turkey is ready to be cut. It can be pretty big—up to 15 inches—and has an upswept point. Uses : Both knives are designed to thinly slice meat, poultry, and fish, but the carving knife makes larger, less precise cuts. Experienced cake decorators know that a sharp slicing knife is the secret to cutting even layers of cake.
The Fillet Knife is similar to a boning knife, but with a longer and more flexible blade that is ideally suited to the delicate removal of fillets from whole fish. It also offers great feel for the fine cleaning of pin bones from the fillets.
They also have a very low drag that is ideal for removing skin from meats and large vegetables. Fillet Knives typically run 7" to 10" long. Kitchen Shears - Yup, a good set just for the kitchen is a great thing! They are typically used to butcher chicken, pan dress whole fish, cut parchment paper, pastry dough, herbs and trussing string. Kitchen Shears often feature bottle openers and other handy integrated tools and can separate for thorough cleaning. Many of a knife's virtues stem from the materials they are made of and manufacturers carefully select the materials that will best suit the type of knives they want to produce.
Since virtually all production cutlery is made from engineered alloys metals combined with other substances to make them stronger, harder, lighter, or better in some other way , you can be sure that every quality of a knife is by thoughtful design whether the intended emphasis is on performance, ease of ownership, low cost or a combination of desirable traits. Refer to the primer below for a better understanding of the most common alloys and combinations used in quality cutlery and how they are best used and maintained.
Carbon Steel - When carbon is added to steel, it becomes harder and easier to sharpen than ordinary steel, and it also holds an edge longer. Carbon steel can also be forged into a thinner blade, which in turn, allows for a steeper and sharper edge geometry. On the downside, carbon steel is vulnerable to rust and stains. It is also more brittle, and will not have the beneficial "flex" of other blade materials. Some professional cooks swear by knives of carbon steel because of their sharpness and feel they are worth the extra maintenance and care.
Over time, a carbon-steel knife will normally acquire a dark patina, though it does not affect the performance. But they can also rust or corrode if not properly cleaned and lubricated soon after use. Some chefs even "rest" their carbon-steel knives for a day after use in order to restore the oxidizing patina, which prevents transfer of metallic tastes to some foods. While some cooks prize carbon steel knives for their razor-like characteristics, others find carbon steel too maintenance-intensive for their particular kitchen environment.
We at Kitchen Kapers absolutely love using quality carbon steel blades- the performance is amazing. But the key to happy ownership of a Western or Asian carbon steel knife is knowing not to use it with very hard foods, and never with bones, shells or frozen foods. You should also be sure to hand wash and thoroughly dry carbon steel, soon after each use. A light rub of mineral oil from time to time is also a really good practice.
Damascus Type - This is not a material, but a complex and labor-intensive forging process also called laminated steel or pattern welded steel. It's a method of layering at least two different types of steel by heat and force to shape the layers into repeated folds. Because different combinations of metals and alloys are used, it is impossible to give any single rule on how to maintain Damascus type blades.
Currently, this process is most prevalent with high quality Japanese manufacturers, who produce lines with carbon steel cores enveloped in layers of alloy that may or may not be stainless. The point is to be sure you know the specific maintenance requirements for the edge and outer blade materials before buying a Damascus style knife. Lower grades of stainless steel cannot take as sharp an edge as good-quality high-carbon steels, but are resistant to corrosion.
Many knives of this type are produced by stamped manufacturing and make very affordable knives that are serviceable especially as serrated blades , but not long lasting because they won't re-sharpen well. Knives made from better quality stainless steel and particularly with molybdenum can hold a good edge, but their best feature is that they require virtually no maintenance at all. Watch that the handle material does not compromise this trouble free status. High-Carbon Stainless Steel - These "designer" steels offer a very good balance of sharpness, edge retention, easy resharpening and corrosion resistance.
This material is the type most sold by Wusthof, Zwilling J. Henckels, Global, Victorinox and many other manufacturers. Some manufacturers boast their own proprietary "cocktails" for the alloy used to make their cutlery, with some differences in hardness and strength, but all are easy to own and use.
Some Japanese knives are made with highly engineered versions that can actually get sharper than carbon steel, and hold an edge for even longer. High carbon stainless steel knives can be made by stamped or forged process, don't rust easily, they re-sharpen well and they hold an edge for a very good amount of time.
Most professionally-owned knives are made from some type of high carbon stainless steel. The only maintenance requirement is to hand wash and dry them mainly to preserve the handle , and make sure to store them properly.
If there is a standard for kitchen knives, it is probably high-carbon stainless steel.
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