Article by Ma. Corazon T. Macahilig
Chefs and cooks consider kitchen knives as their loyal partner in food preparations. These are very important tools that make cooking not just possible but also presentable. As you go over this article, you will learn the different kitchen knives available, their uses and purpose. This will give you helpful information to pick the right choices that is helpful. Knives have different types according to purpose and design and not just the simple category of being sharp or dull. The first and most common type is the chef's knife. It I used in basic food preparations like slicing meat, chopping fruits and vegetables, and even mincing and dicing. Chef knife comes in various sizes to match the size of the user's hand for easier grip and handling. The next type is the carving knife. It is practically larger than chef's knife but has similar shape. Depending on the type of meat that you need to cut, carving knife can be flexible or rigid. It also comes with a carving fork that holds the meat in place for easier cutting and less messy to cut. Paring knife is also available to create garnishes, for peeling and coring fruits and in making other decorative stuffs. It has a very short blade that should be maintained sharp to avoid accidents. Dull paring knife may slip to your hand and can make you wounded. Serrated knife is designed in cutting food that has hard crust and soft interior like bread loaves. The serration will create small saw cuts to the hard crust to cut it. Regular knives will just slide to the hard crust and adding pressure to it will compact the soft interior, deforming the food and without actually cutting it. It can also be used in cutting fibrous fruits and vegetables. While boning knife or narrow-bladed knife is used to debone meat, filet knife is also used to remove fish skin. Boning knife has tapered point to carve the bones without wasting the meat. The last time is cleaver knife. It has very thick blade to cut very thick portions of meat and bones. It can also be used in crushing garlic, gloves and even seeds. It is recommended that in buying individual knives, it is better to buy individual knives than purchasing a set of knife. Not all knives in a set are useful to you and will satisfy your choices. Buying individually, you can pick good quality of knives. You can also choose the right size that fits your hand. Though it may be a little expensive compared to sets, you can make sure that you get good value for your money. Anyway, you can have the three common types that can also be used for other purposes. These are the chef, paring and serrated knives. These can take charge of most of your cutting needs. After reading this article, I am pretty sure you gained all the information needed to find your best partner in cooking.