Each kitchen knife has a different application in the kitchen. The following knives are essential to have in a kitchen.
- Chef Knife: A chef knife is usually someone’s first knife they own. Most commonly eight inches long, a chef knife features a unique blade shape, allowing you to rock the sharp knife along your cutting board. This makes it easier and faster to chop, mince, dice, or slice vegetables. Chef knives are incredibly durable as well, allowing you to break down a chicken or chop beets. Make sure you know how to hold a chef knife properly to get the most use out of it.
- Santoku Knife: A santoku knife compliments a chef knife extremely well. Usually smaller in length, a santoku knife is a Japanese-style blade and commonly features scalloped edges reducing food sticking to the blade edge. A major difference between a santoku knife and a chef knife is the blade edge shape. A santoku knife’s blade is flatter than a chef knife, so it isn’t as great for mincing as a chef knife.
- Nakiri Knife: A nakiri knife is also a Japanese-style blade, but it features a completely flat blade, making it perfect for slicing and dicing vegetables. Because of its flat blade, you wouldn’t utilize a rocking motion, but rather an up and down motion. These specialty knives are also great for making even long cuts, whether you’re slicing through an eggplant, cucumber, or squash. A good way to distinguish a nakiri knife from others is its squared-off fixed blade.
- Bread Knife: It is essential to have a serrated knife in your kitchen knife set, and a bread knife is the most practical. Serrated knives are ideal for cutting through crusts or delicate fruit while protecting the inside. It is one of the best knives for cutting meat, slicing through loaves of bread, tomatoes, or even pineapple.
- Paring Knife: Paring knives are one of the most useful tools in the kitchen. With ultimate maneuverability and control, a paring knife is perfect for tackling small tasks in the kitchen like peeling fruit, cutting small vegetables, and working with oddly shaped ingredients.
Other Knives: There are other knives that are helpful to have in your kitchen, in addition to the ones listed above. We love having specialty knives, boning knives,
cleavers, fishing knives, and carving knives, too. Will they be used every day? Probably not, but when the time comes to fillet a fish or debone a chicken, it is essential to have the right knife blade on hand.
Other Knives: There are other knives that are helpful to have in your kitchen, in addition to the ones listed above. We love having specialty knives, boning knives,
cleavers, fishing knives, and carving knives, too. Will they be used every day? Probably not, but when the time comes to fillet a fish or debone a chicken, it is essential to have the right knife blade on hand.