What Knife Is Best For You?
Have you ever wondered why there are so many types of knives, and why they are so expensive? Let me walk you through the basics so you can always have the right tool for the right job.
I did a basic video about knives and their uses on YouTube, but here I'll explain in a little more detail about all of the knives and their associated uses. Like with anything, I will always recommend you buy the best quality you can afford. This is not throwing your money away, this is because the quality is extremely high with more pricey knives, and you will get years of quality use out of it, thus saving money over time. This is frugal- spending money now, so you don't have to later on. Finally, I always say that a sharp knife is a safe knife. Quality knives will stay sharper for longer, and can easily be sharpened again. Inexpensive knives cannot.
Material:
A good knife should have a high content of carbon steel in it. Carbon steel is harder (and more brittle) than stainless steel, keeps its razor sharp edge longer, and is easy to sharpen. The downsides are that it is harder to keep clean, as you shouldn't put them in the dishwasher. The stainless steel knives you would find in a discount store are poor quality, usually of a quality that can't be sharpened, but you can most likely put them in a dish washer. There are a large number of quality knives made of stainless steel, but they have high carbon content in them and can be sharpened, but won't stain as easily as high carbon steel knives made years ago. Ceramic is another material used in knife blades. Ceramic knives are good, but not for long term use. While they are the sharpest of any knives, they also can't be sharpened and they break easily. To get the most value out of your money, buy an expensive knife and you will get years of use out of it, and you will find it so easy to use, you won't mind the cooking prep as much.
Balance:
The things that make a knife most useful are the things that also make them expensive. They are much heavier than a discount knife but balanced; this means, that even though it's heavier, it will be easier to work with. Think of a heavy wood or steel door in certain buildings. You probably wouldn't be able to open it by just pushing it unless it was balanced. Because they are balanced, you can always open it with ease; this is the same principle of a well-balanced knife.
Tang:
The tang is the part of the blade that goes into or forms the handle; the longer the tang, the better the knife. Not only does the tang assist with the balance of the knife, it also helps in the longevity. Knives that have tangs that are too small and too short tend to break easily at the handle. Especially since that part of the handle is where a lot of the force from cutting is concentrated, you work a much harder in making cuts and slices.
Blade:
A blade should be able to be sharpened. No matter how good a blade it, it will eventually get dull with frequent use. I'm sure you have seen many blades with serrations on them. Serrations are not necessarily a bad thing, however, cheaply made knives use them to mask the poor quality of the knife. A poorly serrated blade has serrations that are small and close together. A more quality serrated knife has large, widely spaced serrations. The wide serrations can be sharpened and the small serrations cannot; even the blades with the small serrations will dull, but since you can't sharpen them, they are useless afterwards. You may also see blades that have semi-circular cut-outs near the cutting edge; these are called hollow grounds. These are concave cuts to allow moisture to escape as you are cutting- especially meats and fish. You'll see this mostly on Japanese knives.
Stamped or forged:
Forged knives are created by a process in which a single piece of molten steel is cut and beaten into the desired shape. Stamped knives are created by a cookie-cutter-type machine and are usually the same thickness throughout, except at the cutting edge.
Knife Types:
There are so many types of knives that it would be cumbersome to list every one and their uses, but I'll list the most common knives that you will find in the average household. It's better to get one quality knife than a large set of poor quality knives; your money will go farther with the one knife. At a minimum, I recommend getting the below knives I outline, and as your interest and skill in cooking improve, purchase the more specialized knives.
Chef's Knife (or Cook's Knife):
This knife is the workhorse of the kitchen. This triangular shaped knife can be used for cutting, slicing, dicing, mincing, etc. The slightly rounded angle of the blade makes it so you can rock it back and forth over the items you are dicing or mincing. The most common sizes are 8", 10" and 12". I find that the 8" is the most versatile. There are 5" and 6" cook's knives sold, which are essentially the same knife, just smaller. If you find these more comfortable, by all means use it, I just find a larger size more versatile in cutting different kinds of meat and vegetables.
Santoku:
This knife serves the same function as the Chef's Knife, except the shape is a little different. This is a Japanese cooking knife, and has a wider blade in which to scoop up the items that are diced. It also has a shallower curve to the blade and is usually hollow-cut, allowing easier cutting for meat and fish. This can be used in place of a Chef's knife; it is totally an individual preference. I use both knives, but tend to use the Santoku for cutting that requires more chopping rather than slicing.
Carving:
This knife has a shape similar to the Chef's knife, but slimmer and narrower. The blade lengths are generally 8"-12" as well as the Chef's knife. This knife is primarily for carving or slicing roasts, whole birds, etc. It is not as heavy as a Chef's knife, and the blade is not as rounded, so it isn't recommended for normal slicing and dicing. The reason a Carving knife is used for carving and not a Chef's knife is because of the narrowness and slimness of the blade. It allows easy carving without tearing the meat. The length makes it so that you can make whole cuts, without trying to make several cuts to carve a slice of meat.
Bread Knife:
A good bread knife is 8"-12" and has a serrated blade. The serrations of the blade allow you to cut bread without crushing it; especially in breads with an especially thick crust. The length is so you can make one cut without lifting the blade from the bread.
Paring Knife:
This knife is usually 3" in length, and shaped like a small Chef's Knife. This knife is used for peeling, making small slices and cuts. It is much easier to use than trying to use a large Chef's Knife when peeling a potato, for instance.
Honing Steel:
This item comes with most good knife sets, and is usually mistaken for a sharpening steel which is a much different thing. Every knife or blade will dull over time; but usually what happens first is that the blade bends over and needs to be unbent. The honing steel will "unbend" the blade; and since you are honing and not sharpening, you pull the blade away from the steel, not towards the steel as if you were sharpening it. The honing steel is made of steel, and has a coarse edge and is also magnetized to assist it in straightening the edge.
The above are the minimum that a good kitchen should have. Other knives that will complement your kitchen are more specialized knives and shouldn't be gotten unless you use it in the prescribed manner. If you do get these specialized knives and don't know how to use them, you are just wasting your money. These knives are: Boning, Fillet, Cake, Cheese, Cleaver, Chinese Cleaver, Utility, Nakiri, Honesuki, and Tomato. I'm sure there are more specialized ones, but these are mostly what you will see at specialty stores.
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