Kitchen Knives – Basic Kitchen Knife Types

O.K., here we are at the first blog post that will start off my first series of videos that will be called Kitchen Knife Basics 101. We will not be starting with things like basic culinary kitchen knife cutting techniques, rather we will be starting out with a basic primer of your kitchen knife types followed by the videos that will cover subjects like basic kitchen knife types(what I will be covering in the blog post) and then we will move onto subjects like kitchen knife grind types, edge types, steel types, the differences between Western European versus Japanese Culinary knives and much more. One of the most important things that I will be sharing with you is PROPER knife care and servicing. It is a ideal goal to not let others maintain your most valuable tools for you as you will know how you want your knives to be sharpened. There will be many more videos in this series to cover many more topics than I can touch on here. So let’s get on with the show and have a review of our basic kitchen knife types.

French Knife

The first knife I will talk about it your standard French Knife  or Chef’s Knife. The original style of the culinary French knife hails from Germany. It is narrow at the point and wide at the handle. The modern French kitchen knife is designed to perform many different chores rather than just being a knife designed to do one chore and one chore only. It is generally used for mincing, slicing, dicing, chopping veggies, slicing meat and at times disjointing large cuts of meat. Your standard French knife is your all purpose knife in the kitchen and you can find them in lengths from six inches to fourteen inches. It is the gentle curve of the blade from the point to the end of the blade near the handle that allows for the smooth rocking motion that you see in many cutting chores. In some instances the weight of some French knives can be used for light duty bone chopping like on chickens with you find the joint. This is a common practice, but personally I would not do more than this with my French knife. French knife styles are produced in Europe and more recently many Japanese manufacturers have started to build French knives. I use a Mac French For all intents and purposes the French knife is the heavy duty all purpose heavy duty food preparation knife in the kitchen. The blade style type of the French knife can come in a saber grind or a full flat grind or modified Japanese grind types.(More on knife grind types in a future video and blog post)

Paring Knife

The second knife to talk about is the Paring knife. The history of the production kitchen knife set can be attributed to one of the oldest cutlery companies in the world, J.A. Henckels Co. Founded in 1731 they have been producing kitchen cutlery since then and as stated with the French knife, the Paring knife is originally a German design. The Paring knife is your smaill knife with a plain edge(although some makers produce paring knives today with serrated edges for use on things like citrus fruits.)That is used ideally for peeling, coring, and sectioning and other small types of intricate cutting chores. It is excellent for de-veiining schrimp, removing seeds from peppers, and making small garnishes. It an all purpose little bother to the French knife. Your standard Paring knife comes in sizes from two inches to four inches

Slicer Or Slicing Knife

Your standard Slicer or Slicing knife is the close cousin to your Carving knife. It is traditionally a plain or flat edged knife, but today comes in both plain and serrated versions. It is primarily used for carving meats and poultry and many people like me use a Western European slicer to cut my sashimi. In some cases a Slicer is used to also clean a tenderloin. Most people use one to slice sandwiches, fruits, and veggies. It is a Slicing knifes long, thin blade that allows it to produce nice thin and uniform slices. The Slicer makes nice clean cuts in meat and other soft foods like fish. Slicers need to be longer than six inches in most cases because the object of the slice is to make that slice in one clean stroke and not to have to rock the blade back and forth as this will creat a jagged cut in the food you are cutting. The smallest Slicer that is practical is eight inches, but for the utmost in versatility I would recommend a ten or twelve inch Slicer.

Boning Knife

The standard kitchen Boning knife is a blade that is narrow with an extremely sharp point for fine intricate work about bone. It is typically used in food preparation for taking the bones out of meat, chicken and fish. They are typically five to six and a half inches in forged models, but today come in many sizes from three inches to nine and a half inches with straight blades or upswept angled blades depending on the manufacturer. Boning knives are not meant to be as “thick” as other culinary knives and this is because it is designed for precision chores. Boning knives can come in both rigid and flexible model types and come in both Western European and Japanese models. Rigid boning knives are excellent for working with beef or pork and flex Boning knives are good for working with poultry and fish. The arc in the upswept boning knife style is done this way to enhance the ability to  make a single passing cut when removing fish flesh from  skin and bone. Western European boning knives are called “boning knives” and the Japanese counterpart is referred to as “Honesuki” or “Gukojo.” (More about Japanese Kitchen Knives in future blog posts……Stay tuned!)

Tourneau Knife

The culinary Tourneau Knife is a curved paring knife that is made for precise trimming or peeling of whatever fruits or veggies you have on hand that need to be peeled or trimmed. It is the classic paring knife for making Tourneau is classic French cuisine. It is one of the more difficult kitchen knives to sharpen for most people, but it can be done. This knife is commonly also called a “birds beek.”

Butcher Knife

As you would expect this is a knife for a butcher. The one pictured is a Forschner Scimitar or Cimeter with a large upswept blade for heavy cutting and even chopping chores when working on large game from a hunt or large sides of meat in a butchen shop. It can be used for slicing and even slicing and jullienne. I use it when I make conk salad and the large swoop of the blade let’s me rock and cut very quickly.

Fillet Knife

The kitchen fillet knife comes in many lengths and blade thicknesses these days. The average home fillet knife can range from four to nine inches or more in length and in general terms are in average 4,6,7.5 and 9 inch lengths. Each manufacturer is different between the Western Europeans and the Japanese. The difference in the blade length is in direct relation with the size of the fish that you want to fillet. The smaller the blade, the smaller the fish and the larger the blade, the larger the fish. In today’s market most home fillet knives and most fillet knives for the outdoors sports fisherman are made of stainless steel but at the same time there are many makers that produce them in good old fashioned 1095 carbon steel. In the European market you can get both types make in places like Finland, Norway and Sweden and they are excellent. The funny thing about the stainless steel fillet knives is that most manufacturers do not list what kind of stainless the knife is made from. Believe me when I tell you that not all stainless steel is the same!If you go with a name that has a reputation then you will be just fine whether you are shopping for a home fillet knife or outdoors sporting type. Also be aware that not all fillet knives have the same amount of flex in them and you will want to test the waters so to speak to find the one that you are most comfortable with.

Honing Steel

This is a standard tool in the professional and home kitchen that is used for “honing” the blade of your knives. I said “hone” and not “sharpen” because the fact of the matter is that you cannot “sharpen” your culinary knives with a steel, it is only used for straightening the edge of your knife so that you can continue to work. Eventually, you will have to do a complete sharpening on your knives after the honing process in not effective anymore. Anyone who tells you that you can “sharpen” your knife on a steel is mistaken. Yes you can shave hair after honing your knife on a steel, but that is not a true razor edge, it is the micro serrations created by the steel that are clipping your hair. There are many types of “honing steels” on the market today. Some are made of carbide, diamond, ceramic, or case hardened steel. Some “honing steels” are flat surfaced and some are corrugated and some are coated with industrial diamonds that are either poly surfaced or mono surfaced.(More on honing steels and how to sharpen with a honing steel
in upcoming blog posts and videos………stay tuned!)

So there you have it a basic review of the most basic kitchen knives in your home. I hope you enjoyed it. The video series will follow shortly so stay tuned!

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