A kitchen needs utensils, and there's such a wide variety available it will boggle your mind. Just look in any kitchen store or in the aisles of kitchenware at other retail stores and you’ll see an amazing array of items used for cooking. It you can only use a kitchen utensil for one specific task, sometimes it doesn't get used very often. However, there are other utensils that are more versatile, and needed and used daily.
Knives Are The Kitchen Workhorse
If you do much cooking at all, you’ll use not one, but several kinds of knives. Each of these kitchen utensils has a specific function, like chopping, slicing, or filleting food.
However, all knives are constructed with pretty much the same parts.
The Main Part Of The Knife - The Blade
The blade is pretty self-explanatory, being the metal part of the knife used for cutting, from the handle to the tip. It’s the most important part of the knife, and the quality of the blade determines how well the knife cuts. Good quality blades make it much easy to do food preparation for cooking.
A Better Bolster
The bolster is the small part between the blade and the handle, connecting the two together. To keep the blade securely attached to the handle is the bolster's main job.
However, it's also worth noting that there is an advantage to having a bolster that is not the full width of the end of the blade. That might seem sturdier, but it gets in the way of sharpening the blade. For that reason, it's preferable that the bolster doesn't reach clear to the edge of the blade.
The Whole Tang
The tang is an extension of the blade. Running through the middle of the handle, the tang not only provides a way to attach the handle, but helps give the knife good balance. It makes a knife more durable to have the tany running into the handle.
Sometimes the tang only goes partway into the handle. They are of varying lengths. A well constructed knife has a tang that runs the full length of the handle, making it strong and well-balanced.
Getting A Handle
You need a way to safely hold a knife, and that’s the handle. The handle encases the tang, holding it securely. A handle can be composed of a variety of plastics, or made of metal or wood.
A handle should not only be sturdy, it should be easy to hold. Since you use a knife a good bit in the kitchen, it's much better if it's a good fit to your hand.
Checking the different parts of the knife for quality gives you an idea what to look for when buying a good knife. There's a wide variety of knife types available however. Some of these include:
· Boning Knife
· Butter Knife
· Cheese Knife
· Chef’s Knife
· Cleaver
· Deli Knife
· Filet Knife
· Frozen Food Knife
· Mincing Knife
· Paring Knife
· Sandwich Knife
· Serrated Knife
· Slicing-Carving Knife
· Steak
· Utility
There are also specialty knives for chestnuts, clams, grapefruits, deveining, lettuce and oysters, plus specialty knives for different types of cuisines such as Japanese and Asian.
Fortunately, you don't need to buy every kind of knife availalbe.
The Bare Essentials of Knives For The Kitchen
While every knife has a use, most people don’t need so many of the more specialized knives. There are some kinds of knives, however, that should be in everyone's kitchen. Knives that can handle more than one task, and are able to do many types of food preparation are a must.
The Paring Knife
If you don’t have any other knife, you need a paring knife. It's a smaller type of knife, possessing a straight blade with a sharp edge. Paring knives run from about three to five inches long with a thin blade that tapers to a point at the tip.
This little knife is easy to handle and use. This name is named for its main function, paring foods. It’s also good for cutting up small items, coring apples and such, and mincing garlic and other foods. A good paring knife should be in every kitchen.
A Knife For A Chef
The Chef’s or Cook’s knife is another versatile knife. The chef's knife come in several different lengths, from 6 inches to 12 inches long. The smaller sized chef knives are called mini chef’s knives. These knives are especially good for people with smaller hands. The bigger chef knife is a good fit for people with bigger hands, allowing the knife to balance well in their hand.
The chef knife picks up where the paring knife leaves off, and can cut bigger vegetables, fruits and meats. It works well for chopping, mincing and slicing foods. The bigger size makes it better suited for the heavy duty work, and making thicker slices than a paring knife.
The Serrated Knife
Instead of a straight edge like the paring and chef knives have, the serrated knife has notches in the blade. It can be anywhere from 5 to 10 inches long. A serrated knife works well for foods that are hard on the outside, while being soft on the inside. One of the best examples is a loaf of homemade bread. The serrated blade is also good for slicing tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.
Put A Cleaver To Good Use
You could make do with a paring knife, chef’s knife and serrated knife, but there’s one other blade that is highly useful in the kitchen. This knife had a very wide blade which is usually about 6 inches in length.
Like other knives, a cleaver can be used to chop and shred foods, but it is also good for pounding and crushing foods. Additionally, the cleaver is a good knife for cutting through hard materials such as chicken bones.
Not only can a cleaver pulverize meat, but the flat of the blade can be used to crush garlic and other herbs. The cleaver is a good sized knife. It would take up a lot of space in a kitchen drawer. To help with that problem, most cleavers come with a hole near the end of the blade so it can be hung up somewhere out of the way.
Choose Good Quality Knives For The Kitchen
Whatever knives you chose, get the best quality you can. A kitchen knife will be used almost every day, do do yourself a favor and buy good ones. It will make meal preparation just that much easier.
The more you cook, the more you will appreciate using good quality knives, and may wish to expand your selection to include more types. When just getting started, however, the chef's knife, paring knife, serrated knife and cleaver make a good basic set of knives.
Every kitchen can use a few good knives.
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