5 Essential Kitchen Knives You Need Right Now

From slicing a pork loin to dicing a pineapple, knowing how to work with the essential kitchen knives is critical to success in the kitchen. Equipping yourself with the proper knives is key, says Brendan McDermott, chef-instructor and resident knife skills expert at New York’s Institute of Culinary Education.

If you’re equipping your kitchen and wondering “what kitchen knives do I need?”, keep reading to discover the four essential knives every home cook should own, plus how to use them, how not to use them, and what price point yields the best-quality blade.

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1. Chef’s Knife

A classic chef’s knife is the most important knife in your collection. McDermott recommends an 8- to 10-inch chef’s knife, which he acknowledges may be slightly longer than most people are comfortable with at first. However, the longer edge makes the knife more versatile and efficient. “The more blade you have, the more knife you have to do the work for you,” he explains. “And the bigger the blade you have to slice through an ingredient, the safer it is.”

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A chef’s knife is the go-to tool for more than 90 percent of daily kitchen tasks, McDermott notes, including most slicing and dicing of fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish. And while a chef’s knife may be the “king of the kitchen,” it should not be used to butcher or carve poultry, to remove the skin of large vegetables such as butternut squash, or, as some people have tried, to puncture a hole in cans. The broadness of a chef’s knife blade makes it unwieldy for tasks better suited to a smaller knife.

If you’re willing to make an investment in a knife in your arsenal, this is where to do it. Of all the knives you own, McDermott recommends spending the most on your chef’s knife and suggests a price of about $100 for a high-quality chef’s knife. “Remember that knives are heirlooms,” he says. “And the good ones should last forever.”

Choose blades that are full tang (one full piece of metal with the two handle pieces pinned to the sides) versus half-tang (a piece of metal that extends the full length of the knife, but only part of the width, or does not extend the length of the knife and is instead glued into the handle). Full-tang knives are more balanced, sturdier, and longer-lasting than half-tang models. Our test kitchen also generally prefers forged chef’s knives, which are made from a single piece of forged steel, heated and pounded into the desired shape. The other option is a stamped blade, which is cut out of a large sheet of steel and is usually lighter, a quality considered undesirable in a chef’s knife.

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Find a knife that has a nice weight and is comfortable to hold. It needs to have a little heft to it in order to chop through firmer vegetables like carrots and butternut squash. One to try: Mac Knife 8″ Professional Hollow Edge Chef’s Knife.

2. Paring Knife

A paring knife picks up where a chef’s knife leaves off. “Because the average paring knife blade is about 3 1/2 inches long, it’s a great tool for any foods that require an attention to detail,” McDermott says.

It’s best for slicing and mincing items that are too small for an 8- to 10-inch blade, such as mincing garlic, hulling strawberries, or peeling fruits and vegetables.

Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Kitchens