One of the most important things you need in your kitchen is a good set of knives. They cut up vegetables, bread, meat, and debone certain meats and fish. Without a good set of knives, you can’t fully function in your kitchen, that’s why it’s so important to have a collection you can always rely on. This article covers all the knives you need for your kitchen, and the best way to store them!
The Chef’s Knife is one of the most important knives you can have in your kitchen. You’ll need one that’s at least 8 to 10 inches long. The Chef’s knife has a curve to the blade, and the curvature of the blade is designed so that the knife can be used in a rocking motion. All that needs to be done when cutting, for example a bunch of spring onions, is to never lose contact with the board, and rock the knife backwards and forwards so that it cuts smoothly and evenly.
Another great use of the chef’s knife is to julienne vegetables, and make them into long strips. It’s easiest to use the base of the knife, where it’s heavier, to cut through things like carrots. Remember, for safety reasons, it’s always important to leave the knife on the wooden cutting board at all times, especially if you have small kids running around.
The Offset Serrated Knife is essential for anything that has a skin on it, like the crust of bread, as well as tomatoes. Remember to make sure it is an “offset” serrated knife and not just an ordinary serrated knife. The blade of an offset serrated knife is designed to be lower than the handle by roughly an inch or more, giving you an L-shaped profile between the handle of the knife, and the blade. This will make sure you don’t ever bang or scrape your knuckles on the cutting board, and keeps fingers far away from the food that is being cut.
This is a great knife for things like filleting fish and for working with meat. It has an upswept curve to the tip of the blade, with a stiff tip, and is not very flexible. It’s used in a slicing or dagger motion (pulling towards you or pushing away). It has a sharp tip that really gets into joints and bones. It would be used for removing skin from a fish. This is a perfect knife for getting rid of the skin of your salmon fillets.
This is a great small knife for cutting things like sausages and cheese. It’s best to have a plastic handle with this knife, as you’ll be washing it a lot, and will need to do it quickly. These grip really easily, and are solid and durable.
The blade of this knife is only as wide as the hilt of the knife. This is the knife you would use for breaking large pieces of meat into slightly smaller pieces. Breaking Knives can be divided into different knives such as the Scimitar, Skinning, and Cleaver Knives. The Scimitar breaking knife would be used to cut meat into portions. The Cleaver is light and rectangle in shape, and is best used for small proteins such as rabbit, chicken and baby goat. The larger cleaver, which is called a Lamb Splitter is used to cut a whole carcass by hand, and you would only use such a thing if you were a butcher.
This is the perfect knife to slice meat very finely – such as prosciutto. It has a long, thin blade, with either a round or pointed tip.
This knife is your small general use knife that’s perfect for opening packets with food inside, and trimming fat off certain pieces of meat. It usually has a 3 to 4-inch blade. Some paring knives even come with a serrated edge. Certain paring knives are hooked at the end and best used for peeling, and some are used as small boning knives. This is a very handy and popular knife to have in the kitchen.
There are certain ways of storing knives. Some people store their knives in drawers – but that’s a surefire way of getting hurt and cutting yourself. The second way is with knife blocks; however, these are clunky and take up a lot of space on your kitchen counter. They’re also not easy to clean, and their slots can collect a lot of germs. The third, and best way to store your kitchen knives, is with a stainless-steel magnetic knife holder that can either be placed on the fridge or the wall. This way your knives will always be easy to reach, and well-organized!
Life in the kitchen becomes really simple when you have the correct “tools” on hand! It’s worth spending a little bit more on a great set of knives, so look online and compare different makes, and remember to also have a stainless-steel magnetic knife holder ready to store all of them if you want a well-organized kitchen!
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