Types of Knives
Pictured Above
far left-waffle cutter, far right-pizza cutter
Top to Bottom-palate knife, french/chef's knife, boning knife and paring knife, serrated/bread knife, steel and stone
Besides your hands, the knife is the most important tool you will use in the kitchen. It may seem like an overwhelming task to choose between the many types of knives available. Selecting the right knife to use will depend on what you are preparing and will make your job that much easier. Below is a list of the most common knives you will use in the kitchen.
French Knife/Chef’s Knife
This is the most versatile of all the main knives. It is used to chop, mince and dice most food products. It can also be used to slice meats and cheeses. A Chefs knife may come in a variety of lengths with a blade between 8-12 inches long (Refer to the parts of a knife document to identify the specific parts of a knife).
Paring Knife
Paring knives are much smaller than Chef’s knives and are used to core, peel, slice and section fruits and vegetables. The tip of the paring knife is particularly sharp and can be used for vegetable carving. Peeling skins on potatoes and apples is made easy because of the paring knife’s short blade.
Boning Knife
It can be difficult to remove raw meat from bone, particularly with the wrong type of knife. The thin light blade of the boning knife allows you to cut cleanly around joints and bones and can also be used when filleting fish.
Serrated Knife/Bread Knife
As the name suggests, this knife is used mainly on bread products. The ridged cutting edge is used in a saw like motion to cleanly cut through the product without tearing or squishing it. When purchasing a serrated knife, make sure to select a longer version, as too short a blade will not allow you to saw through larger loaves of bread.
Types of Knives Continued Carving Knife
The carving knife is used for slicing (or carving) roasts, hams, turkeys and other solid cuts of cooked meat. It has a very long thin blade and must be kept extremely sharp in order to slice cleanly through the fibers of the meat.
Palate Knife
The interesting fact about this type of knife is that the blade has no sharp edge to it. The palate knife is used to spread and smooth icing during cake decorating and can also be used to level dry ingredients when measuring. The flexible blade is the same width from top to bottom, and is gently rounded at the end.
Sharpening Stone
A sharpening stone allows the cook to finely grind the edge of the blade in order to keep its sharp edge true. The required angle of the blade being ground will depend on the type of knife being sharpened.
Sharpening Steel
This long instrument made of hardened steel is used to maintain the edge of a knife between sharpening. The edge of the blade is drawn across the steel in a downwards motion beginning with the heel and ending at the tip. Both sides of the knife blade should be honed equally to maintain the proper edge.
French Knife/Chef’s Knife
This is the most versatile of all the main knives. It is used to chop, mince and dice most food products. It can also be used to slice meats and cheeses. A Chefs knife may come in a variety of lengths with a blade between 8-12 inches long (Refer to the parts of a knife document to identify the specific parts of a knife).
Paring Knife
Paring knives are much smaller than Chef’s knives and are used to core, peel, slice and section fruits and vegetables. The tip of the paring knife is particularly sharp and can be used for vegetable carving. Peeling skins on potatoes and apples is made easy because of the paring knife’s short blade.
Boning Knife
It can be difficult to remove raw meat from bone, particularly with the wrong type of knife. The thin light blade of the boning knife allows you to cut cleanly around joints and bones and can also be used when filleting fish.
Serrated Knife/Bread Knife
As the name suggests, this knife is used mainly on bread products. The ridged cutting edge is used in a saw like motion to cleanly cut through the product without tearing or squishing it. When purchasing a serrated knife, make sure to select a longer version, as too short a blade will not allow you to saw through larger loaves of bread.
Types of Knives Continued Carving Knife
The carving knife is used for slicing (or carving) roasts, hams, turkeys and other solid cuts of cooked meat. It has a very long thin blade and must be kept extremely sharp in order to slice cleanly through the fibers of the meat.
Palate Knife
The interesting fact about this type of knife is that the blade has no sharp edge to it. The palate knife is used to spread and smooth icing during cake decorating and can also be used to level dry ingredients when measuring. The flexible blade is the same width from top to bottom, and is gently rounded at the end.
Sharpening Stone
A sharpening stone allows the cook to finely grind the edge of the blade in order to keep its sharp edge true. The required angle of the blade being ground will depend on the type of knife being sharpened.
Sharpening Steel
This long instrument made of hardened steel is used to maintain the edge of a knife between sharpening. The edge of the blade is drawn across the steel in a downwards motion beginning with the heel and ending at the tip. Both sides of the knife blade should be honed equally to maintain the proper edge.