Kitchen Knife Buying Guide (Cheat Sheet)
With many different designs, sizes, blade shapes, and brands it can get confusing how to separate each knife apart and understand what each is designed to do.
We have cleared the air by...
- Putting together a grid which clearly lays out what each knife does, it's purpose, and any unique characteristics they have.
- Including further information as well as example pictures and links of each knife underneath.
The brilliant infographics are thanks to the team at FIX.com
Chef Knife
The bread and butter of any professional chef or cook enthusiast culinary tools would have to be the multi-purpose chef knife.
The chef’s knife is usually designed with a 6 to 14-inch blade length with 8 inch as the most popular length. A multi-purpose knife designed to perform well at a number of tasks as opposed to specialising in any one purpose.
It has a wide, triangular blade and a curved belly for an easy rocking motion when cutting.
They are used for mincing, slicing meat, chopping vegetables and disjointing large cuts. A must-have in any kitchen.
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Santoku Knife
Typically smaller, thinner and lighter than Chef Knives, the name Santoku is translated to ‘three virtues’ symbolizes the characteristics of this knife – chopping, dicing and mincing.
Sometimes come with (scalloped) Granton edges which add air between the knife blade and the food being cut, preventing any food pieces from getting stuck to the blade. This particularly comes in handy when making thin cuts.
Comes with a slightly curved blade for easy mincing.
The Santoku knife is also a great all-purpose knife and may be more comfortable for people with smaller hands allowing you to chop food with ease.
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만능 칼
Midway in size between a Chef's knife and a Paring knife, they are designed for cutting mid-sized fruits and vegetables, slicing cheese, small cuts of meat and sandwiches not quite large enough for a Chef knife.
They are versatile and have a narrower blade than a cook’s knife. They come with a straight or serrated edge and are typically 5-7 inches in length.
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Nakiri (Vegetable) Knife
A Japanese styled knife used for chopping vegetables, it is distinguished by its straight blade edge. This knife allows the user to cut all the way through vegetables with ease without the need of any horizontal push and pull.
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Paring Knife
A small knife with a plain edge blade, these knives are perfect for peeling fruits and vegetables or for small delicate work i.e. slicing a single garlic clove, de-veining a shrimp, cutting shapes into dough and so forth.
They are very versatile and one of the most used knives in a chef’s kitchen. Typically ranges from 2-4 inches long.
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Zwilling J.A. Henckels Paring Knife |
고기 베는 큰 칼
Generally used as a kitchen or butcher knife for hacking through meat and bone and for overall heavy-duty cutting. Comes with a large, rectangular blade.
넓은면은 마늘과 같은 음식을 준비 할 때 분쇄하는 데 사용할 수 있습니다.
Typically ranges from 6-10 inches long.
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Zwilling J.a. Henckels Cleaver. |
꼬리 칼
좁은 칼날과 날카로운 점이 있으면이 나이프는 가금류, 고기, 생선의 뼈를 제거하도록 설계되었습니다.
일반적으로 유연한 블레이드가 있으며 팁 근처의 기저부와 위로 곡선에서 곡선을 휘게하는 길고 좁은 프로파일이 뼈와 연골의 윤곽을 따르도록 설계되었습니다.
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빵 나이프
부드럽거나 단단한 표면을 자르기 위해 설계된 날카로운 톱니 모양의 블레이드를 사용하여 토마토, 살라미, 빵 등을 포함합니다.
일반적으로 8-10 인치의 범위입니다.
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