Since time immemorial knives have been a very neglected item on almost everyone’s list. It is extremely useful to know what each knife is actually used for, so this article aims to enlighten you on your knife knowledge. Especially being a chef, Pastry Chef or food enthusiast you should definitely know which knife should be used for each specific job, how to use them safely, effectively and how to maintain them.

Nothing comes close to owning the right cutlery, people sometimes solely focus on owning the most expensive pots and pans and forget about their knives. Being able to effortlessly slice vegetables trumps expensive pots and pans any day.

When in the process of buying knives it is much better to piece together your own set instead of buying pre packed sets. There are dozens of knives out there but you only need a few.

Chef’s Knife

The ideal chef’s knife is the superman to any kitchen item no job is too big or too small for him. This knife consists of a thick and sturdy handle, with an ergonomic grip feature for easy handling. The blade on this knife is 6-14 inches in length, the blade curves along the top and therefore can be easily identified by the tip. It is essentially a multi-purpose knife, it can be used for meat, poultry, fruit and vegetables. It can perform a multitude of functions from cutting, slicing, dicing to shredding.

Pairing Knife

A pairing knife is a short knife, used to perform small simple tasks like peeling vegetables or fruit or creating extremely creative garnishes. The main requirement for a pairing knife is that it is extremely sharp and feels comfortable in your hands. Around 2- 4 and ½ inches in length, similar looking to a chef’s knife just with a little more finesse.

Bread Knife

One of the least used knives in your kitchen but never the less it is very useful. Consisting of a serrated edge, which allows you to seamlessly slice through hard loaves of bread and cut through tomatoes with absolute ease. The blade on this knife is usually between 4-7 inches in length, the width varies depending on the length of each knife.

Carving Knife

This knife is the big shot of the kitchen, a pure workhorse in all kitchen and food preparations. It is the must have tool in every meat lovers kitchen to carve up your Sunday nights roast in minutes. Looks very similar to your chef knife, the difference is it is slightly thinner and longer about 15 inches in length. It is used for slicing up thin cuts of meat the length of the blade allows the user full control from a high level.

Pastry Knife

This knife is extremely popular amongst chefs, designed for pastry work. However Chefs use it for many other tasks. The broad end of this knife acts as a spatula or palette knife, which makes this very handy for spreading, cutting through dough and many other sundry items.

You now can understand what a key component of the kitchen knives are, and it is essential to know what each knife’s purpose is in order for you to prepare food efficiently. This in turn will allow you knives to remain sharp for much longer and will optimize you time spent in the kitchen. International Hotel School Culinary Arts and Pastry Chef students are given a set of Victorinox knives on enrolment and we hope this article enlightened you on the purpose of some of the knives in your set and that you will keep them in condition for years to come.

(Source; hubpages.comwww.kitchenknifeking.com www.craveonline.comsantafe.enewsletters.fourseasons.comwww.cutleryandmore.comstangerscookshop.co.ukwww.cutleryandmore.com kitchenwaredirect.com.au