The most common types of kitchen knives

The whole variety of kitchen knives can be roughly divided into five types: general-purpose, universal, meat, cheese and special. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with their features.

General purpose

A standard set designed to solve the most common tasks in the kitchen. The kit includes:

1. Chef knife (German, French) - a real all-rounder with a curved blade and impressive weight. The wide and heavy blade copes with both bone chopping and chopping greens with equal success. And the accelerated cutting of vegetables without unnecessary effort is provided by the shape of the cutting edge, thanks to which the tool can be rocked without lifting it from the board. The popular size is 20 cm, but there are also specimens from 15 to 30 cm long.

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2. Vegetable peeler with a straight or claw-like blade. Its modest size (6–10 cm) makes it ideal for small or complex jobs. The small blade is equally convenient for peeling vegetables and fruits, as for peeling shrimp or for decorative cutting of food.
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3. Utility knife - an auxiliary tool that often brings a smile to professional chefs. This product occupies an intermediate niche between the two above-mentioned varieties. It is too light for the tasks a German chef can handle (chopping, crushing bones). At the same time, a long (10–18 cm) blade is poorly suited for cleaning or neat curly work.

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4. Bread knife - a blade with a serrated blade. The characteristic shape allows you to cut neat slices without crushing a soft loaf or crumbling a hard one. Length from 15 to 25 cm.

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5. Butter knife, which is considered to be a serving cutlery. Meanwhile, it is difficult to imagine making sandwiches without this tool with a wide and flexible blade. A blade with a rounded point and a blunt (sometimes wavy) edge does an excellent job of distributing soft cheese, jam, butter, mayonnaise and similar products evenly over a slice of bread.

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Universal

A characteristic feature of these knives is a large, wide and heavy blade, complemented by a handle that excludes contact of fingers with the working surface. Such a tool is equally convenient for chopping greens, cutting large pieces of meat or preparing fish steaks for heat treatment.

Universals can be safely called:

1. Western chef knife, the blade of which can be made in French or German style. The first is more direct. The second one has a pronounced curvature of the blade, making it easier to swing the knife on the cutting board.

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2. Guito (Japan) is not much different from the German and French station wagons, being their closest analogue.
3. Santoku Is another chef's knife created in the Land of the Rising Sun. It is slightly smaller, lighter and sharper than the previously mentioned options, but it copes with cutting meat, fish, poultry and vegetables just as well.

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4. Kaidao (China) - a station wagon with a remarkable blade shape. This is a true cleaver, undeniable in its ability to handle large carcasses or grind bones.

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Meat

This group includes knives designed for working with poultry, meat, fish and even bones. Depending on the tasks performed, they are distinguished:

1. Carving knife, from 20 to 38 cm long. Used for slicing thin pieces of pre-cooked meat or poultry. It differs from utility knives only in a smaller blade thickness.

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2. Slicer. The tool is characterized by a long flexible blade and a rounded tip. The functions are the same as that of a carving knife, but the task is performed with greater precision. Also suitable for cutting fish. A close analogue of a slicer is a ham knife, which can also be used to cut melons (watermelon, melon). Length 20-40 cm.

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3. Cleaver (hatchet) notable for a large and heavy blade of a rectangular shape or expanding to the edge and a massive butt. This tool is suitable for both meat chopping and bone chopping.

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4. Boning - used to cut meat from bone. Characteristic features - a thin flexible blade with a length of 12 to 15 cm.

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5. Sirloin - an irreplaceable assistant when cutting fish. The blade is ideal for propelling along the spine or under the skin of the carcass. Length - from 15 to 28 cm.

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Cheese

Usually, this fermented milk product is associated with slicers or strings, with the help of which neat slices are cut. However, if we talk specifically about the usual knives, then we can distinguish varieties:

1. For soft cheese - a blade with large holes in the blade (between the cutting edge and the butt). This feature is focused on reducing the contact area of ​​the product with the metal. This prevents the slices from sticking to the blade.

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2. For hard cheese - slicers with a split tip, which is used instead of a fork when placing slices on a plate.

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3. For parmesan. A short massive blade, adapted for breaking off portioned pieces from a very hard head.

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Special

These knives are so numerous that their description is quite worthy of a separate article. Therefore, for now, we will restrict ourselves to a visual acquaintance with the most common species.

Tour (removal of peels and stains).

For decor.

Saw knife (for frozen food).

Deviner (for cleaning shrimp).

Oyster.

For grapefruit.

Tomato.

Mezzaluna.

We will dwell on this original version in more detail. Due to the characteristic shape of the blade, such a knife can also be called a crescent moon. Its main purpose is to grind herbs and garlic. However, such a "blade" is also used for chopping meat and poultry or for slicing pizza. Almost a versatile person originally from Italy and is sometimes able to surprise with the presence of two or three blades.

This completes today's excursion into the world of kitchen knives. If any of the variants of such a useful tool was undeservedly forgotten - please, tell me about it in the comments.