Since I bought a set of kitchen knives not so long ago I thought, hey let me make a guide.
If you want to cook anything you need to have at least some basic knives in your kitchen. This is a guide which will cover the knives you need. In the future, I will make a more in-depth guide.
You can buy steel or ceramic knives. If you are a beginner go with steel, ceramic knives have their uses but they are very brittle if you drop them even once they can become useless since they chip easily, there goes your 20$ investment down the drain.
Here are the basic kitchen knives in no particular order.
1. Chef’s knife
The most versatile knife you can have in your kitchen. It a big and heavy blade, a perfect workhorse knife, you can dice, slice, chop and mince with this thing.
They have a broad blade that curves towards the tip which allows you more precise cutting and movements.
1.2 Santoku knife
This is the Japanese cousin to the Chef’s knife, a heavy workhorse knife. With its wide blade, you can’t really make precise cuts and movements.
Santoku knives are great for meat and fish cutting, and scooping food with its wide blade. That wide blade also works perfectly for vegetable chopping.
2. Carving knife
Another workhorse knife which is used to slice trough cooked meats. It has a long and thin blade which can be serrated, this allows the knife to precisely cut meat and vegetables into smaller cuts.
NOTE: Use the Chef’s knife if you can’t to chop meat, if you use a slicing knife for that you can damage it.
3. Boning knife
As the name suggests, this is a specialty knife which is mainly used for removing meat from the bone.
When you start dealing with bones and joint you realize that you need a flexible blade. With it’s thin and curved blade the boning knife allows you to make precise cuts.
4. Utility Knife
Chef’s little brother, also a workhorse knife.
This is an everyday knife, slicing vegetables, cutting or slicing meat you name it.
5. Vegetable knife
A sturdy knife with a straight edge used to cut smaller fruits and vegetables.
Vegetable knives are compared to paring knives, but there is a difference. Vegetable knives have a straight edge while paring knives have a bit of a curved edge.
6. Honing steel
Now I am cheating a bit. You can see this is not a knife but it is essential.
You need to use this to hone your knives so they stay sharp. Honing a knife smooths and realigns the worn edge of the knife.
7. Bread knife
This knife is THICC and mainly used for cutting loaves of bread, annd I don’t use it for that purpose.
You need to be a miracle worker to cut bread with this, in most cases the bread will fall apart.
This small slicing knife that cost me about 50 cents, yes you heard me right. Use this to cut bread and you will never have any troubles again.
As for the bread knife, it is better used for cutting “slippery foods” like tomatoes, melons, bell peppers…
8. Chinese/vegetable cleaver
This is not a meat cleaver, it has a finer rectangular blade.
I would say this is also a workhorse tool. It is great for chopping through bones, frozen foods, and vegetables.
9. Peeling knife
With an edge like a bird’s beak, it is used to decorate carve or peel fruits and vegetables.
10. Meat cleaver
If you are a meat lover you will need a cleaver. With its wide blade and thick spine, they are used to cut up pork, lamb and poultry meat and bone.
Since they tend to be a bulkier tool they are not used for slicing and cutting, only for chopping.
11. Paring knife
As said before this is similar to the vegetable knife but it is more versatile.
It is an everyday knife used for peeling vegetables, fruits and sometimes for very precise meat cutting and slicing.
CONCLUSION
As you can see there are many types of knives that were covered a there are a lot more knife types that I didn’t even talk about here.
These are all must have knives that every guy should have in their home. If you are just starting your knife collection, these 5 knives are essential for every would-be chef to have:
1. Chef’s knife
2. Carving knife
3. Utility knife
4. Paring knife
5. Honing steel
Would you include any other knife in this list, did you find this guide informative?
Share your thought in the comments.
