LOUIS NATHANIEL GATMAITAN

IX-ST.ALBERT THE GREAT

Different Types of Kitchen Knives and

What They’re Used for

As a dedicated cook or professional chef, it is not unusual to have big sets of more than
a dozen different types of kitchen knives in use at once.

Is it complicated? It can be. Does it need to be that way? That depends on the amount
of time you are willing to spend, and the level of precision and perfection you want your
food to be. Using a knife designed specifically for a task just makes every cut a whole
lot faster and easier, saving your head space from unnecessary calculating and
envisioning.

In fact, most people, even those who don’t cook at all, typically have at least 3 different
blades for various uses. Usually more. My mom has 5, and she’s a vegan who only
works on veggies and an unconscious minimalist who aspires to own as less as
possible.
And as everyone has or will have more than a knife or two, it doesn’t hurt to learn about
the knives and how to use them in the way they are intended for.

The Most Popular Types Of Kitchen Knives

There are probably more than a dozen different kitchen knives, some versatile, others
dedicated for extremely specific uses.

The 10 knives in this list are the most popular knives for daily cooking and food serving
jobs. They are the ones that make up the core of all professional as well as home
cook’s knife sets.

The 4 Must-have Blades in Your Kitchen

1. The Chef’s Knife

Also called a cook’s knife, this is the most important item in a knife set.

The knife typically a broad blade tapering upward to a point, allowing the knife to rock
back and forward for fast mincing. It’s about 6 to 12 inches long. A greater length
usually translates to faster, easier slicing, but if you have small hands, a shorter knife
would be easier to control.

A chef’s knife can be forged or stamped. Most chef’s knives are unserrated, but some
brands have also started to make serrated ones.

The knife can be used for almost every task in the kitchen. It cuts tofu, chops squashes,
dices tomatoes, and slices steaks. That is why it is the must-have item in every kitchen
knife set collection, small or big.
2. The Utility Knife

Usually between 4 and 7 inches in length, the utility knife is most of the time treated as
a mini chef’s knife. It can come straight or serrated, and is good for cutting vegetables
and meat that are too small for a chef’s knife.

Utility knives often come with a scalloped edge for flexibility in cutting. It works perfectly
for cutting soft as well as hard veggies, from tomatoes to squash. It is also very useful
when you want to prepare lettuces, cabbage, and sandwich meat.

3. The Santoku Knife

The Santoku knife is a Japanese version of the Western-style chef’s knife. Santoku
means “three virtues”, which are slicing, dicing, and mincing.

A Santoku is usually shorter and thinner than a chef’s knife. Due to a flat blade, it
doesn’t rock on the cutting board. This makes it a lesser choice when you want to mince
herbs, but a better one for skinny slices of veggies.

Santoku’s are sometimes made with a hollow edge, which allows them to cut through
meat and other sticky materials faster, with more precision, and minimal tearing.

The knife is an all-rounder and can do almost everything a typical chef’s knife can. In
fact, it’s used in place of the chef’s knife by some cooks, especially those with tender
hands and prefer a smaller, lighter blade.
4. The Kitchen Shears

Basically a pair of scissors. Except that since they’re for various uses in the kitchen,
from snipping herbs, cutting veggies to sectioning chicken and even outdoor work, the
shears usually come with extremely strong and sharp blades.

Some shears that are designed specifically for fast cutting of green onion or other herbs
may have more than one blade. However, the blades on those shears are usually
thinner, weaker, and take more effort to sharpen than ordinary shears.

The Nice-to-haves
5. The Boning Knife

The boning knife, as you probably have figured, is used for separating meat from bone,
making filet fish, and cutting up meat. It is also a well-loved item by vegetarian – a small
one can be used place of a paring knife for peeling and trimming veggies.

Boning knives are typically about 3 to 8 inches in length, with slightly varying widths of
blades. The blades can be flexi, semi-flexi, or stiff, with stiff blades being the most
popular among home cooks due to the enhanced precision in the cut.
6. The Bread Knife

Bread knives are used for cutting bread, cakes, and sometimes meat, poultry, and
seafood. They are designed in a way that allows you to saw through the bread without
pushing down or squishing it.

Made to cut large chunks of bread, most of these knives are 7 to 10 inches long. The
blades are usually narrow and always serrated, with big “teeth” along it.

7. The Cleaver

The cleaver is usually the bulkiest and weighted knife in the kitchen.

A typical cleaver has a thick spine and a very strong blade, which allows it to cut
through bones and meat in a chopping motion. It’s also very useful for chopping hard
and thick materials such as squash or pumpkin.

The wide, heavy blade makes it ideal for pulverizing cooked or uncooked meat, poultry
and fish, and crushing garlic.
8. The Paring Knife

If
you love making garnishes for your foods and drinks, the paring knife is a must-have.

A parer usually comes with a thin 3 – 4 inches blade and a very pointy tip. It can be
used for cutting and peeling fruits, veggies, and trimming excess fat with precision and
ease.

The most common styles of paring knives include the spear point, sheep’s foot, and
bird’s beak, named after the shape of the point.

9. The Steak Knife

Sometimes used as table knives, steak knives are small knives that are used for not
only cutting meat and fish, but also cutting salads, other (mainly cooked) foods, and
spreading butter.

Steak knives can come with serrated or non-serrated edges. Serrated steak knives are
generally more popular, as they can stay sharp for a longer time without honing or
sharpening.
10. The Nakiri Bocho

The Nakiri bocho is a Japanese style knife used mostly for cutting vegetables. It
features a thin and wide blade and squared off tips.

As it is designed for chopping veggies, the knife has a straight blade that can cut
through long items (think eggplants, carrots) as well as make super thin slices out of
cucumber, bitter gourd, tomatoes and the likes.

11. The Fillet Knife

This knife looks very similar to the boning knife. However, there are subtle
differences between the two.

Since a boning knife is designed to remove meat from the bone, it tends to be
thicker and have better force endurance. The fillet knife, meanwhile, is made to
cut thin fish slices and thus is typically thinner, longer, and more flexible.

In fact, the distinctions are so small the two knives can substitute each other in
most cases. Knife makers sometimes merge the two, hence the emergence of
the boning fillet knife. If you’re a sushi and sashimi pro or a chicken boning pro,
you’d probably notice the differences. Other than that, either of the two should be
sufficient for casual home cooking.