Kitchen utensils of all kinds abound. Just look in any kitchen store or in the aisles of kitchenware at other retail stores and you’ll see an amazing array of items used for cooking. If a utensil has only one use, sometimes it doesn’t get used very often. However, there are other utensils that are more versatile, and needed and used daily.

Knives Are The Workhorse Of The Kitchen

If you do much cooking at all, you’ll use not one, but several kinds of knives. Each of these kitchen utensils has a specific function, like chopping, slicing, or filleting food.

All knives have the same major parts.

The Main Part Of The Knife - The Blade

The blade is pretty self-explanatory, being the metal part of the knife used for cutting, from the handle to the tip. It’s the most important part of the knife, and the quality of the blade determines how well the knife cuts. Good quality blades make it much easy to do food preparation for cooking.

A Better Bolster

The bolster is the small part between the blade and the handle, connecting the two together. Obviously, it needs to hold the blade securely to the handle so the blade doesn’t fall off while you’re using it.

A bolster that does NOT cover the full width of the blade is actually advantageous. That might seem sturdier, but it gets in the way of sharpening the blade. A bolster that doesn’t reach clear to the edge of the blade is preferable for that reason.

The Whole Tang

The tang is an extension of the blade. This extension provides a way to attach the handle since it runs into and through the middle of the handle. It also helps give the knife good balance. A tang makes a knife more durable, too, since it adds strength to the knife.

Sometimes a tang runs only partway into the handle, and other times it goes the entire length of the handle. A knife of good quality will have a tang that runs the full length of the handle, making it strong and well-balanced.

Getting A Handle

You need a way to safely hold a knife, and that’s the handle. The handle encases the tang, holding it securely. A knife handle can be made of many different materials such as wood, metal or various types of plastic.

A handle should not only be sturdy, it should be easy to hold. Considering how much a knife is used in the kitchen, it’s a good idea if it is comfortable to hold.

Types of Kitchen Knives

Checking the different parts of the knife for quality gives you an idea what to look for when buying a good knife. When buying a knife, however, you’ll discover there’s a wide variety of types available. Some of these include:

· Boning Knife

· Butter Knife

· Cheese Knife

· Chef’s Knife

· Cleaver

· Deli Knife

· Filet Knife

· Frozen Food Knife

· Mincing Knife

· Paring Knife

· Sandwich Knife

· Serrated Knife

· Slicing-Carving Knife

· Steak

· Utility

There are also specialty knives for chestnuts, clams, grapefruits, deveining, lettuce and oysters, plus specialty knives for different types of cuisines such as Japanese and Asian.

With so many different types of knives out there, it’s fortunate you don’t need to buy one of each.

The Bare Essentials of Knives For The Kitchen

While every knife has a use, most people don’t need so many of the more specialized knives. Everyone should have a certain few kinds of knives in their kitchen, however. These are the versatile types that can do many different types of food preparation. And fortunately you can usually purchase them as kitchen knife sets.

The Paring Knife

If you don’t have any other knife, you need a paring knife. It’s got a straight blade with a sharp edge, and is a smaller knife. Paring knives run from about three to five inches long with a thin blade that tapers to a point at the tip.

This little kitchen knife is easy to handle and use. The paring knife is so names since its main use if for paring foods. It’s also good for cutting up small items, coring apples and such, and mincing garlic and other foods. Food preparation requires at least one good paring knife.

A Knife For A Chef

The Chef’s or Cook’s knife is another versatile knife. Coming in lengths of about 6 inches to 12 inches, there are several different sizes of chef’s knives available. Mini chef’s knives are the smaller sizes. These smaller knives are the best chef knives for people with smaller hands. The bigger chef knive are well suited to people with larger hands. The knife will balance better in a bigger hand.

The chef knife picks up where the paring knife leaves off, and can cut bigger vegetables, fruits and meats. It works well for chopping, mincing and slicing foods. The bigger size makes it better suited for the heavy duty work, and making thicker slices than a paring knife.

The Serrated Knife

Instead of a straight edge like the paring and chef knives have, the serrated knife has notches in the blade. It can be anywhere from 5 to 10 inches long. A serrated knife is best used for foods that are hard on the outside, while being soft on the inside. A good example is a loaf of homemade bread since it’s crusty hard on the outside, and softer on the inside. A serrated blade also works well for slicing tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.

Put A Cleaver To Good Use

You could make do with a paring knife, chef’s knife and serrated knife, but there’s one other blade that is highly useful in the kitchen. This knife had a very wide blade which is usually about 6 inches in length.

A cleaver is good for pounding and crushing foods, although it can also be used to chop and shred foods like the other knives. Another good use for the cleaver is cutting through hard materials such as chicken bones.

Not only can a cleaver pulverize meat, but the flat of the blade can be used to crush garlic and other herbs. Most cleavers come with a hole near the end of the blade so it can be hung up somewhere out of the way. This takes care of the problem of the cleaver taking up so much room in one of your kitchen drawers.

Choose Good Quality Knives For The Kitchen

Whatever knives you chose, get the best quality you can. The better quality the knives you use are, the easier it will be to prepare foods.

The more you cook, the more you will appreciate using good quality knives, and may wish to expand your selection to include more types. However, for a starter kitchen, the chef’s knife, paring knife, serrated knife and cleaver are good basic equipment.

Every kitchen can use a few good knives.