Unless you’re a professional chef who knows exactly what they are doing in the kitchen and goes to bed at night dreaming about which spices they will mix to create a legendary taste, choosing which knife is best suited to your style of cooking can seem a hard task.
You may spend hours trolling the internet, reading reviews and watching YouTube videos, but you will still be left feeling unsure whether you are in need a chef’s knife or a Santoku knife.
At Dexam, we believe that when you have the ideal tools around you, cooking can become fun, allowing you to create and get experimenting with your dishes.
If you are unsure about which knife is best suited to your needs, then this guide is aimed at you.
Paring Knife
A paring knife is a small kitchen knife ideal when it comes to food preparation, whether you are peeling, de-veining, skinning or cutting vegetables and fruit into small chunks. An all-purpose knife, the paring knife is ideal for those who are wanting a smaller blade, as the paring knife is the smaller version to the chef’s knife.
Chef’s Knife
The chef’s knife is also referred to as the cook’s knife and is the larger equivalent to the paring knife. An all-purpose knife, the blade on the chef’s knife is curved to allow the knife to rock back and forth across the chopping board, helping to create a more even cut. When cooking with a chef’s knife along with being able to prepare food, the strong blade is also ideal for cutting bone, making the chef’s knife an ideal all-in-one choice for the perfect knife.
Utility Knife
A popular choice of knife and falling in size between the chef’s knife and the paring knife, the utility knife is a smaller knife, ideal for chopping delicate items of food. If you are looking for the ideal knife to use when cutting vegetables or fruit, then this is the knife for you.
Bread Knife
If there is one job suited to this style of knife, then cutting bread is the job for it. The bread knife is a serrated knife that can slice neatly into a loaf of bread without crushing it. This knife may be one of the most well-known styles of knife, and is great if you plan on cutting loaf after loaf of fresh bread.
Santoku Knife
A Japanese knife, the Santoku knife is in an essence much similar to a chef’s knife than you might think. With a straighter blade, this style of knife is the perfect choice when choosing a knife to slice and dice meat, fish or vegetables. If you are planning to get experimental in the kitchen or are wanting a knife that can handle the heat and the expectations that are you expecting, then this knife should be your number one choice.
When talking about the bread knife we mentioned that the blade has been serrated, but for readers who are unaware of what serrated means, here is the answer for you. A serrated blade is any knife that has a wavy or saw-like blade to it. The serrations are added to knives to help create a neater and even cut and allow you to slice through the bread without squashing or damaging it.
With many un-serrated knives, when they have become blunt you can either use a diamond sharpening steel, diamond sharpening stone or our favourite choice, an electric knife sharpener. If you are wanting to sharpen a serrated knife, then you will be unable to use an electric knife sharpener and will have to instead purchase specialist equipment.
For owners of knives that are not serrated and are looking for the perfect knife sharpener to make a crisp cut, the Chef’s Choice range is perfect and comes in a range of prices for all budgets.
Any queries or questions you had on the different style of knives has been answered for you and if you are feeling ready to make your next purchase and buy that knife you have been dreaming of, take a look at our fantastic collection of quality British Forest and Forge knives.