One of the main elements of work in the kitchen is a kitchen knife. It would seem, what could be easier? But not every housewife knows what they are and why to use one or another type.

Especially for you, we have prepared a selection of the main types of kitchen knives and their purposes with photos and brief characteristics. Let's try to figure out which of them are really needed in the kitchen, and which are useful only occasionally and just take up extra space.

The main types of kitchen knives

Despite all the diversity, three knives are rightfully considered the main chef's trio, without which the cooking process seems extremely difficult and labor-intensive. Consider each of the knives in more detail.

Chef's knife. Universal Tool, which can replace most other knives - except perhaps the bread knife. However, many cooks manage only with them - a matter of technology. A fairly large heavy knife, despite its size, is easy to use. Shredding vegetables, slicing meat, peeling fruit... All this is easy to do with a chef's knife.

A wide blade eighteen to twenty-five centimeters long should be perfectly sharpened and strong enough. Strength is essential for handling frozen foods.

Considering that the highest requirements have always been put forward for the quality of this knife, we have prepared for you.

Another important component of the "big three" is a bread knife with a serrated blade. The length of such a knife is about twenty-one centimeters. His salient feature- a blade similar to a saw-hacksaw, processed by the serrated sharpening method. The specially serrated blade easily cuts the bread pulp without crushing it.

The last required tool is a small one. vegetable peeler, with a blade about seven to eight centimeters. The small size allows you to comfortably hold it in your hand and thoroughly peel potatoes, zucchini and other vegetables or fruits - something that is difficult to handle with larger knives.

Popular types of knives

Of course, these are not all types of knives for use in the kitchen. If you go to a special chef's shop, the variety of knives will amaze you. We offer to study in more detail those of them that can be a good addition to the main cook three.

Perhaps at the top of this list should be utility knife, which is found in almost every home. The classic-shaped blade usually reaches fifteen centimeters. This knife is suitable for both meat and vegetables. It is easy to use and does not require special skills.
However, with soft or, conversely, too hard products, such a knife will not cope.

Few people know that the potato peeler available in almost every home is actually also a kind of knife. A vegetable peeler, if you use the official terminology, thanks to two blades turned towards each other, is very convenient for peeling vegetables and fruits. Floating blades provide additional ergonomics - the hand gets tired of such a knife much less than if you were trying to peel potatoes or apples with a regular knife.

Another useful knife kitchen hatchet. A wide square blade up to eighteen centimeters long is indispensable for chopping meat. Due to its high strength, it allows you to easily cut through large pieces of meat, including frozen.

Its peculiarity is also interesting: if most knives need to be cut along the product, such an ax should be lowered deeper.

Important: if you decide to purchase a kitchen hatchet, pay attention to the handle! It should be comfortable and not slip in your hand - otherwise you may be injured.

For a non-professional home kitchen, it will not be superfluous to purchase a small sandwich knife with a slightly rounded blade. Who among us does not like to make a couple of sandwiches for breakfast or afternoon tea?

The peculiar shape of such a knife will allow you to conveniently spread butter and other soft products on bread: pates, melted cheese, soft cottage cheese or mousse, jam ...

The 8 cm wide blade makes it much easier to make sandwiches.

A fillet knife with a narrow and long blade of twenty centimeters will also come in handy in the kitchen. The shape of the knife and the raised tip make it easy to fillet the fish, separating the fillet from the bone, and cut the meat into thin slices. But be careful: such a knife is not suitable for solid foods, so avoid cutting frozen meat or fish.

The Japanese santoku knife is not very popular with us. Oddly enough, this handy wide twenty-centimeter knife is not very famous. But the Americans have long appreciated it - many professional chefs switch from chef's knives to santoku. And in almost every house you can find such a model.

Thanks to the lowered tip, the knife is more ergonomic than its chef counterpart. It is convenient when chopping meat or shredding. The tip allows you to filigree cut even the most capricious products, including bread.

Another less popular knife will come in handy for many cheese lovers. That's what it's called - cheese. Use it better for soft varieties- to cope with hard and universal or chef's knife. The indentations or holes on the blade of the knife allow you to cut soft cheese, avoiding its deformation and sticking. A nice bonus - at the tip of such a knife is often a small fork, for neatly transferring cheese to a plate.

Fancy knives

If you really like to cook without being afraid of experiments and non-standard dishes, you should be interested in the following types of knives. They are not often used in the home kitchen, but they can make life much easier for the enthusiast cook.

For lovers of stuffed vegetables, no doubt it will come in handy. cavity cutting knife. The oval shape of the blade looks unusual, but once you take it in your hands, you will understand all the convenience. The pointed edge allows you to quickly remove the pulp from zucchini, eggplant and other vegetables. If you wish, you can even prepare pieces of meat for stuffing - but for this it will be more convenient to slightly freeze them.

Another interesting model is a cucumber knife. However, with its help you can quickly cut into thin, neat slices of any hard vegetables or fruit. Seven parallel blades provide a sharp and precise line, so your plate of fruit or vegetable cuts will look perfect.

The so-called chopping knife is also interesting to use. The semicircular blade is crowned with two handles at once. It is proposed to work with him with two hands. This knife is suitable for cooking chopped steaks, quick shredding a large number meat or vegetables and so on.

The knife is often used in professional kitchens, but amateurs are afraid of it. And in vain. Yes, working with chopped products requires certain skills - but after spending a couple of hours on training, you will notice how much easier it has become to work with chopped products.

Popularity Japanese cuisine could not but affect the market of kitchen appliances in Russia. If you love sushi bars, why not try preparing their menu at home? Thanks to its flexible long blade (about twenty centimeters), a kitchen sashimi knife will allow you to cut salmon and any other fish into thin, almost transparent slices. Your sushi will look perfect!

The eternal competitor of sushi is pizza. Fans of hot cakes with cheese are familiar with attempts to cut a hot product, only from the oven. The cheese stretches unaesthetically, sometimes falls along with the filling ... To avoid such troubles, purchase round knife for pizza. A rotating blade with fine teeth allows you to quickly cut pizza into neat, aesthetic slices.

Of course, we could not describe all types of knives - experts number up to two hundred. However, we hope that the selection will help you decide necessary minimum, which will greatly facilitate the cooking process and make work in the kitchen quick and enjoyable.

By the will of fate, I have recently begun to cook a lot and in connection with this I have acquired a new set of knives. Because some of them are of a very exotic form, was puzzled by the study of the issue. Before, everything was simple: knives were divided into small and large, a little later the chef's knife became a favorite. But no, they are generally a wild variety.
On this occasion, suddenly here is an article about knives for you. And then suddenly you cut salmon sausage out of ignorance. :-L

Types and purpose of traditional Western (European) knives.
Chefs consider their knives the most important tool in the kitchen. The work of a professional kitchen requires many types of knives, each of which is used for a specific task. Knives are distinguished by the thoughtful shape of the blade, the length and location of the handles, the presence of teeth, blunt or pointed tips. All this is necessary for convenient and correct cutting and slicing of products.

Let's try to understand this diversity!

Peeling knife (Potato)
Knife for peeling vegetables (6-9 cm). The curved shape of the blade is ideal for peeling any fruit or vegetable with a rounded surface (potatoes, apples, pears). The knife is also known as a "beak".

paring knife
Knife for cutting, peeling and cutting fruits and vegetables. Lightweight, comfortable and sharp knife ik with a short hard blade up to 10 cm long. The tip is usually centered, but can also be lowered.

utility knife
Utility knife with 12-18 cm blade for slicing raw and cooked meat, ham, cheese, bread and vegetables. This is the most popular knife in most kitchens! It is used for cutting vegetables, fruits, sausages, cheese, herbs and small pieces of meat.

tomato knife
Knife for tomatoes. For delicate slicing of fruits and vegetables that have a hard skin and a soft middle: tomatoes, oranges, lemons, etc. The blade (up to 13 cm) with teeth will allow you to cut even the ripest tomato, and the forked tip of the blade will help in decorating the dish. Sometimes used as a small bread knife.

Steak knife
Steak knife. The sharp blade (up to 13 cm) of this knife is suitable for cutting any meat dishes. Often the blade has a sharpening in the form of a very small saw. Usually used as a serving knife for meat dishes.

Boning knife
Boning knife (12-15 cm). Helps cut raw and cooked meat off the bone. Knife of medium width, sharpened towards the end. It has a curved cutting surface. The narrow and raised end will easily separate tendons, bones, fat.

Fillet knife
Fillet knife. Knife for cutting meat and fish fillets (can be used for cooking Japanese fish dishes). The knife has a long narrow and flexible blade up to 25 cm long. Its design allows you to cut meat or fish in one motion, separate the skin, cut the fillet. A special blade will not allow the product to crumble, and the cut will be thin and even.

Bread knife
Bread knife. Thanks to the serrated blade (up to 23 cm), it will easily cut the crispy crust into fresh bread without crushing the crumb and without breaking the crust. Ideal for slicing all types of bread and pastries. Can also be used for slicing pineapples.

Slicing, Carving knife
Cutting knife. A carving or gastronomic knife with a narrow, long, hard blade up to 25-30 cm long. It is used to remove skin, cut meat or poultry, cut large vegetables (cabbage, beets, zucchini, pumpkin), cut watermelon and melon.
Allows you to thinly and accurately cut delicate meat products: ham, boiled pork, sausages. Thanks to the air pockets - embossed grooves on the blade - the pieces do not stick to the knife.

Cook's knife
"Chief". The Japanese equivalent is called GYUTOU (Guito). No kitchen is complete without at least one of these knives! This is one of the most sought after knives in the kitchen. Suitable for cutting all kinds of products. They can cut meat, butcher poultry, chop cabbage and greens. Such a knife is a mandatory attribute of any chef in a restaurant or cafe. The chef's knife ("chef") has a heavy handle, a wide hard blade (16-23 cm) with a central point. Perfectly balanced and comfortable in the hand.

This knife allows you to:
using HEEL (back) chop greens, onions, garlic, etc.;
using TIP (tip) cut leek, celery, onion and vegetables;
using middle part cut large vegetables (cabbage, whole celery root, turnips, etc. You can also cut meat and poultry;
use the flat part of the blade to crush the garlic.

The main part of the work performed by this knife falls on the shredder and it is most adapted to it. (I note that it is the shredder that takes most of the time of the cook in the restaurant - it is with her, as a rule, that his working day begins.

Salmon slicer
Salmon knife. It has a very flexible thin long blade with a length of 30 cm or more. Designed for cutting large fish into very thin slices.

Offset handle bread knife
The special shape of this knife makes it easy to cut a cake, a baguette or make a sandwich.

Santoku - Oriental cook's knife
Santoku. The knife has traditional form Japanese "chef" knife. A Japanese knife is handy for cutting sushi and sashimi rolls. The knife is also suitable for preparing European dishes. A universal cutting edge and a wide blade (20 cm) allow this knife to be used for cutting almost any food, including herbs, mushrooms and spices.

Santoku bōchō– a universal kitchen cutting tool from the Country rising sun. The name is translated from Japanese as "three uses" (or "three good things"). This says that the knife does an excellent job with three main functions: cut, chop, chop.

Santoku owes its appearance to the usual chef's knife, which appeared in Japan during the Meiji era. The chef's knife was mainly used for cutting meat or fish. After all, there are simply no products that are not subject to him.

Japanese cuisine at that time was dominated by cereals and herbs. And, as a result, a vegetable knife became widespread in the country. It was convenient for them to chop and cut finely. You could even cut the fillet. However, with large products, the cutting of which required special efforts, the vegetable knife could no longer cope. There was a need to create a universal cutting tool. This is how Santoku was born.

Having reworked and adjusted the Western model to their needs, the Japanese created a new kitchen attribute that perfectly cuts, chop and chop food, for which the Santoku knife, in general, is needed today.

So, having a santoku in the kitchen, you can:
cut and cut meat, poultry and fish;
chop greens;
cut vegetables;
cook crabs;
cut bread, etc..

cheese knife
Cheese knife. Most often it is a knife with a serrated cutting edge and a forked edge. A rather narrow, slightly curved blade (up to 13 cm) allows you to cut a slice of soft cheese without crumbling it. The handle raised at a rather sharp angle makes it possible to cut a slice in one motion from top to bottom, so that the slices are even in thickness. The slits on some knives are air pockets that keep the cheese from sticking to the blade.

Cleaver
Kitchen hatchet. It has a thick wide blade 15-18 cm long. A powerful tool for cutting large pieces of meat (including frozen), butchering joints and joints.

Straight meat fork
Meat fork will help you when cooking and serving meat dishes.

sharpening steel
Musat is necessary to maintain the cutting edge of the knife in perfect working condition.

Rules for the operation of kitchen knives
– do not wash the knives in the dishwasher and dry them thoroughly after washing;
- Do not store knives with metal objects(dishes, cutlery, etc.);
– do not cut food on the glass or marble surface, not a single sharpening and not a single knife can retain their properties on them for a long time, despite the aesthetic beauty of such boards.

Few of us have a choice kitchen utensils so responsibly that before going to the store to study the manufacturers, their reputation, the materials used. As a rule, we come - we look - we feel - we try on - we correlate our budget with the price tag and buy. This also applies to knives: ponder which kitchen knives it would be better if it was a professional chef.

And we will evaluate the sharpness of the blade, shape and size - and at the checkout.

But I suddenly wanted to know more about them so that I could make a more intelligent choice next time. But because I'm tired of cursing, trying to thinly slice the cheese or butcher the chicken with anything. The three guns in my arsenal are clearly not enough, you need to figure out what they are in general and how they differ.

Types of kitchen knives

The standard set necessarily contains three main tools:

• cooking,
• universal,
• and for peeling vegetables.

But there are many more varieties. If you meticulously list all the professional kitchen knives in the chef's arsenal, there will be more than a dozen of them. I don’t have such a task, I will list only the main ones - those that can be useful in everyday life, in every home kitchen.

Cooking

This is the main tool of the cook, which is used for many operations:

• cutting meat preparations;
• cuttings of cabbage and greens;
• vegetable shredders, etc.

It is often referred to as the chef's knife.

It is one of the largest: the blade can be up to 30 cm long, although the usual size is 20-22 cm. But the width depends on belonging to one of the species: German or. More about the differences between these two European and Asian forms of performance - a little later, but for now just pictures for clarity.

In Asian cooking culture, there is no such thing as a multifunctional chef's knife - there is a special tool for each operation. In Japanese models, of which there are several hundred varieties, in general, the devil will break his leg.

But the enterprising Japanese created a special santoku chef's knife for Europeans. Experts say that it is the most convenient.

Universal

The next in terms of size and degree of use are universal knives 10-15 cm long with a narrow and thin blade.

Their name speaks for itself: in the absence of special tools, they can do almost everything:

• cut fruits and vegetables;
• chop greens;
• cut into thin slices cheese, sausage, meat.

For cleaning vegetables

These kitchen knives can also be called universal, but they are designed for smaller operations. With a narrow blade with a sharp tip up to 10 cm long, it is convenient not only to peel vegetables, but also to cut them, pick out “eyes”, cut smoked sausage etc.

Special

In principle, if the instruments described good quality, they are quite enough for everyday home cooking and do-it-yourself table setting. And yet special models make life very easy.

Of these, I would like to highlight the following:

1. Special cleaning knife. It differs from the usual blade with an inwardly curved blade, convenient for peeling round fruits and vegetables.

1. For bread. No matter how sharp your "chef" is, the best kitchen knives for cutting bread are long, straight, with a serrated (wavy) edge.

1. For thin slicing of fish, boiled or baked meat, ham, long blades with a smooth cutting edge and a narrow blade are designed.

1. Fillet models have a narrow blade, which is very convenient to remove fish or meat fillets from the bones.

1. Boning machines are designed for cutting carcasses, separating meat from bones. They are distinguished by a curved edge and a blade width that varies along the length.

1. For tomatoes. There are two options: with a narrow solid or with a wide perforated canvas, but the edges are in any case serrated. Which is better for tomatoes and other vegetables and fruits with dense skin and tender flesh, you decide - both are good.

1. kitchen hatchet. The instruction recommends using it for cutting large pieces of meat, including raw and frozen, for dismembering joints and other rough work. It has a wide and thick blade.

1. For cutting pizza It is most convenient to use special disc knives.

1. For cheese, there are several varieties of knives designed for different types of cheese.

1. Blade knives similar to the latter with a rounded tip are used for butter.

If you dig really deep, you can find tools for peeling garlic, oysters, slicing noodles, peeling fish, and so on.

Which knives are better to buy for the kitchen depends on culinary preferences and the dishes that we cook most often. Many of them are interchangeable, so I think it makes no sense to acquire a complete set, most of which will lie idle.

But this concerns only the form and purpose. But there are also such parameters as the material for the manufacture of the handle and blade, the angle of sharpening, the possibility of self-editing.

The best manufacturers of kitchen knives

It is unrealistic to list all manufacturers from all countries, so I narrow the circle to the most eminent ones. True, I must warn you: it’s better not to look into the catalog for the faint of heart, since the price of one knife can be compared with the cost of a cast-iron bridge span.

So, the two main European "schools" for the production of kitchen knives have already been mentioned above. But this does not mean that all production is concentrated only in Germany and France. They are in different countries, but the most famous ones are still in Europe.

Namely:

1. Germany –Gude, Wusthof, Fissler, Zwilling J.A. Henckels;

1. UK - Robert Welch;

1. France - Tarrerias, Bonjean, De Buyer, Sabatier;

1. Spain - Arcos;

1. Italy - Del Ben.

There are no complaints about the quality of these brands: the products are made mainly from anti-corrosion molybdenum-vanadium steel, have a high cutting edge hardness (up to 58 units) and have a double-sided sharpening with an angle of 20 degrees.

In the Asian region, Japan has the palm. These are Tamahagane, Yaxell, Hattori, Tojiro.

I have already said - in order not to get lost in their assortment, you need to be Japanese, or at least a great connoisseur and connoisseur oriental cuisine. But the Japanese work not only for themselves, but also produce good knives for the kitchen in the usual version for us.

However, there are still differences:

• The edge of the "Japanese" has a sharper sharpening angle;
• Moreover, sharpening is one-sided, which requires getting used to such tools. By the way, when buying, you need to pay attention to the side of sharpening - it happens for both right-handers and left-handers;

• The canvas is made from damask;
• The edge hardness often exceeds 60 units, so these knives are much less likely to dull, but they require a special diamond tool to sharpen them. Whereas European products are perfectly corrected with a musat or a sharpener.

A large set of such knives is available only to wealthy people or professional chefs, for whom they are a tool for making money. But even mere mortals can afford one good utility or chef's knife.

As for other models, you can purchase simpler options. Before choosing a knife for the kitchen, you only need to make sure that it is made of a material that is resistant to moisture, alkalis and acids.

These include:

• Stainless steel;
• Zirconia ceramics;

• titanium alloy;
• Teflon coated steel.

The material and especially the shape of the handle also matter. It is important that it fits comfortably in the hand and allows you to comfortably do the work.

Conclusion

The best kitchen knives are those that last a long time and are easy to use. Of all the types listed, I would add to my standard set a knife for cutting meat, for peeling vegetables and cutting bread. Well, maybe even cheese.

But we also eat very traditionally. And you can watch the video in this article and decide which models will be in demand in your family.

And if there are any questions or a desire to speak on the topic, welcome to the comments.

CHEF "s, GYUTOU (GYUTO), (牛刀), CHEF

CHEF "s knives (sometimes you can hear outdated FRENCH knives). The blade length varies from 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) or more. A blade shorter than 8 inches (20 cm) is not very convenient for many jobs, and more than 30 cm to the blade you need to get used to and have the appropriate dimensions of the table and cutting boards (and kitchens, of course.) The standard dimensions of a European chef are 6-8-10-12 inches (15-20-25-30 cm).

Gyutou, the Japanese equivalent of the European chef, comes in 180mm, 210mm, 240mm, 270mm and 300mm. Unlike European knives, the Japanese have a metric system (or their own, they measure the length of the blade in SUN, 1 sun = 3.037 cm).

Of the European manufacturers, only Messermeister makes 9 inch (23 cm) knives. From my point of view, the optimal length is 8-10 inches (20-25cm). Professionals prefer longer ones - 10-12 inches (270-300 mm) and more, and 8 inch (200-210 mm) knives are great for an ordinary kitchen.

As the length increases, the width of the knife also increases. And the width is a very useful thing - firstly, it is more convenient (smoother) to cut some products, and secondly, it can be used as a spatula to transfer the cuts to the pan. We must also not forget that CHEF's is not only a cutting tool. Its butt can be used to break the shell of crabs and beat meat, and the side to crush garlic.

Usually gyutou has a sharpening of the order of 12-15 degrees, and the European chef is a little more, sometimes from 20 degrees on each side.

The butt, which is relatively thick at the handle, tapers not only towards the cutting edge, but also forward towards the tip (called the “distal taper”). This is most clearly seen on forged knives of the century before last and some samples of G.P.

Such a knife structure allows you to use each part of it (the middle, the tip and the heel) with maximum convenience: a sharp thin tip allows you to produce precise work(similar to slicing fillets and shallots), the hard work is done on the heel. This is where the blade is thickest and widest and you can apply a lot of force without risking damaging the knife. For heavy work, German models have an advantage - a thick, heavy German chef is better for cutting chicken bones than his French counterpart and certainly better than a light, thin guytou.

A comparison of some approximately the same sized models by weight is shown in the table:

	The total length of the knife, mm	Blade length, mm	Weight, g
G. Prokopenkov (Russia)	345	215	175
Gude (Germany)	340	210	292
F.Dick mod 1905 (Germany)	350	215	282
Sabatier Lion (France)	315	200	167
Murray Carter (USA)	335	215	232
Al Mar (Japan)	335	210	170
Hattori FH	335	210	169

So, CHEF "s is a multi-purpose essential kitchen knife. It has a wide, solid blade from 15 to 36 cm. This knife allows you to:

1. using HEEL to chop greens, onions, garlic, etc.;
2. use TIP to chop leeks, celery, onions and vegetables;
3. use the middle part to cut large vegetables (cabbage, whole celery root, turnips, etc. You can also cut meat and poultry;
4. use the flat part of the blade to crush the garlic.

The main part of the work performed by this knife falls on the shredder and it is most adapted to it. (I note that it is the shredder that takes most of the time of the cook in the restaurant - it is with her, as a rule, that his working day begins.

SANTOKU, SANTOKU (JAPANESE CHEF, ORIENTAL COOK "s), (三徳庖丁)

I do not know of any other knife that would cause so much controversy - from "I love my santoku, I do almost all the work in the kitchen with it, this is the best and correct knife for the kitchen”, to complete categorical rejection. I don't like santoku professional chefs(with some exceptions). The reasoning is something like this - "too short, too thin and there is no such work that he (santoku) did better than my guyo (chef)". There is, however, a category of people who take santoku unconditionally (in America). These are housewives. Here, however, we must pay tribute to television propaganda - in America there is constantly a kitchen show with the host Rachel Ray, who uses santoku to present (recently, the Australian company FURI has begun producing knives of the same name - Rachel Ray santoku).

Such a polarity of opinions, from my point of view, is explained by the following:

all Japanese kitchen knives are “sharpened” for a specific very narrow task (except for the guyto, which was made for Europe and America as a kind of Chef "s) and, as a rule, are designed for professionals. There are more than 200 types of knives in Japan, but only TWO are specially designed and are produced as knives for home cooking (which is primarily determined small size both kitchens and cutting boards). Of no small importance is the fact that there is no in-line production in the kitchen.

One of them, NAKIRI - a knife for vegetables, and, first of all, for cutting, the second, SANTOKU, which was developed as a multi-purpose knife. And for the home kitchen, these are wonderful knives. The difference between santoku and nakiri is the point (see photo below)

Available with both traditional Japanese Sinichi Watanabe handles and Western Kazuyuki Tanaka handles.

Nakiri and Santoku (Sinichi Watanabe)

Nakiri and Santoku (Kazuyuki Tanaka)

No wonder santoku, under the name "oriental cook" s, Japanisches Kochmesser "included in their lines all the famous European manufacturers - from German (Wusthof, Henckels), French (Sabatier) to Spanish (Arcos). Another thing is that only Wusthof produces decent santoku , good Sabatier ("K", "Lion", "Diamant", "Elefant"), and the santoku produced by Zwilling JAHenkels (Twin cuisine series) with real santoku has only a general appearance.

Wusthof Ikon Santoku

Santoku, like Nakiri, has a wide blade (40-50mm santoku, 50-60mm nakiri), which allows you to use them as a spatula for collecting and transferring products, the blade length is 160-180mm, the slopes are almost reduced to zero, so the sharpening angle practically coincides with the convergence angle and is 4-6 degrees for Nakiri and 6-10 (sometimes up to 15) degrees for Santoku, which, in general, is determined by the tasks of knives.

Butt: upper - santoku, lower - nakiri

In this photo, the nakiri is at the top, the santoku is at the bottom.

A lot of resources (knife conferences, various studies etc.) recommend santoku as the first knife when purchasing knives for the kitchen.

The question is often asked if Nakiri is needed if there is a santoku. For working with vegetables, Nakiri is slightly better (the sharpening angle is smaller), but in general, for working with vegetables, the knives are similar. But in a professional kitchen, if there are Gyutou and Nakiri, then, according to the majority, there is no need for a santoku.

So, having a santoku in the kitchen, you can:

1. cut and cut meat, poultry and fish;
2. chop greens;
3. cut vegetables;
4. cook crabs;
5. cut bread, etc..

Nakiri is better at slicing vegetables, but you won't get disappointed with santoku either.

kids

PARING, PEELING, SHEEP FOOT, BIRD's BEAK, PETTY (ペ テ ィ ナ イ フ)

All of these names refer to small knives that are vital in the kitchen (try a chef or a santoku to peel a potato!). In the Russian tradition, there is no common name for small knives (maybe because for a long time in Russia the rooted one was considered the smallest, which had a blade length of 14 - 18 cm).

There is quite a lot of diversity in Europe. In addition to the above, fluting, trimming, potato, curved are sometimes mentioned - but quite rarely.

PARING, PEELING are translated from English in the same way - to remove, cut off the crust, peel; clean, cleanse

A light, handy sharp knife with a short stiff blade 5 to 10 cm long. Great for those jobs where a big chef would look awkward (all sorts of delicate work - peeling potatoes, cutting potato eyes, peeling citrus fruits, roots, peeling and cutting apples and pears, etc.). The classic Paring knife looks like a smaller version of the chef.

But other blade shapes are also common, such as SHEEP FOOT (similar to a small santoku).

This knife has a straight blade and, in some cases, this provides a slight advantage (say, if you clean vegetables while holding them in your hand; but if you use a cutting board, then the classic will probably be more suitable).

There is also such a specific form of a knife called “BIRD's BEAK” or “TOURNE knife”, which in Russian can be called “claw”.

This knife has a rounded blade and is used when peeling round objects (potato, apple, orange). Often used in the preparation of various presentations.

The French TOURNE (English "turn") is translated as "giving an elegant look, turning, turning, rotating."

The knife is interesting, but not vital. Although it should be noted that in some restaurants adhering to the "old school" it is customary to consider the ability to wield such a knife as a kind of indicator of the art of cooking.

Often such a knife is also used outside the kitchen - for example, to open boxes.

In Japan, small knives are called "PETTY" (from the French "petit" - small). It can have a longer blade (up to 150 mm, although 60-70 mm are also found.

Japanese knives, as always, have greater hardness and a smaller sharpening angle. It is more pleasant to work with them, but I would still advise the European classics - after all, there are a lot of people who want to use such a knife, not realizing what they are doing (for example, smearing butter, scratching the tip of a knife on a butter dish, etc.)

So experience shows: for such knives - the simpler and cheaper - the better.

SLICER, CARVING, Sujihiki (筋引), deli knife

slice-in English language: thin layer of something, slice, cut into slices. A long and usually narrow knife with a stiff or slightly flexible blade, 9 to 18 inches (20 to 45 cm) long. The shape of the blade slicer can be classic or like this, which is called Yatagan.

Blade shape doesn't really matter - it's your personal choice.

The long blade allows you to make a clean cut in one stroke, which is very important for beautiful and fast cutting, especially when you are working with cooked meat.

A knife for cutting a large piece of fried meat (roast beef) is called CARVING, usually has a blade length of 9 inches (23 cm) and usually comes with a special fork. As a rule, roast beef is cut at the table in the presence of guests with a knife and fork, and therefore they try to make such a presentation knife of better quality, more beautiful and, of course, more expensive.

Sujihiki (筋引)

Yanagiba can be used for the same purposes, but it has a one-sided sharpening and requires a certain skill when using it.

Sometimes among European knives you can meet the name HAM (HAM).

This knife has a long, slightly flexible, narrow or wide blade on the order of 10 inches (25 cm), often rounded at the end. Used for cutting thin slices from a large piece finished meat- ham or ham.

Among all the slicers, G.K.'s gastronomic knife stands out with a diamond. Prokopenkov.

This knife has unique build blade, allowing it to be used not only for cutting and butchering, but also as a sirloin tool. (I note that G.K. Prokopenkov simply reproduced the knife that was made at the beginning of the 20th century by such masters as Zavyalov, Ivanov, Kondratov - and their knives had more international awards than their counterparts from the city of Solingen. Now, except for G.K. Prokopenkov, no one makes such knives - it can only be made by free forging, with very high labor intensity and at the limit of profitability). A knife of exceptional quality, sharpness and ease of use.

The filet of the same master is not inferior in quality and elegance

Salmon is a salmon knife, it is more correct to refer to FILLET - fillet knives, which have a very flexible (flexible), narrow long blade up to 12 inches (30cm) long. SALMON is designed for cutting large fish (salmon) into very thin slices.

If the slicer is used for cutting bacon, sausage, salmon, already cooked (fried) meat, etc., then the fillet knife is indispensable where it is necessary to use its flexibility: first of all, when cutting fish, when it is necessary that the knife slide along skin and costal bones, but it is also convenient when cutting, for example, lamb saddles, when you need to cut along the spine along the ribs.

Some knives have so-called "Air pockets" - air pockets that prevent cut pieces of food from sticking to the blade. This type of blade is called "GRANTON EDGE". The ovals themselves on the blade are called "Kullens". One of the well-known Western-style knife manufacturers in Japan, Glestain manufactures almost all of its knives with these blades. Whether it's aesthetically pleasing or not, the fact is that it works. In professional kitchens, slicers are used less and less in mass production, giving way to slice machines.

BREAD Pan kiru knife (パン切ナイフ) BREAD

Wide, long, usually serrated (i.e., with teeth along the cutting edge) knife.

This knife of the German company "GUDE" is considered one of the best of its kind. Firm "Gude" presents it as the first example of a serrated knife. The teeth of the sereytor produce an aggressive cut, do not allow slipping on a hard bread crust. The length of a bread knife blade should be between 10 and 12 inches (i.e. 25–30 cm), a shorter blade will not always cut through a large loaf without crumbs, and a longer one will create storage problems. I generally like large knives and don't really like the bread knives offered in sets - they tend to have a blade length of 6-8 inches (15-20 cm).

It seems to me that it is better to buy a knife with a longer blade separately.

A few words about the sereytor. I want to say right away that I personally really don’t like sereytor knives. From my point of view, serrated knives are always worse in quality than knives with a smooth blade and they only benefit from plunging at the beginning of the cut. Serrated knives are very difficult to keep sharp. Even the blade best steel over time, when used, it will become dull, and sharpening such a knife is a separate difficult task.

I can only imagine two tasks where a sereytor blade outperforms a conventional one:

1. Slicing bread just taken out of the oven;
2. Cutting a steak on a glass or ceramic plate.

Although, it must be said that the sereytor does all the work, but for a rather short time, from which the practice of its use follows - after one or two years of homework, it must be thrown out and a new one bought. It follows that the sereytor knife should be cheap.

The Serrated Bread Knife can be used not only for slicing all kinds of breads and cakes, but also for peeling and slicing large hard-skinned, tender-fleshed fruits such as pineapple (but shorter slices than 10-12 are better here). inches).

Delicate work with a seriator is also difficult to do, but a knife with a SCALLOPED blade (wave-shaped, comb), which can do double work - and as a good slicer (for example, for cutting meat, which no seriator will do beautifully), and how good bread knife. A knife with a scalloped blade leaves a cleaner cut.

Here are the favorites - MAC SB015 and Wusthof Super slicer. Initially, such knives were developed for cutting confectionery products, such as, for example, marzipans.

Sharpening such a knife is much easier than a serrated one.

The photograph shows a "scalloped" bread knife of the early 20th century produced by Pavlovskaya Artel.

BONING. Knife for removing meat from bones.

Knife with a short stiff blade with a blade length of 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm). In this case, the name clearly defines the function - removing meat from the bones of lamb, beef, pork, as well as cutting poultry.

Sometimes it can be produced with a flexible blade - closer to the fillet knife (so that the knife can pass along the bone, cutting off the meat). Such “paired” knives are produced by Messermeister:

Japanese counterparts are:

Sabaki

Sinichi Watanabe Sabaki

Honesuki (骨スキ) and Garasuki (ガラスキ)

Glestain Garasuki (top>) and Honesuki (bottom)

Garasuki is basically a larger version of Honesuki. Both of these knives are designed for butchering poultry (Honesuki - for butchering chickens and smaller poultry, Garasuki - for larger, say, turkey, goose). Both knives can have a double-sided, but strongly asymmetrical sharpening or one-sided (on the front side), and even on the back side.

The handle can be either Western or Japanese.

A knife for cutting large pieces of animals (usually suspended) is called Hankotsu.

UTILITY- (from the English "UTILITY") - usefulness, profitability.

Utility knife with a narrow, stiff blade with a blade length of 5 to 7 inches (12-18 cm).

Wusthof Ikon

Such a knife can be used for cutting vegetables, fruits, sausages, cheese, herbs and small pieces of meat.

Like any utility knife, it has its pros and cons. So, it has a shorter blade than Chef's or a slicer, and therefore the cutting made by Utility will be less beautiful and take longer. On the other hand, it will be much more convenient for them to peel potatoes than Chef's, but paring will cope with this much better task.

In the Russian tradition, such a knife with a blade of 14-16 cm was called rooted and was used for cleaning and cutting root crops.

G.L. Prokopenkov. The knife is rooted.

Surprisingly, these knives are most loved by our housewives - if you conduct a survey on the topic “Which knife do you most often use in the kitchen?”, then most women will answer: “Small, with a blade length of 15 centimeters - I do everything with it.” The same G.K. Prokopenkov calls such knives "ladies' man" and I support this name.

Among the UTILITY knives, there are several more functionally “sharpened” knives.

TOMATO

Narrow serrated blade up to 13 cm long. For delicate slicing of fruits and vegetables with a hard skin and a soft center - tomatoes, oranges, lemons, etc.

Often has a forked tip - to make it easier to lift the cut.

SAUSAGE

those. sausage - mainly used for cutting hard sausages.

Another modification of such knives is found as "SANDWICH" - a knife for cutting sandwiches. They can be both in sereytorny, and in simple ("plain") execution.

Japanese manufacturers do not have the name "Utility": knives with a blade up to 15 cm are called "Petty", and then go "Gyuto".

The main problem when cutting food with the Utility knife cutting board is that because of the narrow, short blade, you cannot fully use the full length of the blade without the risk of injuring your own fingers (usually a third of the blade is not used). Therefore, the so-called "DELI KNIFE" was developed - a knife Z shape where the blade is below the handle and your fingers don't get in the way of using the entire blade when working on a cutting board. They are offered both in sereytorny and in simple ("plain") execution. It is believed that the "deli knife", especially in the serrated version, makes the work with a sandwich, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread better and faster.

I personally think that the shape of the knife gives a certain advantage, but I have big doubts about the sereytor (except to compare it with a blunt knife).

Sometimes there are knives of this shape with a longer blade than the Utility knife (for example, bread or for cutting cakes and cupcakes).

Wonderful knives are produced by Spyderco in both serrated and regular versions. This pair, it seems to me, is the most versatile for the kitchen, given the quality of workmanship and good steel.

Spyderco KX 06 "Yan" and "Y"

Steak

A narrow knife with a raised point (Yatagan blade) and an even butt up to 13 cm long. Usually used as a serving knife for meat dishes. Often has a sereytorny sharpening.

Cleaver

Kitchen hatchet. It has a thick wide blade 15-18 cm long. A powerful tool for cutting large pieces of meat (including frozen), butchering joints and joints.

Yoshikane. chopper.

Hatchet of Soviet times.

cheese

Cheese knife. Exists various modifications for various cheeses.

Most often it is a knife with a serrated cutting edge and a forked edge. Usually there are large holes in the blade of a knife (up to 13 cm long) to reduce the sticking of cheese to the blade.

There are also a number of specialty knives, such as a citrus knife, a pizza cutter, a paring knife, a sommelier knife, a garlic knife, a butter knife, etc.

butter knife

caviar knife

Sommelier knife for uncorking wine bottles

H.Roselli Garlic knife

Pizza knife

oyster knife

Cake set

Watermelon slicing knives (Watermelon knife and Suikakiri - Japanese watermelon knife)

The ham knife allows you to quickly and accurately cut ham and ham (blade length - up to 25 cm).

A non-standard appearance has a knife for tomatoes. The length of the blade with a dissected blade can reach 15 cm. It allows you to cut not only tomatoes, but also other fruits and vegetables, which are characterized by the presence of a hard skin and tender pulp.

The santoku knife is a traditional Japanese version of the chef's knife. A wide blade (20 cm) and a universal cutting edge ensure accurate cutting of raw fish, which is used to make traditional Japanese sushi and sashimi. This knife is no less successfully used in the preparation of European cuisine for cutting food, cutting fresh herbs and fragrant spices.

Features of care

Long-term operation of kitchen knives is ensured by compliance with the basic rules of use. Metal knives are designed for more rough work. They can be used to cut frozen pieces of poultry or meat. While ceramic cutting tools used for thin and almost jewelry cutting of various products and their spectacular serving on the table.

In order for a ceramic knife to last for a long time, it should not be used for hard foods. It is necessary to wash ceramic tools in warm water using traditional detergents, they are strictly forbidden to be placed in dishwasher.

Metal knives are less whimsical in operation and maintenance. In order for a steel blade to serve for a long time, it must be washed and wiped dry after use. Don't forget to sharpen your knives.