Knife Primer: Types of Knives

Cook’s Knife

Available in 6 to 12-inch lengths, this knife has more uses than any other in the kitchen. The blade is wide at the handle and tapers to a point. A deep choil protects knuckles when dicing or mincing hard vegertables, nuts or herbs. The cook's knife is also good for carving hot roasts. The blade may be forged or not. The proper chopping method is to position the point of the knife on the cutting board and work it in a rocking motion without lifting the point.

Paring Knife

The most common styles of paring knives are: birds beak , spear, sharp and clip point. Use a a curved or sharp-point paring knife to dress up salads with delicate pepper rings or slivered olives or cherries. A spear-point or cook’s paring knife can be used for such tasks as taking corn off the cob, breaking up heads of lettuce, peeling fruit or vegetables and cutting beans. The clip point is good for removing eyes from potatoes, seeding, pitting and peeling.

Utility Knife

A sharp, 6-inch utility knife is good for slicing non-solid fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes and squash.  A stainless steel blade is preferred or acid fruits. Use to cut lettuce heads into wedges, prepare large melon rings, halve grapefruits and oranges, prepare cabbage for shredding, etc.

Boning Knife

Blades vary in length from 4 to 8 inches. A narrow, flexible blade is best for boning roasts, whole hams, lamb legs, veal legs and filleting fish. The wider, stiff blade is good for cutting raw meat and other trimming operations on thinner cuts of meat.

Butcher, Cimeter Steak Knife and Cleaver

For varied jobs in the kitchen. Butcher and cimeter steak knives are good for trimming raw meat, dicing salt pork, cutting steaks or cubing cooled meats. Use a cleaver to open lobsters or to cut poultry and joints.

Slicers and Carvers

The most important carving knife is the roast beef slicer, usually used to carve boneless roasts, rounds, briskets, pot roasts, etc. The narrow cold meat slicer or ham slicer is good for slicing ham or cold roasts. The wide, stiff blade does a better job on hot meats — the narrow, more flexible blade is more efficient at cutting cold meat. Buy a slicer or carver with enough length to allow smooth slicing action.