How To Choose The Best Chef’s Knife
Knife is like a dance partner in the kitchen. While you are slicing, dicing, or chopping the meats and vegetables, a good knife will make you feel pleasure. A good quality kitchen knife can be the best hand for a professional or semi professional chef. Choosing the best knife can a little bit tricky and time expensive.
The Knife experts have given so many ideas to follow before choosing the best Chef’s knife. In most cases you have to give the priority to the functionality rather than the looks of the knife. The ideal chef knife will contain a fine proportion in size, shape, and weight.
How To Test A Knife
These are my favorite test to check out the effectiveness of a knife. You can try checking these tests, that will maximize the possibility of being effective.
- Mince parsley
- Dice an onion
- Slice winter squash
- Cut carrots into thin strips
- Carve a melon
What To Look For While Choosing A Knife
Whenever you will get a knife in your hand it should feel like the knife handle has automatically adjusted into your hand and the balance of the weight is proportionate. While purchasing a knife you should both look for the physical characteristics and functionalities. These are few things you must find perfect and proportionate in an ideal knife.
Weight
One of the schools of thoughts believe that the more heavy the knife is , the more effective it is. As the heavy steel falls with more force and the lighter ones are unable to create force unless the user operate the knife with force. It’s kind of dependable on the operator while the heavy knives are able to cut more smoothly if they are directed in the proper direction.
Balance
Judge the balance by gripping the handle. If it feels heavier and weighted to the front side (steel) or the back of the handle than the knife is not properly balanced. You get to choose another one. If the handle itself is heavier than the steel then you will have to put much effort to cut a piece of meat. When you come down to the blade it should not feel unstable and uncomfortable.
Size
The ideal size of a kitchen knife is considered to be 8 inches long. The 6 inches knives are effective to slice the small and thin materials. The 10 inches knives are more likely useable to cut and chop heavy things like meat and watermelon. The size of a knife depends on the purpose of using it. So at first, fix your mind what purpose you are going to purchase the knife for. Than choose the ideal size that matches your demand.
Blade Material
Blade is the main part of a knife which participate in the actual job of chopping or slicing. A good quality blade is the must for a kitchen knife, unless you want to spoil your cutting experience. There are several types of blades on the market. Different types matches with different purposes. There are four major types of blades we are going to discuss about here.
Stainless Steel
A common household material, stainless steel are used in many steel materials we own at our home. These highly used metal are one of the most famous steel types in case of knife blades. They are not required to be sharpen often and highly effective in humid weather. Stainless steels are magnificent steel type for the kitchen knives as they don’t get rusted and can maintain food hygiene easily.
High Carbon Steel
High carbon steel blades are a bit costly than stainless steel. But these highly efficient steels are effective and they are able to maintain their edges perfectly. The high carbon materials are shinier than the stainless steels and they are highly capable of creating a rapid movement across the cutting edge.
Titanium
Titanium blades are both sharp and light at the same time. Two of the most outstanding features made it an extraordinary type and comfortable to use. The only disadvantage of this blade is that titanium blades are too flexible while cutting so it can’t perform a dense cut on a hard a thick material.
Ceramic
The ceramic knife blade can maintain sharpness for a long long time. Compared to the high end material, these knives are more fragile. These knives are not too versatile, meaning you cant use them in cutting both thick and light materials. That apart, these blades are perfect in both looks and efficiency. A great piece in the chef’s kitchen.
Structure Of An Ideal Chef’s Knife
There are multiple knives manufactured from different brands with different qualities and characteristics. Some of them are very convenient to use. And some are not made for the comfort of teh users. Depending on the purpose of use, the ideal structure of an ideal knife varies. These are the basic elements of the ideal structure of a knife.
Handle
Handles are one of the most important elements of a knife. Handle is the only part where you can place your grip and approach the job. Some knives contain too curvy and unnatural grip that makes it hard to hold it properly and chop a piece of meat or a melon. The perfect handle should be containing an ideal shape and smooth surface that helps you hold the knife with a proper balance and cut the things effortlessly.
The Bolster
The bolster, also referred to the neck of the knife is the thick portion where the handle and the steel join together. One of the most important part which ensures the stability and strength of the knife. Many knife don’t have this part which makes it a bit hard to use the knife conveniently.
The Spine
This is the upper portion of the blade. Sometimes you need to tip on it while slicing any vegetables. A thin spine is a great deal. Thicker spine may feel a little uncomfortable to your finger when you place your index finger on it.
Conclusion
There are a lot of things you should bear in mind before you purchase a great chef’s knife. We have showed all the critical topics that you should be aware of while making a purchase. However, the best purchase will be done when you can successfully match the ideal structure with the purpose of using the knife.
Hi, my name is Taras Kulakov and I’m a knife enthusiast. I have been collecting knives for over 30 years and I’ve owned literally thousands of different models over that time. My goal with this site is to share some of what I’ve learned about knives. You can find more info about Taras Kulakov here.
