Despite the popularity of kitchen knife sets that we have at home, we usually do most of the work with only one, at most two knives. When buying, we focus on only one kitchen knife; one that fits well in our hand and that we can use with ease. If the need for a different blade appears in the kitchen, we can buy an additional, more specific kitchen knife and thus slowly create our own set.
What should we pay attention to when buying a kitchen knife?
Shape and material
The basic shape of the kitchen knife has not changed much in the last 10 thousand years, so the knife remains a blade with a handle. Great progress has taken place in the field of materials (mainly steel) and their processing procedures.
They are today kitchen knife quality and price defined:
- by the quality of the steel (by the method by which the steel was turned into a blade and hardened),
- with how sharp the blade is and how long it can maintain that sharpness when used correctly (which is mainly related to the first two points),
- with how often the knife needs to be sharpened and how demanding the sharpening is,
- with the balance of the blade with the handle and the feel of the knife in the hand,
- with the quality of the handle and workmanship.
A kitchen knife is an indispensable kitchen tool, where function and ergonomics come first. He has to "cut his teeth" in daily kitchen tasks. Immediately after the ease of cutting, the aesthetic aspect is important.
A kitchen knife is an indispensable kitchen tool.General rules when choosing a blade shape
Wider when it's a blade, it's more for slicing vegetables and fruits and not so much for hands-free tasks like peeling. Narrow blades they are more intended for cutting raw meat and are not intended for quick chopping.
Kitchen knives suitable for large pieces of meat are yanagiba, sujihiki and narrower gyuti. If you would like a versatile knife for cutting large quantities of meat and vegetables, the gyuto will be an excellent choice. If you are more of a veggie type, it will be a better choice santoku. There are even more vegetable-oriented models, for example nakiri and usuba.
It is with most kitchen knives sharpness is key for easy cutting without the use of force; however, such blades are usually thinner and more sensitive for all kinds of difficult tasks, such as chopping bones, filleting fish, opening coconuts. For more difficult kitchen tasks, we need a suitably thicker kitchen knife than it is nonsense or a heavier ax.
The wider the blade, the more it is intended for cutting vegetables and fruits.Basic differences between steels and why good kitchen knives can rust
HRC or Rockwell scale is today the most common way of indicating the hardness of steel. 58 HRC is the lower limit that steel on a decent kitchen knife should reach. A stainless knife below 58 HRC will not only lose its sharpness very quickly, but it will also be much more difficult to sharpen.
Kitchen knives with inscription stainless steel they have a very high percentage of chromium (Cr) and a small percentage of carbon (C), so they are not a good choice. If you want a completely stainless kitchen knife, choose a blade made of steel with a slightly lower percentage of chromium (Cr) and the addition of Vanadium (V) or molybdenum (Mo) that has been hardened to at least 58 HRC. When buying a knife, there is no information about the type, quality and hardness of the steel, it is usually stainless steel with a high percentage of chromium (Cr) and too little carbon (C < 0.5 %).
Steel with a high percentage of carbon (C > 0.8 %) stays sharp longer, sharpening is also easier, but the blade develops a patina over time because there is no added chromium (Cr). Stainless steels with a high percentage of carbon (C > 0.8 %) and chromium (Cr > 10 %) remain sharp for a long time, but are a little more difficult to grind. They are the highlight of today's offer technologically advanced tool steels, which can contain an extremely high percentage of carbon (C < 3 %), but at the same time a sufficient percentage of chromium so that they do not rust. Kitchen knives made of such steels they stay sharp the longest, but they are more demanding to grind.
Advantages of laminated steel blades
These kitchen knives have a composite blade from two or more different steels. It is usually a core of higher quality, very hard steel, clad in an outer layer of softer stainless steel. The benefits of laminated steel kitchen knives are, yes due to the hard core, they stay sharp for a very long time, but due to the softer outer steel are easier to grind. The outer softer layers also protect the core steel from external factors. If any spot of rust appears, it will be at the very tip of the blade, where the core is exposed and where it can be easily removed with a light sanding. Kitchen knives that are coated or laminated from several different steels have a very special appearance: we see the wavy layers as vintage, and such a pattern is called damask.
In these kitchen knives, the blade consists of two or more different steels.One-sided or double-sided ground blade
A classic German or French main kitchen knife it is ground on both sides of the blade, usually at the same angle somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees. Such a kitchen knife has a satisfactory, not too sensitive sharpness and is suitable for left-handed and right-handed people. Japanese kitchen knife (gyuto, santoku, etc.) is sharpened at a smaller angle, between 12 and 18 degrees, and in addition, the center of the sharpness is often shifted slightly to the left or to the right (e.g. 70/30). It is such a kitchen knife much sharper, but it is more sensitive to impacts or rough use. The shifted center of sharpness adapts the knife to left-handed or right-handed people.
Traditional Japanese knives are ground exclusively unilateral; a long flat ramp of about 12 degrees on one side and a slightly concave part on the other. Such a geometry allows for a half, much sharper angle and greater sharpness. It is easier to grind, but at the same time it is intended exclusively for left-handed or right-handed players.
Before buying a kitchen knife, consider the following:
- what type of knife you want to have (depending on the dishes you prepare),
- or the blade must be made of completely stainless material,
- wouldn't you mind some patina,
- Do you want to learn how to sharpen a knife yourself?,
- how big a kitchen knife you can comfortably use,
- do you want to do any special tasks with your new kitchen knife?,
- how much money are you willing to pay for a good knife.
(Chef Morimoto)
There will be you and your kitchen knife in the kitchen, but even the best knife will not make up for poor cutting technique. We recommend that you start cutting collected, practice various cutting, chopping and filleting techniques... but above all watch your fingers!
