Kitchen knives, those all important tools that can make or break a dish. The question everyone asks is what sort of kitchen knives do I need? Do I really need an entire block of knives of various shapes and sizes or can I get by with a bare minimum. I’ve gone through dozens of knives in my lifetime and after careful consideration, I can probably jettison at least half of my inventory. Here is what is and what was in my inventory:
Current Inventory
Chef’s knife: Super important and the work horse of the kitchen. I normally have 2 on hand at any given time and they are at least 12″ in length. I have fairly large hands and can handle them. People with smaller hands are probably better served if they use something around 10″. Chef’s knives are used for pretty much everything in the kitchen ranging from chopping, slicing, butterflying, and smashing garlic,
Paring knife: These are used for the smaller, more delicate stuff like peeling veggies and fruit, some dicing, and other tasks that don’t require or aren’t suitable for the larger jobs that the chef’s knife typically handles.
Kitchen Sheers: OK… TEchnically not a knife but damn, these things are so useful for things like spatchcocking a chicken. Also good for opening up packages. I have the kind that breaks apart for better cleaning. This is essential.
Boning knife: Incredibly useseful for me. I use this for everything from slicing steak to my crowning glory, a fully debonned Thanksgiving turket. Usually razor sharp, I don’t spend a lot of money on these. You can get a nice Dexter or Victorinox for $40-$50 bucks.
Serrated knife: I have one but seldom use it except for slicing bread. At one point, I used it to slice tomatoes but stopped once I learned how to sharpen my chef knoves and paring knives.
No longer needed inventory
Cleaver: I have 2 and seldom use them due to the fact that I have a few chef knives in my inventory.
Fillet Knife: Primarily used for seafood and since I don’t partake in this particular protein very often, it sits in a drawer forgotten.
Additional knife-related stuff
Knife block or rack: Very helpful. At one point, I used a block but have since migrated over to a wall mount which uses magnets. I think I found them at IKEA year’s ago. Does the job and looks great in the kitchen.
Sharpening steel: Hugely important because, as they say, a sharp knife is a safe knife. I like the diamond steels the best because it only takes a few strokes to get the blade sharp. If they’re totally fubar, I resort to my electric sharpener which basically returns the knife to the factory edge. More on this one later.
