Chef knives

We've said it before, and we say it again: chef knives are the most versatile of all kitchen knives. Regardless of whether you are a professional chef or a home cook, the chef knife is a must-have in everyone's kitchen. There are several different types of kitchen knives that you can use to cut several different types of food ingredients. For instance, for cutting bread you there are bread knives, for cutting fruits and vegetables there are paring knives, for cutting meat there are carving knives, for preparing fish fillets there are filleting knives. However, there is a type of knife that can help you with almost every cutting task in your kitchen and can save you the time of having to change between knives when you prepare your meals. Can you guess which one is it? Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, the chosen one is the chef knife! 

What can you do with a chef knife? 

So what can you do with the most polyvalent of all kitchen knives? The questions should be: what can't you with it? The reality is that the chef knife is an indispensable utensil in the preparation of all types of meals. Also known as cook's knife, this type of kitchen knife is ideal for cutting almost all types of food. Its standard shape enables you to perform different types and techniques of cutting food ingredients. The main ones are described below:

- Chopping: this is one of the most used cutting techniques. However, the way in which the technique is performed varies depending on the experience of different cooks. Some cooks consider that when chopping food the blade and the handle are alligned at the same horizontal level while the knife make up and down movements. This way of chopping requires you to hold the handle with one hand and place your other hand on top of the blade while performing your cuts.

However, the type of chopping mentioned above is more recommended when you use cleavers or choppers. The other way of chopping which is more appropriate for chef knives involves the same up and down movements but without lifting the tip of the blade from the cutting board.

- Mincing: if you want to get ultra fine and small cuts of herbs or vegetables, you can use the mincing technique with your chef knife. In this technique, the tip of the blade rests on top of the cutting board while the back of the blade makes constant up and down movements to get cuts as fine and small as possible. This technique is popular for cutting garlic and parsley. It is not considered mincing unless the final results give you truly small pieces of ingredients.

- Dicing: this type of cutting technique involves cutting food into small blocks. Altough it is mostly used with vegetables, but this technique can also be used with meats and poultry. If you want to dice ingredients such as tomatoes and onions, the most recommended way by professional chefs is the following: with your chef knife you first cut the tomato or onion in half. Then, you take one of the halves and you place it on the cutting board with the flat part facing downwards.

Next, you start making parallel cuts to the top of the onion or tomato but without letting the blade reach the bottom. After, you do the same type of cuts on one side of the onion/tomato but without letting the blade go all the way through the other side. Finally, you just start slicing the onion/tomato, and thanks to the cuts your di before, each slicing movement will result in hundreds of small dices of onions/tomatoes!

Now that you know all the different cutting techniques that you can perform with a chef knife, it will be easier for you to understand why this is the most useful knife that you can have in your kitchen. That is why we like to think of a chef knife as the best friend that any cook can have in his or her kitchen.

Variety of chef knives to please all kinds of preferences

You know that they are indispensable kitchen tools, but there are so many out in the market that choosing one might not be an easy thing to do. However, having such a big amount of options is still positive because it allows you to find the chef knife with the length and the design that pleases you the most. You can choose a chef knife with a blade length of 26cm to perform big cuts, or you can choose one with a blade length of 15cm so that you can handle and control it easily. Moreover, if the aesthetics is truly a key factor in your choosing process, there are several designs of chef knives: with wooden handles, with satin finish blades, with traditional triple-riveted handles, with damascus blades, with steel blades, with blades covered with non-stick coatings... you get the idea; you just have to choose your preferred one!

In terms of brands, you also have many options from where to choose the chef knife of your preference. Here at MyChefKnives, you can find chef knives (and several other types of kitchen knives, too) from some of the most popular brands of the cutlery industry.  For instance, you can find chef knives with remarkable cutting performance from the German brand Wusthof, which makes steel blades of superior quality. Perhaps, you might prefer elegant, French chef knives such as the ones from Sabatier. If not, you could also choose the traditional great quality of Japanese cutlery by getting one of the chef knives from KAI. 

Taking care of your chef knife

Given that the chef knife is by far the most used knife in any kitchen, you have to make sure you take good care of it so that it has a long durability. First, if you want your chef knife to always have a remarkable cutting performance, you need to sharpen it as soon as its edge starts losing its sharpness. There are kitchen knives such as the Furtif EVERCUT knives which have an impressive edge retention, but even the best knives need to be sharpened at some point along the line. In addition, using a sharp knife is safer than using a blunt knife, because blunt knives might fail to cut the surface of an ingredient and end up sliding to a side causing an accident with your fingers. Therefore, do not hesitate to equip your kitchen with a whetstone, a sharpening steel, or a manual sharpener to maintain your chef knife always on point!

Finally, to also preserve the beauty of your chef knife, we recommend you to always wash it by hand using a soft dishwashing soap and rubbing it gently with a sponge. After you wash it, dry it immediately with a clean, soft cloth. It is true that most chef knives have blades with great corrosion resistance, but it is never good to leave your knives soaking in water for long time. Also, even if some chef knives are considered to be dishwasher safe, there is nothing safest than washing them by hand. Once your knife is clean and dry, you can store safely inside your knife block. 

So now that you know how to take proper care of a chef knife, the only thing left is inviting you to get yours from the great collection of chef knives that we have at your disposal here at MyChefKnives.co.uk !