Whether you're gingerly slicing some lettuce or hacking at frozen bacon, knives are versitile tools in the soup kitchen. I hope this imformation is useful!
Basic Knife Chart
Here's a small table about the most common knives that are used in the kitchen.
| Boning Knife | 
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Boning knives are thin and flexible, making them perfect for de-boning that stubborn turkey or chicken for soups. |
| Bread Knife | 
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After using a bread knife to cut bread, you'll wonder how you ever hacked at a fresh loaf of bread with anything else! The scalloped edge keeps the knife from mashing the bread into a pancake. |
| Carving Knife | 
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Carving knives cut through cooked meat extremely well. |
| Chef Knife | 
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This knife you'll use for almost everything in the kitchen. Whether you're chopping, slicing, hashing, or perhaps even mashing, you'll use the chef's knife to do the job. |
| Cleaver Knife | 
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This is the knife you see in the movies. It is very heavy and cuts through thick meat slabs with bones in a single stroke. |
| Paring Knife | 
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The paring knife is much smaller with a dull tip, making it easy to work with when dicing small vegetables. |
| Santoku Knife | 
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The santoku knife has features of both the chef and cleaver knives. Its versatility is useful when mincing, dicing, and slicing. |
| Slicing Knife | 
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This knife, like the carving knife, is good for slicing through meat. The slicing knife is quite longer and works well for carving turkey. |
| Tomato Knife | 
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This small knife has a serrated edge, enabling it to slice through tomatoes without ripping the skin. |
| Utility Knife | 
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This medium-sized knife is good all around. It cuts through fruits and vegetables quite easily, and can be used almost anywhere you need it in the kitchen. |
Here's some key pointers to buying the right knife for you...
- Check the Carbon Count! The higher the carbon count in a knife, the stronger your stainless steel knife will be!
- Get a Feel For It! See if your like how your knife feels! Also, make sure the blade is riveted into the handle for security.
- Notice the Handles! If the knife handle is wooden, it will require more maintenance and will need to be hand-washed.
- Be Wary of Its Weight! Heavier knives will have better balance between the handle and the blade, but make sure you can handle the weight of the knife!
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copyright 2006 R.Pflughaupt
last updated 02/09/2006
