The Only 4 Cooking Knives You Need

The Only 4 Cooking Knives You Need

By:


There are plenty of cooking knives for sale on late night TV. Youve seen the info-mercials. These amazing knives cut aluminum cans and shoes! Ive been cooking for a long time, and Ive never had to cut a can or a shoe. What makes this the test of a great knife?

I saw a TV commercial that offered a 26 knife set. It came with 12 steak knives. Again, when has anyone had to cook steak for 12 people in there home? Rarely, Id say.

You dont need an entire set of knives to be a great cook at home. Nor do you have to spend a lot of money on cooking knives. You need only 4 basic knives in your kitchen:

1) Chefs Knife - The chefs knife will complete 80% of the cutting tasks in your kitchen and will eliminate every chopper/dicer device sold on TV. It has no moving parts, it wipes clean easily, and with the proper technique, is the safest instrument in your kitchen.

The chefs knife has a tapered blade, wider at the heal and thinner at the tip. Rather than slam the knife against the cutting board repeatedly to chop items, the best was is with a tip-fulcrum method. This is where the tip of the knife stays on the cutting board and rocks back in forth with the heal doing the cutting.

2) Serrated Slicing Knife - This is a long knife with a serrated edge or teeth. You might call this a bread knife, and it can certainly be used for bread. This knife is used for items that the downward weight of the chefs knife would crush, like tomatoes or slices of bread.

The slicing knife is best used with one long stroke. Just because it has teeth doesnt mean you should use it as a saw. One slice makes an more certain and attractive cut.

3) Boning Knife - This is a 5 to 7 inch knife with a thin blade and a sharp tip. Its used ONLY for raw items. This is the knife for removing the fat from chicken breast or the silverskin from cuts of meat.

The boning knife should be the sharpest of all your cooking knives and used in a single, smooth stroke to avoid giving raw products a hacked-up look.

4) Paring Knife - A 3 to 5 inch small knife thats used for peeling, skinning, or close-up carving of vegetables. Its the only knife used with the sharp blade held toward your face. Items are pushed past the blade with the thumb of your knife hand.

Imagine cutting the green caps off strawberries. Youd set the knife against the crown of the berry and push the fruit under the blade to remove the cap.

If you are impressed with cooking knives that cut cans or shoes, you really need to get a better nights sleep. If you are looking for the proper tools to take your cooking from fair to fantastic, then just the 4 basic knives Ive mentioned will have you well on your way without spending a lot of money.

See Chef Todds cooking knives http://bit.ly/qzAWEf video as he demonstrates live!

About the Author:
Chef Todd Mohr is attacking a topic that most chefs wont touch with 10 foot tongs, the fact that RECIPES DONT WORK! His online cooking lessons are empowering home cooks with the knowledge of HOW to cook, not just WHAT to cook.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


Tags:

|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent Food-and-Drink Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Site Navigation:

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.