Kitchen knives
Do you need a full set of kitchen knives?
Do you need a full set of kitchen knives?
In our experience, you don’t need to buy a full set of knives.
Every kitchen should, however, have a chef’s knife – a multi-purpose tool that can be used for jointing and cutting meat, dicing vegetables, and chopping herbs and nuts. It can’t do everything, though, so you’ll need a paring knife and a serrated knife, too. Those three knives will suit most tasks in the home kitchen, but you’ll need more specialised knives for tasks such as filleting fish.
A chef’s knife is a multi-purpose tool, but it can’t do everything. Here are some other common knives:
To help keep your knife slicing as it did when new, you should steel it regularly. Steeling straightens and re-aligns the edge of the blade; it doesn’t sharpen the blade or remove any metal. The best steels are metal or ceramic, with smooth surfaces. A steel with a very rough, grooved surface will act like a file and damage your knife. Rough metal or diamond steels should be avoided.
Once steeling stops working, it’s time for your knives to get a proper sharpen. Many good cookware shops offer this service. Unless the sharpener’s very experienced, they shouldn’t use a motorised sharpener (grinding belt or wheel). It’s too easy to ruin a knife on them.
A sharp, well-designed chef’s knife is a joy to use. We tested eight to see which stay sharp and retain their edge while handling well.
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