From: njs@scifi.uucp (Nicholas J. Simicich)
Subject: Re: Knives, what's good, what's bad?
Keywords: knives
Organization: Nick Simicich, Peekskill, NY
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 00:21:20 GMT

In article <1992Jul23.234335.6922@ichips.intel.com> jreece@sousa.intel.com writes:
>In article <1992Jul23.214217.3380@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, bwatson@nyx.cs.du.edu (bruce watson) writes:
>> In article <gJo7NB3w161w@cdthq.UUCP> gary@cdthq.UUCP (Gary Heston) writes:
>> >ranck@joesbar.cc.vt.edu (Wm. L. Ranck) writes:
>> >
>> I have Henckels. Be prepared to spend a LOT of money. But they will
>> last forever.
>
>I second that.  But you don't need to invest in a whole set of
>specialized knives for carving, filleting, etc. An 8" chef's knife
>and a 3" or 4" paring knife is all a cook needs to start.  Many
>Chinese chefs don't even use that many -- just one very sharp
>cleaver.  I've never had any problems using my single chef's knife
>for carving, filleting, slicing bread, etc. as long as I kept it
>*sharp*.

The typical set of kitchen knives which was used in commercial
kitchens that I worked in was:

French knife, 8-12".  The French knife is the wide bladed knife that
comes to a point.  Frequently called a chef's knife (in fact, I
suspect that French knife is an archaic name for the chef's knife),
the blade is wide and drops below your knuckles so that it will reach
the table before your knuckles do when you chop.  For chopping on a
large commercial cutting board, chop with two at once.  Slicing may be
best done with a sort of rolling action.  Indispensible.  This should
be your premiere knife.  Keep it sharp, keep it handy.

Butcher knife.  Narrow, curved bladed knife, used for making large
cuts in meat, cutting off steaks, and cubing meat.  You might also use
this knife to fillet fish, etc.  Typically the sharpest knife around,
since it is used the least.  You can easily use your French knife to
cube meat.  Sharpen it first.  I used mine tonight to cube chicken for
murgh tikka.

Boning knife.  Narrow bladed knife, with a blade 6 inches long.  Used
to separate joints, or to bone chicken, beef, and so forth.
Indispensible.  Pay a lot for this knife, you want a good one, unless
you buy all your chicken pre-boned.  Should be sharp enough to cut
meat if it is held near it :-).  This knife is sharpened constantly,
and usually ends its life by just being sharpened into nothing.

Cleaver.  Used to break joints, chop through frozen food, crack bones
for stock, home defense, and so forth.  Commercial ones are much
heavier than those sold for home use (and are end weighted, and in an
expert's hands used to be used to make 'chops'.  Home weight cleavers
just aren't the same.  I used to consider this a dispensible knife in
the home, (never thought it was worth investing in a commercial one)
but I've since discovered the:

Chinese Cleaver.  I use a one piece all metal stainless cleaver I
bought in Chinatown as my primary knife, and I find that I like this
for chopping and slicing.  I find that I use it interchangably with my
French knives, although the French knife is lighter and better for
fine chopping (also thinner and maybe better for thin slicing.  I've
never worked with one of these in a commercial kitchen.  I've seen a
lot of Chinese commercial kitchens with them, though.  Reasonably good
Chinese cleavers are inexpensive, and I've changed my rating on this
knife to 'nearly indespensible'.

Paring knife.  Use obvious.  In the places I worked, a long time ago,
there were also peelers, used for peeling.  Heck, use a steak knife or
pick up a cheap one at the food store or commercial kitchen supply.
Little advantage to buying a $12 paring knife.  For most paring, I
find that I use my French knife.

Bone saw.  A food-grade hack saw used for meat cutting.  Most home
cooks have their butcher do the sort of cuts that this would be used
for. 

Slicing knife.  The one knife that should have obvious serrations is
the slicing knife.  It can be used to carve ham, turkey, slice bread,
and so forth.  The blade is straight, and thin, but wide, for better
slicing.  Serrations keep it from tearing what you are slicing.  I'd
have little use for one that wasn't at least 14" long.  These knives
are the cheapest (except for the paring knife) commercially, and I'd
look for a good sized one in a commercial kitchen supply place.
Indispensible?  If you already have a good carving knife, and a good
bread knife, you don't need this knife.  If you don't, it is a
worthwhile investment.





-- 
Nick Simicich - uunet!bywater!scifi!njs - njs@watson.ibm.com
SSI #AOWI 3958, HSA 318, NAUI #14065
Join the movement ---  turn 'to bush' into a verb.