You Cut Me Deep

Knives can make or break your experience in the kitchen. If you have a great knife, you won’t dread the chore of chopping vegetables or meat. A great knife will slice through your vegetables as though they were butter. It took me a while to figure out that I needed to quit using cheap, dull knives. When I changed this part of my cooking, my world came alive! Please, in the name of all that is good and holy, DO NOT use a dull knife. It will make you want to cuss and lose your religion. However, when you have a good, sharp knife you will sing songs of praise. “When I die, hallelujah I’ll take my knife! I’ll fly away.”

Here are my favorite knives. I use each of them regularly, and I consider them essential in my kitchen. However, I know of some cooks who only have one knife and use it for everything. I like variety. It’s the spice of life, along with cumin.

This is my Chef’s knife. It’s a Chicago Cutlery brand. These knives can range from 6-14 inches in length. Characteristically they have a curved design so that the blade will rock when cutting. It can be used for everything – chopping vegetables, cutting meat, mincing, or slicing large cuts of meat. If a cook only has one kitchen knife, this is generally the one.

This is my large Santoku knife. Biltmore made this particular one. It’s also a general purpose knife. It is best for slicing, dicing, and mincing. This type is not for rocking while cutting, like the Chef’s knife. The scallops on one side of the blade are for reducing friction while cutting, leading to less of a “hacking” look.

This is my large serrated knife. Everyone should own one of these! I’ve been to too many houses and events where there was no serrated knife to be found. What is wrong with people! How else will you slice your bread with relative ease and not create a crumbly mess? A serrated knife is for cutting food that has a hard exterior and a soft interior. I haven’t yet splurged and bought a nice, expensive version of this one. Mine is pretty dinky, but it gets the job done for me.

Ok, this is the knife that changed my life! Hello Sweetie!!! Like the large santoku, it serves the same purpose. I prefer this smaller version because it fits in my hand better. This particular knife was made by Cuisinart. I use this knife daily for everything. It’s my baby. It’s in my will. Buy one. You’ll thank me.

A tomato knife isn’t really a necessity in the kitchen. I’m attached to mine though. This is a Rada brand knife. They make several kitchen utensils and I like them all.  The large serrated edge of this knife slices great through tomatoes so that you don’t get a mushy mess for your burger. Who wants a mushy slice of tomato on their burger? Anyone? Anyone? It works great for other things as well. Anything soft is easily sliced with this knife. I like using it to slice sweet breads.

A paring knife is great for those things that are too small for your large chef’s knife. It’s rather difficult to peel a small apple with a large knife, but you can do it easily with this little knife. If you’re like me, you can see if you can peel the whole apple without breaking the peeling. If I do it, I smile at myself. No one else cares. This knife is designed to be an all purpose knife. It’s the cheapest option of all of my knife recommendations.

I hope my explanation made sense. Go broaden your horizons and buy a great knife! Make sure you buy it on sale though. Or with a coupon. Or steal one that your mother isn’t using.