Here are five forever knives that will stay with you from slicing bread to filleting meat:
- Cleaver: If you are a cook you will find the cleaver comes in handy for many uses. For example, if you discover a great sale on roasts or chickens and want to divide them up for the freezer nothing works better than a cleaver. Also cleavers are a must for slicing up crown roasts before serving if you want to get through the bone and sinew. A cleaver is a large knife very broad and is as sturdy as a hatchet.
- Chef’s Knife: A chef’s knife is the knife you need to make things look nice and to free meat of excess bone, fat and membranes. It is also the go to knife for chopping, paring and just about anything you have a mind to use it for as the size and blade make it easy to manoeuvre as well as effective to cut through most food items.
- Serrated or “Bread” Knife: The serrated knife is also commonly called a bread knife because it is “the” knife for cutting bread, buns, bagels, etc. The serrated knife will cut through crust easily without tearing or flattening out the fresh bread within. It is also the perfect knife to slice tomatoes without mushing them as well as tender items such as peaches that can tend to get bruised. The tough skin of citrus fruit is no match for the serrated knife.
- Filet Knife: Just as you need that cleaver to do the heavy cutting for butchering the filet knife is needed for the more delicate work. Although you can use the chef’s knife to do much of the delicate work involved in prepping meats and fish, the filet knife if longer and more flexible making it even better for removing skin and that silvery membrane found on loin cuts of beef and pork.
- Paring Knife: Although some cooks like the peeler, the paring knife is the chef’s preferred tool for peeling, slicing and deseeding fruits and veggies. A smaller version of a chef’s knife, this little guy might turn out to be a favorite for other jobs as well.
Having these five forever knives will make life easier.
