Kitchen Knife Sets
Posted on January 3, 2008
Filed Under Kitchen Gadgets |
You can get by with a few all purpose knives and a couple serrated blades for steaks and such. However, most people prefer a proper knife set with a few specialty knives as well as the old standbys. My favourites are the mini cleaver type knives, and I use these all the time for vegetables, meat and even cheese. My other choice is a handy little paring knife.
The knife block, or knife holder, is usually a wooden block with slots in it used for knife storage. This is a good way to keep your knives on the counter-top, ready for use yet out of the way. Many knife sets come with one of these. It is impotant to clean the knives before replacing them in the block, since the wood is harder to sanitize and the slots will be difficult to clean.
Here are a few common knives in a set:
- Bread knife - these are long bladed, with a serrated edge for neatly cutting bread without using too much pressure and squashing the loaf.
- Paring knife - for cutting vegetables and small items in your hands
- Carving knife - used to carve large cooked meats such as hams, roasts and poultry
- Boning knife - for removing bones in meat
- Chef’s knife - multipurpose kitchen cutting tool
- Steak knives - for use at the table (on steaks, as well as other items)
A good knife set is collection of kitchen gadgets that will become an integral part of food preparation. The cheaper sets will have handles that fall off and blades that are hard to sharpen, and this makes the more expensive sets well worth the money.
A tool that will complement your knife set is some sort of knife sharpener. One such gadget is the sharpening steel, a ridged rod made of diamond-coated steel or ceramic. A good, sharp knife will help you make those steak cuts a breeze before putting the meat on the barbeque, or carve your turkey with ease.
