The choice of decent “tools of kitchen production” is an indicator of the professionalism and experience of its direct owner, and the status of the restaurant.

The blade is a key element of the knife. Key indicators are endurance, strength, flexibility, hardness, durability, resistance to abrasion, the ability to keep rake. The thickness and shape of the blade directly depend on which type of work and what kitchen style knife is designed for. As for the blade, in turn, there are three major components – the edge, butt, cutting edge. That is the knife point and the type of sharpening that made the knife suitable for particular works. Utility (chef) blade has a central tip (exactly halfway between the edge and the butt). The more rounded is the blade, and the edge is snub-up, the more it allows the cook to make an effort at some point – for example, the separation of hard strings (for cutting meat with bones or frozen one it is wiser not to use a knife, but a special cleaver- even the most durable cook tool will not endure such mockery for a long time). Rounded blade is a great assistant for a cook, who is cutting products, with continuous motions up and down.

 

The cutting edge is responsible for sharpness. The most common, smooth edges is a universal weapon that allows you to clean, cut, chop. Its opposite – serrated blade – clearly distinguishes by work specializations. Firstly, there exists a wide serrater with wavy indentations – hollow ground, laid along the entire length on usually stretched long blade.

High-quality chef’s knife cannot be made by stamping of sheet steel, otherwise it simply will not sustain heavy load. Only forged steel – a result of forging steel by sealing that blade gets the highest strength characteristics.

 

For chefs knives the steel of the following types is used: pure chrome stainless (adding chromium makes the steel harder), and chromium, molybdenum and vanadium alloy (molybdenum gives the steel a special hardness and vanadium reduces the brittleness). Knives of the second type are more expensive, because their production process is more costly and lengthy.

Traditionally knife handles were made of solid wood – comfortable, stylish, and the hand does not slip. Today, the majority of professional knife handles are made of durable polymer: plastic copes better with aggressive environment, it does not give shelter to microorganisms and provides tighter adjusting of covering to the metal plate parts.

The most important indicator of the knife quality is its appearance. All parts of the high-quality knife – blade, neck, handle – must be perfect, without gaps, adjusted to each other. Equally important is the perfect polishing of the blade, which should be looked through at the light. And, as follows from above the material from which the blade is made matters.

The minimum set for European kitchen – “chef’s trio”, which includes a large chef’s knife length of 45-48 cm, a medium one – of 40-37 cm and 27-30 cm small one. In principle, such an arsenal will cope with all basic cooking operations. Often manufacturers offer ready set of 7-9 knives. But most professionals prefer to collect their “ammunition” on their own, to choose the working tool according to their taste and hand.