One of the common mistakes made by novice home cooks is thinking they need to use a different tool for every single task in the kitchen. This is largely the fault of businesses, of course, who would love to see the ambitious home cook use a million different gadgets. In reality, you only need a few basic tools to make a great meal, and a chef’s knife is definitely on that short list
So What Can Be Done With A Top Quality Chef’s Knife?
These days your kitchen is full of smart, energy and time saving gadgets and devices to make cooking and the preparation of food quicker and easier. But let’s face it, there is nothing quite like slicing, dicing, mincing or chopping food with your favourite kitchen knife. And although we are encouraged to purchase a whole selection of knives, each with its own specialty, we always end up using that one blade, that just seems to do the job better than any other, whatever that job happens to be.
Yep, we all have our favorite knife, which more often than not is the fabled chef’s or cook’s knife. It feels better in our hands and can handle anything we throw at it. As our skills grow we learn that this simplest of kitchen tools can do pretty much everything and anything we need. And it feels great!
To learn more about the Huusk Top Quality Chef’s Knife, click here
Meat
Meat can be one of the most intimidating foods to prepare for many everyday cooks in the kitchen. In the beginning, some people are a little uncomfortable working with raw meat and often haven’t the first idea of what to do with a nice cut. Hey, nothing to be worried about, it is perfectly normal. Everything is easy when you know how and we tend to catch on pretty quick. But for sure a quality chef’s knife can make things a whole lot easier. It’ll probably end up as your best and most reliable friend in the kitchen. A chef’s knife can be used for just about any kind of meat you would prepare in a kitchen, including beef, chicken, pork, and more. You know, a good chef’s knife will have an uber sharp blade, long enough and with plenty of weight to work through any cut of meat without using too much force.
Vegetables
Eating healthily is an added bonus to preparing your own food . Plenty of fresh vegetables is a great way to incorporate plenty of the vitamins and minerals in your diet, and of course, in addition to being healthy, they also taste great. You can use your knife to dice onions for added flavor, chop up a selection of vegetables for a salad or slice and dice a variety of veg for your casserole or vegetarian dish. The possibilities are endless, and your chef’s knife will handle it all effortlessly..
Fruit
Love fruit? There are so many different types of fruit and so many interesting and fun ways of serving them up. You’ll use the same techniques and more, on fruit as you do on vegetables, where the Chef’s knife is more than up to the job. For some fruits, a smaller knife may do the job as well, but reaching for your favourite chef’s knife will let you make quick work of so many different tasks. Perhap you’re only cutting for a snack, or slicing and dicing a few of your favorites for a fruit salad, or maybe you’re going creative and looking at exciting ways to serve up an exotic fruit plate.
Herbs and Spices
There is always the temptation to use pre-made or packaged herb and spice mixes, but there is nothing better than selecting and cutting up fresh herbs and spices. As you gain experience in the kitchen, you’ll find that nothing beats reaching for fresh ingredients. You get better with your knife, the more you use it. Eventually, your ability to finely chop your herbs and spices will dazzle your friends while leaving you with an immense feeling of competence and joy. The chef’s knife is the perfect tool for chopping quickly up some cilantro, fresh mint, parsley, brazil, fresh ginger and more, to add to whatever dish you are preparing at the time, where your guests will notice and taste and appreciate the difference.
The parts of the knife you can use other than the blade.
You know there is more to the chef’s knife than its razor sharp blade. As you work more with your chef’s knife, you’ll discover that it is so much more than the sum of its parts. And there are many useful parts.
- The Tip of the Blade – There’s a reason why the tip of a chef’s knife comes to a sharp point – actually, there’s more than one, from preparing meats to baking treats! You can use the sharp tip of your chef’s knife to remove sinew from meat. If you love baking, you can get creative and use the tip of your chef’s knife to cut fun shapes into pastries and cookie dough!
- The Flat of the Blade – There’s just something so satisfying in smashing ingredients under the flat of your chef’s knife. Like Smashing Garlic: Many recipes call for crushed garlic, which is quick and easy with a chef’s knife. First, pull a few cloves off of the head and peel back the natural paper wrapper – or you can give it a good smack under the flat of your knife to make it easier to peel. Once the garlic cloves are free, you can smash them one at a time using the flat of your blade. Lay the blade down on its side with the clove of garlic underneath and hit down carefully with your hand, careful not to hit the sharp cutting edge. It will take a bit of practice but breaking down garlic will be an easy job once you’ve mastered the technique.
- The Spine of the Blade – There are some instances where you can use the opposite side of the cutting edge of your chef’s knife blade. From scaling fish to cracking a coconut, the spine of your chef’s knife blade is up to the job. For instance, scaling fish: To scale a fish, simply get a firm grip on the tail and use a stroking motion to scrape the spine of your chef’s knife along the scales of the fish from the tail to the head. Once all of the scales are removed, thoroughly wash your fish and you’re good to go!
After having used your favorite chef’s knife in every way possible there is still even more it can do. Including the really basic stuff
- Scraping Up Ingredients (And Staying Sharp!) – When you’re chopping away at an ingredient that spreads out on your cutting board (like fresh herbs), or if you’ve finished chopping and are ready to add the ingredients, you can use the spine of your knife to recenter your ingredients on your board, scoop them up or just scrape them off the chopping board, straight into the pot, pan, bowl. Just make sure you use the spine of your knife and not the cutting edge to help prevent it from dulling quicker than it should.
Remember, a sharp knife is a safe knife and a dull knife should have no place in your kitchen!
