Buying Guide For Knives

Carbon steel

• Wash your carbon steel knife in warm soapy water and immediately wipe dry. 
• Never put this knife in the dishwasher. If you do, your knife will rust and cause any other metal object in your dishwasher to also rust.
• Soon after you begin to use your carbon steel knife, grey stains will appear on the blade. This is a perfectly natural occurrence with carbon steel.

Chef's

Also known as a Cook's knife, this is the workhorse in any kitchen. Excellent for chopping, dicing and slicing it's the first knife any keen cook should own. Typically available with blade lengths between 20 to 30 centimetres. Smaller versions are sometimes called Utility knives.

Paring

Paring knives have shorter, narrower blades and are essential for paring and trimming vegetables and fruits. They usually have a straight knife edge but the Birds eye has a curved blade and is used for turning vegetables. Also, look for similar knives labelled as Vegetable or Peeling knives.

Serrated

A Serrated or Bread knife has 'teeth' that run along the edge of the blade. These teeth help to grip foods such as bread, making it easier and cleaner to slice. Smaller serrated knives are also available (often called Tomato or Sandwich knives).

Slicing/Carving

A Slicing or Carving knife has a long thin blade, designed to create clean slices of meat. You'll also find speciality slicing knives such as Salmon, Ham and Sashimi knives, often with scallops along the knife edge. This granton edge helps keep moist foods from sticking to the knife.

Boning

A Boning knife has a semi-flexible, thin blade that allows you to remove bones from meat or poultry.

Filleting

If you fillet your own fish then a filleting knife is critical. Filleting knives resemble boning knives but have blades that are even more flexible. This flexibility allows you to cleanly release the fillets from the bones without leaving behind much flesh.

Cleaver

Cleavers are often used in Chinese cooking for chopping vegetables. In the West, they're popular for cutting meat. Their size and weight means they can cut through bone. Typically rectangular in shape, the flat side can be used to pound meat or chicken into flat medallions.

Santoku

The Santoku is originally from Japan where it's used as a multi-purpose cook's knife. In particular, it's a favourite for slicing, dicing and mincing (Santoku translates into 'three good things'). It also may be called a Japanese Vegetable knife.