TWO STYLES OF KNIVES -EAST meets WEST-
Anyone for a price will put their name on anything. There is some real junk out there with big names endorsing them. Possibly they will have something in common, the Chinese foundry that made them and the marketing firms that make the money off their names.
Basic Knife Groups
French knife or chef's knife - The all-purpose, knife that has a blade that ranges between 8 to 12 inches, with 8 inches being the most popular. Need longer, buy a sword. Many commercial companies make 12-14 inch chefs knives for the larger roasts and "disassembly" which is a nice word for prep and churning out large quantities of mass like cows.
Paring knife - The short knife with a 2 to 4 inch long blade. Used for trimming and paring.Paring knives are one of the 3 most important knives in the kitchen after the Chef knife and before the bread knife. Most home cooks use a paring knife for a variety of tasks, some of which are not recommended like using the knife as a screw driver, can opener nor wine cork remover.
Boning knife - Just as its name suggests, the boning knife is used for separating meat from bone. It has a thin, pointed, rigid blade that is usually 6 inches in length.
Carving/slicer knife -
A long thinner bladed knife both in height and width with lengths ranging from 8 inches to 14 inches. Some 14 inch commercial types for use on large roasts and I mean so large they can't fit, nor be cooked in a home oven.
They come with both pointed and round ends and with and without graton edges. Those are the football shaped indents popular now that keep the food from sticking to the blade.
Filleting knife - This knife is similar in size and shape to the boning knife except that it has a flexible instead of a rigid blade. Used for filleting fish. It is specialized and useless for anything else. Only buy it if your spouse belongs to a fishing club other than Bass-Masters since they catch and release and make lots of money from club members.
Slicer - Bread knife - A long, slender-bladed knife, up to 12, sometimes 14 inches long, used for carving and slicing bread because of the serrations. The combo of blade and serrations get you through the crust without compression or crushing and you have a bread knife.
Japanese Knives -
Since the end of World War II, western-style double-beveled edged knives have become much more popular in Japan, the best example being that of the Santoku, an adaptation of the gyuto, as used as a French chef's knife. While these knives are usually honed and sharpened on both sides, their blades are still given Japanese-style acute-angle cutting edges with a very hard temper to increase cutting ability.
Professional Japanese cooks usually own their personal set of knives, which are not used by other cooks. Some cooks and I have heard this before, and even witnessed it on Iron Chef treat their knives as an extension of their hand. Some even own two sets of knives, which they alternate every other day.
After sharpening a carbon-steel knife in the evening after use, the user normally lets the knife "rest" for a day to restore its patina and remove any metallic odour or taste that might otherwise be passed on to the food. They are very fussy about their cutlery. On the Iron Chef, he used a sharpened abalone shell to cut the fish and not let the knife steel change the taste of the delicate Abalone.
TYPES OF JAPANESE KNIVES
Santuko - A Santoku knife is the Japanese version of a chef knife. The knife has more steel at the tip of the blade and a flatter belly and usually no bolster. The knife is not rocked like a chef knife. Most people use more of a chopping motion instead of a rocking motion when cutting various types of food.
The Santoku bōchō (aka Bunka bōchō) is a general-purpose kitchen knife. Its blade is typically between five and eight inches long, and has a flat edge and a shepsfoot blade that curves in an angle approaching 60 degrees at the point. The top of the santoku's handle is in line with the top of the blade.
The word santoku loosely translates as 'three virtues' or 'three uses', a reference to the three cutting tasks the knife performs well: slicing, dicing, and mincing. The santoku's blade and handle are designed to work in harmony by matching the blade's width/weight to the weight of blade tang and handle, and the original Japanese santoku is considered a well-balanced knife.
Like any good knife, a santoku should not be dish washed or kept in a drawer. Proper care will allow for years of enjoyment.
Deba - Deba bocho literally: pointed carving knife are Japanese style kitchen carvers used to cut fish, as well as chicken and meat. They come in different sizes, sometimes up to 30 cm (12 inches) in length. The deba hocho first appeared during the Edo period in Sakai. It is designed to behead and fillet fish. Its thickness, and often a more obtuse angle on the back of the heel allow it to cut off the heads of fish without damage. The rest of the blade is then used to ride against the fish bones, separating the fillet. The deba is not intended for chopping of large diameter bones
Nakiri - Nakiri Knives are used for cutting vegetables and are very versitile tools in the kitchen. Typically you use the knife by pushing straight down to the board with very little push or pull almost like a mini Chinese cleaver is used. Nakiri knives are thin bladed and not suitable for chopping through bones or frozen foods.
Sashemi - Yanagi - In Japan it's called a Sashimi and used exclusively for making fine cut raw Sushi called sashemi. In Japan this is called a Yanagi Ba or Tako Hiki based on whether you are from Tokyo who style their knives differently from the other provinces. Remember these folks know knives, they made the Samurai Swords. Much high-quality Japanese cutlery originates from Sakai, the capital of samurai sword manufacturing since the 14th century.
Cleaver - Types 1) Light for Chinese fine art cooking - 2) Heavy in the US as a butcher tool
A heavy, rectangular-bladed knife used for chopping or cutting through bones. One of my favorite things, I have three. A Chicago Cutlery light, honed like a razor, A CCK 1303 custom and Grandpa's cleaver relegated for heavy work at outdoor barbecues or pig roasts, or wood chip chopping...