The Chefs Knife - Workhorse of the Kitchen

The chef’s knife, also called the cook’s knife. or the French knife, is the workhorse of the kitchen. The go-to food preparation tool that you will use every time you prepare a gourmet recipe. Chef knives come in various length blades - from 5 to 12 inches. Professional chefs prefer the 8 inch blade length which seems to provide the most versatility and balance. Keep in mind that most professional chefs are male and the 8″ blade may be a tad hefty for the more diminutive cook. Don’t worry. There are excellent quality 6″ chef knives too.

The shape of the chef’s knife is what makes it so versatile. This illustration from Wusthof shows how parts of the knife are used for different tasks.

How To Use a Chef’s Knife

1 The mid section of the blade is used to chop either firm or soft food. The gentle curve of the blade is ideal for mincing leeks, chives, parsley etc. A chef’s knife edge is ground thin for cutting performance. Chopping through hard, dense bones with the center of the edge will dull the blade and could damage the fine edge. Use a cleaver and not your chef’s knife for heavy duty meat chopping. Chefs knives do not have serrated blades which are designed to cut soft objects.

2 The tip is pointed, slightly flexible, and can be maneuvered around bones. The curved front of the blade should be kept sharp as it is suitable for many small cutting jobs. It is particularly useful for chopping onions, mushrooms, garlic and other small vegetables. The placement of the tip in the middle of the blade and the curved shape lets you chop and dice with a smooth rocking motion which reduces fatigue on those big jobs.

3 The spine of the blade is flat and much thicker than the edge. The spine of your chefs knife can be used to break up small bones or shellfish or for tenderizing meat cuts.

4 The weight distribution and balance are optimal at the bolster, just above the heel of the blade. The heel section of the blade is used to chop through extremely firm food objects like turnips and other root vegetables. A bolster that extends full length to the heel provides better finger protection but can make sharpening the heel section more difficult.

5 The wide flat surface of the blade is suitable for smashing garlic, and for flattening fillets as well as for lifting the choppings into the pan.

Forged Stainless Steel Considered Best

High quality chef’s knives are made from high carbon stainless steel alloy, which can be sharpened to a razor’s edge, does not rust, and is easy to keep clean. The very best chef’s knives are forged - individually hammered from a single blank of stainless steel. Forged chefs knives require many manufacturing steps and can get expensive, although Chicago Cutlery has cut a value niche for itself. Some chef’s knives are stamped or punched out of sheet steel. Stamped chefs knives are usually less expensive but are still highly rated and are capable of very good performance. See the number of 5 star reviews for R.H. Forschner stamped knives. One Zwilling J.A. Henckels premium brand starts with a stamped piece and hot forges only the bolster. Regardless of material or method of construction a chef’s knife blade should never bend under pressure although a very slight amount of flexibility at the tip is desirable.

You can tell a forged chef’s knife from a stamped knife by the hump or shoulder on the forging where the blade meets the handle. This part is called the bolster and is present only on forged knives. Forged knives are heavier because the steel is made more dense from hammering. Forged chef knives are less likely to deform over time. They are generally reputed among professional chefs to have better feel and balance. Protect the edge by hand washing your chef’s knife. If not sorely abused, and if passed regularly over a sharpening rod to maintain the sharp edge, a forged chef’s knife can be your primary food processor for decades.

New materials promise even sharper edges and longer lasting kitchen knives. Henckels’ new Cermax knives use a MicroCarbide Powder Steel process to make blades harder than stainless steel. Kyocera advanced ceramic blades offer superior edge retention, holding their edge at least 10 times longer than other professional blades, including high carbon steel. Customers rate knives made from these materials very highly and with some enthusiasm too.

As a point of reference most stamped stainless steel chefs knives are rated at about 55-56 HRC (Rockwell) - which is plenty hard for a steel cutting instrument. Forged knives are closer to 60 HRC. A wood chisel by comparison is about 45 HRC. Asian knives in general, and santoku knives in particular are often hardened to about 61 HRC to better maintain their more acute cutting angle. Henckel Cermax knives are 66 HRC. Ceramic material is not properly measured on the Rockwell scale but reasonable estimates would place Kyocera ceramic blades at about 71 HRC.

Look For These Handle Characteristics

Handles are 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the blade. They are made from wood or synthetic composites with no apparent mechanical advantage to either material. The most important handle characteristic is that the tang extend the entire length of the handle and not be merely inserted into it. Professional chefs have a strong preference for handles that are attached in two pieces to the tang and are fastened by rivets. If nothing else the rivets inspire confidence and impart a sense of strength and permanence. With forged knives the bolster keeps your fingers from sliding off the handle and under the blade.

Heft Lessens Fatigue

To measure relative heft hold the handle very lightly in your fingers right above the bolster. This is where balance comes into play. A knife that weighs more on a scale may actually feel lighter. You want the heaviest chef’s knife that you can work with without discomfort. If this seems counterintuitive consider that the heftier the knife the more gravity contributes to the work. A light chef’s knife requires more muscle power to chop through a thick parsley bunch or to pound out a cutlet. For light duty food preparation consider the santoku knife design.

The Santoku Knife

Something of a cross between a chef’s knife and a vegetable cleaver, the santoku knife has a low tip and does not have the pronounced curve of a chef’s knife, so there’s less opportunity to “rock” the blade on the tip for fine chopping or slicing. The santoku cutting motion could be described as a sliding chop. Santoku knives have a narrower cutting angle than Western chefs knives and are best sharpened at a 17 degree angle versus 22 degrees for the chefs knife. The santoku is also lighter and less bulky than a chef’s knife and although the santoku knife is excellent for slicing and chopping vegetables, the thinner blade may not be suitable for chopping through anything heavier than very thin  bone. The blade is growing in popularity and all major cutlery manufacturers include a santoku line. Users who rate santoku knives poorly for lack of weight or heft miss the point of this design entirely.

The Deba Knife

The deba bocha knife is another Japanese innovation similar to a Western style chef’s knife that features a broader blade and heavier weight than other Japanese knife styles. Yoshikin Global is the premier deba knife brand. The deba knife is a thicker, heavier sashimi knife that is ideal for boning poultry, fish, and meats. The heavy knife allows the chef to apply less pressure when cutting through fish skin or vegetables, and it works great for cutting through fish bones. The deba features a one-sided blade that is ground and sharpened on only one side resulting in a more acute (sharper) cutting angle. Deba blades are right-handed or left-handed.

Hollow Ground or Granton Edge

The blade design to the left is called a Granton, kullenschiff, or hollow ground edge, and its use is not limited to chef’s knives. The hollow dimples create pockets of air which prevent extra thin, moist, or soft slices from sticking to the blade. This is not the same as a serrated blade because the cutting edge is not affected.