Chef's knife

In cooking, a chef's knife is a cutting tool used in preparing food. It is the kitchen knife that most cooks use most of the time.

A chef's knife generally has an eight-inch (20 cm) blade, although individual models range from six to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) in length. A Western-style knife typically has a pointed end. In the equivalent Japanese knife, called a santoku, the end of the blade is truncated.

Physical description

Materials

The blade of a chef's knife is made from one of these materials:

• Stainless steel: An alloy of iron and chromium. Stain-proof and holds its edge, but it is very difficult to sharpen.
• Carbon steel: An alloy of 20% carbon and 80% iron. Very sharp and holds its edge well, but vulnerable to rust and stains. Some professional cooks swear by knives of carbon steel because of their sharpness. Most professional cooks find that the extra sharpness is not worth the trouble of the extra maintenance. Over time, a carbon-steel knife acquires a dark patina. Some people find this a charming sign of age, others find it disgusting sign of bad sanitation.
• High-carbon steel: An alloy of iron, carbon, chromium, nickel, and molybdenum. Not able to take quite as sharp an edge as carbon steel, but as resistent to corrosion as stainless steel. A forged, high-carbon steel knife is a common choice for a high-end chef's knife.
• Ceramic
• Laminiate. As noted above, all materials used in blades have good and bad properties. A laminate knife tries to use the best of each material by creating a layered sandwich of different materials.

The handle may be made from:

• Wood
• Plastic

The edge may be ground in different ways:

• V-shape
• Beveled edge.

Manufacturing

For a steel knife, there are two ways to fashion the blade.

• Hot-forged: A hot-forged blade is made in an intricate, multi-step process, often by skilled manual labor. A chunk of steel is heated to a high temperature, and beaten to temper the steel. Forging results in a change to the grains of the steel, which increases the metal's hardness, as measured by the Rockwell scale. After forging, the blade is ground down and sharpened. Forged knives are usually also full-tang, meaning the metal in the knife runs from the tip of the knifepoint to the far end of the handle.
• Stamped: A stamped blade is cut to shape directly from rolled steel and then ground down and sharpened. Stamped blades lack the benefits of the hardness brought by forging, but they are cheaper to produce. As the quality of rolled steel improves, they may approach the quality of hot-forged blades.

Buying a chef's knife

Someone in the market for a chef's knife will make a choice based on price, the cost of maintenance, and how the knife feels in the hand (often called the balance). Considered qualities may include cost, maintenance, edge, corrosion and balance.

Using a chef's knife

Technique for the use of a chef's knife is an individual preference. Nevertheless, professional chefs commonly follow certain practices.

References

• Brown, Alton (2003). Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen. Stewart, Tabori and Chang. ISBN 1584792965.
• Wolf, Burt;Aronson, Emily;Fabricant, Florence (2000). The New Cook's Catalogue. Alfred Knopf. ISBN 0375406735.
• Lee, Matt and Lee, Ted (December 15, 2004). When a Knife Is the Gleam in a Cook's Eye. New York Times.