How to Select the Right Knife for You
Weight and balance is important when choosing any knife, but it’s paramount to a chef’s knife. One of the characteristics that helps determine these two factors is the type of blade. A second is the type of material used to make the knife. You'll find different styles of "chef" knives, as well as assorted materials and grips of handles. The best knife for you is the one that feels good in your hand and fits your budget.
TYPE OF BLADE
To forge a blade, a billet of red-hot steel is pounded under extreme pressure, using a forging hammer and die, to produce a blade that is relatively heavy and thick. A forged blade also sports a bolster, which is the thick piece of metal where the handle meets the blade. The added heft of the bolster is thought to improve balance of the knife while using, and certainly provides a safe barrier between the handle grip and blade.
A stamped blade is exactly that: a blade stamped out of a thin sheet of steel. Some manufacturers attach bolsters to these knives, but usually they are sold without bolsters.
In the test kitchen, we asked cooks to test and give us their impressions of using both kinds. Some chose the lightweight stamped blades, while others found that the heavier, forged blades made easier work of heavier chopping tasks, like splitting butternut squash. It should be noted that knives with a bolster should not be run through an electric knife sharpener (as the sharpener cannot reach the entire blade,) but otherwise either type of knife will work just fine. It really is a matter of the cook’s preference.
BLADE MATERIAL
Stainless Steel: By far the most common material used to make knives is stainless steel, and for good reason. Stainless steel takes to sharpening quite well, and is incredibly strong. Aside from a maintenance routine of sharpening, honing, and cleaning, a stainless steel-made blade is worry-free.
Carbon Steel: Carbon steel is softer than stainless steel, and takes to sharpening incredibly well; However, these knives need to be sharpened more often. The blade can become oxidized and stain food, and it needs a light coating of cooking oil to prevent it from rusting during storage.
Ceramic: Ceramic blades are incredibly sharp, and tend to stay that way, even with use. Although their composition is mostly from hard mineral (usually zirconium), ceramic knives can get nicked easily. For this reason it’s best not to use ceramic knives for very tough jobs–like hacking through bones.
Chef's Knife
For our purposes, also known as a Western-style chef’s knife. Currently, choices of blade, handle, weight, and balance are endless, which means the cook has a good bet of finding the right knife for them. The blade of most chef’s knife is double-sided and is sharpened to a 20-to 22-degree edge. The sharp curve of the blade makes it easy to rock the knife across the food as it cuts. It’s a great, all-purpose knife that no kitchen should be without.
Japanese Knife
Western-style knife manufacturers have adopted the Japanese style of blade for many of their knives. A true Japanese knife blade used to be thinner than a Western-style knife, and is only beveled on one side–typically to 15 degrees. Most often there is no curve on the blade, so the cook must use an up and down motion to cut food–rather than rock the knife across the food. The thin blade creates sharp, clean cuts through food, with no drag. Because the knife shape is so specialized (only beveled on one edge) this knife usually must be sharpened using a whetstone.
Gyuto Knife
A blend of the Western chef’s knife and the Japanese knife, the hybrid-style gyuto was developed to take the best from both worlds. Like the Western knife, it’s beveled on both sides, but the bevel in many gyuto blades is asymmetrical, not symmetrical, as it is with Western-style chef’s knives. Instead of being cut to the same angle, the two sides of a gyuto bevel are often cut at different angles, with the inner angle (the angle closer to the center of the cutting board, which is usually the left-hand angle) being smaller and steeper. With gyuto, the level of asymmetry is expressed in terms of a ratio: 70/30, 80/20, and even 90/10 bevels are possible. The bigger the ratio, the greater the asymmetry. Its lightweight blade is slightly angled–closer to the traditional curve of a Western chef’s knife–making this knife able to use both an up and down slicing motion, or rock across food to cut. This is a great slicing knife, as it produces very little drag during cutting.
CHOOSING A HANDLE
A great knife isn’t all about the blade. In fact, the shape, size, and material can all impact the comfort—and therefore use—of any knife. The choices are endless: wood, stainless, wood-plastic composite, or plastic handles, thick in girth or slender-flat, round, textured, smooth. You name it, and it’s out there.
In the test kitchen, we prefer the comfort of simply shaped molded plastic handles. These handles did not feature too many sharp curves, bulges, or long, flat sides. Also, because plastic handles have no rivets (like wood handles) they are a bit easier to keep clean.
However, each hand is different, so if you’re in the market, it pays to visit a shop that specializes in a range of cutlery. Ask to hold the knives in your hand, and if they allow it (some do) gently rock the knife on a cutting board to see how it will feel with use.
