Filling Knife

Filling Knife

Key Components of a Quality Gourmet Knife Set

When purchasing a new gourmet knife set, you want to make sure you have the right combination of knives in the set so that all your food cutting needs will be met. Additionally, quality sets will have good fringe and complimentary components as well.

Chef's Knife

The staple of most knife sets is the chef's knife. Also called the French knife, originally this knife was used primarily for cutting meats. Typically the blade measures about eight inches in length and one and a half inches in width. Currently the functionality of this knife serves more of an all purpose role. It is used for cutting, mincing, slicing, and chopping various food items such as meat, fish and vegetables.

Santoku Knife

The Santoku knife can be thought of as the Japanese version version of the chef's knife. It is different enough that most good gourmet knife sets include both a chef's knife and a Santoku knife. It is thinner and not as long as the traditional chef's knife. The Santoku knife is designed mostly for cutting boneless or lightly-boned meats, poultry and seafood. It is also great for handling vegetables, whether you are slicing, dicing or chopping them.

Paring knife

A paring knife is a small knife that is ideal for peeling fruits and vegetables. It is also good for precision cutting, such as de-veining shrimp or removing seeds from fruits. This is a common knife found in all good knife sets.

Bread Knife

Bread knives are long, thin knives that are serrated so it can cut soft bread without crushing it or causing it to crumble. These are a must for any knife set since bread is one of the most commonly eaten foods there is.

Boning Knife

A boning knife is a long, thin extremely sharp knife that is used to separate meat from bones in beef, poultry and fish. The material connected to the bone is usually tougher and more elastic than the actual flesh, so the narrow sharp boning knife is perfect for this function.

Complimentary Components

There should also be useful complimentary components in a good gourmet knife set. To house the items, knife sets use a wooden block with slots for the items. This should be made of quality wood such as bamboo or oak. Also, most sets include kitchen shears, which are perfect for cutting string and twine.

So make sure the gourmet knife set you intend to purchase includes the above items - this will ensure all your kitchen cutting requirements will be met.

About the Author

If you are looking for the in depth reviews for all the best knife block sets such as the J.A. Henckels Twin Pro S just visit our Best Knife Block Sets website. We also reveal were you can find knife block sets for up to 60% off!

What will cut out a hole in a plastic bin?

I'm making a feral cat shelter out of two big plastic storage bins: you put one inside the other & fill the space between them with insulation of some kind. But you have to cut a "cat hole" thru both bins. I tried a utlity knife. Then I got this drill bit at Home Depot that's supposed to act like a saw to cut straight & curved lines. I thought that would work, but it doesn't seem to at all.

those drill bits will work on plastic, but the speed of their rpm needs to be lowered.

or you could use a 14 tooth per inch jig saw blade in an varible speed jig saw.

if you use a high tooth rate or a high speed, it almost always heats the plastic up to the point where it starts melting it after you cut it,

too much pressure and you crack the plastic,

Filling nail holes with a finger putty knife