Kitchen Knives - The 5 Basic Culinary Knife Grind Types

When I decided to start a video series about our most important tools in the kitchen, our knives it was because I spoke to some of the best chefs I know that I deal with on a daily basis at my day job as a cutlery store manager. I asked them about when they had gone to culinary school where did their education start? They all told me that when they went to culinary school they started their educations learning about their kitchen knives. The best kitchen knives are the one's you use on a daily basis and the one's that you are most comfortable with.  The different types of knives used on a daily basis in a professional kitchen and how they are to be used.  That is a good place to start and that is why I wrote about the basic kitchen knife types in a previous post.

I never went to culinary school and there are times when I really wish I did but alas! That is not in the cards. I know many great chefs and I take my hat off to all of them. They are all super talented and so highly creative it makes my head spin. They have a level of technical and creative education and skill that they express in the food creations that they make and  that it is really something to behold.

I find it strange and please I hope none of you take this the wrong way if you went to culinary school, but I find it strange that the level of technical education and skill when it comes to using cutlery (knives), the tools that a chef uses on a daily basis professionally is excellent. Learning how to use each kind of knife precisely and efficiently is an excellent skill to have. I know so many professional chefs and cooks that have this skill set. On the other side of the coin it amazes me that the culinary educational environment has taught the proper use of culinary knives and the subsequent skill set necessary to using them to a high level of skill, but what seems to have been lacking is the necessary level of culinary knife education as to the different types of culinary knives. Yes!, they have learned the difference between a French knife and a Paring knife, but were not taught about the different knife grinds, blade angles, knife sharpening, steel types and the difference between a "slicing edge" and a "cutting edge." So many professional chefs and cooks I know don't really know anything about those tools except for maybe the manufacturer of their knives. As a professional knife sharpener for twenty five of my thirty years in the cutlery business I have seen improperly maintained knives and I have found professional chefs having "professional sharpeners" as they call themselves sharpen their knives. Unfortunately, many of the people out there that call themselves "professional sharpeners" don't really have a true professional knowledge of cutlery and what goes into making cutlery, the different grind types, the different angles at which certain kinds of knives can be sharpened at, the different Rockwell hardness of the steels in particular knives and the man ways in which to angle a knife edge to perform certain tasks.  So many people out there call themselves "professional sharpeners" and  really they  are not, and they are not  doing right by the many chefs and culinary professionals I know that have used them. I have literally seen knives destroyed by other sharpeners. This is why I am such a firm believer in culinary professionals sharpening their own tools and not allowing someone else to do it for them. I know this hurts my bottom line, but at least the chefs and culinary professionals that come to me will have their blades done right!

I am a firm believer that professional chefs and cooks as well as gourmet home chefs should have a firm education in every aspect of their kitchen cutlery and that includes sharpening.  So this post will begin with a video that will cover the different types of culinary knife grinds in use today. I hope you enjoy it!

 

Richard