{"content":[{"text":"The chef's knife is probably a cook's most important tool. And given the amount of time it \n spends in your hand, it's definitely worth making sure you have a good one. A lot of people \n suggest purchasing \"the best knife you can afford. Otherwise, you're just buying the most \n expensive knife you can afford. The best knives are forged from a single piece of steel that runs \n the entire length of the knife. Read on for a quick tutorial on the various parts of a chef's knife, \n what they do and why they're important. The best chef's knives are made of high-carbon \n stainless steel, which is a very hard metal that keeps its edge for a long time and won't discolor \n or rust like ordinary carbon steel. To be sure, knives made from ordinary carbon steel aren't \n necessarily inferior. Of course, they go dull more easily, too. Chef's knives are measured in \n inches, and lengths of 8\" to 12\" are common. A longer blade lets you make longer single-stroke \n cuts when slicing. The so-called \"German\" style of chef's knife tends to have a more curved \n section at the front of the blade, good for chopping in an up-and-down \"rocking\" motion. The \n \"French\" style is straighter, and more triangular, which is good for a \"slicing\" type of motion \n where the knife is drawn straight back toward you. In this picture, we see the edge of a \n Japanese-style santoku knife. The hollow, beveled indentations ground into the blade are \n designed to create tiny pockets of air between the knife and the product being sliced, reducing \n friction and minimizing sticking. Unless you're very unlucky, the part of a chef's knife you'll \n have the most contact with is the handle. So you'll want to make sure it's comfortable and fits \n your hand. It shouldn't feel slippery or cause you to have to grip excessively hard. Chef's knife \n handles have traditionally been made of wood, but wooden handles present certain problems. \n For one, because wood is porous, knife handles made of wood can harbor bacteria that cause \n food-related illness. Many local health departments prohibit the use of wooden-handled knives \n in commercial foodservice. Bacteria can also grow in the tiny cracks where the wood joins the \n steel or around the rivets. Wooden handles don't fare well in the dishwasher, either, though to \n be fair, you shouldn't be running your knife through the dishwasher in the first place. Still, even \n soaking a knife can cause its wooden handle to warp or crack. For these reasons, knives with \n plastic or rubber handles as pictured above are increasingly popular. Additionally, some \n handles are made from a composite material consisting of wood that has been treated with \n plastic resin. That gives them the traditional appearance of wood, which many people find \n appealing while avoiding the sanitation concerns associated with wooden handles. The heel is \n the widest part of the knife, located at the rear of the blade where it meets the handle. This \n section of the cutting edge is used for chopping hard items like carrots, nuts or even chicken \n bones. Knives with longer blades produce greater leverage, thus generating greater cutting \n force at the heel of the blade. A heavier knife also increases cutting force, but it's more tiring to \n use, too. As mentioned earlier, the best knives are forged from a single piece of steel that runs \n the entire length of the knife. That means the steel extends all the way into the handle. The \n section of steel inside the handle is called the tang , and if it goes all the way to the end of the \n handle, it's called a \"full tang. In addition to providing strength, full-tang construction offers \n better balance, making a knife easier to use. This picture shows the tang sandwiched between \n the two halves of the wooden handle. In knives with synthetic handles, the tang may not be \n visible. Rivets are the raised, cylindrical studs that keep the handle securely attached to the \n tang portion of the knife. This type of construction is typical of knives with wooden handles. If \n rivets are present, make sure that their tops are smooth and that they don't protrude from the \n handle at all. In addition to showing the rivets, the photo above also shows the tang sandwiched \n between the two halves of the handle. The bolster is the thick shoulder of heavy steel located at \n the front of the handle where it meets the spine or the top non-cutting edge of the blade. In \n addition to balancing the knife, the bolster also helps keeps your fingers from slipping while \n you work, thus preventing hand fatigue and blisters. Not every chef's knife will have a bolster. A \n bolster indicates that a knife has been forged from a single chunk of steel, as opposed to being \n stamped out of a roll of sheet metal. These stamped knives are generally inferior to forged \n knives. The thickness of a bolster shows how thick the original chunk of steel wasâ€”and the \n thicker, the better. Chef's Knife Overview. Continue to 2 of 7 below. Chef's Knife: The Blade. \n Continue to 3 of 7 below. Chef's Knife: The Handle. Continue to 4 of 7 below. Chef's Knife: The \n Heel. Continue to 5 of 7 below. Chef's Knife: The Tang. Continue to 6 of 7 below. Chef's Knife: \n The Rivets. Continue to 7 of 7 below. Chef's Knife: The Bolster. Read More. Written by Patrick \n McCarthy on March 20, If you enjoy collecting and using knives like we do, it's important to \n know the terminology associated with blade designs. Using the correct knife anatomy terms \n eliminates confusion and shows you know what you're talking about. Every knife has its own \n unique characteristics and variationsâ€”like snowflakes, but deadly. We'll admit that knife terms \n can be confusing and hard to remember at first. So, we've created the infographic below to \n illustrate 20 different parts of a fixed blade knife. This knife features jimping on the thumb rise \n and further forward on the spine. An Emerson logo and model information are etched onto the","bbox":{"left":0.050964,"top":0.031288,"width":0.8978229999999999,"height":0.894159}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}