A (wo)man without a knife is a (wo)man without a life

Almost every time I cook at someone else's home I have one problem. Where is a good knife? I'm shocked on what I find in the drawers of kitchens. I've come around a lot of blunt knives in my years. Most of the times the blade isn't bigger then 4 cm long and around 1 cm high. It doesn't cut through anything, except your fingers.

When I cut my nail and finger with a serrated knife, 2012

Picture by Emy Spekschoor

I think it is a Dutch thing, to only have small knives, preferably blunt. Probably because the only thing we have to cut for a dutch dinner is vegetables and potatoes. I'm talking about the potato knife, 'het aardappelmesje'. The names says it all, it's called after a potato, so it is for potato?

As my graduation project for the School of the Arts Utrecht (HKU) I researched the kitchen. The utilities, the ingredients. The differences between the Eastern and Western kitchen. I made drawings of these ingredients and utilities, researched them, used them. Ending up with almost botanic renderings of these ingredients and utilities. Explaining them with diagrams that show their heritage, their origin, my memories and ideas. Maybe you have seen some of these drawings already on my blog. The pencil drawings of produce, with diagrams next to them. Grasping some collected information.

Kni·fes, drawing and diagram from artistbook 厨房 Kit·chen, 2012-2013

Bread knife, cutting knife and freeze knife

Now getting back to knives. I think the knife is one of the most important tool you need in the kitchen. So to have a great one is necessary. It all comes down to choosing your knife thoughtfully. The first question you need to awnser is, why do you want to use the knife? Do you want to spread something, cut something or peel something.

Sometimes the purpose for the knife is in the name. Think about the potato knife I mentioned before. There are a lot of these knives, cheese knives, bread knives, tomato knives. So you can choose your knife based on their name. That is one way, another one is looking at what you wanna cut. Is it slippery, or firm, frozen, smooth? Does it need a serrated or smooth blade? Do you need to use a lot of power to cut? What size doe you need?

Kni·fe, drawing and diagram, 2012

Showing from left to right; Dutch potato knife, Dutch peeler, German knife, French cheese knife, Brazilian steak knife, Dutch cutting knife, German tomato knife, European butcherknife, Chinese butch and cutting knife, European bread knife, European cutting knife, German freeze knife, German cook knife

The size of your knife is related to the size of your cutting board. If you do it that way you will never run out of space on your board. Plus it is saver for your fingers. So look at your board, place the knife diagonal on the board. There should be around 3-5 cm from the corners it is pointing to. Then you have the best size knife for the board.

At home we have and always had big cutting boards and so, big knives. Or the other way around, depends on how you look at things. Since I was young I learned how to work with big knives. So I never was scared of knives. I guess it is a Asian thing, because Asian love big sharp knives. From a young age my parents, my nieces and nephews parents teach their kids to use big knives. 

left: Me (age 5?) cutting cucumber with a big knife, childhood kitchen Houten, somewhere in the '90s

right: niece (age 6) and nephew (age 9) cutting cucumber with big Asian knives, Carlsbad camping trip 2012

I guess that because of this it becomes normal. Making us used to these knives, making us somewhat spoiled to have big and sharp knives. I guess that is why all my friends are scared of the big knives. They never grew up with those knives, they're only used to the small potato knife.

In my opinion you just need 6 knives and your set for life! A small knife (1), somewhat like the Dutch potato knife. Just for peeling and cutting small vegetables or fruits. They are dirt cheap and get blunt fast,  so replace every other year or so. You need a big butcher or cutting knife (2), I would prefer a Asian one. But you can also get another one. If you go Asian, buy one in an Asian market, preferably from Thailand or Taiwan. The knives from there stay sharp for a long time and the quality is just better. Next up is something in between, preferably with a long blade (3). And when you're at it, buy this model even bigger in size (4). So coming to the last two, both serrated knives. Get a good bread knife (5), always useful and get a tomato knife (6). The tomato knife will do wonders, because it will cut through anything the others will have problems with.

Kni·fe, drawing and diagram from artistbook 厨房 Kit·chen, 2012-2013

Dutch potato knife and Chinese butch and cutting knife

When you have the knife you need, you need to take care of your knife. Keep it clean and sharp. Sharpening is especially important for smooth bladed knives. Take it to a shop where they sharpen knifes or sharpen it yourself. Using a sharpening stone. You make smooth gestures, going along the blade in one swift. You might need to remove some burrs. 

Coming to the cutting part, just remember this. Cut away from yourself. You don't want a knife in you body. Be careful, keep you fingers out of the cutting range. But most important, don't be afraid of the knife. Because when you're scared of cutting yourself, you probably will, self for filling prophecy. 

I hope you will find the best knife for your cutting, that you will experience the difference if you use a great knife. Let it enrich your cooking days! Enjoy (careful) cutting!