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Paring Knife

May 27th, 2010 admin No comments

Paring Knife

Tupperware CUTTING BOARD PARING Knife SET GREEN NEW Tupperware CUTTING BOARD PARING Knife SET GREEN NEW Paypal US $8.95 4h 38m
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Tupperware Cutting Board Paring Knife SET NEW Yellow Tupperware Cutting Board Paring Knife SET NEW Yellow Paypal 0 Bid US $5.95 7h 16m
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CUTCO CUTLERY SET OF VINTAGE KNIVES UTENSILS EXTRAS CUTCO CUTLERY SET OF VINTAGE KNIVES UTENSILS EXTRAS Paypal 0 Bid US $275.00 8h 3m
Tupperware Tupperliving Paring Knives qty 4 $35 NIB Tupperware Tupperliving Paring Knives qty 4 $35 NIB Paypal 0 Bid US $19.99 8h 14m
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SET OF 3 GERBER PARING KNIVES SET OF 3 GERBER PARING KNIVES Paypal 0 Bid US $9.25 15h 23m
Vintage White Mountain Apple parer corer slicer in box Vintage White Mountain Apple parer corer slicer in box Paypal 0 Bid US $9.99 21h 59m
Tupperware 10pc Chef Series Cookware Set Tupperware 10pc Chef Series Cookware Set Paypal 0 Bid US $850.00 22h 46m
Vintage Regent Sheffield Ltd Ranchero Knife Cleaver Set Vintage Regent Sheffield Ltd Ranchero Knife Cleaver Set Paypal 0 Bid US $7.50 1d 2h 27m
New JA HENCKELS TWIN 4 STAR Chefs Paring Cook Knife New JA HENCKELS TWIN 4 STAR Chefs Paring Cook Knife Paypal 7 Bids US $16.27 1d 3h 5m
Tupperware PARING Knife CUTTING Board SET of 4 NEW RARE Tupperware PARING Knife CUTTING Board SET of 4 NEW RARE Paypal US $32.99 1d 5h 50m
Vintage Knives Bread and Boning Knife Vintage Knives Bread and Boning Knife Paypal 0 Bid US $5.00 1d 11h 30m
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Victorinox 47508 3-1/4-Inch Paring Knife Victorinox 47508 3-1/4-Inch Paring Knife
List Price: $5.50
Sale Price: $3.92
Average Rating:

The R H Forschner by Victorinox Paring Knife features high carbon, stainless steel blade, hand finished at Victorinox in Switzerland by skilled craftsmen. A special tempering process is used to produce an edge that can be resharpened over and over again, so the knife can keep its original sharpness throughout the entire life of the blade...

Victorinox 48042 Cutlery 3-Piece Paring Knife Set, Black Poly Handles Victorinox 48042 Cutlery 3-Piece Paring Knife Set, Black Poly Handles
List Price: $18.00
Sale Price: $9.95
Average Rating:

The R H Forschner by Victorinox Paring Knife Set includes: 3.25-inch Straight Edge Parer, 2.25-inch Bird's Beak Parer and 3.25-inch Wavy Edge Parer. All feature high carbon, stainless steel blades, hand finished at Victorinox in Switzerland by skilled craftsmen...

Victorinox 125th Anniversary Limited Edition 3-1/4-Inch Serrated Paring Knife, Red Polypropylene Handle Victorinox 125th Anniversary Limited Edition 3-1/4-Inch Serrated Paring Knife, Red Polypropylene Handle
List Price: $6.00
Sale Price: $6.00
Average Rating:

For 125 Years Victorinox Cutlery has been an expression of the Victorinox philosophy: flawless quality combined with great reliability. This Limited Edition 3.25-inch Paring Knife with Serrated Edge is produced in celebration of their 125th Anniversary with the blade etched with the words: "125 Years Your Companion For Life"...

Wüsthof Classic 3-1/2-Inch Paring Knife Wüsthof Classic 3-1/2-Inch Paring Knife
List Price: $67.00
Sale Price: $39.50
Average Rating:

The small size and sharp point of this paring knife make it ideal for handheld and other small or intricate cutting chores, such as vegetable peeling or mincing small amounts of parsley. An obligatory kitchen addition, this knife carries its weight mostly in its extremely comfortable handle, which allows you greater control...

J.A. Henckels International 3-Piece Paring Knife Set, Black J.A. Henckels International 3-Piece Paring Knife Set, Black
List Price: $21.00
Sale Price: $10.49
Average Rating:

Small lightweight, versatile knives with black handles and slim blades that have straight cutting edges. The blades are made of high quality German stainless steel for stain and rust resistance. Peels, cuts, cleans, garnishes fruit and vegetables...

J.A. Henckels Twin Four Star 3-Inch High Carbon Stainless-Steel Paring Knife J.A. Henckels Twin Four Star 3-Inch High Carbon Stainless-Steel Paring Knife
List Price: $55.00
Sale Price: $24.95
Average Rating:

Part of the popular Four Star line, this hand-honed blade is made with Henckels' Sintermetal Component Technology (SCT), which allows three different grades of steel to be combined to form a single piece, fusing together the blade, bolster, and tang...

Kuhn Rikon Paring Knife Nonstick Purple Kuhn Rikon Paring Knife Nonstick Purple
List Price: $11.50
Sale Price: $9.50
Average Rating:

Kuhn Rikon Paring Knife in eye-popping Pink. Under all that color is a 4-inch carbon steel blade sheathed in nonstick color coating. Slices slide right off the blade, making each cut easier and neater...

J.A. Henckels International 3-Piece Paring Knife Set, Multicolored J.A. Henckels International 3-Piece Paring Knife Set, Multicolored
List Price: $21.00
Sale Price: $10.95
Average Rating:

Small lightweight, versatile knives with multi-color handles and slim blades that have straight cutting edges. The blades are made of high quality stainless steel for stain and rust resistance. Peels, cuts, cleans, garnishes fruit and vegetables...

Wüsthof 4022 Gourmet 3-Inch Paring Knife Wüsthof 4022 Gourmet 3-Inch Paring Knife
List Price: $22.00
Sale Price: $11.50
Average Rating:

Craftsmanship has been a tradition at Wusthof for over 190 years. Quality and precision have always been the standard that we measure our knife by and our Gourmet line of stamped German knives take precision to a new level...

Rada Cutlery Regular Paring Knife, Made in USA, Aluminum Handle Rada Cutlery Regular Paring Knife, Made in USA, Aluminum Handle
List Price: $9.95
Sale Price: $1.85
Average Rating:

R-101 REGULAR PARING. RADA'S # 1 ALL TIME SELLER! PERFECT SIZED, GREAT ALL-AROUND PARING KNIFE. SIZE OVERALL 6 3/4 INCH WITH 3 1/4 INCH BLADE.

How to Chose the Right Knife for Your Kitchen

The right kitchen knife for the job will shorten your prep time, a lot. It will allow you to work faster and smarter. It will also help you prepare higher quality ingredients and be a joy to use. So what makes a good knife? The key factors include: size, shape, quality and sharpness. 

Size

Use a knife that is too small and you will work harder than you need to. Use a knife that is too big and you lose precision and control, and you'll work harder than you need to. Generally, you will find that a larger knife is better for chopping, dicing, mincing, and slicing. A smaller knife will be better suited to cutting, peeling and decorating small fruits. A medium sized knife if useful for slicing medium sized fruits and cuts of meat.

A good basic knife set will contain a chef's knife, also called a cook's knife. While pros often recommend longer knives, 8 inches is a good home size. 7 inches might be all that a shorter cook will want. Some cooks are using the Japanese style santoku knife as a substitute for the European style chef's knife. A chef's knife is the most used blade in a professional kitchen and can be used for most food prep. A knife this large is often intimidating to the home cook but a bit of practice will demonstrate that it makes the job of chopping go much faster. 

Where a chef's knife isn't appropriate is for fine work like peeling. That's where a paring knife comes in. Paring knives come in a range of sizes from 2-5 inches but the most common size is 3-3 1/2 inches. Many home cooks use paring knives to chop with, but that's not what they are designed for. A paring knife is best used when the item being cut is held in the hand. If a cutting board is used then a larger and heavier knife will do the job with less effort.

A bread knife should be long enough to cut a loaf. For breads baked in pans or long, narrow loaves, 8 inches is adequate. For round loaves, a 9 inch or longer knife will be better.

Middle sized knives from 5-6 inches in length are good for general work and are often the home cook's tool of choice. Generally these knives are good for slicing or boning. A larger chef's knife will make much faster work of chopping. Knives in the middle size range are often called utility or sandwich knives, though some cooks prefer the thicker blade of a short chef's or santoku knife.

A good working minimum set of knives will include a chef's knife, a paring knife, a mid-sized utility knife or two and a bread knife. When preparing poultry, it's nice to have a knife dedicated to that task that won't contaminate the rest of the meal. The vast majority of prep work can be easily accomplished with these knives and a set of poultry shears. It's generally best to start with a higher quality small set of knives and add specialty knives as needed than to buy a huge set and never use some of the knives. Some cooks prefer the nice look of a matching set of knives. Some prefer to buy the knife the they like best for each particular task.

If you work with whole chickens or poultry then a 5-6 inch boning knife is a good addition. A 6-7 inch fillet knife will make short work of de-boning or filleting fish. A 2-2 1/2 inch stiff paring knife helps with garnishes. While a good chef's knife will do to carve meat or poultry, a carving knife that isn't used for food prep will be sharp and ready for carving at the table. 8-9 inches is a good general purpose size. A 10 inch knife is better for prime rib and can double as a cake slicer, cutting the entire width of the cake in one motion.

Shape

Knives that have curved blades are the most versatile. Chopping benefits from a wider blade, at least at the end closest to the handle, or heel. Straight edged knives work well for slicing things like bread and roast beef. The traditional turkey carving knife will be fairly straight. 

The overall shape of a knife includes both blade and handle shapes. The blade shape will influence cutting or chopping speed. The shape of the handle will influence comfort and balance. The latter are very subjective. What feels good for one cook will be misery for another. Before buying it's always best to actually hold a knife take it through the appropriate chopping and cutting motions.. For some cooks perfect balance is vital. Others don't care as long as the knife holds an edge.

Quality

Better quality knives hold their edge longer and are generally more durable. It used to be that only forged blades held high quality but that's no longer the case. While low quality knives are all stamped, now days many quality knives are cut or stamped from sheet steel. Forschner knives rated by Cooks Illustrated as a best buy and a popular in many quality restaurants offer the same edge holding ability as the much more expensive German brands at less than a quarter the cost, and bust the myth of only forged blades being sharp and durable. Some very expensive Japanese knives are not forged and may be the best knives available.

Quality Japanese knives typically offer a harder steel than comparably priced German ones. The trade off is that while the edge can stay sharper longer, the knife is more difficult to sharpen when it does become dull. Professional chefs fall on both sides of the Japanese vs. German steel question. 

Regardless of what knife you end up choosing, what top brands offer that less expensive ones don't is a beautiful tool. A less expensive knife may be 95% or more as usable as a a high priced one. It won't be as finely balanced. It won't offer that ineffable sense of quality. Nor will it impress your friends. Aesthetics vs. value is fortunately a choice that won't give you a bad knife.

Sharpness

A sharp, quality knife is a joy to use. However, the sharper an edge is the more delicate it is. Sharpness comes from the blade being extremely thin. If you buy an extremely sharp expensive knife and want its edge to last you will need to take care of it. At the very least that means not cleaning it in the dishwasher, cutting on a hard surface or storing the knife unprotected in a drawer. It also means learning to touch up the knife on a steel or ceramic hone. 

Any quality knife should come from the factory with a sharp enough edge, though sharp is a relative term. A $200+ Japanese knife may come with a scary sharp edge, while $40 German one will have a "merely" working sharp one. The tradeoff is one of durability as well as in ease of cutting. An extremely sharp knife edge is fragile and requires both respect and care. A well maintained knife will hold a working edge for quite a while, though when it finally gets too dull you might want to consider using a professional knife sharpening service to restore the edge.

 

About the Author

Recovering psychotherapist, former restaurant owner and Mac geek, Michael lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
His site is Mystic Cowboy

Can you put ginger through a garlic press?

Ok, I'm not very good at mincing things real tiny, I'm not good at wielding any knife larger than a paring knife, and I'm not even really good with that. Can I put fresh ginger through a garlic press to make it small enough for a stir-fry I was thinking about making this week? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you everyone in advance!

P.S. If you have a really good stir-fry recipe you'd like to share, that'd be awesome!!!

Ginger is very stringy, so a garlic press is not advisable. Unless you only want the moisture content.
Grating the ginger is the method that I use, and the tastiest way to enhance a stir-fry dish.

Knife Techniques - The Paring Knife

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