Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/21/slice-and-dice-like-a-professi.html
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These sets all have the same issue…the pairing and large chef’s knives are fine. The middle “utility” knives are an issue. They always look great; however, the space between the bottom of the handle to the bottom of the blade edge is not enough for an adult’s fingers to not get in the way for a full stroke slice. It essentially makes it only usable for small carving, trimming, or knife tip utility…not for anything where you your hand is inevitably going to hit the board/cutting surface.
Wait, are these knives for slicing and dicing or for stunning? MAKE UP YOUR MIND, HEADLINE ALGORITHM
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The use on those isn’t equivalent to a chef knife so it tends not to be a problem. Prep/utility/petty knives basically cover your less delicate paring tasks, slicing, and make a good boning knife for light butcher work or smaller fish.
You don’t tend to hold them with your fingers wrapped around the handle, a pinch grip at the base of the blade should keep fingers off the board, only finger tips end up under the handle. And a good one will be deep enough with a narrow enough handle to allow that. A lot of the cuts are off the board anyway, and there’s not a lot of tip on the board rock and chop going on.
My utility and petty knives have become some of my most used knives. They have almost completely displaced paring knives in my kitchen, and I know a lot of people who have done the same. Especially in professional kitchens. Basically if you aren’t doing a lot of delicate veg work, this style of knife might be a better choice than a parer for a secondary.
This one looks like a pretty routine 5" parer. Which are pretty much just paring knives for people with big hands. And yeah basically just do paring duty and small slicing.
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Maybe it’s a flexible boner?
All this knife stuff is just self parody by now anyway.
Isn’t it?
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The large knife is a real chef’s knife…the small knife is a real pairing knife…the middle one is just “wtf is this thing supposed to be good for?”
Yes, it can be a considered a pairing knife for larger hands; but I still think even those people would find better control with the actual pairing knife.
I just find that middle one rather useless and these sets should maybe come with an actual boning/filet knife instead of that one.
@MaiqTheLiar seriously. especially on the BB store…it’s pretty damn ridiculous.
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I was just about to call you. I no longer buy any knives without your recommendation.
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Burwhale the Avenger, Timothy.
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Had one, but on my seventh birthday a mysterious stranger appeared at our house and said there had been a mistake and took it away.
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I think you give too much credit to the knife sets pitched by the Boing Boing store. They’re all pretty much “wtf is that thing supposed to be good for?” Top to bottom.
In terms of this knife set, it’s a poorly designed one. Cause the whole set is junk.
But in terms of knives in general, that format is pretty damn useful and I just laid out what it’s good for. It’s less specialized than a parer, but as a generalist it covers most of the stuff a chef’s knife is awkward for.
There’s a very low buy in on a good one to give it a shot. I have been using one of these for a few years. Needs to be resharpened out of the box, but otherwise a damn good knife for the money.
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/fufkmpe12.html
And there’s a slightly longer version.
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