It doesn’t matter if you have the full-fledged kitchen or a very basic one, we are pretty sure that you would have knives (how else are you going to chop those onions?). For the same reason, some people are into specialized kitchen equipment which is why they have a chef’s knife. But, is it similar to a cook’s knife? With this article, we are sharing about the cook’s knife vs. chef’s knife!
Cook’s Knife vs Chef’s Knife
Chef’s Knife
To begin with, various knife designs are available in the market but the specialized design and production promise easy cooking or cutting experience in the kitchen. The construction makes a great difference in the chef’s knife. Sure, the knife has steel construction but it will be heavier as compared to other knives. This is because the chef’s knives are made with additional steel reinforcement that makes these knives suitable for multiple purposes.
The chef’s knives are designed with durability in mind; it doesn’t matter how much you peel and chop from these knives. Truth be told, chef’s knives can be extremely expensive but they tend to provide worth of each penny spent on it. When it comes down to the chef’s knives, they are designed with special blade length, generally 20cms. On the contrary, the blade length can be variated by 4cms to 5cms which offers finger placement during cutting.
The prime function of this knife is better slicing, and nowadays, it has become the ultimate utility knife for every western chef. However, the chef’s knives are designed with two different blade shapes, such as German and French. The German blade is suitable for consistent curves and deep cutting (the enter blade has the cutting edge). On the other hand, the French blade is designed with a straight edge but there are slight curves at the edge.
In the Japanese culinary niche, a chef’s knife is often known as a beef knife that’s designed with a sharp, lightweight, and smaller blade shape. On the contrary, the Chinese have their variant of chef’s knife which looks more like a cleaver. All in all, the modern chef’s knives are designed with a multi-purpose design which makes them suitable for different cutting needs. For instance, these knives are suitable for chopping, mincing, slicing, and disjoining the meat cuts.
On top of everything, the chef’s knife is designed with forged as well as a stamped blade. For instance, the stamped blade is made with heat-treatments, hence better polishing and sharpening. On the other hand, the forged blade is made through steel beating; these knives are full-tang that leads to consistent blade and edge from the handle to tip.
Cook’s Knife
Some people often confuse the chef’s knife and the cook’s knife and consider them the same. However, it’s completely wrong because the cook’s knife is completely different. To begin with, the cook’s knives are designed with a blade curved at the end of the tip. However, this edge design in the cook’s knife makes it difficult to chop the fibrous edibles because the food particles can reduce the cutting and preparation speed. In addition, it can also impact precision (it happens with fibrous edibles only).
The best thing about a cook’s knife is that these are lightweight, primarily because of lesser steel usage in the blade. On the contrary, it can also lead to a shorter lifespan. Even more, the cook’s knife tends to wear out with excessive sharpening. With this being said, the cook’s knife is extremely different from a chef’s knife in terms of quality, shape, and size of the blade. We wouldn’t mind saying that the cook’s knife is multi-purpose.
For this reason, it can be used for slicing, chopping, and dicing. As far as the size is concerned, the blade length is 12-inches on average. On the contrary, there are smaller blade sizes available as well, but they are known as mini cook’s knives. As far as the construction is concerned, the blade is constructed with carbon steel, ceramic, stainless steel, or the lamination of stainless steel and carbon steel. The laminated blades are a combination of layered materials.
On the contrary, the cook’s knives are designed with wood, composite, or steel material which makes them suitable for different people. Lastly, the edges are designed in various ways, such as hollow ground, convex edge, and a chisel edge.