In the standard metal cutlery set you will see the chef knives, which is the main work horse, and that's for the chopping and mincing. Then you have the paring knife which is the smallest knife in the set. Typically it is a three inch blade that's used for trimming, peeling and squaring up small pieces of vegetables. Then you get a slightly larger version of that paring knife, that's the utility knife and it's used for peeling and slicing. In the Kyocera line, that's used for fruits and vegetables. In a steel line, you'll use it for carving small cuts of meat- that's known as a slicer or a carving knife. When you are carving roasted meat and poultry, you want thin uniform slices and that is what the longer blade allows you to do. You will have a serrated blade in the set, typically for slicing crusty loaves or other food with a hard tough exterior. There will be a boning knife in there for removing meat and poultry from bones. It has a slender blade that curves inwards to give you precise edge control. Traditional Asian shape knives are becoming very popular; in some cases more popular than chef knives and it is shorter and thinner than a chef knife. It shines when doing delicate precise work- perfect for Asian cooking. Asian knives in general are thinner than German knives, but for dicing and slicing the chef knife is best. Well there are some great new knives that you might want to go down to your kitchen retailer and check out. There is a bird beak that we offer which is great. It's a little two and half inch knife and it's shaped like a beak of a bird and it's great for small fruits and vegetables. We also offer what's called the vegetable cleaver and it's a great cleaver.
