Choosing a Paring Knife

Video Transcript

"My name is Brandon Sarkis, on behalf of Expert Village. Today, I'd like to speak with you about what to look for when buying kitchen knives. The first knives I want to discuss are our small knives; our paring knives. In my opinion, you need one of these; you've got to have one. Now, what kind of paring knife out of this collection of knives? That's another question. I have another one here that's even smaller. We'll add that to the collection. Some people like the utility of a small three inch blade. This is actually a very small three inch blade; little, short, and steady. This is more of a traditional European style blade. Some people prefer the thin preciseness of a Japanese style paring knife. These are also a lot lighter, so they're a little easier to work with one hand. You might also want the tournee, or bird's beak paring knife. You can notice that the blade on this is a two and a half inch, and the handle is significantly longer than the blade itself. You would use this if you do a lot of detail work, or bone very small birds, or if you want to tournee potatoes. I wouldn't recommend this as your primary paring knife. I recommend owning one at some point, but not as a primary. Some people prefer something like this, which has an angled handle. The handle provides a little bit more utility. Your fingers aren't hitting the cutting board as you're using the knife; due to the angle of the handle. This is going to be a shorter one, too. This is a three inch blade, as well. This is the standard. You'll see most people using something in the three and a half to four inch range. This covers a couple of bases at once. It is not only a paring knife, but it also functions really nicely as a boning knife. If you're cutting your collection down to the bare minimum, I would go with something in the narrow range. You'll notice that it's practically the same blade as this. The only difference is that it's longer. I'd go with the longer one, but it's just a matter of preference. The shorter ones can be a little too small sometimes. You could also go with something like this, which is a garnishing paring knife. This creates an almost triangulated, waffly kind of cut. Once again, it?s a very good paring knife, but not the kind of thing you're going to use every day. This is something that falls into the, I'll get it once I've got everything else, kind of like this knife goes. It's not a waste of money at all, but if you're going down to just one knife size, I'd go with either one of these two. This is my personal favorite; just for the utility purpose of it, because it's such a small knife, and you'll notice that the blade tip is just as small as that one. But all in all, that's your assortment of paring knives, and what to look for in those."