Jarret Hughes has held numerous cooking positions at cafes, diners, and family restaurants. He takes a "keep it simple" attitude toward cooking, preferring olive oil to truffle oil. Jarret strives to inform readers about the history of various foods while offering professional advice regarding food purchase and preparation.

A wise, old chef once told me, "The most useful tools you will ever possess in the kitchen are your own two hands." He was right. Without a hand, it would be extremely difficult to use what he called the next most useful tool — the chef's knife.

If your current knives can barely make their way through warm butter, it's time to buy some new ones. Hopefully, this article will help you understand the different types of knives, as well as what to look for when purchasing new knives.

Common knife types:

With so many different types of knives, it's difficult for consumers to understand which types to buy. Some of the most common knife types include:

                       


• Chef's knife (a.k.a. French knife, cook's knife) — This is the king of all knives. A chef's knife is used for a multitude of tasks, including chopping, slicing, and dicing. These knives vary in size, but most people are comfortable using one between seven and nine inches.
  

                         
  

• Paring knife — A paring knife is used for peeling and trimming. Since paring knives are smaller than chef's knives (usually between three and five inches), they are often used for cuts where more finesse is required.
  

                     
  

• Bread knife — This knife has a serrated blade and can be used for cutting low-carb bread, tomatoes, and other things that have a tendency to "squish."
  

                       
  

• Slicing knife — These are usually a tad longer and thinner than chef's knives. Slicing knives are most often used for carving cooked meats.
  

                         
  

• Boning knife — These knives are used to remove raw meat (usually chicken or beef) from the bone.
  

                         
  

• Fillet knife — Similar to slicing knives, fillet knifes are thinner than most other knives. These knives are used to fillet fish.
  

                         
  

• Cleaver — A cleaver is used for heavy-duty chopping. Rectangular and heavy, cleavers can be used to cut through bones with ease.
  
                                  
  

• Infomercial knife — For all your aluminum can and shoe leather cutting needs.
  

Of course, there are several other knife types including the utility knife, sausage knife, decorating knife, trimming knife, and peeling knife. However, for most people, counter and drawer space is at a premium. Why spend the money on twenty knives you'll never use? In reality, an adequately equipped kitchen only needs a handful of knives. The key is in knowing what to look for so that you purchase a few useful, high-quality knives rather than a slew of cheap, useless ones.

What to look for:

Before you even start looking at knives, you need to set a budget. Buying knives is a lot like buying a new car. There are several different brands and models that vary widely in price. If you had $20,000 to spend on a car, chances are you wouldn't go shopping for a new Lexus. Instead, you do a little research and shop for cars that are in that $20,000 price range. You may end up spending much more than you want to if you don't set a budget for knives upfront.

Once you've set a budget, you can start thinking about what you want to buy. Are you looking for a set of multiple knives or do you only need a couple of knives to serve a specific purpose? Again, I believe that it's better to buy one or two good quality knives than a whole block of cheap knives. In fact, unless you have a budget of $400 or more, I wouldn't recommend a block of knives. Instead, start out by buying a high quality chef's knife. If you have money to spare after buying that one, a paring knife should be your next purchase, followed by a serrated knife. For the majority of your cooking needs, these three knives will serve you well.

As far as brands go, I highly recommend two-Wüsthof and J.A. Henckels. Both of these knives come from a place called Solingen, Germany, which has long been recognized for quality knife production. Of course, there are several good brands of knives out there.

No matter which brand you choose, be on the lookout for the following qualities:

One last piece of advice when buying knives-stay away from ones that claim to never need sharpening. These types of knives might as well be marked "disposable."

Knife care and storage:

A good knife can literally last you a lifetime, but you need to take care of it! Even though many knives claim to be dishwasher safe, I would recommend against washing them this way. First, the high heat can damage the handle (and even the blade itself.) Second, if you leave dirty dishes in the dishwasher for more than a few hours before washing them, food that's stuck to the blade can actually damage it. Take the extra time and wash you knife (carefully) by hand in warm water with a mild soap. Be sure to dry your knife thoroughly with a soft cloth before storing it away.

A good sharpening steel is essential for the care of your knives. However, the term "sharpening" isn't really accurate. Over the course of using your knife, the blade will bend slightly to one side or the other. It's inevitable. Therefore, you are actually straightening your blade when you use a steel.

You should use a steel to straighten your blade on a regular basis. If you've never used a steel before, don't be intimidated. Hold the knife in the hand you normally hold it with and hold the steel (pointed straight up) with the other hand. While holding the knife at a slight 20 degree angle, slide it down the steel. Move to the other side of the steel and repeat with the opposite side of the knife. Do each side of the knife no more than eight times, and make sure you are covering the full length of the blade. Be very careful not to cut yourself! Go slow until you get the hang of the motion-this isn't a race. After a little practice, the process will go a lot quicker.

Eventually, your knife may need to be completely resharpened. This happens with the blade bends too far to one side and/or becomes too weak to straighten. There are some home sharpening systems on the market today, but if you don't want to sharpen the knives yourself, there are experts you can go to. Ask your butcher for a reference.

Storing your knives properly is one step to keep your knives in good shape. There are four primary ways to store your knives:

1. Knife block — There are several attractive knife blocks on the market today. However, unless you are buying a full set of knives, your block my look a bit empty.
   

2. Magnet bars — These are magnetic strips that you can mount to your kitchen wall. They work very well, but some people don't like the way their naked knives look hanging on the wall for all to see.
   

3. Cook's case — This looks like a briefcase or attaché case. The case is sectioned off inside to provide each knife a place to reside. Personally, this is the method I prefer. The only downside is that the case takes up more room than a knife block or magnetic bar.
   

4. Kitchen drawer — I don't recommend storing your knives loose in a drawer. It's a great way to dull your knives and accidentally get cut as you dig around trying to find that last twist tie.
   

Think of your new knives as a kitchen investment. And whatever you decide to buy, make sure you are careful with your new knives! Chances are, they are much sharper than your old ones.

                            

Pork Chops Paprikash 2 teaspoons butter 1 medium onion, sliced very thinly 1 1/4 teaspoons paprika, divided 1 teaspoon garlic salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 (5-6-oz) bone-in center cut pork chops (about 1/2" thick) 1/2 cup well-drained sauerkraut 1/3 cup sour cream Preheat broiler with rack 4 to 5 inches from heat. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Separate onion slices into rings; add to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and tender, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the paprika, garlic salt, and pepper over both sides of the pork chops. Place chops on rack of broiler pan. Broil 5 minutes. Turn; broil until chops are no longer pink in center, 4 to 5 minutes. Combine onion with sour cream and remaining 1/4 teaspoon paprika; mix well. Garnish chops with onion mixture, or spread onion mixture over chops and return to broiler. Broil just until hot, about 1 minute. Makes 4 servings — 4.2 grams of carbohydrate per serving.