As a good chef, it is essential that you know everything there is to know about every single item you use in the kitchen. The items can range from the cooking ingredients to your cooking ware and even small but vital tools like the kitchen knife. One kitchen knife that is very important for every excellent chef to own is the boning knife.
When we talk about the boning knife, a common thought that comes to mind is that it is generally used for meat and fish, but there is more to this tool. Luckily this article highlights everything you need to know about the boning knife.
Brief History Of The Boning Knife
Typically, a boning knife is a kitchen knife with a sharp pointed edge and a narrow blade. It is said to have originated over time as a design that accompanied the development of knives to serve different purposes. The boning knives were invented sometime in the 18th century. Because of their flexible blades, they quickly became preferred tools for butchering in the kitchen and are highly recommended cutting tools for other kitchen jobs.
Uses Of Boning Knives
The boning knife is not only used for boning meat and fish as its name suggests, but it also serves different purposes, and they are:
- Used for preparing meat: The core use of a boning knife is for meat preparation. The flexible blades and sharp pointed edges enable the chef to access tight spaces when cutting meat, poultry, or fish. It is also used for peeling off fat and flesh off meat. It makes meat preparation very easy. This tool should not be used to cut bones when preparing meat because they are not ideal for this job.
- Used for preparing fruits: Another common use of the boning knife asides meat preparation is preparing fruits. The flexible but sharp blades make fruit preparing jobs like peeling and dicing fruits very easy and comfortable. The boning knife is very effective when preparing fruits like melons, pineapples, apples, and mangoes for decorative arrangements and fruit dishes.
- Used for baked goods: A boning knife is an ideal tool for carving cakes into different beautiful shapes and sizes for those chefs who love baking. It is also used for coring and filling cupcakes because of its pointed blade.
Types Of Boning Knives
There are various designs of boning knives, this variety in designs are classified into two types, and they are:
- Stiff Boning Knives: These boning knives possess straight blades with a blade size of 16.5cm to 22.5cm and stiff blades. They produce thick cuts and are used for separating bones from meat and removing fat and connective tissues.
- Flexible Boning Knives: These knives are smaller and possess curved blades of 12.5cm to 16.5cm sizes. Their blades are flexible, allowing them to produce tender cuts, and are used for delicate work like deboning and removing skin from poultry and fish.
Conclusion
In general, a boning knife is a unique tool that has grown in popularity since its inception. It is regarded as one of the vital tools in any chef’s knife set. This article gives complete detail on the boning knife.
