tips
How to cut with a knife like a chef?
Discover Goyon-Chazeau paring knives: precision, French craftsmanship. Perfect for small cuts and everyday kitchen tasks.
From the garden, for picking, to the kitchen, for peeling, sorting and cutting, the paring knife is an essential kitchen utensil!
Small and handy, it’s also multipurpose, enabling you to carry out a wide range of food preparation tasks with precision.
The paring knife is ideal for all cutting tasks requiring meticulousness and delicacy.
The small size of its blade and its easy handling make it possible to peel fruits and vegetables without cutting them in half, to cut aromatic herbs with precision, and to trim raw meats with ease.
Thanks to its pointed blade and sharp cutting edge, the paring knife makes precise, fine cuts, essential for careful preparation.
In particular, it is ideal for cutting techniques such as beveling, slicing, dicing and turning potatoes, carrots, artichokes, etc.
The paring knife is an indispensable small kitchen knife. It comes with different types of blade:
It can be used to peel and sort fruit and vegetables, cut and slice all types of food with precision, trim meats and carve food to create decorative garnishes or decorative food sculptures.
The material and quality of the blade workmanship will play a decisive role in the quality and durability of your paring knife.
Choose a knife with a high-quality steel blade. Your knife will retain its cut longer, the edge will be easier to maintain and you’ll have less risk of your knife oxidizing.
Pay particular attention to the grinding process (which consists in removing metal from the blade in order to create the cutting edge). There are different types, not all of which are practical to use, and not always suitable for everyone, especially left-handers. GOYON-CHAZEAU double-edged blade, also known as flat or V-edged blade, is the most versatile. It offers a resistant, high-performance cutting edge that is easy to maintain, and is suitable for both right-handed and left-handed users.
A paring knife must be easy to handle and therefore very comfortable to hold safely and precisely, and avoid any risk of injury.
It must feel good in the hand without being too heavy, and the blade/handle balance must be respected to reduce fatigue during use and maintain control of the cut.
It can be made from a variety of materials, including polypropylene and acrylic, composites such as Paperstone® or Evergreen®, different woods or stainless steel.
Every paring knife has its own speciality.
The classic paring knife is the most multipurpose.
The peeling knife is perfect to turn around fruit and vegetables.
The sandwich knife makes it easier to work on large foods, but is less precise.
Finally, the serrated paring knife helps to grip and cut hard-skinned, soft-fleshed foods (tomatoes, citrus fruit, etc.), but offers a less clean cut on delicate foods.
The quality of the steel used for the blade, the thickness, the grinding, the heat treatment, the length of the tang (the part of the blade that continues into the handle) and the quality of the finish are all crucial to the knife’s durability and performance.
When you love to cook, it’s sometimes better to invest in a good knife once and for all, rather than changing it regularly.
We advise you to hold the knife in hand before buying it.
The first choice, made by the eyes, often changes when the knife is held in the hand. The grip, the comfort offered by the handle and the balance in the hand are also a guarantee of the knife’s effectiveness when you use it, and of your safety. The grip must be natural and the handle must not slip, even with wet hands.
A paring knife that is easy to maintain will be an asset in your kitchen.
Stainless steel blades are sturdy and require less maintenance (than a fragile ceramic or carbon steel blade, which will oxidize easily for example), but they should always be dried after washing to avoid staining.
Handles made entirely of stainless steel or composite materials are less sensitive to water, but are less warm and a little more slippery than wooden handles.
Whenever you use the knife for cutting (this does not apply to peeling, which is done by hand), always use wooden or plastic cutting boards to preserve the blade’s cutting edge.
Hard surfaces such as marble, glass or ceramics can quickly dull the blade’s cutting edge.
Whatever the materials of your paring knife, we recommend hand-washing with lukewarm water and mild soap immediately after use, then drying thoroughly, to maintain the blade’s sharpness and prevent corrosion.
Hone your knife with a steel sharpener or a small-grain whetstone as soon as it seems to be cutting a little less well.
When sharpening is no longer enough, you need to sharpen your blade or have it sharpened.
A well-maintained cutting edge reduces the risk of accidents in the kitchen, as it requires less force to cut.
To preserve the sharpness of your knife and avoid injury, we recommend that you store your knives in a dry place in a block, or on a magnetic bar.
Avoid storing them in an unprotected drawer (sheath or blade guard, for example) to prevent chipping and accidents.
A must-have in any kitchen, the paring knife is one of the essential knives to have.
