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Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Knife Skills & Cuts

Chef's knife

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/ˈʃefs naɪf/nounCore term

In culinary arts & cooking, chef's knife means: A large all-purpose kitchen knife with a broad, slightly curved blade, usually 20 to 25 cm long, used for most chopping, slicing and dicing.

In Turkish: şef bıçağı, aşçı bıçağı

How it is used

The knife cooks use most. Many chefs own and carry their own knives in a knife roll. You sharpen and hone it, and you are expected to keep it clean and never leave it in the sink. Also called a cook's knife.

Example sentences

  1. Use your chef's knife for the onions; that paring knife is too small.

  2. My chef's knife needs sharpening before the weekend.

Common collocations

  • sharpen a chef's knife
  • 8-inch chef's knife
  • knife roll
  • hold a chef's knife
  • paring knifeA small knife with a short blade, usually 7–10 cm long, used for peeling, trimming and detailed work on fruit and vegetables.
  • cutting boardA flat board made of plastic or wood on which food is cut. Professional kitchens often use boards of different colours for different types of food.
  • chopTo cut food into pieces with a knife, usually quickly and without needing every piece to be exactly the same size.
  • sliceTo cut something into thin, flat pieces. As a noun, a slice is one of these pieces, such as a slice of bread or lemon.

More terms: Knife Skills & Cuts

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