The first tool to appear in the world, invented by the Middle Stone Age man of the Mesolithic Period around 6,000 BC, was the knife. The first ones we know of were chipped from stone or seashells, with the edges or point sharpened to carve meat or remove animal skins to make clothing.
In the present IT world, knives have lost none of their importance. Today we will not consider knives used for other purposes, but will look only at some of the ones found in the kitchen.
Every type of kitchen knife has a unique design for its own special use. But there is one thing that they all have in common: they have to be sharp.
One knife used universally by Chinese cooks has a rectangular blade. Variants used to slice or carve have a blade that curves to slightly greater sharpness at the end. These knives also come in different weights, and a cook choosing one to use places a lot of importance on it being just the right weight.
Chinese cooks have great expertise in putting them to every kind of use. A knife of this type can chop meat from the bones of ducks, chickens and fish. The flat side of the blade is used to crush garlic to bring out its fragrance. After it has been pounded flat it can be chopped with the same knife. It can also be used to slice vegetables like spring onions, which are cut lengthwise into extremely fine slivers, all equal in size and more attractive on the plate than the same stems would be if chopped crosswise.
After the Chinese knife has been used for chopping, slicing or slivering vegetables, the side part of the blade can be used to transfer meat or vegetables into a wok for cooking or onto a plate. These are some of its many uses in the kitchen.
Blunt force: Left, a Stone Age ax, basically a primitive knife with a handle.
Vendors who sell grilled pork, grilled duck or fish use the same big, square-bladed knife. Pork butchers may need a whole array of knives, however. In the past they would not have been without a very big, heavy Chinese cleaver that could hack through ribs or leg bones. If it was used for cutting meat, the end would be rounded for easy slicing of tough pork tendons.
Most pork butchers now use knives made of ordinary steel, cut into sheets at factories or from metal recycled from old car parts. Sometimes the knives are hammered out by hand. The main source of handmade cleavers used to be behind Talaad Noi on New Road, where there were once many smiths who specialised in them. Now there is only one shop left, called Lim Ha Lee, and once they have sold their remaining stock they will not produce any more. There are no smiths left who know how to make them, and pork butchers have switched to ordinary knives. They use electric saws to cut through the big bones.
Most of the Chinese knives sold now are imported from China. Some have wooden handles and others are all made from a single piece of metal. Most of the knives imported into Thailand are made from stainless steel and people like them because they are strong and don’t rust. But it is hard to give them a really sharp edge, and chopping with them can take time.
Many people might prefer the ordinary carbon steel knives because they have weight and can be sharpened easily. They have to be cleaned carefully after use, however, because they rust easily. Thai-style knives were influenced by the ones from China. They are similarly rectangular in shape, but smaller. With their curved blades and handles, they are versatile for chopping, slicing and general use. But Thai cooks also require smaller knives for more detailed work like peeling fruits and vegetables and fine-cutting onions, garlic and chillies.
The largest and oldest source of Thai knives is Muu Baan Aranyik in Ayutthaya’s Amphoe Nakhon Luang. Their handmade knives are available in many types and sizes, and they also produce farming equipment. They use ordinary carbon steel of the kind that can easily be purchased in sheets. People like the Aranyik knives because they are handmade, have wooden handles, and are easy to sharpen. Owners have to be careful to protect them from rusting, however.
The Western-style chef's knife has become very popular in Thailand. The first ones imported for sale here came from Germany and Switzerland. They were made by forging, and had thick handles and thin blades. They were very strong because the entire knife was made from a single piece of steel, with the wooden handle made in two parts with strong rivets hold the handle and blade together.
Knives of this kind were very expensive, however, and later a new type appeared that was stamped and could be mass-produced industrially. They had thin blades but were inexpensive.
Chef's knives imported from the West are made from a strong, rust-resistant alloy. They chop and cut well, hold their edge for a long time and are available in many sizes. They are popular with younger Thais and sell very well. Many are now manufactured in China for companies in Germany and Switzerland.
One more type that shouldn’t be overlooked is the Japanese knife, probably the sharpest in the world. Japanese samurai swords once inspired respect and fear throughout the world. Japanese warriors would wait for their moment and then deliver a single strike to bring down an opponent with the extremely sharp blade.
Japanese kitchen knives developed from the same steel and forging techniques used to make samurai swords. In preparing sashimi, chefs use a special yanaki knife with a sharply pointed end specially for cutting fish to give it a beautiful and elegant appearance.
Another widely-used Japanese knife, the deba, has a large, broad blade sharpened down to a thin edge only one side with the other side left flat. In profile it would look like a V cut in half, with one side tapering at an angle to a point and the other straight. Two kinds are made, one for right-handed and one for left-handed users. Japanese kitchen knives like these are sharper than any others, but also very expensive.
Knives were our first tools. They were the only utensils our stone-age ancestors had and they got full use out of them. Today they are still very much with us. There is very little that we could accomplish in the kitchen without them, and they are not likely to disappear as long as food and cooking are a part of our lives. n
