What kind of knife to buy for cheese

What kind of knife to buy for cheese – the question, of course, is not as important as what kind of cheese to buy. But the right way to cut the cheese to create a cheese plate is also an art. After all, no sanctions can kill our desire for Parmesan or Dor-blue. It’s not only important to find a tasty cheese on sale, the main thing is to serve it, that is, to slice it properly.

CHEESE HEAD GUILLOTINE

Cheeses are first sliced in stores, where they arrive in huge 8-15 pound “heads”. Two-handed knives both straight and curved , special saws – strings are used for this. Of the electric arsenal, the trade uses circular and circular knives, vertical jigsaws similar to those used to cut frozen fish or meat plates, only less powerful. Of mechanical devices are used “guillotines” – that’s how a special knife is amusingly called. Hostesses do not have such an arsenal at home, but you can buy a lot of cheese accessories, which, by the way, unlike Parmesan, are not subject to counter-sanctions.

DO NOT TEAR THE SILVER WIRE

We cut soft cheeses like Dor Blue or Camembert

The difficulty of cutting cheeses of this type lies in the following: you need to try to penetrate a sufficiently hard crust without crushing the creamy core.

Cheesemakers have come up with a machine tool – a heavily tensioned string on a frame. You put a piece of cheese on the platform and with the fixed string knife you cut it into wedges.

the platform can be made of wood, plastic, metal or glass. Preferably choose wood or plastic. The latter, by the way, is the most budget variant.

As time string gets weaker, it is necessary to tighten it, force of tension is regulated by special screw. The product, which does not have such a possibility, is not the best choice: after some time the string will sag, the knife will have to be thrown out and look for a new one.

This tool works perfectly with soft cheeses, processed cheese, and other similar products, cutting them into neat cubes or slices.

If you have a firm and solid string frame on this machine you can also cut semi-hard cheese. Soft cheeses are sliced in segments, as the taste changes from the middle to the edge.

There are frames with multiple strings.

You get several pieces of food at a time.

There is no possibility to regulate the tension of strings and set the distance between them. If the tension of the strings loosens over time, the sliced cheese will not look very appetizing.

A special set of “Dor Bleu” knives

If you received this set as a gift, you’re a lucky man! But buying it yourself is not the best solution in times of crisis, a machine with string is much cheaper. This set usually consists of four knives and a wooden case cutting board , but you can only cut soft cheese directly with one knife from this set. Maybe I got a low-quality set, but I did not get an even cut, even though I tried hard. Other knives in the set are designed for other types of cheese.

Consumer’s estimate – it’s more of a nice souvenir.

DIFFERENT CHEESES, ONE KNIFE

Cutting American, Dutch, Swiss

Cheeses with “geographic” names are some of the most popular in our country. They are hard and soft at the same time. There is the largest variety of knives for these products.

• Classical “cheese” knife is a leader: wedge-shaped with holes in sides and smartly turned up fork nose. The prerequisite – the cutting edge must have small sharp teeth serration sharpening . They are needed for an even cut of the crust.

Holes in the blade’s body serve as air pockets to prevent the cheese from sticking. Use a fork to transfer the slices to a plate.

Let me tell you a little secret: this knife perfectly copes with the role of a tomato knife, slicing a tomato into neat circles.

• A string knife for this type of cheese is a tool with a roller with a string stretched in front of it. Thanks to the roller, the knife slides easily over the cheese surface and the string slices into neat portions. The expensive models have adjustable not only the tension of the string, but also the distance between the string and the roller, which allows you to choose the thickness of slicing. To cut a piece of cheese with such a knife you need to prepare it: form a bar the width of which is a little less than the roller.

• A cheese planer, or Norwegian cheese knife ostehovel , is a serving spatula with a transverse slit. And it’s called a planer because a Norwegian carpenter invented it by analogy with his carpentry tool. As a result the neat slice of cheese lies on the spatula. Suitable even for cheeses with a dense texture, like maasdam and gouda.

There are planers with an adjustable blade. They can be used to make both cheese shavings and quite thick plates. Cheese shredders are also great for making chocolate shavings and thin strips of zucchini or eggplant, cucumber or apple. Versatile tool.

• It’s the latest fashion

  Japanese style

  . Many leading manufacturers have established the production of cheese knives in the Japanese design: the blade is something intermediate between those used in deba and santoku knives. It has a special coating that prevents parmesan from sticking. There is also a technological notch or many technological holes of different diameters. The description of these knives says that besides cheese they are very good for cutting sausages, fish and fillets.

FOR THE HARDEST

What to cut parmesan with

Everyone knows that the longer Parmesan matures, the harder it gets. And the excessive hardness gives rise to certain difficulties: such a cheese is difficult to cut, and it crumbles.

That’s why Parmesan is not sliced, but pricked into pieces with a short drop-shaped knife. By the way, it effectively cuts halva and other solid foods.

A special device, the girole, is used to make parmesan shavings. It is a rotating knife of the ballerina type. Slice a less hard cheese with this knife, for example edamame, and you get a fine lace that can be used for garnishing dishes. Pastry chefs use the girol to make chocolate petals to decorate baked goods.

There you have it, the cheese plate is ready!

Add nuts, pears, grapes to the cheese, and place honey next to it.

Pour your favorite wine into glasses, enjoy..