Milk Street: Petty Knife

A utility knife is a familiar concept in a Japanese kitchen, but, here in the states, there is no such thing. All we have is the chef’s knife, a paring knife, a boning knife and a bread knife. So, here at Milk Street we decided to take a page from the Japanese knife repertoire and create a utility knife that is part paring knife, part small chef’s knife and part boning knife. We married elements from each for an all-purpose mid-sized prep tool. We call it the Milk Street Petty Knife.The thin, 6-inch blade is tall enough for knuckle clearance on the cutting board, yet tapers to a fine, flexible tip for detail work. The blade features a subtle curved edge from the tip, for effortless rock chopping and mincing, then flattens out towards the heel for a natural slicing motion that’s easy on your wrist.Like our nakiri, the blade features a distal taper: That means the blade’s spine is thicker at the handle for stability, then grows progressively thinner to the tip to minimize drag when cutti