Cooking Knives thread

[Rococo]

If you are buying the knives because you love them, fine, but otherwise I think that you should consider spending your cooking dollar elsewhere.

The value to your cooking of a high end set of knives is pretty limited in my view. For example, if I would were building and outfitting a kitchen on a fixed budget, I would I would much rather buy $800 dollars of additional stove, than I would spend $800 more dollars on high end knives, or high end pots or pans.

Take a look the next time you are in a restaurant, even a very high end restaurant. They are not using expensive knives and cookware to cook your food. The stoves, ovens and broilers, however, typically blow away the average home equipment.

[swingdoc]

I have several Henckels knives that I absolutely love to use. They're relatively inexpensive, but extremely high quality. Make sure you try out any knives you're considering buying. Weight, balance, grip, etc are the important things. I personally like the Pro S series but they have all sorts of different options.

Amazon Knives

I assume you already are familiar with how to care for knives, specifically sharpening them?

[mikeczyz]

i second (third?) the advice against buying a set. you'll never use 3/4 of the knives in the set so just buy individual pieces.

[RicoTubbs]

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i second (third?) the advice against buying a set. you'll never use 3/4 of the knives in the set so just buy individual pieces.

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Ditto on this advice. I'd be fine with a chef's knife, a paring knife (maybe 2) and a santoku knife. Handle them in person, because some feel better than others in your hands. For example, balance will be different depending on how large your hands are.

By the way, I'd give the same advice for pots and pans. Don't buy the damn 15-piece set when you're probably only going to use a subset of those regularly. Better to build up your own set based on what you most frequently use.

Now that I'm thinking about it, there are a number of things like this that people should know before filling out wedding registries.

[JackInDaCrak]

Buy a high quality steel knife that's well balanced in your hand.

Buy a honing steel and learn how to use it.

Buy a whetstone and learn how to use it.

These knives will last you for 20+ years.

[MrMon]

I have to disagree about not buying a set. I'm a fairly serious cook and have used this 9-piece Henckels set (the block is counted as a piece) for over 10 years.



Henckels 4 Star 9-Piece Set

There is no knife in this set that I don't use, and the scissors are sometimes the most important thing in the kitchen, plus they're really good.

Now, I'll admit the set is not perfect, but for $335 or so, it's hard to do better. If I were putting my own set together, I suppose I could swap out a few knives, but it would cost a heck of a lot more, and since I have a few slots left in the block, it's actually easier (and cheaper) to just add a knife or two, but I've never felt the need to.

Now, at this price point there are a lot of options, and personal preference will take over on which is the best, but you'll be hard pressed to come up with anything decent for less money. Knives are just expensive, so research them before you jump in.

Finally, no real set of knives will include steak knives, just skip those immediately. I would recommend pick up a set of Oxo steak knives, but I can't seem to find them at the moment. Great deal, cuts steak like butter, and way cheaper than some of the high end knives. I generally recommend anything Oxo for kitchen stuff, but occasionally you'll find something better in another line. Never tried their pro knives, might be worth a look though, but I'm guessing for knives you should stick with Henckels, Wusthof, etc.

[guids]

There is a knife shop about 2 blocks from my house, I just buy these "in house" stainless steal ones for 9.99$ and then when they get worn, i have them sharpen them or I buy a new one. I am to lazy to take care of a good knife. I also have a huge ass meatcleaver, but its just for BBQ, so it doesnt lose its edge much. these are the only two knives I need (and I really dont need the cleaver, it just looks cool)

[Mermade]

I have an excellent set of knives (2 actually) unfortunately my sharpening skills start and end with the steel and they are showing for their neglect. What are people's thoughts about buying a whetstone/other sharpening device vs. sending them out to be professionally sharpened? Suggestions for knife sharpening in the L.A. area?

I have two Wusthof Trident sets--the classic and the grand prix. I also have a cheap set of serated knives as well for various kitchen purposes. I love them and use them.

[Aloysius]

OP - I agree with others, don't buy a set. I basically just use a 7" Shun Santoku these days. Great balance and weighting, all-purpose, very sharp. I don't need a chef's knife, Santoku is just fine for me.



Here's a roundup of some Santoku knives (road tested by Chef Masa Takayama).

I have an older Wusthof set I use to fill in the gaps that a basic Santoku can't hit (really just paring knives, butcher, and serrated for bread). Most of the knives in the set I don't really use / need.

I've been thinking about getting some Global knives. I've never actually used Global, but my friend (a sous chef) loves them. Any thoughts on this or any other knife brand not mentioned would be much appreciated.

Bobman - that kapoosh thing is sweet, thanks for the rec.

-Al

[SamIAm]

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I've been thinking about getting some Global knives. I've never actually used Global, but my friend (a sous chef) loves them. Any thoughts on this or any other knife brand not mentioned would be much appreciated.

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I have a few Global knives and really like them. I have to admit that part of it is the aesthetic of the handles. I felt silly for this for a while, but they're good knives that I like using, and they cut stuff into smaller pieces. Done.



I'm in the no-set camp from personal experience. I was given the Global set that had a Chef's knife, a paring knife, and a vegetable knife. Cool; those are all useful knives. The thing is, their 4" paring knife sucks.



I have no idea why they made that blade so wide; I only use the paring knife when I want a thin blade. I ended-up replacing it with a Wustoff that I tried in the store and liked a lot.