Cooking Knives thread

[MagicNinja]

I love cooking, but i've never had the opportunity (or been forced to) live out of a place i hadn't already had furnished.

Now it is time to buy some knives; I have money, but i am very about 'value for money'. I am probably looking to spend max 800 on a set of serious cooking knives to keep for life.

Any recommendations? Obviously lower than that price is great. What companies should i be looking at etc? Should I be looking at those knives that sharpen when you put them in the block? Etc etc.

EDF COOKS, HELP ME!!! (OR I WILL BE FORCED TO EAT EGGS FOREVER!).

[bobman0330]

I recently bought some new knives for my new apartment. Some tips that worked for me:
-Buy knives a la carte rather than in a set. It might seem more expensive, but you'll have more discretion over your knives and you won't end up stuck with a bunch of knives you never use. If you get a chef's knife first and maybe a couple others, you can take your time about expanding your collection.
-Handle every knife you plan to buy. If the store will let you, do some mock chopping on one of their cutting boards. If you want to keep this knife forever, make sure it feels good in your hand. And keep in mind that just because one knife in a line feels good doesn't mean that a different-sized knife will work as well for you.
-Quality is obviously key, but other people can probably chime in better than I on that subject.
-For knife storage, I recently purchased a kapoosh. I'm not positive I love it yet, but it's very cool and is working out well so far.

[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]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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)

[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