I have a friend who’s starting a line cook job in a restaurant whose owner has promised to train him up to eventually be a real chef. We were discussing the tools he should invest in. I told him that, to start out, instead of blowing money on a whole knife set, he should invest in the best possible chef’s knife he can afford, and add to it as he learned and needed other knives.
So starting with “money is no object,” and working our way down to where he can afford the investment, do any of the culinary dopers have recommendations?
Third vote on Wusthof. They are pretty much the best you will get without getting into some sort of exotic materials or ceramics.
I actually did use them in professional kitchens for several years, and they held up very well. Only had them sharpened once, the rest of the time just a good honing was all they needed.
The edge isn’t the only thing that matters, its weight and balance is important in preventing strain or fatigue.
A good knife makes a big difference when it is in your hand for 6-8 hours a day.
I’d suggest ultimately getting 3 chef knives, one short one around 5", one around 8", and one big one at 10-12". The chef knife is a very versatile tool, but having options as to size and weight is very useful. Though if he just gets one, the 8" is going to be the most used.
Really, other than a meat slicer I used when carving roast beef for a banquet and a small paring knife that I mostly used to open bags, those 3 knives were just about all I ever used.
The best knife is a knife that (in order of importance)
Is comfortable
Will be kept sharp
and stay sharp
Of the 3, only #3 is an objective attribute of the knife. #1 is personal preference and #2 is a property of the sharpening process.
For #3, you want to look at the alloy the knife is made from. The Rockwell Hardness scale (while not perfect) will give you a rough guide on how long a knife will keep an edge between sharpening with higher numbers being better and 60+ being good and 65+ being very good.
But far more important than #3 is #2 and #1. #1 comes down to personal preference, do they like a light or heavy knife? What sort of blade geometry? How long a blade? Handle design? #2 comes down to how much maintenance they’re willing to put in, do they want something they hand polish for 20 minutes every month or do they just want to swipe it through a machine once every 6 months?
At the end of the day, it’s rare for line cooks to have really good knives because they get banged up a lot and occasionally stolen. If you want to buy them a knife for purely at home use, your best bet is to go shopping with them and figure out what kind of knife they want before getting a recommendation for the “best” one in that style.
The Zwilling J.A. Henckels Series is excellent as well. The confusing thing is that Henckels also makes a fairly cheap entry-level series, denoted by a logo that has a single silhouette of a man, and the professional series, that was always denoted by twin figures. Those used to also be called Henckels, but are now branded as Zwilling.
Anyway, Gordon Ramsay is said to use both Wusthof and Zwilling (Heckels Pro, per the old brand name). I have a Zwilling chef’s knife and a utility knife from back in the day when they were still called Heckels, but with the twin logo, indicating the pro quality made in Germany. They have been absolutely wonderful knives for what must be getting on to 50 years now!!
Oh, and the end of the OP’s post, of “working our way down”, if Wusthof is too pricey, Mercers are actually pretty good knives as well. I own a few, and while I do prefer my Wusthofs, I have no problem with the Mercer.
And they do cost significantly less, around a third to a quarter the price.
Yup. If someone is aiming to be a chef, the best knife isn’t one that someone else recommends, it’s the one that feels best in their own hand.
I’d suggest going to a store that specializes in kitchen equipment, like Sur La Table. They will have a lot of knives you can try, and should have knowledgeable people that can explain the differences. You can find knives cheaper at a restaurant supply store, although you typically won’t get as much help choosing one, so I think it’s worth it to pay a little more the first time.
One decision to make is Japanese vs German. I went in to the store thinking I was definitely getting a German blade, and probably a Wusthof to replace my old one. I walked out with a Japanese Shun DM0707 10" knife, and I will probably never go back to German blades. Not because one is better than the other, but because the Japanese style feels better in my hand is better matched to how I use a chef’s knife.
I also agree with the suggestion above that an expensive knife maybe isn’t the best one for a line cook, depending on the job environment.
Fair enough, but asking for recommendations as to what feels good in someone’s hands after they have held it for years is still useful. I’ve picked up knives that I thought that I liked in the store, but after using them in production for a while, found that there was something about them that increased strain and fatigue. Sometimes it’s the weight and balance, sometimes it’s how well it holds an edge, sometimes it’s the handle design.
Which may be personal preference and how you use it, but I’ve never liked round handles. They take more effort to keep the knife straight and level, IME. I also don’t like larger or “soft” rubber handles. A tang riveted directly to the scales works best, once again, IME.
Certainly depends on the job environment. There were some places I never took my knifes, as they would be abused or stolen. Then there were some places where I did bring my knives, as the other employees were culinarians who respected knives.
I far preferred to bring my own knives over using house knives, as my knives decreased the strain and fatigue involved in holding a knife in your hand for 6-8 hours.
For Western-style cooking knives I have a Global chef’s knife that I really like. Some people don’t like the handles on these but I do. Very lightweight and easy to handle. Cutting edge is much straighter than a Wusthof, much less of a belly.
Most of the time I just use a Chinese cleaver for everything.
Case in point, my knife skills instructor brought the class to the Sur La Table knife case. He pointed out one particular knife that looked comfortable and said it wasn’t actually as comfortable as it should be.
… for him anyway. I got one and it’s my favorite thing. My instructor’s hands just didn’t match the bolster.
Yeah, I don’t think that I’d like that knife. The curve in the handle seems as though it would make my hand have to exert extra effort. I’ve tried a few curved handle blades in my time, and didn’t like any of them.
I’m sure it works for some people, since they make and sell them, but you are the first I’ve spoken to about them that liked it.
Oooh, knives. I love my kitchen knives. Unfortunately, the ones I like best have been used enough that the brand marks are worn off.
In particular, I have a henkles twin and a wusthoff paring knife, both purchased about the same time. One turns out to be MUCH easier to keep sharp than the other, and I REALLY wish I knew which was which. The better one has visible rivets, the other has an all-plastic exterior to its handle.
I agree with all this.
I also picked up some little Global paring knives recently (yes, I use paring knives all the time) and I love them. They have an extremely slim handle, which won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, however. I mostly use them for “finger work”, where I want precise control, rather than strength – stuff like paring strawberries.
I love my chef’s knife, which looks like a grown-up version of the less-good German paring knife. Also, my brother gave me a Zwilling Santoku knife recently, which is really nice when I DO need strength, like peeling and chopping a butternut squash. I don’t use it for meat, because it doesn’t have much of a point, and I like to be able to shove that point into a joint, but it’s great for vegetables. I also have some fancy schmancy Japanese thing with an extremely narrow edge that I use for butterflying leg of lamb and similar tasks. But I wouldn’t get it as a first knife. I agree with the advise to start with a vanilla chef’s knife. Unless you rarely cut large pieces of meat, in which case I might pick a santoku. In either case, I would ALSO invest in a nice paring knife.
For what it is worth, every Wusthof I’ve seen has visible rivets. So likely the one easy to keep sharp. We’ve had great luck with ours and I’m better at sharpening mower blades than knives.
