Haven’t read through all the posts yet, so I may be repeating something someone else already said, but I am not a big fan of buying complete sets of knives. I think you are much, much better off buying single knives that are suited to your hands. Sure, that big wood block filled with knives looks great on the counter. But that’s all it really does: look good. I would say start with a really great chef’s knife and then work up from there.
In truth, I personally do not see much reason to have too many knives beyond a chef’s knife. If you are skilled with your chef’s knife, you can do almost anything with it that you need to do. The only other knife that would be mandatory would be some sort of serrated or bread knife.
You can buy good knives and not spend a fortune, either. I absolutely love my Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch chef’s knife. It was less than 50 bucks.
Yeah, the steel seems a bit soft, but at 10+ years of age, it only now looks like time for a professional sharpening. The honing steel has been doing a good job for quite a while.
The Blue Whale is practical and long lasting in a modern sense, but the Old Hickory is an heirloom. They do require some maintainence, but their longevity and sharpness can’t be beat.
I have Henckels pro-quality knives (8" chef’s, paring, boning, bread and cleaver), and I love them. Luckily, I didn’t have to buy them (my parents did)!
I would say that you would get the most use out of the chef’s knife. Instead of getting a set of cheaper ones, get just the chef’s knife and go for higher quality. Then you can get him other knives for his birthday or something.
As for sharpening, don’t fall for any of those fancy sharpening sets or steel thingys (metal on metal makes my skin crawl). Get a real Arkansas whetstone.
Now for the blasphemy: I use my Henckels serrated breadknife for slicing meat; it just works better for me. So, I’d get that one next, but since I just outed myself as a weirdo, you can take it or leave it.
I think I have the same set of knives. They are not that bad, but they don’t measure up to a good kitchen knife. I finally got a Victoronix Fibrox 8" chef’s knife based upon a recommendation from www.cooksillustrated.com (you need an account to see the reviews). It is a great inexpensive knife, ~$40, that does almost everything you’d need in the kitchen. I think I’ll get the 10" chef’s knife shortly for larger items. A place that sells them
I thought I kind of touched on it in the OP, but yes, I am aware that one or two (or three) good knives are better than a set (otherwise you end up with the shit he has now :)). I know a few things about cooking and like I said, he’s learned proper knife care and safety from me (by either asking questions or hearing me squawk when he does something bad ;))
Like I said, I’ll be using these almost as much as he will and he defers to me in most cooking things. I’d rather get a chef’s knife and a paring knife at good quality. I’d like to get both since he’d probably be less ‘threatened’ by the paring knife* since it’s smaller (and still useful) and then see the big difference between a GOOD chef’s knife (my #1 knife day to day) and the ones he has.
Thanks, all!
he has knife fears. I try telling him that knives are less dangerous when you have a GOOD and sharp knife, but hey!
Unless, like my spouse, you try to use the paring knife for everything from slicing cheese to carving an entire cow. ‘Right tool for the right job’ has no meaning for her.
Find out how he holds a knife. How a person holds a knife says a lot about their preferences. The correct grip for a chef’s knife isn’t at the handle but at the blade, with the thumb and index finger cradling the blade for accuracy and the rest of the hand on the handle for power. If he doesn’t know how to hold a knife properly, teach him and then go shopping with him. I am not exaggerating when I say that it will make all the difference in the world. This is a great guide.
I have a set of Hencklel’s professional knives that work pretty well for me, but I bought them before I started working in a kitchen. Now that I have more experience under my belt, I prefer the head chef’s set of Wüsthofs to my knife. They place the balance point of the knife at a location more conducive to gripping the knife by the blade while Henckel, IMO puts too much weight on the handle and favors funky “stylish” handles over truly ergonomic ones.
German steel also has a bad problem that you absolutely must maintain the edge with a whetstone and sharpening steel or you’ll never truly get it back. A nice Japanese knife is a bit lower in maintenance and a sharpening steel should work OK , but will probably cost a bit more.
Also, the gift of a knife is always reciprocated with a coin. Old tradition
As for what kind of knife, it depends on your preferences. Once you’re holding it the proper way, a solid inch and a half will disappear from your blade. For a chef’s knife, don’t get anything smaller than a 10"; I personally prefer a 12", but that might be a bit unwieldy for someone without much experience or small hands. Also, a small 4" paring knife will couple with the chef’s knife very well. These should be the only two knives you really need, unless you need something big and heavy like a butcher knife.
Many people recommend a sentaku over a chef’s knife, but I don’t buy it. I’ve got a sentaku, and while the flat blade is excellent for dicing and mincing vegetables, the flat blade also means you can’t get into a rocking rhythm for any sort of speed or flow. Women with small hands seem to like them (it’s what Rachel Ray uses), but none of the men I work with like them (the knives, not small handed wimminfolk). Back away, not today, disco lady.
For steak knives, the cheap kind will work fine. You shouldn’t be eating anything that’s too tough for even a crappy serrated knife to cut.
Get a sizeable sharpening steel. A small one is just a pain in the ass.
If you want storage, stay away from a block. You’ll have all sorts of useless empty holes that will drive you crazy and it takes up valuable counterspace. I second (fourth? nineteenth?) the suggestion for a magnetic strip. They look cool, too. If you absolutely can’t, get a knife storage drawer. You don’t want those nice new blades banging up against each other.
I’d second a good quality Chef’s knife as being the place to start, with this Global one being the one I’ve used for the past 5 years or so (still going strong). A little out of what you want to spend, but maybe if you pool your resources it might work out.
I also have one of these sharpeners which I think is excellent.
I have that, and I love it. It is the most efficient storage device I’ve ever encountered, but it took us more than 8 months to find it, either in store or online.
I have two Calphalon knives that I love, and oddly, two Farberware that I bought for about $10 at Walmart that are pretty decent. They fit my hand, and are the proper weight for me, and all retain an edge nicely.
I had that thing. I thought it was awesome for about a month. You can’t slide a butcher’s knife into it without a lot of effort and it’s very easy to cut the nylon strings. I threw it away.
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