Knives - Please to Advise?

[Jenne]

We have those, too, 000.  I have found the one above more effective, lighter and just more utilitarian in general.  We are Henckels fans, though, for sure, and have TWO whole sets of them in butcher blocks in the kitchen.

[Reginald Ret]

I prefer one that looks like this:



I use it more than any other. So if you gonna buy kitchen knives, better buy a pretty good one of these, than a whole set of knives for the same price.

the broad bit at the beginning of the blade is annoying.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

One thing a regular chef knife generally won't do well is butcher meat that's on the bone. If you're going to quarter a whole chicken or anything like that, you'll probably want a decent cleaver (you want the heavier kind, not the thinner chinese/japanese style).

Sjaantze has eschewed the Cleaver and uses very large shears. At this point, she can quarter a chicken (or spachcock it) in just a couple minutes. She spachcocked a Turkey for Thanksgiving that way .


But then there's a reason that her cooking style is called "ConFusion"

[Richter]

Oh I HATE it when I got to cut something and SOMEONE (coughmyhusbanddamnhimcoughcough) is using the "good" knife...



THIS is our good knife.  LOVE It.

I keep my 3-4 preferred knives on a magnetic strip by the counter.  YOU DO NOT TOUCH THEM.
I hit the roof one day when a roomie was cutting pork in a metal bowl, grinding the edge long the bone with my chef's knife.  Much as I like them, they don't know tool use or how to keep things in good shape sometimes.

[NWC]

I prefer one that looks like this:



I use it more than any other. So if you gonna buy kitchen knives, better buy a pretty good one of these, than a whole set of knives for the same price.

Agreed. This is the most useful knife imo. I could live with just this and a paring knife.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have a set of Henckels four-stars that I did not buy as a set, but put together over years and then bought a block for. They're good knives.

I used to keep them on a magnet but housemates and their stupid fucking boyfriends don't know how to properly remove a knife from a magnet, leading to chips in the blade of the 10" chef.

[Richter]

Stab them.

Or wait until they are over, and start to work the dings out of the edges with a whetstone, while glaring at them.

[Suu]

I have a set of Henckels four-stars that I did not buy as a set, but put together over years and then bought a block for. They're good knives.

I used to keep them on a magnet but housemates and their stupid fucking boyfriends don't know how to properly remove a knife from a magnet, leading to chips in the blade of the 10" chef.

[East Coast Hustle]

i just use the santoku for that. after you slice through the skin you can see where the joints are and just help em out a little. those little birdies just fall apart really.

hell, for taking chicken off the bone you don't even need a knife
it's so fragile it just slides right off with your thumbs.

but that's chicken

ribs are a different story.

cleavers are good, i never use mine though.

oh, god, no. A santoku should never be used for cutting bone, unless you really don't give a shit about the blade at all. Santokus are almost exclusively for chopping veggies, and are not meant to be used to bend/pry/twist things. Not that it can't be done, but if it's a good blade you're likely to chip or pit the edge by doing that.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

Cut...bone?
I just open the skin to the joints and then twist the pieces apart.
I don't think the thing could cut through bone.

[East Coast Hustle]

also, for anyone considering buying any knives made by Henckels, there are two things to consider:

1) if you didn't spend the extra for their professional line, GTFO. Their home line is decent, but not much better than many knives you can get at half the price (forschner, mundial, cutco, etc.)

2) If you DID spend the money on the professional line, why didn't you spend a little more and get a Shun or a Wusthof?

FWIW, I don't know anyone who has ever bought a Shun knife and didn't think it was anything other than the best knife they have ever used. Except for their "Onion" line, which are supposed to be super-ergonomic but actually are stupid and clumsy to use.

Also, for people who are extra picky about details, a good ceramic blade knife is AWESOME for cutting leafy greens and fresh herbs. Drawbacks are that they're pretty much ONLY good for those uses (or anything involving strictly straight up-and-down cuts) and you have to be extremely careful with them as they tend to shatter if they get twisted at all or hit from the side. The ceramic blade will take a MUCH sharper edge than even the best damascus steel, and since it's not metal it is non-reactive, which means that it won't transfer flavors between things it cuts and it won't accelerate the oxidation process (no bruised greens or blackened basil). You can spend $80 on a 6" ceramic knife made by Kyocera, or you can spend $35 on a nearly identical quality knife by Asahi. Stay away from the cheaper brands as they tend to be poorly made. Also, don't bother spending the extra on the 8" knife as there's really no point given the limited application of the ceramic blade in general.

[LMNO]

I registered for Wusthofs.  I'm so glad I did.  My mom has a ceramic knife, and loves it.  I think I might ask for one next Xmas.

[Cain]

You can also smuggle ceramic knives past metal detectors.  I mean, if you should want to, for any reason.

[Jasper]

Okay, there are knives I have:  A 10" chef and a 4" paring knife by kershaw shun.  They do a lot of my grunt work with minimal hassle, assuming I'm not being an asshole to them and sharpening them occasionally.

The knives I want but do not have:  An offset serrating knife.  These things are odd because they're good at almost everything but not great at anything.  Veggies especially.  If I have to murder an entire pantry, I do so wishing I had one of these the whole time.

A big, six pound iron cleaver.  The kind that they use to chop up whole roast ducks at the asian markets and look like they were made in a high school metal shop, and probably were.  I have no idea who makes or sells them, but they're evil, powerful, and ugly.  A very stephen king knife.  Someone I knew once cut off their pinky tip without even trying while chopping artichokes carelessly.  The X-rays showed a perfect cut through the bone, and the pinky tip was easily reattached.  A knife like this can cut through frozen meats with minor hassle, and holding one makes me go all swirly eyed from the power.

[Jenne]

My parents had Wusthofs.  Well, sorta still do, my mom has them at the house she lives in with my brother and his wife/kid.  But for some reason, my husband likes Henckels better.  NO idea why.  I just roll with it.  The knives are really his department, so I buy him the Henckels for anniversary, etc.  I know the more dudes there are on the knife, the better the quality, supposedly.  But that one pictured I believe (maybe there's more dudes on the one I bought him) was the best for what we use it for so far in the 2 collections we have.

I haven't tried ceramic yet, everyone I know who has them likes them.