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PRESIDENT GOKU posted:Can't wait for tomorrow morning, because I'm ordering these three knives. I'll be pairing them with a nice new home on this magnetic bar , and keeping them honed with that lansky ceramic honing stick. FYI, you don't need both a chef's knife and a santoku. That's not to say you shouldn't order them both if you want them, I have way more unnecessary knives that duplicate each other's functions -- just that if you're trying to keep it minimal, they do pretty much the same thing. The shapes of the blades lend themselves to some differences in technique, the OP of this thread talks a little about it. EDIT: Beaten while settling on wording
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Nov 30, 2015 04:51
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Definitely wash and dry promptly, but use a sponge and dish soap, say I. I would worry about sanitation if I just wiped and rinsed.
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Jan 4, 2016 19:14
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Also, you should be changing kitchen sponges pretty regularly. This whole argument is silly. Sponges are a standard mechanism with which to clean kitchenware.
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Jan 5, 2016 13:21
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I think a Wusthof Classic would be a good choice and is also about the same price.
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Jan 15, 2016 13:11
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Mr. Wookums posted:I can rationalize that the effect is close to nill, especially for a home cook. It's a problem I have buying anything. If there are two options with even just a color difference I will try and find the "best," even if the effort consumed doing so is a massively larger opportunity cost than just pulling the trigger. There's research suggesting that people tend to be either "maximizers" or "satisficers" in purchases. Maximizers do lots of research and want to find the best, satisficers find something that's fine and call it a day. That research indicates that satisficers are generally happier. I'm a maximizer by nature too. I try to think about that research to try to curtail those tendencies.
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Jan 26, 2016 01:24
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Chemmy posted:When I first started cooking I bought a nice Henckels. I use it now for things I wouldn't use any of my nice knives on. Most of mine are Japanese knives, other than my Victorinox chef's and paring, but I sometimes worry that they're actually less versatile because they're so hard. I worry that I'll chip the blade on a stray bone, or on a hard squash, or whatever.
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Feb 9, 2016 16:48
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GobiasIndustries posted:I've been using my Victornox chef's knife for a few months now and it's not cutting like it used to. First-time knife owner here. After reading the OP I still need a bit of guidance since I don't want to kill my knife, should I go for a honing steel (smooth I think) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UFV9SC) first and if that doesn't help the problem then buy something to sharpen it with? Yes, you should hone your knife. You actually should do that before you use it each time. But yes, you may need to actually have it sharpened. (Or do it yourself, but if you're asking this question, I'm guessing you're not looking to DIY it.)
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Feb 11, 2016 03:13
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GobiasIndustries posted:No I'm looking to DIY, that's why I asked if I should look into sharpening stuff in my post. This is the first knife I've owned (previously used parents / roommates stuff) so I'm learning here. Oh, sorry. Yes, if it's been several months your knife will probably benefit from sharpening; once or twice a year is probably fine if you're not a professional. The OP goes into a fair amount of detail about home sharpening options. I have personally bought a few sharpening devices -- DuoSharp, knockoff Edge Pro -- and still find it kind of intimidating and am not entirely sure I wouldn't be better off having mine professionally sharpened. Regardless, you should also buy a hone and use it regularly before you start prepping.
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Feb 11, 2016 03:38
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I haven't bought new knives in a while -- already have more than enough -- but I went a different route from the Tojiro because everyone talks about how great it is for the money, but then there are posts about the fit and finish being sub-par and even one post about how they need the blade thinned to really shine. I'm sure a lot of it is just people being super finicky, especially the stuff about thinning the blade which sounds insane, but I'd rather just pick up something that people have no complaints out of the box. Like most people I don't really want to have to worry about even minor modifications.
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Apr 23, 2016 16:29
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Yeah, I honestly don't know how you would even go about trying anything but a Shun, Wusthof, Henckels, or Global in person. If I remember right those are the major brands that Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table carry. Some of the knives people here love (Dojo paring knife, Tojiro DP gyuto) I have no idea how you'd put hands on before buying.
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Apr 25, 2016 02:45
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This is a good plan but in your position I probably wouldn't bother buying the sharpening kit unless you're sure you want to get into home sharpening.
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Jun 12, 2016 20:20
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General advice has been not to spend much on a bread knife, but I'm a little dissatisfied with the performance of my cheapo Victorinox on the crusty bread I'm usually cutting. I've seen the Tojiro ITK ($64) recommended here but I'd like to go a different direction. Anyone got one they are particularly fond of?
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Jan 15, 2017 21:38
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Got a specific recommendation? Also, I'm wrong and my current one isn't Victorinox. It's this Oxo one and it isn't good enough.
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Jan 17, 2017 12:15
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I'm going to chime in and say that I do not like the fake EdgePro (that AGPTek one specifically) and I do not find it drop dead simple. The angle markings aren't correct and the instructions are confusing. I have never found any device that I like that's foolproof that works well for the more acutely angled Japanese-style knives everyone loves in this thread (including me, not judging). So I freehand the knives I don't care about as much on a DuoSharp and anything else I have done professionally.
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Mar 7, 2017 13:03
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What's the difference between a slicer and a carver, can I do stuff with one that I can't do with the other? I read a little about it Googling, but I still don't have a good handle on it; I rarely need to slice things off the bone, but if a slicer isn't significantly better at slicing than a carving knife, maybe I should just get a carver. At any rate, I used my chef's knife to slice a brisket a couple weeks ago and it was not a great experience, so I'm looking to add something more suitable to the collection. Interested in specific recommendations as well. Budget-wise, I don't want to buy a $400+ knife, but if $100-150 will get me a better knife than $35-50, so be it. EDIT: After some more research this seems like a silly question. I'm going to get a slicer. guppy fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Apr 24, 2017 |
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Apr 23, 2017 19:03
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mindphlux posted:I really think we should remake the knife thread No one has written a new OP and I don't really consider myself enough of an authority to do it myself, but I took a crack at a proposal for the "I'm just starting out" section. Feel free to use, modify, or discard entirely. Please also fact-check as needed, I do not know much about knife hardness and the like, and despite owning at least three different sharpening systems, I know almost nothing about knife sharpening. All of this is original but I used the current OP as a reference for some of it. It contains a lot of the same information but hopefully has some clearer information for complete newcomers. I don't have any kitchen knives. What knives should I get? There are lots of specialty options and you can get really far down the rabbit hole, but if you are just starting out, the answer is to buy an affordable chef's knife and paring knife. The go-to options for these are the Victorinox 8" Chef's Knife ($30-35) and whatever paring knife you want. Victorinox also sells a 3.25" paring knife and it is perfectly fine if you aren't sure what to get. They are $6 and I own four of them. You can 100% stop here. If you buy these knives and take care of them, you never need to buy another kitchen knife again. You can do at least 95% of kitchen tasks with a chef's knife and the paring knife will fill in the gaps. A cheap bread knife is a good choice for a third knife. Alternatively, you can do what most of us do and buy 30 more knives because knives are neat. You do not have to buy those specific knives, even if a chef's knife and a paring knife is what you want. But if you come into this thread asking what knives to buy as a beginner, and you don't supply any more specific requirements, everyone will tell you to buy those, and also they will hate you. I want more knives. Okay. Broadly, you are choosing between Western-style knives and Japanese-style knives. There are also some weird outliers, including some popular ones like Chinese cleavers. Western knives are usually made from softer steel (which will both sharpen and dull more easily) and are more general-purpose; the standard Western chef's knife has a more rounded belly than its Japanese counterpart. Japanese knives are made from harder steel, meaning they are harder to sharpen but don't dull as easily. There are some other differences as well deriving from that harder steel; you'd want to be more careful about bones with a knife made of harder steel, for example. Here is some information on some of the kinds of knives available to you. Primary knives Chef's knife: Western-style knife, the main workhorse of a kitchen. Typically 8-10", you can do almost anything with one; I would venture to say 8" is the "standard" length. Longer ones can cut larger stuff more efficiently but may be harder to manage. There are 6" ones as well but they are the exception, not the rule. Rounded belly makes it suited for rock chopping. Gyuto: The Japanese answer to the chef's knife. Similar lengths, usually expressed in mm rather than inches (210mm is the approximate equivalent to the 8" standard chef's knife). Flatter profile makes it less suited to rock chopping and more suited to push chopping. Santoku: Popularized in the West by... Rachael Ray I think? Usually shorter than a chef's knife (6" is common), flat blade. You can do whatever with a santoku that you can with a chef's knife or gyuto. Because of the shorter length they can be easier to handle. Note that these knives do essentially the same jobs, you don't need more than one of these three unless you just want them for funsies. It is also fine if you do want them and that's why. Personally I don't have any gyutos but I have a couple of chef's knives and a santoku. Secondary knives Paring knife: Small, comes in three different types (standard, sheep's foot, bird's beak). They each have reasons for existing but if you care about this then you probably already know which one you want. For detail work and working in hand. Utility/petty knife: A kind of Goldilocks size between a paring knife and a chef's knife, for those times when a chef's knife seems too big and a paring knife seems too small. You don't need one, but they can be nice to have. Slicer: For slicing meat, mostly. Very long blade to necessitate less back and forth sawing and therefore making cleaner cuts and nicer looking results. Boning knife: For removing bones from bone-in meat. Meat cleaver: Heavy enough to cut through bones, which is not good for your other knives. Not the same as a Chinese vegetable cleaver. You will damage your Chinese cleaver if you try to hack through bones with it. Chinese cleaver: I mention this because they are popular in this thread; they are not very common in the West. They are for vegetable prep, and while they look comically large for the job, you can do very delicate work with them. The CCK Small Cleaver was the go-to recommendation for these when they were $30; now they are twice as much or more and I have no idea if there is a cheaper option that's any good. Bread knife: For bread, and also for stuff with thick skins like tomatoes because of the serrations. You don't need to spend a lot on a bread knife. They are hard to sharpen and you will probably just replace it when that time comes. There are a trillion Japanese knife types for specific purposes, like deba (for fish), nakiri (for vegetables), yanagiba (for sashimi), and so on. You can absolutely get these if you want but it's a lot to get into here. What are some good knife brands? Hoo boy, everyone has the ones they like. Victorinox and Tojiro (the DP line) are frequently recommended low-end options that offer good bang for the buck. I like Macs myself. Wusthof and Henckels make a lot of poo poo in their low-end lines and perfectly good knives on the higher end. Wusthof's Classic line is a good place to start in their range. One thing people recommend avoiding is knives with a bolster that runs into the back of the blade, because of the difficulty it presents in sharpening. There is a ton of bullshit in circulation about knives and you will sometimes see a Kickstarter or something similar about a revolution in knifemaking. These are lies. Do not buy them. Knives evoke a cult-like kind of behavior for some reason. Try not to get too deep in the weeds about which knife is just right for you. They are just knives. You will be okay. What about knife sets? Everyone I know registered for a knife set when they got married. Knife sets usually have an awful lot of knives, and as you can see above, you really only need two. You can get one, but usually it's better to buy the specific knives you want; you'll spend less money and have nicer knives. Where should I buy knives? The real answer is in a store, where you can try it firsthand and see if you like the way it feels, the grip, etc. Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma have limited ranges but will let you try knives out there. In practice, a lot of us are interested in stuff that those stores don't carry and buy them online. This is okay, but you may find you hate the knife when you get it. Amazon sells knives; Chef Knives To Go is another reputable vendor, and they specialize in Japanese knives. There are others but those are the stores I've bought from personally. How do I take care of my knives? I'm glad you asked! Rule number one is don't put them in the dishwasher. Wash them promptly by hand after you are finished using them and dry them immediately. Not doing these will make your knives dull, rusty, broken, or some combination of those things. That's all you really have to do; it's nice to have an edge guard on them to keep the edges from dulling. Or from cutting you by accident. Victorinox Bladesafes are nice, and have apparently gotten cheaper; there are also some other (weirdly expensive!) options and even cheapo $0.50 cardboard sheaths). What about cutting boards? Your choices are plastic and wood. Do not buy glass or marble or whatever other cutting boards, they will dull your knives. There are lots of debates about which is more sanitary; it does not actually matter very much provided you take care of them properly. Wash them promptly with soap and water; plastic ones can go in a dishwasher if you want, wooden ones can't. Wooden boards need some special treatment like oiling occasionally. You may want to throw out and replace a plastic board after a few years. About honing and sharpening Once a year or so is a good frequency for a home cook to sharpen their knives, or have them sharpened. If you are a big time cooking enthusiast and use your knives more than most people, do it more often. Professionals will definitely do it more often. If you are going to sharpen your own knives, do not use a pull-through or electric sharpener, they are bad for your knives. You can do it freehand or with a number of assistive tools. The thing you do with the metal or ceramic rod is honing, not sharpening. You can do that every time before you use your knives. People usually recommend ceramic rods for Japanese knives because they are harder. Ceramic is also fine for Western knives. Ceramic ones will also break if you drop them. Here is a video on honing. guppy fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Jan 2, 2018 |
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Dec 31, 2017 22:23
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Brigdh posted:I'm probably the target audience for this, or pretty close to it, and wanted to say that I found it easy to read. I think perhaps you want to briefly (like two sentences tops) describe what an edge guard is and why you'd want one (I know, seems self explanatory, but I'll admit I had to google it about 6 months ago to figure it all out since it wasn't 100% clear to me). I'd also recommend putting a good link to a basic resource on honing (particularly since you mention doing it every time the knives get used, ie it sounds important). Sure, everyone has probably seen some scene in a movie where a professional chef does it, but trying to imitate that seems like a good way for a newbie to damage their knives and themselves. Thanks, I have corrected these things. Also, in that video Bob Kramer says you don't actually need to hone your knives every single time, so I've changed that.
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Jan 2, 2018 12:00
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Panadol posted:I recently bought a Global 8 inch chefs knife that was half price off. I know I probably should have asked before I impulsively bought it but did I make a good choice? Global is polarizing. The main gripe people have is the handle, some people love it and some people don't. In my experience more people hate Globals than love them, but the ones who love them really love them. The construction of their knives is good other than the handle. If you like the handle and it's comfortable for you, I would say your choice was fine. It's been a week or two and no one has made the new thread, so I guess I will do it: Kitchen Knives 2.0.
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Jan 12, 2018 12:14
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