ESEE Ethan Becker cooking knives are in!

mrn8 said:
I go simple on venison tenderloin, because it's really tasty to begin with. I usually season it with sea salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, and garlic while the charcoal is starting. Then I grill it until it's almost medium, so as not to make it too tough but still cook it through.

Another trick I've learned with venison, especially when you have a tougher / gamier cut, is to put it in a Dr Pepper marinade for a couple of hours, and then cook it. I'm sure it eats away a little at the meat, but it tenderizes it and takes some of the game flavor our of it. I happen to like the taste of venison, but if I serve it to people who haven't tried it, I'll either use a nice tenderloin or use the Dr Pepper trick.
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Awesome. Thank you.
 
Another trick for venison is to cook it low & slow in some type of marinade or sauce. Dr. Pepper does work great, but i prefer to use Patak's Original Simmer Sauce-Tikka Masala Curry. You can find it in the ethnic isle. It has no heat, just awesome flavor, if you like curry. Some people also use milk, & soak it overnight in the fridge, the lactic acid is supposed to do the same thing as the Dr. Pepper.
 
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I got my set in yesterday and spent the evening cutting up all sorts of vegetables.... from cabbage to zucchini to sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. etc.

I was impressed with the quality especially at the price point....I would like to see a "better" series obviously with a matching price ie with better handles and a thicker/heavier blade I could tell when julienning and cutting faster it was more difficult to get cuts all the way through due to the extremely light weight of the blade....

I do want to say for the price point it would be hard to find a higher quality knife for the kitchen...I was impressed and they will for sure be staying in my kitchen as well as handed out as gifts
 
I keep hoping that New Graham will get some in. I may have to order somewhere else if they don't soon.
 
I went ahead and ordered from another source. I just couldnt wait. Any idea when the second set will be available?
 
At 10-12", I'd hope it was more a butcher-style knife and not a chef's knife. Chef's knives need to be fast and light, IMO. If you need 12" of blade, you need a butcher blade.

After using these now for a week, I've been quite pleased. I'm still getting used to them and speed is picking up about to where I'm comfortable. The chef's style blade is really light weight. I can see it being super fast in the hands of someone more skilled than I am. My most used so far is the small santoku knife. It's great for all these summer vegetables that I'm getting out of the garden. I've never had tomatoes sliced so thin and uniform before! And not I'm starting to feel like a ginsu commercial, so I'll be done for now.
 
My most used knife in the kitchen is a Victorinox 8" chefs knife..... anyone know how the new ESEE/ Becker knives compare to the Vic kitchen knives in terms of ergos, steel, etc...?
 
Many Victorinox /Fibrox knives are X50CrMoV15. From what I've heard, the ESEEs are Nirosta 4116. Of course, this is all what I've read and the steel is only documented as "German stainless steel". Both of those metals are almost identical in their composition.

As far as ergonomics go, I think that's where the ESEE knives shine. The ergos are way better than my Chicago / Cuisinart cheap knives. In fact, I have one very nice Henkel's carving set and I cramp up every time I use it. These were designed to fit the hand and be gripped in a few different ways to accomodate common prep tasks.

The chef's style blade is about 1-1.5" shorter than I would like, though. I typically used my 8" Chicago chef's knife for almost everything in the kitchen, so this one feels a little short. I've used some Forschner chef's knives, too, and found them to be quite comfortable and even a little better at holding and edge than the stuff I did have. I would say in comparison, you probably won't gain a lot with this set over a Vic/Forschner set. However, I do find the smaller santoku in this set to be incredibly useful. I think that's where my tools were lacking is in the smaller blades, so I'm just sold on these.
 
Thanks for the honest assessment.

That's kind of what I was thinking, in terms of being a lateral move opposed to an upgrade, sinc the ergos on the Vic kitchen knives are pretty darn good imo. I really only like to buy kitchen blades that I know I'll use and therefore shy away from a set. I just ordered a couple Opinel paring knives (the Vic one I have is good but not great).

However, if they ever sell the blades individually I'd definately get a santoku (not sure if the large or small would be more useful to me) and/or a cleaver since I currently have neither.
 
My set arrived today. I haven't used them to cook anything yet. The fit and finish are nice, factory edge is very sharp. The handle on the large Santoku is just about right for me. I have pretty large hands and the handle on the rest of them feel a little small for me. I am sure my wife will love these knives, especially the small Santoku. One of her main complaints about kitchen knives was that they were too large. She used a small Spyderco utility knife for almost everything. Now she has more options. I am retiring the Spyderco set I have. They have served me well, but they are hard to come by these days. Give me a chef's knife that is just a little bigger than the one that comes with this set and the handle on the large Santoku and I will be happy. Any idea when series 2 comes out?
 
Christened the knives today by making lemon dill chicken. I really like the small chef knife.
 
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