Kitchen work

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Brutus013

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What do you use for kitchen work? I don't have any very nice knives made just for kitchen work, so I just use a puukko with a just over 3" blade. It's too small for a lot of stuff, but I like using a puukko in the kitchen and around the house (I just use olive oil and oil often), so I'm going to order a larger one. What do you use?
 
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Big fan of wusthof here, though there are better values.
 
The most useful kitchen knives are a 3-4" parer, a 6-8" slicer, and an 8" chef's knife.Start there and add others as needed.
 
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shun 7 inch santoku. about the price of a good folder and the best money i have spent on knives. I love the blade shape!!!
 
I have 5 Globals and I am pretty happy with them. Light in the hand, sharp and a realistic quality/price. I have seen them being used in restaurants and if I am not mistaken Anthony Bourdain loves them.
My favourites are 2 smaller ones, the GS-1 and the GS-5 vegetable knife.

GS-1:
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GS-5:
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Eventually I see myself buying a Roselli carbon steel kitchen knife as well.
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got a sabatier butcher's knife from my parents which they bought in france. its older than I am and its massive but I get along pretty well with it. Its 10" and I use it for EVERYTHING from cutting pizzas to chickens and beef.

(picture a long rant about how white people jacked up the price of japanese steel and a few quotes from kill bill).
 
Oh man, kitchen knives are a whole 'nother ballgame!!! They are really what got me into the world of knives.

When I first got into cooking, I started out with the Wusthof Classic 8" chef's knife (which xxguitarist pictured) and a Henkels paring knife that was left in a drawer by a previous tenant when I moved into an apartment. Some people will tell you that a paring knife and 8" chef's will handle almost all of most people's general kitchen needs, and that's pretty true. But what fun would that be!?! :D For many years, heavy, German blades with full tangs and bolsters were often thought to be the "best" knives for the kitchen, but a lot of people are now moving to the harder steel coming from Japan, which is generally able to take a thinner (more acute) edge without rolling over. The Japanese "gyuto" style knife is quite similar to the western chef's knife in shape and usage. I had been using a 10" Wusthof chef's knife until venturing into the world of Japanese steel with a 9 1/2" Tojiro DP gyuto (an incredibly good value). Many people also swear by thin, carbon steel Chinese slicing cleavers (as opposed to the beefier versions that are more for chopping through bones)... a great starter brand is CCK. Some people like the santoku shape, but most find them too small to be of real use. Ultimately, it depends on what you'll be using it for.

While it might be fun to use your folder or fixed blade, most chefs will tell you that their knives are their most important tools in the kitchen... so now you have more excuses to go out and buy sharp things!! For much more info, there is a very active kitchen forum full of certifiable knife knuts at http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showforum.php?fid/26 who will be happy to help you spend your money. ;) Enjoy!!
 
Brutus013 said:
I'm going to order a larger one. What do you use?
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You realize there are dedicated forums out there for kitchen knife discussion don't you? They tend to be geared towards Japanese kitchen knives, however, and there is a lot of highly refined specialist talk about steels, shapes etc. that isn't relevant imho for deciding on a reliable workhorse solution.
Personally I believe that you can do 95 % of any kitchen work with two knives, a Chef and a Parer. For the Chef, the initial choice would be between cleaver and normal Chef's knife.
Personally I prefer cleavers, and my main cleaver is a 22 oz Hirotomo, accompanied by the kitchen forum parer.
If you want a more conservative Chef's knife, go for a big one. The convex BRKT Chef's knife should be a solution I have heard only very positive things about (that does not apply to their smaller Chef/Utility because of its inferior grind profile).
:thumbup:
Michael
 
I do most of my food preps with a wusthof santuka and spyderco yin and yangs. The pe one (not sure if it's the yin or yang) is the sharpest knife I have ever owned I think.

I also use any one of my many knives just for the fun of it.
 
I use a classic Henckels 8" chef's knife for most cutting tasks. I also have a bunch of no-name 6"-3" utility and paring knives, which I can throw in the dishwasher and generally abuse without guilt.
 
Lately I've been using this little guy as much a possible. It's the first blade I made, and I finished it last week.

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The blade is CPM154, and the edge quality is very impressive.

I'm planning on making a chef's knife (about 8" blade), in the same style soon. A good thin chef's knife would be my preference for most kitchen work.
 
DainBramage said:
For many years, heavy, German blades with full tangs and bolsters were often thought to be the "best" knives for the kitchen, but a lot of people are now moving to the harder steel coming from Japan, which is generally able to take a thinner (more acute) edge without rolling over.
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+1 on Japanese knives.
Long time ago we bought set of Henckels. My wife preferred 5" utility knife for most jobs. About two years ago I bought 6" Spyderco Yang (VG-10 blade). At first my wife complained that it is too big and too sharp, than it became the only used knife. Few month ago I added Kanetsune 8" Guyto (increadable value, just $60 at smokey mountain) VG10 core, 33 layers Damascus. I am still extremly impressed with this knife. It cuts like a laser. It is real enjoyment to do kitchen work with it. Great knife. Nobody is using Henkels anymore.
 
When I posted my above reply about Global, I forgot to mention that during my latest holiday trip I took an Opinel #12 (the big one) and a standard #8 along for cooking where I used them as my "chef knives" and I must say: it worked so well that I wondered why I spent so much more on Global knives!
 
5" 440C blade Hilton Padilha/Dobruski colaboration. 6"1/4" 52100 integral by Cicero Gomes; 3" no name home reprofiled parer. 6" Tosagata Santoku.

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Here's most of the knives I use for cooking when at other people's places ;)
 

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I have a Shun Chef, a Koster Santoku, and a little Chicago Cutlery paring knife. But that will change as soon as Dan hooks me up with a matching paring knife. :thumbup: I also use a Koster Bushcraft as a utility/boning knife. The scandi grind holds an amazing edge in CPM D2, and its a nice size for the kitchen.
 
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