Recommend Kitchen Knives?

IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS.

(insert picture of kitchen knife here)

[quote]skaz05 wrote:
Get a couple of these and you’ll have all the knife you’ll ever need.[/quote]

That’s not a knife…THIS is a knife!

Really, this is our knife from our kitchen.

[quote]LovinLife wrote:
Hey Guys,

My desire to gain muscle has lead to an interest in cooking. There is only so long you can eat dry chicken breasts, rice and broccoli without wanting to kill yourself. Anyway, so I’ve come to realize that my kitchen is missing various essential tools.

The first item on my purchase list are good quality kitchen knives to prepare meals.

I know nothing in terms brands and was looking for some advice.

What makes quality utility knives? Are the top brands considerably better in quality than the “unknown name” brands?

Any other tips would be appreciated!

Thanks
[/quote]

I recommend letting your husband pick these out, unless you have a good home magazine delivered to your house. I suggest you get all the knives as being in the kitchen all day, cooking steak and potatoes will get boring, unless your husband prefers these things, then I suggest you stick with a steak knife and a butter knife as that is all you’ll need.

Wait, does your husband allow you to leave the kitchen or do you have wifi?

[quote]MaximusB wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
wusthof knives are really nice. I got a set of those as a christmas present and they are awesome. Nothing worse than using dull knives[/quote]

X2

Wusthof FTW[/quote]

x3

The most important thing about a knife is how it feels in your hand. You want the blade to feel balanced in the handle and blade. that will help with fatigure(ie if you’re dicing up a lot of veggies, the knife will do the work). I’ve held Henkel, and Wustof. You can tell the difference. Not bashing Henkels…they’re good too. But it still boils down to preference in how it feels.

Plus Wustof comes with a lifetime warranty. How can you beat that?

[quote]Nards wrote:

[quote]skaz05 wrote:
Get a couple of these and you’ll have all the knife you’ll ever need.[/quote]

That’s not a knife…THIS is a knife!

Really, this is our knife from our kitchen.[/quote]

LOL, that’s exactly the kind of thing I expect from you Nards.

I got a set of the OJ Simpson knives from QVC, sharp as hell and fit my hand like a glove. This was a few years ago, but haven’t seen them on there lately.

BG

[quote]PaddyM wrote:
First off, don’t get carried away and buy one of these 12 piece sets with a block. A pairing knife and a good 7 inch Kitchen knife are all the high quality knives most people need. The top brands do tend to last longer and just generally feel better in your hands. I personally have liked my Wusthofs.[/quote]

You really don’t need that many knives, agreed. I have a set of 8 and really only use the meat cleaver, 2 big knives for carving meat and a bread knife. Mine were from a department store on sale and are 20+ years old, stainless steel and I keep them sharpened all the time.

BG

[quote]RSGZ wrote:

[quote]Nards wrote:

[quote]skaz05 wrote:
Get a couple of these and you’ll have all the knife you’ll ever need.[/quote]

That’s not a knife…THIS is a knife!

Really, this is our knife from our kitchen.[/quote]

LOL, that’s exactly the kind of thing I expect from you Nards.[/quote]

Thnaks, I think. Funny thing is my girl had it before we evr lived together. I didn’t buy it!

Wustof or henkles. I prefer the feel of henkles, we have had a set for about 7 or 8 years now and they are still as good as when we bought them. A good sharpener is worth the money. My favorite is the santoku knife.

[quote]sam_sneed wrote:

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]sam_sneed wrote:
I bought a $50 Henckel Chef knife at Macy’s in 1998. They probably cost more these days.I sharpened it with a steel last week and it cuts better than any brand new knife you’ll get at Target. You don’t need a 12 piece set. Get yourself a good Chef’s knife, a pairing knife, and a serrated knife for cutting bread.(sometimes listed under bread knife). Spend the extra money and you can sharpen them the rest of your life. You can use a sharpening steel or go to a local place that sharpens blades and they’ll do an awesome job for about $8.

I worked in a restaurant kitchen for about 5 years during my college days and that’s where I learned the huge difference a good knife makes.

http://www.google.com/products?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=sharpening+steel&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=KfFiTJWvGsTflgeJtcH2Cg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CE4QrQQwAg
[/quote]

This, except I would also recommend a boning knife for trimming/fileting meat.

Bread knives are also excellent for slicing tomatoes and meat.[/quote]

This the one knife I’ve always wanted but never got around to ordering. I mostly cook boneless ribeyes and chicken breasts these days so my chef knife is pretty good at filleting and trimming those. Well, good with the chicken subpar with the steaks now that I think about it.

Do you have a particular boning knife you’d recommend?
[/quote]

I have a Henckels set that I got as a wedding present. The boning knife that came with it is pretty nice. I use it to trim chicken breasts. I slice them in half down the width so they are thinner and cook quicker; the boning knife is essential for this as the chef knife drags a lot due to width.

I’m not really particular about brands though, so any good one will do. Just need to get my wife to stop putting them in the dishwasher now.

All the way Wusthof.

Henckels won’t keep an edge in the same way - you’ll find yourself having to sharpen (not hone, actual whetstone sharpen) it much more often than a decent Wusthof.

I worked in a kitchen for a few months this year and it was all Shuns or Wusthofs amongst the professionals.

IMO, a Shun is impractical for the home chef strictly because its too good and too complicated: you need special whetstones and a special steel to get it sharpened when it dulls. Plus they’re expensive as hell, and from what I’ve heard the special techniques used to work the metal makes them brittle: if you drop your $400 knife and the tip breaks off you’ll be upset.

Expect to drop at least a yard on it. Hold the knife before you buy it, make sure that it feels comfortable in your hand, particularly where the top of it meets your index finger. If you hold it correctly (in a pinch grip), it will eventually lead to a callus at the joint of your index finger and your palm. Accordingly, it should feel decent there from the outset.

And try to find a restaurant supply store to purchase your knife: don’t bother with a department store or even a specialty cooking store. Buy your shit where the chefs do and you’ll get better gear.

Skaz05 had a good point. (no pun intended) We are T-men, dammit! Where are the tomahawks, sharp glass with tape for a handle, and those Hawaian weapons that look like baseball bats with the shark teeth?

calphalon katana ftw