Unfortunately, the best knives are carbon steel, since they can be sharpened regularly. I treasure the three I have from decades ago. Don't know whether it is possible to buy them. Check out Wms Sonoma. When stainless loses its edge, it is hard to sharpen. I HATE my new knives - dull as 43. Worth spending money since they should last a long time, if you can find. I got one in a second-hand rose shop.
Just discovered that Sabatier sells them.
I'm going to buy the 4" paring knife; a very useful size since I already have two big chef's knives.
wusthoff, chef's knife. try out the weight to see if you like it - everyone's a bit different.
Wusthoff is another source for carbon steel...yayayay and thanks, nomtastic...
I second the wusthoff. I have the toop-of-the-line henckels knives which are weighted very nicely. I'd highly advise against getting a set. All the knife aficionados who have consulted me have advised to have 2-4 knives in your kitchen: one or two very nice chef's knives or santokus, a paring knife, and maybe a serrated knife for bread.
I'd say go for the highest quality single knife you can get. Wusthoff apparently are made a bit bettter than the henckels (because the entire knife is cast as one piece), but as nomtasatic said, it's about feel.
Finkelitis, if you head down to Sur La Table in downtown Seattle, they have a bunch of different ones and they seem very helpful there--they can probably walk you through. They should have knives in your price range and above.
wusthof is definitely the way to go. and if you're only buying one knife and expecting that knife to cover all your culinary needs, you want an 8
inch chef's knife. it's the knife i reach for 75 percent of the time.
Cook's illustrated just rated the Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch Chef's Knife the best value for 22.95 saying their testers have 20 to 30 in their own kitchen It got a better rating then Wusthof and equalled many other much more expensive knives. I'm going to check it out for myself. The absolute best knife is $475.00 and hand crafted by Bob Kramer of Olympia, WA, but...
Wusthoff, by the way, was "recommended with reservations." They said, "the update performed worse than its well-regarded predecessor." They found it, "slippery when wet, looks more comfortable than it actually is, too heavy, handle is too long."
you want an 8 inch chef's knife. Santoku's are also gaining popularity -- I prefer mine to my chef's knife, but as you can see, so much of the knife is personal.
Personal is the key. I never touch my 8" carbon steel chef's and rarely the 10". I like the weight of the 12" for dicing, chopping, whanging donw on garlic cloves to remove skins, and live by the 4". Borrow some knives and chop an onion, mince some parsley, etc.
Re knife cost; $475 is a lot but I have been using the same few knives for 30 years....worth the investment.
Lilakess, Can the Victorinox Fibrox take an edge?
Hi, I'm a 30 year cook and my expensive knives just hang there on my magnetic utensil wall. Forget the snobbery of big dollar knives and go with a little Victorinox stainless serrated knife $8 -10 at a knife shop. They say made in switzerland on them. I bought my first one from Lucerne Switzerland as a tomato knife. I have since bought all sizes, they sharpen well and when they don't, they are easy to replace for low $$$. I (gasp) have even had my husband put them in the dishwasher.
In this month's Atlantic Monthly, the results of a knife review by corby Kummer:
Victorinox 3.25" paring knife...thin, flexible, cheap , and because it is so easily replaced, OK to put in the dishwasher.
Wusthof Gourmt 7" offset serrated."Designed for slicing meats and bread, altho I use it for everything."$60 - $45 on Web.
MAC 8.5" chef's knife. $130. Perfect balance and weight for author's hand and arm.
One really desireable optional one. MKS 3" 'deep paring' (drop-point kknife ($150 from
www.mksdesign.com.
P.126 in 'zine. Victorinox is c. $5.
I have a full set of Wusthoff's, and I find myself not using most of them. I have a Wusthoff hollow-ground Santoku I bought in addition to the set, which I use for almost everything. I am looking for a high-quality carbon steel Chinese cleaver (thinner and sharper than a Western cleaver). Those and a good paring knife will do just about anything. The best paring knife I ever had was misplaced in a move and was actually an old skinning knife my dad had picked up somewhere. Carbon steel, very thin, flexible like a fishing/boning knife, wicked sharp, I've never had anything better for tomatoes.
A number of culinary schools, including the one I attended, specify Mercer Renaissance knives. I have Wusthof Tridents at home but I actually like the Mercers better. They take an edge easily and hold it a long time, they’re well balanced, well made, and heftier than the Wusthofs. The weight and heft is good in many ways, for control, for using the back of the knife to tenderize, for using the side of the blade for smashing things like garlic heads. After using Mercers, Wusthofs feel really flimsy.
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