Left: My swiss army knife; 26cm MAC Chefs Knife - to chop the biggest of melons, julienne long shards of anything; the most skilled of chefs can do everything with this knife.Middle: East/West FuriFX chopper - those 'scallop' holes create less friction so I use this knife for cutting birthday cakes and mincing garlic. Of course I wash my knife with soap after each use.
Right: My favourite knife. MAC damascus hand-folded steel vegetable chopper. It just feels sexy.
Top: the first knife I ever owned. To lend to people who forgot/lost their knife.2nd Above: Flexible filleting knife; for filleting fish, frenching bones, trimming meat.
3rd knife: Global serrated bread knife. Good for bread and passionfruit - just watch your fingers you don't want to take out a finger with this knife. Trust me.
Bottom: Knife Honer. Not to be a called a knife sharpener. I will actually rarely use this; only on cheaper knives - using a whetstone to sharpen a blunt knife is better.
The red knives are the best paring knives money can buy: Victorianox; $5 for a sharp knife that can do anything, and stays sharp for a very long time (that is, if you use it for its intended kitchen purposes).I also have 2 cleavers for mincing meat, breaking bones and gang fights.
So, which knife do you need? A couple of those paring knives (they're good steak knives, too) and that big chefs knife. That, and the skill to keep your knife sharp and you will feel like a professional, and cook like one too*.
* - may not necessarily cook like a professional
You didn't specify what "the wolverine" was.
ReplyDeleteI have the classic Wushtof knife set, which was a birthday present from some time ago. A little heavy for what I like but they do the job.
What about those dual ceramic and metal disc "drag through" sharpeners? They get the knife very sharp but is there a reason I shouldn't use them? I'm pretty happy with 3 Mundials including the 26CM one like yours but I could do with a new bread saw..
ReplyDeleteHehe that vegetable chopper is one sexy looking knife. I have the Furi East/West knife :)
ReplyDeletethelonefoodie: I have yet to figure out what those claws are useful for haha - apparently for spring onions, but I prefer to use a knife.
ReplyDeleteIf you think Wustofs are too heavy, stick to the japenese knives - try the globals? they're the polar opposite: really light, and quite cheap nowadays too.
Paul: It depends on what knives you are sharpening - if it's Mundials, Globals, Wusthofs, Furi; it will do the job just fine; as a matter of fact I recommend it as it sharpens your knife more evenly if you've never used a stone before. But if it's hand-folded steel or hand made, give it the respect it deserves.
stephcookie: feels good to have a big knife aye :D
my weapon of choice
ReplyDeleteShun Elite 25cm chef knife(typical french style), one of the few with handles that fit very well into my hand.
Shun Classic paring knife for all the peeling/paring needs
Shun Classic Nakiri(vegetable chopper) for all the vegetable needs
Wusthof fish filleting knife just because I rather fillet and portion whole fishes myself, plus the fish bones make good stock.
and a 5 dollar serrated bread knife
and yeah, totally agree that hand made knives deserve the respect
theBigBen: Ahhh, a Shun man - and a big spender one at the too even bought the paring knives haha; do you find that it goes blunt quite fast because it's quite a soft steel? how to you sharpen it?
ReplyDelete