Topic: Chef's Knives

[Cory Ander]

To some extent, I tend to agree with what SS seems to be inferring here.

Cooking utensils seem to have become a bit of a fashion accessory for the domestic cook, cunningly designed and marketed to part us from our hard-earned cash.  Or it me just me being cynical?

I can understand that professional chefs certainly need very good knives to withstand the daily duress of cutting and chopping.  It's also an undoubted pleasure to use a decent knife and to admire and appreciate the quality and enduring sharpness of the blade....and the alluring glint of the the steel SS 

I have a reasonable selection of reasonably high quality German steel knives (e.g. chef's knife, utility knife, vegetable knife, paring knife, mezzaluna, santoku, etc), costing maybe 40 quid plus each, and I love them. 

But, when push comes to shove, I always push them to one side and defer to my bog-standard el-cheapo basic stainless steel Chinese cleaver (about 4 quid) for most of my cutting, dicing, slicing, chopping, etc

The steel sufficient soft that it sharpens easily and sufficiently hard that it stays sharp for long enough for my purposes.  And, when sharpened, it easily slices through the likes of tomatoes and cuts them wafer thin.

Hand on heart, I probably can't justify spending more on a knife than the 4 quid I spent on this at the local Asian store about 5 years ago now....

....but I'm gonna!  ;D

[SnS]

Oh well back to the standard onion chopper then.

SnS  ;D

[Cory Ander]

But seriously SnS!

The clever at the top cost me about 4 quid about 5 years ago (so it lasts)

The chef's knife at the bottom cost me about 60 quid

I use the clever for chopping onions every time!

Some of these knives (like some of the Japanese ones) are more of an art form than a piece of kit it seems to me.  Very appealing nevertheless (if somewhat worryingly so!  ;D).

[Bobby Bhuna]

My flatmate bought a ?50 Kyocera ceramic knife from TKMax Home for ?5. It was out of its box and when he asked the young guy working he said, "I think its a fiver". Obviously he practically ran to the check out with this.

I used it last night and it's so sharp it's intimidating. You slice straight though meat with no pressure straight into the chopping board. I'm actually a little scared to use it. One accidental slip and you'd be through to bone. I think I'll stick to my old blunt cheapo numbers more most tasks.

[Cory Ander]

I'm actually a little scared to use it. One accidental slip and you'd be through to bone. I think I'll stick to my old blunt cheapo numbers more most tasks.

 ;D I really never understood why people (namely those that sell really expensive sharp ones, or those that are really embarrassed because they have just spent a fortune on one!  ) say that blunt knives are far more dangerous than really sharp knives   

They obviously haven't seen me wield a sharp one...blood..and missing digits everywhere!! 

Kyocera is a ceramic knife is it Bobby?  If so, I trust you didn't accidentally drop it! 

[ast]

I use the clever for chopping onions every time!

I think that's interesting.  It may sound stupid, but what technique do you use with it for the onions and tomatoes?

I have 4 chefs knives, including one fancy Japanese one that my mother sold me for a penny (some superstitions just die hard for her)--which is still in the box, but I end up using the one I use (pictured below, even if you can't see it very well) simply because I don't have nearly the space in this kitchen as I've had in the past, so the biggest cutting board that I can practically use is also pictured.

I used to use whatever knife was handy for a long time, then, many years ago, I was shown how to properly use the flippin' thing, and I haven't looked back.  The Chinese cleaver is on my list to buy as well, but I find that I don't cook much with bone-in meats, so I don't know how much use I'd get out of it.

I did think it was interesting that all of the BIR chefs pictured chopping things in the 2 or 3 videos I've seen from here also have fairly basic knife techniques.  I'm actually getting much better here lately since I've started making so many curries which has forced me to practice a bit more regularly.

I also give all our main knives a "proper" sharpening using a Spyderco sharpening kit about once a year, and I use one of those sharpening steels, "blade straighteners", on the main knives any time I'm going to cut more than 3 or 4 times.

If I'm in a hurry (and more often, when we used to have the space), I'll also frequently use one or two knives for different things (meat vs. veg) on different cutting surfaces.  To me, even though some of them are nice to look at, I'd consider them essential kitchen kit (along with properly-sized cutting boards to go with them).  My mother has a really nice one, but she only has A5-sized cutting boards, so you can't really use it properly.  If I was to cook there much, I think I'd have to end up buying some proper kitchen stuff because we cook very differently.  I don't think she uses hers all that much.  Like my wife, she'll tend to use the smaller, straight-bladed knives for just about everything.

I suppose at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter.  The stuff ends up chopped up and in the pot, but for geeks like me, I try to always get better, faster and safer with my cutting techniques every time I do it.  Guess that just makes me weird! ;D

Chop, chop! ;D

ast

[ast]

[I really never understood why people (namely those that sell really expensive sharp ones, or those that are really embarrassed because they have just spent a fortune on one!  ) say that blunt knives are far more dangerous than really sharp knives   

They obviously haven't seen me wield a sharp one...blood..and missing digits everywhere!! 

Actually, CA, I'm a firm believer in this one.  I grew up on a farm in the Midwestern US.  Every kid I knew (me included) had a pocket knife from the time they were about 5 or 6.  Personally, I went in phases of having, not having and then having again.  However, the thing about dull knives is that you always end up having to work harder, press harder and you focus more on trying to make the actual cut than why you're making the cut in the first place.  Pretty soon, you've a finger or something where it shouldn't be, and whack!

I can see your point, though, but I think that it sorta comes down to what you're used to.  If you're used to having to put in all that extra effort, that then becomes normal, so you're not prepared when the knife actually does its job.  With a couple of exceptions, when I manage to cut myself is nearly always because I didn't have a sharp enough knife for the task at hand, it didn't cut properly, it slipped or something and blood sprang forth.

Still, you sure only cut things against your thumb (like garlic or other things you can hold) once if you have a really sharp knife.  Even our food processor blades bit me the other day when I was drying it because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and it just rested, yes *rested* for just a moment against my hand.  1 2mm-wide cut and 3-4 days later, it's now mostly healed.  Wouldn't have it any other way, though.  ;D

ast

[Cory Ander]

It may sound stupid, but what technique do you use with it for the onions and tomatoes?

Crikey AST!    I don't think that I HAVE a technique!  ;D  That's probably why I prefer a clever to a "decent" knife!  

But, for chopping and dicing (e.g. onions, tomatoes, coriander, etc) I just use two hands and "rock and walk it" over the stuff like it's a mezzaluna.  It works a treat for me, however incorrect and inelegant it may seem!  

Otherwise, I just use it like any other knife (e.g. for chopping boneless chicken breasts, slicing tomatoes, etc).  I use other smaller knives for finer work of course.  

I also have similar el-cheapo small knives that come up very sharp (a last for quite a while) and also do a grand job of cutting and slicing at a quid, or less, a pop.

[Bobby Bhuna]

Ast - I see you were preparing for the Saffron base in that pic.

I'm really not sold on the sharp knife thing. Although blunt knifes always irritate me when they slip on edge of onions. That's one case where sharper is safer.

[Secret Santa]

My flatmate bought a ?50 Kyocera ceramic knife from TKMax Home for ?5

Was that a recent purchase. Have they sill got them?