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The Essential Knives
Every time that I do a public demonstration, the attendees always want to know exactly what kind of knife that I use, meaning what brand I use. I almost always reply “one that fits my hand.” There are much more important selection criteria than brand, and here are three very important ones, none of which have much to do with price.
Three Characteristics of a Good Knife As I alluded to above, the single most important thing about a knife that you are going to be spending long hours with is fit. The handle must fit comfortably in your hand and you must be able to use it without banging your knuckles on the cutting surface. There is only one way to determine if a knife is comfortable and that is to try one. Try all your friends’ knives and then go to a shop where you can hold many brands in your hand.
Second most important to me is balance, especially in a chef’s knife. There needs to be enough weight in the handle to counterbalance the blade, letting the knife rock easily back and forth when mincing.
Third, and something that all the test reports neglect, is ease of sharpening. If a knife is too hard to be readily sharpened, it is useless. I’ll discuss each of these criteria below as I discuss the essential knives to own.
The Knives You Need Nobody needs a drawer full of knives. I have five in somewhat frequent use, which is four more than I really need. I use three daily and the other two are useful for less frequent tasks.
Chef’s Knife. The only knife that I really need is my 20cm (~8”) chef’s knife. There is nothing that I cannot do and have not done with that knife, although some of my more specialized blades work better for certain tasks. A lot of chefs are hung up on the size of their knives, insisting on a 10” chef’s knife on ego alone. Me, I find that 8” is plenty of knife. I only ever switch to one of the 10” knives when slicing nappa cabbage and other large items.
More important than size is that the knife is well balanced—the balance point is right at the base of the blade where the handle starts, perfect for pivoting the knife. And, weight matters in a chef’s knife. You don’t want a blade to flex when chopping though a rabbit or chicken carcass.
And since I have big hands, I cannot comfortably use off-the-shelf knucklebangers. Fortunately, there are some manufacturers who make knives with deeper blades; mine is 2-1/8” (5.5cm) deep versus the more standard 1-¾” (4.5cm). That extra centimeter is really important in keeping my knuckles off the cutting board.
Also in choosing a chef’s knife, you will want to consider how much curve it has and where the curve is located. I don’t like a blade with very little curve. I need the curve to help rock the blade when chopping. Whether you choose a French-style blade, a German-style blade, a Chinese cleaver, or a Japanese santoku is personal preference. Again the only way to determine what is right for you is to try a bunch of knives.
Offset-Handled Serrated Knife. The knife that I reach for second most often is my 7” offset-handled bread knife. The serrated blade zips through all kinds of soft and fragile things such as tomatoes and cooked chicken breasts, and the offset handle keeps my knuckles off the cutting board. This is a fantastic knife that wholesales for $25, cheap enough so that when it dulls, I just order a new one and pitch the old one.
Slicing Knife. A knife that we use every day in the restaurant kitchen is a 20cm slicing knife, which skins fish like a charm. Its very thin flexible blade also slices gravlax, makes mounds of venison medallions, and slices Tataki tuna very prettily.
Paring Knife. The 3.5” paring knife is useful for prepping certain garnishes where a larger knife would be clumsy, such as the zig-zags on lemons or watermelons. But how often do I do that? I’ve seen people mince shallots with a paring knife, but for me, my chef’s knife works as well or better.
Boning Knife. Also on the magnetic knife bar in my office is a 5-1/2” flexible boning knife that I use for boning out poultry and rabbits or other meat. Flexibility and a narrow tip with a nicely radiused curve are key to separating meat from bones, along with a lot of practice. Unless you bone out meat, you don’t need a knife like this.
Knife Brands Did you notice that I haven’t mentioned any brands yet? Brand is not important. My big knife is a Wüsthof Classic, my Santoku is a Shun, the offset bread knife is a Dick, and so is the paring knife, the boning knife is an ancient Henckels, and the slicer is an old Sabatier. Stainless steel is a very good thing in a knife. Although the old carbon steel Sabatiers are a dream to use and to sharpen, they rust and discolor every time that you get them near a lemon or other acidic food. But too much stainless is not a good thing. Henckel’s Five-Star steel, the so-called Friodur, is terrible to resharpen because it is so hard. |
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