I have their bread knife. That is one of the best purchases of cutlery I have ever made. It wasn’t stupid expensive, and it’s the best bread knife I’ve ever had, and I have sadly had a lot of bread knives over the years, from cheapo grocery store knives to supposedly super high quality, and correspondingly expensive, knives. That Victorinox bread knife just does its job perfectly, and is inexpensive enough that if anything happens to it, I’m not going to be broken hearted. I’ll just buy a new one.
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Oh, goodness. I spend way too much time thinking about knives and tools. I want to get the Spyderco tri-angle sharpener and the WorkSharp bench sharpener. Probably the Spyderco next.
It’s hard to find a great chef’s knife. I have a couple of very good ones, mostly pretty cheap. I have that Victorinox that America’s Test Kitchen recommended forever, and the Misen 8 inch knife. Both are very good, and very comfortable. My go-to kitchen knife the past few years has been a Mercer santoku. Super cheap, stamped steel blade, unnecessary scallops along the blade and … I love the thing. Who knew that a $25 knife would become my daily driver? I bought it when my other knives became too heavy for Mom to use. It’s holds an edge longer than it has any right to, and it’s just so nimble. Massively comfy handle, too. Here’s a link.
I want a kitchen knife with a Magnacut blade, but those are still only available from bladesmiths. While I’m waiting for those to make it down to my price range, I’ve been looking for ones with 14C28N blades. I picked up an Ontario “Agilite” in 14C28N, and the handle is wretched. It’s so bad, it will probably become the first knife that I make my own darn handle for.
I think the Mercer has proven to me that toughness and stain resistance are more important that edge retention in a kitchen blade, and that’s what lead me to look for ones with 14C. Of all companies, Buck actually makes one I’m interested in. It has their Paul Bos 420HC blade, so the performance should be very similar to 14C, and it’s only around $60.
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My first (and now lost) chef knife was a 12” chef knife from the Hoffritz store (I believe Henkels knives? White label of some sort). I loved that thing. Had a set of ceramic sharpening sticks (tri angle).
After the loss of most of my possessions in my last divorce, I restocked and started with a Mercer 10". I got the low end one first, and then a little bit nicer. The deciding factor was when I learned that beginning chefs often get that Mercer set. I’m holding off buying anything too nice.
I did buy my wife a coulpe of really nice paring knives and smaller knives. The heavy chef is not for her.
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The voice can sometimes wreck the content. There’s a channel I have subscribed to that has really good content but his voice just makes my ears bleed for some reason. I watch it in very small bursts.
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Jesus Christ, no one mention sharpening, you’ll start a knife sharpening debate!
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When we bought our house (estate sale), it came with one of those knife blocks. Over the years, I’ve gotten rid of most of them, and have slowly bought better quality large knives; the only ones I’ve kept are the ones I feel free to abuse. The best ones I currently have are actual butcher knives from my parents’ house, thanks to downsizing. Sadly, the ultra-sharp ceramic knives that were in vogue several years ago are too brittle for daily use; I broke 3 before giving up on them.
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Couldn’t agree more. I would rather a single good chef’s knife that costs the same as a lesser quality entire set.
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You just don’t need a lot of different knives. You can do nearly everything with a santoku. Who cares if you need to sharpen it weekly?
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Henkels has been very variable for us - but our ~20yo “forged” knives have shown a clear line near the bolster once aged (abused) in our care. The steel in the blade, even in the forged ones, isn’t that in the tang. Far better than most knives though, but not nearly great… The other big German brand, at least in their main-line, seem a better value at just a little more price.
In all, the main line Henkels seem softer (but cheaper) than the Wusthof equivalent.
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(just thought of this…)
Henkels is more of a French profile. The chef’s line seems quite straight. The other german competition, Wusthof, has far more rocker to the blade. The shape alone has tempered my urge to get old Sabatier carbon knives.
Oh, and just sharpen those knives! Anything is better than nothing for “normal” knives in “normal” service. Our three-slot chefschoice is more than enough even if the edgelords disagree.
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Yeah, I have a set of cheap knives I picked up at a Walmart a few years ago to stash in my camping cook set. It’s actually been an amazing set that exceeds its purpose. Plus, they’re electro-plated(?) with a really neat rainbow effect! I’m sure they’d end up looking serrated with normal kitchen use, but for a good, relatively sharp knife out in the woods, they’re pretty fantastic.
Oh, wow. I forgot they were $12 for the set. Can’t beat that!
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And rather than take up valuable counter real estate with a knife block, I put a couple of magnetic strips up just inside my range hood for my knives. Convenient and keeps them out of the way.
I briefly apprenticed as a chef (didn’t finish). I was amazed when I saw the size of most professionals’ knife sets: the three you mention, and no more. Typically, the chef’s knife would be excellent, and the other two would be merely ok.
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As a modern householder you need one good knife. It can be chef style or santoku style. This will do nearly everything. It’s just a bit fiddlier than a paring knife when peeling fruit and so on.
(Personally, I like to use a potato peeler for that sort of job, but these are so cheap you don’t have to worry about them.)
A long, serrated breadknife is important if you buy large, uncut loves. Similarly, a long, thin blade for carving meat from roast joints or whole birds, in which case you also need a carving fork.
A cleaver style blade can be good for julienning vegetables, but you can do it with a santoku. My mother in law does everything with her single santoku. My wife insists on having one santoku for meat and another for everything else, but that’s just a style thing. If you wash the blade properly, there shouldn’t be any cross-contamination.
Sushi chefs use several different blades for special purposes in their craft, but who makes sushi at home from whole fish?
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Anodised
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Aha, yes. Thanks for helping me clarify the difference.
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Anodipodes?
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