One of the biggest challenges I sometimes encounter when helping to cook in others kitchens, is not having sharp knives. I will be the first to admit, I am a bit of a knife snob.  A bit of one, not obsessive to the point of owning very expensive fine quality Japanese stainless cutlery, but I do love a good quality knife.

There are a lot of technical considerations when it comes to knives: stamped or forged, Hi Carbon or Stainless Steel, handle style, tang style and blade size and shape being just a few. I am not going to ramble on what think may I know about the subject, there is much better information available out there on the ‘net than I could put together here.  I do encourage you to do some research before you chose a knife, as you want to make sure you invest in a quality product.

After doing my own research, my personal choice is the Wusthof Grand Prix II series of knives. I feel they offer a good balance of quality, availability and price.  They are forged from high quality stainless, so while they take a bit more to sharpen they hold their edge very well.  I have a selection of them, my favorite being the Santoku blade for most of my kitchen work.

I also have a Victorionox Chef’s knife, which was my first good kitchen knife. They are also a very good knife, but are a bit lower quality steel so require a bit more work to keep them sharp.  However, they are also considerably less expensive, so not a bad choice for the burgeoning knife-o-holic.  This is the knife a lot of professional chef’s use.  I just like the Wusthof feel and steel a bit better.

One of the things currently happening in the world of knives it seems, is that the traditional 22 degree blade bevel common on western knives is giving way to the sharper 15 degree blade bevel of Asian knives. My knives are all 22 degree, but I will be changing a couple over to 15 degree by regrinding the edges in the next little while.  This can be done at a knife sharpening shop, or by using a knife sharpener such as:

Once you have a good knife (or 2, or 10), the next most important thing is to keep them sharp. Dull knives cut cooks – sharp knives slice the food.  A steel is super valuable on a day to day basis to straighten the edge, which will make the knife cut better.  However, from time to time when steeling the blade just doesn’t get the result, then you need to regrind the blade to sharpen it up.

Then, once you are addicted to your knives, grab a chef’s roll for them so that you can take them with you to spread the word of how wonderful good knives can be!

Enjoy!

Next Up – Rice Cooker