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A Quality Prep Knife Set
Calphalon 4-pc. Contemporary Cutlery Prep Knife Set
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...And, ok, maybe a few things for myself as well.
Knife manufacturer Henckels has recently made a foray into stainless-steel dishwasher safe knife sets (as opposed to high-carbon steel) with their Henckels International 8-pc. Fine Edge Stylus Cutlery Set with Graphite Block
These are elegant functional knives, and from what I've heard from a friend, are very durable and require little upkeep. A great choice for a family member who might not be interested in sharpening and handwashing their knives.
Personally, I still like to be able to sharpen my knives, so I with that in mind, I went for their Henckels International 8-pc. Fine Edge Stylus Cutlery Set with Graphite Block
My last pick for this week is another Henckels knife, the Henckels International 7-in. Fine Edge Pro Santoku Knife
Cooking Knives Can Make -- or Break -- Your Food Prep
What's the best way to fill this with the right tools?
Choosing the right type of cooking knives can make all the difference in your cooking experience. Whether you are a pro or a beginner, it is important to have the right knife for the right task.
First, assess how much cooking you actually do. If you are more familiar with Red Lobster than you are remoulade, you're not going to need anything too elaborate (or expensive) to help you enjoy cooking at home – when you do. Further along in this blog, you will find just the questions to ask yourself before you go shopping for the right knives for your kitchen.
On the other hand, if you entertain a lot or just enjoy the entire cooking process for its own sake, it's worth some time and energy to be selective about what you buy. With proper care, you'll have a good quality set of cooking knives for years to come.
Once you've assessed just how much time you'd like to spend around sharp objects, the next step is to learn some basics about what constitutes a good, basic cooking knife and what constitutes something to clean your fingernails with.
Materials:
In my opinion, the first thing you need to know about a knife is what material the blade and tang are made from. (What's a tang? We'll get to that in a moment). You have a few choices here.
Stainless Steel: If you've not purchased a quality knife before, this is probably what most of your knives are made out of. Stainless steel cooking knives have no upkeep, but cannot be sharpened when they lose their edge. Extremely expensive high-grade stainless steel is also used at times, and is even said to out-perform other materials. It is, however, very pricey.
Carbon Steel: Cooking knives made from carbon steel are tough to look after. They -must- be cleaned and dried after every use, because they oxidize, which means you'll soon have little rust-spots on them. They also turn black after a long period of time. There's nothing bad about this; some people just don't like it.
High Carbon Steel: Most professional chef knives (an in fact almost any cooking knife worth its salt) will be made from High Carbon Steel. It does not oxidize, but still needs to be washed by hand. The harsh chemicals in dishwashers will pit almost all types of steel. High Carbon Steel can be sharpened again and again, holds an edge beautifully, and will last a lifetime.
Clearly, High Carbon Steel is the way to go if you want a decent knife. However, as you can see, there are other options, some of which are far less expensive.
Forged or Stamped?
While considering different types of materials, you should also take a look to see how the steel was shaped. Cooking knives can either be hot-forged, or stamped.
Forged knives are forged by hand, and beaten into shape (imagine a blacksmith making a sword) then sharpened. Forged knives are generally tougher than stamped blades. With the quality of steel and stamping techniques improving all the time, however, the difference between forged and stamped is decreasing.
Stamped knives are cut from a single piece of steel, and then shaped and sharpened. At the moment, they are only slightly less durable than a fully forged knife. Stamped cooking knives cost far less to make.
Stamped or Forged blades can both be made from high carbon steel.
Handle and Tang:
A knife with a full tang means that the metal of the blade runs from the point of the blade, right through to the far end of the handle. This makes the knife more balanced, and far more durable. You definitely want to get a knife with a full tang.
The shape and size of a cooking knife handle is very much about personal preference. Large people often like heavier knives, with larger handles. Smaller people may prefer the opposite.
The material of the handle also affects look and performance. Wooden handles look wonderful, and provide a decent grip (if they're not too smooth). However, wood will often soak up oils, dampness, and may become discolored or harbor bacteria.
Plastic or composite handles on the other hand, don't have as warm an appearance, but can be more durable in the long term. Furthermore, they can be formed into almost any shape. Obviously, plastic is also non-porous and won't soak up moisture or grime.
Both plastic and wood handles can have a full tang.
Style:
For your average person cooking at home, even someone who really loves to cook, you can begin your collection with just three knives: A chef's (or french) knife, a paring knife, and a serrated bread knife. These three knives can do most of your preparation related tasks for you. Have a look at the links below to get a better idea of the various types of cooking knives available.
A basic chef's knife is a good start to any collection of cooking knives. It performs most tasks extremely well, especially preparation work like chopping or mincing, and has the ability to 'fill in' adequately for many specialized roles.
Your basic chef's knife is 6 to 10 inches long, has a large, wide blade, a straight spine (the back of the blade) and a slightly curved blade. Of course, it is also sharp, so be careful!
-Sir Chopsalot
P.S If you found these tips helpful, and are interested in purchasing any of the knives discussed on this site, simply click on the recommended retailers below. Alternatively, you can check out the reviews on the other page, and find yourself a knife that you know will be just great.
Enjoy the rest of the site!
Cooking Knives Blog and Sir Chopsalot Recommend These Retailers:
Why Aspiring Chefs Only Need Three Cooking Knives to Begin
Most people really only need three cooking knives when they start cooking; A chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated bread knife. Why? Because these three knives can complete almost every task you could ask of them.
Let's take a look at the three types, and see why we don't need to bankrupt ourselves to get a functional and durable set of knives for the kitchen.
Chef's Knife: Ask any cook or chef, and they'll tell you that the standard 6-10” long chef's knife is the mainstay of their array of tools. Remember the Guinsoo 3,000,000 or whatever it was called? “It slices, it Dices, but wait! There's more!” Well, while that particular knife may not quite have lived up to its claims, your basic chef's knife probably will.
A chef's knife has a long, wide blade, with a straight spine (the back of the knife) and a curved cutting edge. It is primarily designed to slice and chop. This means that you can mince, dice, julienne, chop, slice, cut, and trim with it, as well as a number of other tasks. A quality chef's knife will have a full tang, be made from high carbon steel, have a comfortable, no-slip grip, and be well balanced. You should be able to chop all day with one of these things, and never get tired.
I use my chef's knife for almost all of my prep work, aside from paring. If there are veggies or meats to chop, my 10” Wusthof does the job.
Paring Knife: Of course, sometimes you need to give your fruit and veggies a little bit of a trim. Perhaps you need to peel and core an apple, or cut a nice long curl of fresh red-pepper to garnish your salad. A good, sharp paring knife is the tool of choice. While a chef's knife is versatile, it's rather hard to do delicate work with them, like stripping the strings from beans, or cutting out just the right shape from a radish. If you've got small vegetables to slice into quarters (prior to mincing, for instance?) then a paring knife will do it.
A simple straight-bladed paring knife will accomplish almost any task you set. Don't bother about curved, beaked or pointed blades, you simply don't need them yet.
Serrated Bread-Knife: Alright, so it's not -just- a bread knife. In fact, almost any task where you need to slice off even, equal, and smooth pieces. Want to carve a roast without tearing it? A serrated knife will do it wonderfully well. Of course, it'll also cut bread for you too!
I've also found my bread-knife (of the Henckels variety) to be extremely sharp, so do take care! However, that razor edge will also serve you well in cutting through tougher, larger vegetables. While your chef's knife might be happy slicing up a watermelon, it's a -lot- easier to use a serrated knife when cutting something that is hard on the outside, and soft on the inside. They're also good for slicing tomatoes, and other soft objects, as to provide a nice even cut without pulverizing the item you are cutting. A good, sharp, chef's knife can be used for this also, however, they're not always so perfectly sharp.
I'd recommend getting a serrated knife with scalloped serrations. This will tear most foods less (like meats, and soft fruits) and your knife will be more versatile. If you bang your knuckles a lot, there are also many good quality serrated knives with an off-set handle, that is, the handle 'kinks' upwards and then flattens just after the blade, so your hand avoids the cutting surface.
-Sir Chopsalot