Kitchen Knives
Cutting Edge
In Pot on the Fire John Thorne writes: "Cooks, at least serious cooks, can be roughly divided into two major groups: pot cooks and knife cooks." He goes on to say: "Of course, each sort uses both implements; it is a matter of which serves as the lodestone of their kitchen -- the piece of cookware that, in case of fire, they would run to rescue first."
Put in those terms, I'm decidedly a knife cook. I don't recall the first pot I ever bought, but I still have two of the three Sabatier cooking knives that were first acquisition of serious cooking tools. The three-inch paring knife disappeared during one of my moves. The six-inch utility knife still enjoys occasional, if infrequent, use, and the ten-inch chef's knife has been honorably retired.
I know many cooks who have a favorite knife that their hand automatically reaches for when they're unsure of which knife would be best. And sometimes "best" is defined not so much as "most suitable to the job at hand" as the knife that is "most nearly an extension of your hand." For nearly 20 years that ten-inch Sabatier held that position in my kitchen.
It was supplanted (and eventually retired) when my parents returned from a trip to Spain and gifted me with a seven-inch chef's knife. It was a pretty enough thing with a brass bolster and stainless steel blade, but I wasn't enamored with stainless steel (too hard to sharpen in my opinion) and it was too short. Nevertheless I gave it a try, and another, and another, and before I realized it that little no-name knife had become my primary kitchen tool.
Unlike my prior experience with stainless, it took an edge without too much effort and held it longer than the high-carbons I'd been relying on. That was nice, but mostly the knife simply fit me both physically and in terms of my personal knife technique. I used it for everything from boning chicken to mincing garlic.
Nevertheless, when I saw the TV chefs began using santoku blades I was curious -- just not curious enough to spend close to $100 for an experiment when I already had a near-perfect knife. Then, last fall, a friend gave me a five-inch Wusthoff santoku. As with my favorite knife, I was skeptical at first, but then I found myself again confused about which knife to use for a task: old reliable or this funky looking Japanese thing.
I've just about sorted the two knives out. For slicing, where part of the knife remains continuously in contact with either the cutting board or the item being cut, the chef's knife works best. Its rounded shape provides a number of edges that adjust smoothly from point work (as in slicing garlic) to full blade uses such as trimming fat from a leg of lamb.
But for chopping-type work -- tasks involving a mostly up and down motion -- I've developed a real fondness for the santoku. It's perfect for dicing carrots, onions, and celery for mirepoix or simply cutting vegetables into chunks. I use it to dice cooked chicken for chicken salad and to cut thin slices of potato for Potatoes Anna.
In the event of a fire, I would still rescue my Spanish chef's knife first, but if I could save a second knife it would be the santoku. (The chef and santoku are at the top-right of the picture.)
None of this is to say I'd choose to get along without my other knives (with the obvious exception of those stored in a drawer). The big chef (another Spanish knife that I bought when I was there) is perfect for cutting melons and winter squash and can cut a bird very cleanly in half. The slicing blade (a Gerber) is, of course, best for roasts, and a scalloped bread knife is almost essential for anyone who bakes bread (although I do need to get a better one). The six-inch stainless utility knife (also Gerber) is handy for some things as is the smaller Sebatier utility knife. The little paring knife (Wusthoff) with a sheep's foot blade is, for me, more useful than a tapered paring knife.
Rye Update:
The rye sourdough starter is now going on four days (it will take at least two more days to achieve full vigor). I've found it seems happiest at about 82F so I've been keeping it in the oven with the light on and the door slightly open. This morning when I opened the oven I was blasted with a wonderful sweet and sour smell. I'm really looking forward to my first loaf.
Kevin
In Pot on the Fire John Thorne writes: "Cooks, at least serious cooks, can be roughly divided into two major groups: pot cooks and knife cooks." He goes on to say: "Of course, each sort uses both implements; it is a matter of which serves as the lodestone of their kitchen -- the piece of cookware that, in case of fire, they would run to rescue first."
Put in those terms, I'm decidedly a knife cook. I don't recall the first pot I ever bought, but I still have two of the three Sabatier cooking knives that were first acquisition of serious cooking tools. The three-inch paring knife disappeared during one of my moves. The six-inch utility knife still enjoys occasional, if infrequent, use, and the ten-inch chef's knife has been honorably retired.
I know many cooks who have a favorite knife that their hand automatically reaches for when they're unsure of which knife would be best. And sometimes "best" is defined not so much as "most suitable to the job at hand" as the knife that is "most nearly an extension of your hand." For nearly 20 years that ten-inch Sabatier held that position in my kitchen.
It was supplanted (and eventually retired) when my parents returned from a trip to Spain and gifted me with a seven-inch chef's knife. It was a pretty enough thing with a brass bolster and stainless steel blade, but I wasn't enamored with stainless steel (too hard to sharpen in my opinion) and it was too short. Nevertheless I gave it a try, and another, and another, and before I realized it that little no-name knife had become my primary kitchen tool.
Unlike my prior experience with stainless, it took an edge without too much effort and held it longer than the high-carbons I'd been relying on. That was nice, but mostly the knife simply fit me both physically and in terms of my personal knife technique. I used it for everything from boning chicken to mincing garlic.
Nevertheless, when I saw the TV chefs began using santoku blades I was curious -- just not curious enough to spend close to $100 for an experiment when I already had a near-perfect knife. Then, last fall, a friend gave me a five-inch Wusthoff santoku. As with my favorite knife, I was skeptical at first, but then I found myself again confused about which knife to use for a task: old reliable or this funky looking Japanese thing.
I've just about sorted the two knives out. For slicing, where part of the knife remains continuously in contact with either the cutting board or the item being cut, the chef's knife works best. Its rounded shape provides a number of edges that adjust smoothly from point work (as in slicing garlic) to full blade uses such as trimming fat from a leg of lamb.
But for chopping-type work -- tasks involving a mostly up and down motion -- I've developed a real fondness for the santoku. It's perfect for dicing carrots, onions, and celery for mirepoix or simply cutting vegetables into chunks. I use it to dice cooked chicken for chicken salad and to cut thin slices of potato for Potatoes Anna.
In the event of a fire, I would still rescue my Spanish chef's knife first, but if I could save a second knife it would be the santoku. (The chef and santoku are at the top-right of the picture.)
None of this is to say I'd choose to get along without my other knives (with the obvious exception of those stored in a drawer). The big chef (another Spanish knife that I bought when I was there) is perfect for cutting melons and winter squash and can cut a bird very cleanly in half. The slicing blade (a Gerber) is, of course, best for roasts, and a scalloped bread knife is almost essential for anyone who bakes bread (although I do need to get a better one). The six-inch stainless utility knife (also Gerber) is handy for some things as is the smaller Sebatier utility knife. The little paring knife (Wusthoff) with a sheep's foot blade is, for me, more useful than a tapered paring knife.
Rye Update:
The rye sourdough starter is now going on four days (it will take at least two more days to achieve full vigor). I've found it seems happiest at about 82F so I've been keeping it in the oven with the light on and the door slightly open. This morning when I opened the oven I was blasted with a wonderful sweet and sour smell. I'm really looking forward to my first loaf.
Kevin
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