Steak Paring

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January 5th, 2008 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Steak Paring

Suggestions for a knife set?

I'm looking for a decent knife set. I'm a vegetarian so i dont need steak knives or anything. Just 2 or 3 knives for chopping tomatoes/herbs and everything. and a paring knife. and a Utility Knife maybe. I was looking on food network and saw some i'd like. I'm willing to pay between $200-$300. Thanks!!

Assuming you only cook veggies, I can suggest you try Japanese Kitchen Knives. Gyuto which is equivalent of western chef's knives is a lot better performer compared to western chef's knife, when used properly,and veggies are perfect for that. Gyutos are thinner, lighter, thus cut better, and Japanese knives are in general harder steel, which means they can have thinner edges and stay sharp longer.
Gyuto reviews - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/type/gyuto/index.shtml

Alternatively, for starters you can try either Nakiri, Usuba or Chukabocho (chinese cleaver).
All three are dedicated vegetable cutters. Even though I have Half a dozen Japanese chef's knives, I still use all three above for vegetables. Depending on the job they make work either easier, or faster or both.

Nakiri - Simplest one of those three. Rectangular blade, designed for veggie cutting. Double grind edge, so no problems with learning.
Nakiri reviews - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/type/nakiri/index.shtml

Usuba - better versionof nakiri, but it has single grind (chisel) edge.More efficient than Nakiri, and as usual better made. If you haven't used chisel edge knives before, it'll require some time to get used to, but week or two will do. Although, to do all the wonders master chefs do with Usubas you'd need years of practice.
Usuba reviews - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/type/usuba/index.shtml

Finally chukabocho, or Chinese cleaver - This is Asian counterpart of the Western chef's knife. General purpose kitchen knife over there. And even though it looks like a western meat cleaver, it is for veggie cutting, and general food prep. Well, they do make them thick too, and then it's your standard meat cleaver. Anyway, for veggies thin cleaver is better suited than the chef's knife. Wide blade makes it more safe and faster for chopping and scooping.
Cleaver reviews - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/type/cleaver/index.shtml

Few hints what not to do:

Don't buy a set, in 99% of the cases it will contain more than one knife you don't need.

Ignore general knife marketing BS:

1) Forged vs. stamped - As knife marketing tells us good kitchen knives have to be forged, and have full bolster and tang. NONE of that is true. E.g. Stamped Globals are much better performers than most of the forged mainstream kitchen knives. Stamped Forschners are made from the same steels as Wusthoffs and Henckels and I'll bet 1000$ to anyone they won't be able to tell the difference neither in edge holding nor in cutting performance.
I bought Forged and stamped versions of the same chef's knife from Global, and I didn't get anything but extra weight and spent more money on forged knife.

2) Full Tang - Another BS, Katana swords and bowie knives are not full tang, yet they can cut through armor and leather, so I really doubt you need more strength than that in the kitchen.

3) Bolsters make sense only on narrow boning knives to protect your hand from slippage, but on other wider knives blade choil area does the job, bolster just makes sharpening a nightmare.

4) Avoid both, Cutco and Furi. Both have very misleading and aggressive marketing, but as knives both are junk.

5) Avoid any kitchen knife that doesn't specify the steel, in 99.99% of the cases it's real junk despite of the shiny looks. "High carbon surgical" blah blah.. It's gonna be 420 or 440A and wont' hold the edge worth a damn...