Knife Set
chef's question: what is the basic knife set a chef should have?
I am looking for western cooking knives not asian
3 knives that'd cover 99% of home cook cutting would be chef's knife(8-12"), small paring knife(3-4") and a serrated bread knife. You can add boning or slicer, depending on the type of meat you cook, or dedicated vegetable knife like Nakiri or Usuba if you are more into veggies. If you are not into asian knives, skip those, but they work wonders for veggies.
Here, kitchen knives reviews sorted by type - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/type/index.shtml
Also, I'd highly recommend looking into gyutos, Japanese version of western chef's knife. Blade geometry is similar to that of the french chef's knife, but it's thinner, lighter and cuts a lot better, plus the steel is better, it'll hold the edge longer. Western handles gyuto is quite hard to call a japanese knife in terhs of looks, but performs mucho better.
GYuto reviews and images here, see for yourself - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/type/gyuto/index.shtml
Few more tips to keep in mind while shopping for your knives:
Ignore the most common knife myths and marketing BS.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Another good way to spot junk knives is the use of generic terms instead of specific steel, e.g. "stainless steel", surgical stainless, hardened superior stainless etc...
All the major western brands(Wusthof, Henckels, Messermeister, Sabatier, etc) use X50CrMoV15 or very similar to it steel and harden it around 54-56HRC and you will be very hard pressed to find any noticeable difference in cutting performance or edge holding.
Marketing terminology is different, mentions to high carbon steel, ice tampering (marketing term for cryogenic treatment) and few other obscure things, but in the end, it is the same steel, practically the same hardness, so what should matter for you is the design and how well it fits your needs.
For the record, entry level knives for all three is 420 class stainless steel and it is much worse performer than the good old X50CrMoV15,which isn't the best knife steel either.
If you can take care of your knives and don't mind maintaining them then Japanese knives cut a lot better, and stay sharper a lot longer. Thus, they will last you longer.
There's a lot more on choosing good kitchen knives here - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/articles/kkchoser/index.shtml including western v. Japanse cutlery comparison,s, brand overviews, tons of kitchen knives reviews and more.
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