The knife set
This will bore some of you to tears, for which I apologize in advance. Now, with that out of the way, let’s talk about kitchen knives.
A little while back, Elizabeth and I took a cooking lesson. During the course of that lesson, which was in our home, the chef asked if we wanted to use our knives or his knives.
“Either one is fine with me,” I said. “Our knives are right here on the counter; why don’t we just use those?”
Chef Glenn took one look at our motley assortment of blades and politely suggested we use his cutting implements. He intimated that a good knife makes food preparation dramatically easier and more enjoyable.
He was right.
Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth and I trotted over to Macy’s and bought ourselves a proper set. At least, a more proper set than the set we had. The new knives will actually cut things, and you don’t even have to get a good downswing to chop potatoes.
Some of the things we were told to look for in a good chef’s knife were the bolster, the handle, and the edge.
The bolster is the piece of steel where the handle blends into the blade. A thick, heavy bolster indicates a more durable knife.
You also want a handle where the steel runs from the blade all the way to the back of the handle, and the handle itself is riveted on. I’ve heard that three rivets are preferable to two, since this generally indicates better construction quality.
Finally, for a chef’s knife you want a straight edge — not serrated. Serrated edges will give the knife the illusion of being sharp longer, but they aren’t good for slicing things like meat and vegetables, since they tear rather than cutting. A straight edge and a good knife sharpener will put you much farther ahead.
And for the curious among you, here’s what our full knife set looks like.
I, for one, am not at all bored by discussions of interesting tools like kitchen knives. Thanks for posting pictures and explaining the ins and outs of selecting really good knives.
Your knife set looks great — even inspiring — to use. It strikes me that inspiration value is something that is often underestimated in tools. If something will get me into the kitchen, feeling inspired and even enthusiastic about cooking something healthy, then that tool moves into the category of Worthwhile Purchases for me.
The knife set has definitely helped make cooking more interesting for me. Even now, several months after we’ve purchased them, I still enjoy pulling out a blade and going to town on some fresh herbs or peppers.
What may be most surprising, though, is that I don’t even mind hand-washing the knives or the wooden cutting boards that much. I thought that was something that I would grow tired of in a hurry (I’m very much a dishwasher-centric person), but it really hasn’t been that bad.