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Can anyone reccommend a couple nice cooking knives?

Illusio

Illusio

Golden Member
My birthday is coming up and i'm thinking I might want a couple really nice cooking knifes. I like to cook, but the only knives I have to use are crap ones we got from target as part of a $40 set. I'm thinking a couple of good blades for cutting/chopping would be really nice.

Any recommendations?
 
My husband and I have the Henckel's Five Star Santoku. And I can personally vouch that it is WAY better than anything at Target.
 
Originally posted by: trOver
tend to have the best luck with Japanese knives. Just bought this recently, and its amazing.

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/hasakn.html
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I'll second the Japanese knife recommendation. I have a Kershaw-Shun 8" chef's knife and love it.

OP: The only two necessities in my opinion are a good chef's knife and a good paring knife. Spend quite a bit and get good stuff and they'll last you forever. You can add to that collection later one by one. Santoku, a cleaver, a bread knife, etc are nice to have but you don't NEED them if you have a good chef's knife and a good parning knife.

Also, get a hone and a sharpening kit. For hard Japanese steel, I'd suggest a ceramic hone, and not a diamond/steel one. Oh, and make sure you keep the crappy Target knives to practice sharpening on first.
 
everyone is going to cry out santoku, we have one but it's not what we cut steaks with or large birds.

I have a nice sabatier set and a few additional knives like our Santoku.

Just be advised if you do get a Santoku or the like pay attention to the sharpening methods, they are usually a lot different than western knives.

Ultimately the best knives for your needs will be determined by what you are preparing and your budget.
 
Originally posted by: Dark Jedi
My birthday is coming up and i'm thinking I might want a couple really nice cooking knifes. I like to cook, but the only knives I have to use are crap ones we got from target as part of a $40 set. I'm thinking a couple of good blades for cutting/chopping would be really nice.

Any recommendations?
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If you want to keep the cost down, the JC Penney Cook's brand Santoku knife is a good bet. I think a 7" goes for under $20, it's forged, and holds an edge pretty well. I've used it for 4 years or so now, sharpened about as often as I would a more expensive german knife, basically annually. I use it every day, and I'm not exactly easy on my knives, so I'm satisfied.
 
Originally posted by: alkemyst
everyone is going to cry out santoku, we have one but it's not what we cut steaks with or large birds.

I have a nice sabatier set and a few additional knives like our Santoku.

Just be advised if you do get a Santoku or the like pay attention to the sharpening methods, they are usually a lot different than western knives.

Ultimately the best knives for your needs will be determined by what you are preparing and your budget.
Click to expand...

I break down chickens with my santoku knife. I think if it were a bigger model, it wouldn't be as practical, but I find the 7" blade to be pretty versatile for that. If you're talking about carving, I agree, but a cheap slicer works fine.

For steaks, I keep a cheapo slicer around. If it's dull, I'll get a new one for a few bucks at Target or something. For as often as I'm slicing up a roast or something equally large, spending a lot of money on it wasn't really a priority.
 
Global is my personal brand.

Whustuff would be second.

As for types get a santaku/chef, and pearing at minimum. I have both of them from Global, and rarely find something I have issues with. Could buy some more, but those two get 95% of the work done.

Nice starting set

I have this pearing knife and this santoku

It is a personal preference between the santoku and chef knife, but I like the santoku more personally. I would like to get a clean edge (not hollow ground) at some point though also.

Here is a more expensive option, but a wider range of cutlery and has a block also.
 
I use 2 knives for 90% of my preparation:

Global Chef's knife (I use an 8")
Offset serrated knife (I have a Wustoff, I'd guess it's an 8" as well)
 
A 8" Global is all you'd ever need. A good chefs knife can do 90 percent of your work in the kitchen and the majority of different specialty knives are a waste of money. A good serrated and chefs knife are all you need, really, unless you plan on cutting the heads off live fish, etc.
 
Thanks for the recommendations all. The global knifes look really good. I Think I'm going to go with a sontaku and a paring knife
 
I use Global right now and I'm pretty happy with the ones I have (chef, paring, and filet). Had them for years and never any problems with them, still sharp as the day I got them.

The Henckels I used to have turned to crap within 6 months of getting them. I will never, ever buy any of their products again.

KT
 
Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I use Global right now and I'm pretty happy with the ones I have (chef, paring, and filet). Had them for years and never any problems with them, still sharp as the day I got them.

The Henckels I used to have turned to crap within 6 months of getting them. I will never, ever buy any of their products again.

KT
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Globals are the sh!t. Had my santoku for a year, and my pearing for 9 months. No issues yet, and still uber sharp.
 
Originally posted by: nerp
A 8" Global is all you'd ever need. A good chefs knife can do 90 percent of your work in the kitchen and the majority of different specialty knives are a waste of money. A good serrated and chefs knife are all you need, really, unless you plan on cutting the heads off live fish, etc.
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/seconded

I just spent a minute trying to think of the last time I used a knife other than my chef's knife or parer and I drew a total blank.
 
Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I use Global right now and I'm pretty happy with the ones I have (chef, paring, and filet). Had them for years and never any problems with them, still sharp as the day I got them.

The Henckels I used to have turned to crap within 6 months of getting them. I will never, ever buy any of their products again.

KT
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Hmm, I haven't had any problems with any of my Henckels knives. A good sharpening steel is all I've needed to put a sharp edge on them.

Edit-I've had them for over 10 years and I cook with them all the time. I was cutting chicken and chopping onions and garlic with them just last night.
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I use Global right now and I'm pretty happy with the ones I have (chef, paring, and filet). Had them for years and never any problems with them, still sharp as the day I got them.

The Henckels I used to have turned to crap within 6 months of getting them. I will never, ever buy any of their products again.

KT
Click to expand...

Hmm, I haven't had any problems with any of my Henckels knives. A good sharpening steel is all I've needed to put a sharp edge on them.

Edit-I've had them for over 10 years and I cook with them all the time. I was cutting chicken and chopping onions and garlic with them just last night.
Click to expand...

I don't remember which exact ones I had (it was actually a mish-mash of two sets) but I even took them for a professional sharpening and it didn't help at all. I threw them all out last year, except for the little paring knife which I still sometimes use for smal, dirty work because it's not too sharp and I don't have to worry about cutting myself as much as I do with the Global.

KT
 
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