Stocking a Kitchen

[gomestar]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

^Okay, fish cooked en papillote is way underrated and way underused.

I keep meaning to do this, but I just haven't. No excuse really, perhaps next weekend. I'll be trying Keller's wild cod en persillade this week.

 

[kwilkinson]

Hmmm. Been thinking about this for a while. The three most used tools in my knife kit right now are: Chef's knife, microplane, and large Kunz spoon. There are very few tools I use in the kitchen aside from that, but they would probably be a paring knife and a peeler. Other than that, my spoon replaces tongs/spatulas/all that kind of stuff.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Hmmm. Been thinking about this for a while. The three most used tools in my knife kit right now are: Chef's knife, microplane, and large Kunz spoon. There are very few tools I use in the kitchen aside from that, but they would probably be a paring knife and a peeler. Other than that, my spoon replaces tongs/spatulas/all that kind of stuff.
I love the Kunz spoons. ******* awesome.

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

^Okay, fish cooked en papillote is way underrated and way underused.
here you go!

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by iammatt

I love the Kunz spoons. ******* awesome.
Seriously. That might have been the best $10 I ever spent on kitchen related stuff.

Originally Posted by foodguy

here you go!

Let's get started!!

I like that. When's your food network show start?

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by kontai69

I agree. From what I read online, bamboo is too hard and will dull knives quicker than necessary. Alot of people recommend maple, preferably end-grain.


I've noticed this, too. But, the tradeoffs are pretty good, e.g., low maintenance, antimicrobial, durable, sustainable, and thus cheap.

As for the knives being dull before their time, I have a set of Spyderco that's just begging to be used.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

i think people are wayyy too fixed on brand names for knives without appreciation of how theyre built (i guess the same way they are about clothing).... or are wildly in love with whatever it is that they have without rationale
ie "get globals i love mine" "get shuns they are the best!" "omg f. dick" "henckels are the best ive ever used" (and theyre invariably the cheap stamped value line)


get a forged knife. buy and use a HONING STEEL to maintain the edge. sharpen it periodically .. depending on your usage pattern (typically a few months). it'll cut as well as anyone else claims their to cut.


fwiw i use Messermeister knives... for a variety of reasons

 

[itsstillmatt]

I use stamped knives and don't touch my steel more than once a year or so.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

i have forschner stamped for bread knife, lemon knife, also an 8" chefs. it cuts as well as my nice knives given regular maintenance. (cutting is just function of blade angle and uniformity...)

but a full forged knife feel so much better with the extra heft. and esp with a bolster to rest again

 

[Dmax]

A lot of people dn't care for extra weight of traditional Euro knives. The bolster also gets in a way when sharpening on a stone.
Current Messermeisters don't have much of a bolster so if you like bolsters I'm surprised you use them.

I prefer stamped (or stock reduced or sintered) Japanese knives. It seems a lot of younger food professionals, like Kwilk, prefer them as well. Older chefs may prefer forged German or French knives having been trained at a time when stamped knives were inferior and having gotten used to the feel and heft of their forged knives.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by Dmax

I prefer stamped (or stock reduced or sintered) Japanese knives. It seems a lot of younger food professionals, like Kwilk, prefer them as well. Older chefs may prefer forged German or French knives having been trained at a time when stamped knives were inferior and having gotten used to the feel and heft of their forged knives.

Yep, Japanese all the way. At least at Cyrus, but also from what I know of most people working in nicer restaurants, unless the Chef is a firm believer in German. My Messermeister from culinary school got absolutely laughed out of the kitchen. Although that might not be the case everywhere, as Douglas and Chef Drew are both Japanophiles.
Still, I would not look back. I now have 4 Japanese knives, two western style, two Japanese style. Love em love em lurv em.

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Yep, Japanese all the way. At least at Cyrus, but also from what I know of most people working in nicer restaurants, unless the Chef is a firm believer in German. My Messermeister from culinary school got absolutely laughed out of the kitchen. Although that might not be the case everywhere, as Douglas and Chef Drew are both Japanophiles.
Still, I would not look back. I now have 4 Japanese knives, two western style, two Japanese style. Love em love em lurv em.
it really does depend on what kind of cooking you're doing. when i first used gyutous, i was really sold on them. but i have found that in the 2-3 years since, i've reverted back to my wusthoff. the japanese knives are great for precision cutting (hence their popularity in restaurants that serve microscopic portions prettily arranged). For most home cooking chores -- chopping, rough dice, etc.-- the heavier germans just seem to do better. or maybe it's just that i had 20 years on that wusthoff already and reverted to what seemed more familiar. I will say that for me ... a fumbling knife geek ... the japanese do seem to be more of a PITA to keep honed. the Germans are so easy.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

Originally Posted by Dmax

A lot of people dn't care for extra weight of traditional Euro knives. The bolster also gets in a way when sharpening on a stone.
Current Messermeisters don't have much of a bolster so if you like bolsters I'm surprised you use them.

Actually that's exactly why I like them -- it has enough of a bolster so my middle finger wont dig into the edge, but not the bulky cm wide ones traditional on most knives. The default edge is also ground to 15*... in between the mega acute japanese stuff and the more blunt german/french one.

 

[otc]

I took a knife skills class a few months ago and they had a bunch of knives to try out...I ended up settling on the german 10" but that is probably because I am used to german blades (though had never used one that long before). It wasn't wusthof or henckels but looked and felt the same...forget who actually made it.

Some observations on the other knives:
Shun-was not a huge fan. They are beautiful but the extra tight bevel seemed to like to dig into the cutting surface and stick a little more than I like. Also I am a lefty....I didn't have any issue with the feel of the right handed blade but I'd rather just buy one that is centered for myself and other users of my kitchen.

Porsche (by Chroma)- these had kind of funny angular grips with a little ball-bolster thing. I did not like the chef's knife at all...the grip felt funny and awkward. The santoku however felt amazing--the same grip suddenly felt perfect with the reduced blade curvature...I would be seriously considering the 7" santoku if I was not currently looking to maybe replace my 8" henckels chef with a 10"

Global - ok. I've always thought they were pretty but it just felt too light and I didn't like grip (still miss my bolster). I know they make a heavyweight line which might be nice...but I did not get to try it.

This guy was good fun:

But my heart still belongs to a black handle with 3 pins

 

[Dmax]

Originally Posted by foodguy

... the japanese do seem to be more of a PITA to keep honed. the Germans are so easy.
I prefer a fine grit ceramic steel for Japanese knives which makes honing easy.

Originally Posted by Trompe le Monde

Actually that's exactly why I like them -- it has enough of a bolster so my middle finger wont dig into the edge, but not the bulky cm wide ones traditional on most knives....
On some Japanese knives I have to use a piece of sandpaper to dull the heel of the blade to protect the middle finger when using the pinch grip. Sometimes I also sand the edges on top of the blade right in front of the handle to protect my index finger.