Best Kitchen Knives
Kitchen knives are essentials for any cook, whether you're serving up dinner for your family or working in a five-star restaurant. As a rule of thumb, it's better to own a few great knives than ten mediocre ones, assuming that the few that you do own are functional for most tasks in the kitchen. Let's take a look at the characteristics of the best kitchen knives and how you can find the most essential selections for your cooking style.
If you only buy two knives for your kitchen, the two most important knives for most cooks are the chef's knife and the serrated knife. The chef's knife has a sharp, straight edge that is very useful for slicing, dicing, and chopping, while the serrated knife features a jagged edge that comes in handy for cutting into soft ingredients like tomatoes or for slicing bread.
Also, you want to purchase knives whose blades are forged in lieu of being put together by machine. How can you tell? If the handle and the blade "blend" together, then the knife is forged. If they appear to be put together with a machine, they are stamped. Forged knives allow for the greatest amount of accuracy. For this reason, most surgical equipment like scalpels, etc., is forged instead of stamped. Forged kitchen knives may cost a bit more, but they will provide you with greater performance and last for a much longer period of time.
When shopping for the best kitchen knives, take the following tips into consideration:
- Determine your budget, but keep in mind that purchasing the best kitchen knives now is a lifetime investment. Chances are, you'll be cooking for most of your natural adult life. Buying good knives now means that you won't need to buy any more (assuming you take care of them) - ever. A good set of the best kitchen knives is usually less than $500, although there are specialty retailers online that offer great deals on knife sets that are guaranteed to last a lifetime.
- Determine if you want to purchase an entire set of knives, or want to add to your collection piece by piece. The best idea for most cooks is to purchase a full set - and this is the ideal way to get the lowest price per piece. However, if you don't plan to use most of the knives in the set, it may be best to purchase each knife individually. The two knives mentioned above (chef's knife and serrated knife) are the most important in the drawer; you might also consider a paring knife and a bread knife with these two essentials if you don't want to purchase a full kitchen knife set.
After you figure out your starting budget it's now research time. If you're going to go high end which I recommend don't listen to the manufacturer bologna about their knives being the best. Every single knife out there has benefits and drawbacks - many of which the manufacturers don't even mention.
While doing your research for the best kitchen knives make sure you actually feel them in your hand. If this means ordering them online 2-3 at a time and then returning the ones you don't like then so be it. The other option is to visit your local Williams-Sonoma or gourmet store and try them there, just remember that while their knife selection is great it's not by any means exhaustive. There are hundreds of smaller companies that would love to make a knife just for you.
When you feel the kitchen knife make sure you are actually mimicking a cutting setting. If you're looking to be a part time gourmet chef you should also check that your grip is the classic C-grip that's taught to all new chef students. This grip minimizes muscle strain and maximizes cutting power and precision. If you're just happy doing it your way then don't worry about it, feel the knives the way you would use them in your own kitchen.
So to recap the way to find the best kitchen knives is to 1. have a budget, 2. do some research, 3. feel them in your own hand. This should give you a solid foundation on which to build your knife hunt. Enjoy your search and happy cutting!