Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Knife must haves?

Some might remember that I recently moved from Green Bay to a small fishing town on Lake Michigan (or not). There are 5 places to get food in this town, all of them with the term "bar and grill" in the title.

Of those 5, 1 of them offers food above a burger.

So - I've decided that I need to learn to cook and cook well. That means gear and as someone who's never had his own kitchen before - I'm a bit lost.

What I'm thinking -

I need knives at this point. I don't own any.
I think the ones a person needs to own first is:

Chef
Utility
Paring
Bread

Correct? Probably also need a steel and block or some way to store them so they're not wrecked.

I have a limit on this initial purchase of about 500 but have no clue where to start with places to buy or brand. Originally though "Get a set of Shun/Wustoff from Amazon and call it a day" but reading reviews and such - the thought seems to be that they're more hype than performance for your dollar.

So I come to you - the Michelin star area of the campfire.

Thoughts around style/brand/retailer to start with?

dang Teal a sharp Buck fisherman will work for most anything. Not the knife but the cook. www.yummly.com is a good place for recipes

Do a magnet bar, not a block.. they're so gross.

Slicer (carving), chef, filet and boner will get you in the game.

Look at Global.

Don't put them in the dishwasher, and get a diamond rod.

teal, get yourself a set of Henckel's Four Star's (Zwilling J.A. Henckels) and never look back.

You've probably cut up some meat or fileted some fish in your life, but I'm tellin' ya, be careful when you first get them. They are sharp. They will last you a lifetime and then some, if you take care of them.

Good luck with your cooking! Stay tuned on this part of the forum and you'll be surprised how fast you ramp up your skills. Lots of great cooks here, who are probably their own worst critics, and that serves to keep raising the bar.

Wusthof knives are great, however they are expensive. I have almost a full set of Ikons but I have been getting them for years as gifts. They seem to hold an edge better than my Henckels knives FWIW.

My oft stated humble opinion is the K Sabatier Carbon Steel French knives rule.
A 10 inch, a 6 inch, and a paring knife, will do it all. They keep a keen edge, are easy to touch up, and acquire a beautiful patina as they age, and you use them.
The sharp, small tips are where real work is done, and these excel with that.

I could get by with nothing more than a good 8-10" chef, 6" flexible boning, and a bread knife. I have a number of my grandfathers old Forschners from his butcher shop back in the 70-80's. Fantastic old knives.

Sharp too! Did this with my chef's knife several years ago. An afternoon of beers and birthday shots followed by prepping for supper turned out to be not such a good idea!



Mike

I use the Shun series, older than these, but easy to sharpen and very durable.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/shun-kanso-6-piece-knife-set/?pkey=cknives-shun|shun-kanso|&cm_src=knives-shun||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_--_-

I think your thoughts on initial knife requirements are spot-on.

I've really been pleased with my Calphalon 8" Chef knife. It's the Katana series, and it's darn sharp. Has a good feel in my hand as well.

I'm looking into getting more of the Katana series.

These work for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Fibrox-8-Inch-47520-5-2063-20/dp/B000638D32

My arsenal :

https://store.butchersupply.net/victorinox-boning-knife-5-inch-curved-p118.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Wusthof-Classic-8-Inch-Cooks-Knife/dp/B00009ZK08

http://www.amazon.com/Dexter-Russell-Chinese-Chefs-Knife/dp/B00CHU2P7C

I have other blades but they take up space in the drawer for the most part.

I am still using a set of Chicago Cutlery knives we received as a wedding gift 28 years ago. Food still tastes good.

Think rifles & optics: how they fit you trumps all else. So handle as many as you can, & pick the ones that pick you.

There have been a few fairly useful knife selection threads on the fire (honest!), but I haven't the time to look them up just now. You generally won't go wrong with Henckels, Wustoff, Victorinox, Forschner, etc., so long as you stay away from any "value line" offerings they may have stooped to selling. I believe Dexter has several fans around here, too, though I've not tried one.

There's no need whatsoever to buy a complete "set". Chef is nonnegotiable: you must have one. As for the rest, though, consider your lifestyle. I personally use a boning knife rarely, a paring knife and bread knife sparingly. You may decide to allocate differently, and that's fine.

Don't throw them in a drawer. A magnet can work fine. If you choose a block, I'd suggest horizontal slots. Get a good steel, and use it. Dishwashers don't have to be forbidden, though it's a good idea to avoid detergents with lemon/citrus if you'll be putting knives in there.

You'll make a great choice. Send us pics once you do.

FC

Teal, I really recommend Japanese style cutters.

If you have never picked one up, the performance will blow you away; harder steel and thinner geometries. The caveats being they get hand washed (no dishwashers) and not to used hacking on bones or frozen foods.

Your 4 piece set is plenty and perhaps overkill depending on the type of cooking you will be doing. Most everything can be done with a good gyuto and small petty knife. Your budget allows for nice knives and some decent stones for sharpening.

Chef = gyuto
Utility
Paring = petty
Bread

Two terrific sources here with exceptional customer service, knowledge, and general helpfulness.

Koki - Even though this guy is in Japan he has excellent 3 day service as standard shipping.
http://japanesechefsknife.com/

Jon - Lots of good info on his site.
http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/about-us/

2nd Tier
Can be spotty with customer service/practices but a good inventory and based in WI
http://www.chefknivestogo.com/

Thanks all. I don't own a dishwasher and have no desire to do so. It's not an issue.

I've been looking hard at the Japanese style as I prefer the handle more than a western one.

Still have more research to do.

Teal,

I have a bunch of knives, so maybe for me it would come down to which ones would be the last for me to part with.

I had Dale Atkerson make me a huge and heavy Santoku out of D2. I use it like a chefs knife. I also love it for butchering deer. It's a slicer deluxe.

I have a couple of VG-10 Nakiris made by Shun. I use the hell out of them, they are superior slicers.

A VG-10 paring knife. I have several, and have used them for gutting a bunch of deer. They work superbly for that and general kitchen duty.

I have only had it for a short time, but a boning knife pattern I had Dale make for me is so versatile I think it is my last choice for down to four. 154CM and heat treated/tempered perfectly. 1/8 inch stock and quite stiff, but it filets fish beautifully, slices meat almost as well as the big Santoku and the handle is right for veggie work.

That two of the four would be other than VG-10 blades is surprising since I find VG-10 to be easy to sharpen and very hard to dull. It really is superior knife steel, and especially so for primary slicers.

Many Japanese style knives can be had with a western style handle (tend to be factory knives) or traditional WA handle - stick tang with the cross section is shaped like a D, oval, octagon.

Good forum here with a template for new to Japanese style:

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/s...Knife-Should-I-Buy-quot-Questionnaire-v2

Good luck!

I'll make a slight tweak to your list and find for me the four knives I use the most are:

Paring
Chef
Fillet
Bread

And will add to the list



Something to keep them sharp. And you don't have to spend a lot to get good knives and you don't have to get a matching set. I'd say put the money into a top notch chef's knife, get a couple of victronox paring knives and my favorite fillet knife is a dexter russel.