TLDR
- All you need: a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated knife if you cut bread.
- Optional: kitchen shears and vegetable peeler
- Good kitchen knives do not need to be very expensive.
- Sharp knives are safer than dull ones. Keeping them sharp can be easy if the steel is not too hard.
Steel
It is very easy to make a big deal out of what steel is used for the blade. I suggest not to waste much time on this. My preferences:
- I prefer stain resistant knives, otherwise the maintenance is more than what I would be willing to do.
- For a home cook, ease of maintenance and resistance to chipping trumps steel hardness. HRC 58 seems to be the sweet spot for steel hardness.
- Steels that are not at the extreme end of hardness tend to be more cost effective.
Note that requirements for a home cook are fairly trivial: Any knife, even if one cooks every day, is rarely if ever used for more than 15 minutes per day. That means that it takes at least a month of home use to come close to the amount of use a knife can see in a commercial setting in a single day. That is at home use, any reasonable knife will stay sufficiently sharp for long enough.
If you are willing to develop knife sharpening skills - it really is not that hard - and if you are willing to put in enough elbow grease, then by all means, go with as hard a knife as you want. For example, my kitchen knives are on a harder end, but not extreme, HRC 60- 62. I got them because of their size, blade shape, and manageable weight. The price I pay is that it takes about 5 times longer to sharpen a 12-inch chef's knife at HRC 62 than a 10-inch chef's knife at HRC 58. I am willing to pay that price, but chances are you are not.
Technique
It is easy use a knife properly. It does not take all that much practice either. A small investment is worth making as the experience will be much more satisfying. You will be much faster, and your use of a knife will be much safer. In the days of YouTube, your free lesson is one click away. Here are a few for your amusement.
It is easy use a knife properly. It does not take all that much practice either. A small investment is worth making as the experience will be much more satisfying. You will be much faster, and your use of a knife will be much safer. In the days of YouTube, your free lesson is one click away. Here are a few for your amusement.
Chef's knives
These two chef's knives are the ones I reach for. Both are large 12 inch knives, and I use them for both large jobs, e.g. cutting a squash or a head of cabbage, and small jobs, e.g. mincing a garlic clove.
The Zhen is made in Taiwan. It cost me about $75. The knife has a nice curve to its blade allowing for easy chopping. It has been my goto knife for the last 5 years and I still like it very much. It is light, the weight is 9.9 oz, but it is not strong enough for chopping bones. Not an issue for me. The cutting core is VG10 steel at 60-62 HRC. I need to sharpen it twice a year and we use it daily. The finish is not perfect - one rivet was not perfectly flush, and after 5 years I still find the handle very comfortable.
The Dalstrong is manufactured in China, it cost me about $85. It is a recent addition as we wanted two large knives with curved blades so that Jasna and I both have similar tools available. The blade curve is quite pronounced, which makes chopping very easy. At 11.2 oz it is a bit heavier than the Zhen, but it is still surprisingly nimble. The steel is AUS10, reportedly very similar to VG10, with the similar Rockwell hardness of 62. The finish is perfect, and the Damascus pattern is quite pretty.
Dalstrong is a pretty new company with superb marketing and with reasonable prices. I gave it a shot recently: All the knives I got perform very well and appear well designed and well made. They are a bit heavier than many of the Japanese knives I have been using, but not too heavy at all.
The size of my chef knives seems to intimidate many people, they resemble small swords. Once my friends give it a try, everyone agrees that the size makes cutting so much easier. And safer: One can keep the tip of the blade on the board, which adds greatly to the stability and control of the blade. One does need a large cutting board, otherwise there is no way to keep the tip of the blade on the board. The picture below shows that mincing a garlic clove can be done really easily with a giant knife.
The large size makes sharpening these knives a bit more work because one has a long blade to work on. Having a large sharpening stone helps. If one uses a cheap pull through sharpener, then the sharpening effort is much lesser, but it has to be done more often.
Important points: Neither knife required me to take a loan, yet they are very well designed, easy to maintain, and are a pleasure to use. Note that cooking just a few meals at home pays easily for a good knife. If the large size is too much for you, there are shorter versions.
If you are on a super tight budget, or if you barely ever cook, consider stamped knives - the best known company there may be Victorinox.
Paring knives
I find myself paying way more attention to ergonomics of paring knives than any other knife. I think this is because they are intended for small jobs, one needs to be able to hold them in many different ways.
The two paring knives I reach for all the time are made by Global, a 3.5-inch one and a 4-inch one. If I had to pick only one, I would probably go with the smaller one - it's much more nimble.
The Global knives are made of a bit of a softer steel than my favorite chef's knives, the hardness number is reportedly 56-58, and that shows. They lose sharpness sooner, but I still sharpen them only when I sharpen the much harder chef's knives.
Shape wise, I like my paring knives to have a rather narrow and pointy blade - that seems to suit most applications best. The handle should be small and light, otherwise one needs to be too careful how to hold them.
The two paring knives I reach for all the time are made by Global, a 3.5-inch one and a 4-inch one. If I had to pick only one, I would probably go with the smaller one - it's much more nimble.
The Global knives are made of a bit of a softer steel than my favorite chef's knives, the hardness number is reportedly 56-58, and that shows. They lose sharpness sooner, but I still sharpen them only when I sharpen the much harder chef's knives.
Shape wise, I like my paring knives to have a rather narrow and pointy blade - that seems to suit most applications best. The handle should be small and light, otherwise one needs to be too careful how to hold them.
Serrated knives
The standard application for a serrated knife is slicing bread, especially the crusty one. We don't bake much bread these days, but I still find a good use for serrated knives: Cutting up a pineapple - it's fibrous enough that a serrated knife helps. Quartering a bucket of tomatoes when I make tomato sauce would dull almost any knife, so I use a serrated one. When I need to cut hot food, I reach for an inexpensive Victorinox serrated knife and not worry whether the heat will alter the steel of fancier knives. That knife is one of the most used in our kitchen because of its thin blade. It works well on cheese, boiled eggs, pastry and so on.
For slicing bread, my favorite shape is an offset serrated knive as it allows nice slices without my hand hitting the cutting board. For all other application, I use a a chef's/utility knife shape.
It can matter how rough the serrated blade is. For example, my Global serrated knife is amazing when it comes to slicing bread. Side remark: After discovering offset serrated knives, I am not the biggest fan of the shape of that knife, but the blade has no competition. However, the "teeth" are so rough that they seem to really tear more delicate food, so I use that knife only for bread. The Victorinox knives are better for general applications, but they have a harder time dealing with European style bread crust. I recently acquired a Dalstrong serrated knife which strikes a decent balance, though it is still on a rougher side.
For slicing bread, my favorite shape is an offset serrated knive as it allows nice slices without my hand hitting the cutting board. For all other application, I use a a chef's/utility knife shape.
It can matter how rough the serrated blade is. For example, my Global serrated knife is amazing when it comes to slicing bread. Side remark: After discovering offset serrated knives, I am not the biggest fan of the shape of that knife, but the blade has no competition. However, the "teeth" are so rough that they seem to really tear more delicate food, so I use that knife only for bread. The Victorinox knives are better for general applications, but they have a harder time dealing with European style bread crust. I recently acquired a Dalstrong serrated knife which strikes a decent balance, though it is still on a rougher side.
Honing steel
The sole job of a honing steel is to align the edge of your blade. The blade appears sharper - because it is, but no metal is removed, so one can hone and hone and hone and will not damage the blade.
I use a honing steel every time when I store the knife, frequently when I pick the knife up, and occasionally during cooking, when I am doing a long prep. The technique is easy - simply pull the blade over the steel at a shallow angle. I pull the blade towards me - many videos of YouTube show that, here is a good one.
I treated myself with F. Dick Multicut steel that is considered the king of honing steels - the honing is faster, because you drag the blade over several mini steels. I do admit that almost any honing steel I have used has done the job.
Some honing steels really are sharpeners: The ones made from ceramics or those covered with diamond dust remove metal and they will reshape the edge. For home use that likely does not matter at all. I do use a diamond sharpening steel for sharpening my serrated knives. This is why all of them have a scalloped serration.
Sharpening tools
The sole job of a honing steel is to align the edge of your blade. The blade appears sharper - because it is, but no metal is removed, so one can hone and hone and hone and will not damage the blade.
I use a honing steel every time when I store the knife, frequently when I pick the knife up, and occasionally during cooking, when I am doing a long prep. The technique is easy - simply pull the blade over the steel at a shallow angle. I pull the blade towards me - many videos of YouTube show that, here is a good one.
I treated myself with F. Dick Multicut steel that is considered the king of honing steels - the honing is faster, because you drag the blade over several mini steels. I do admit that almost any honing steel I have used has done the job.
Some honing steels really are sharpeners: The ones made from ceramics or those covered with diamond dust remove metal and they will reshape the edge. For home use that likely does not matter at all. I do use a diamond sharpening steel for sharpening my serrated knives. This is why all of them have a scalloped serration.
Sharpening tools
YouTube is packed with videos that tell one how to use whetstones to sharpen knives - here is a pretty informative one. At the end of the video, there is obligatory paper slicing, and often an arm gets a bit of a shave, illustrating the sharpness. The videos are correct - making your knife razor sharp is not that hard.
I believe that someone who uses their knife once a week or so can get away with a handy pull-through sharpener. The knife may not stay sharp very long but that hardly matters - a few pulls and the blade is OK. You can also have you knives "professionally sharpened" - there are many services that do that, one can usually find one on a decent size farmer's market.
If you are a bit more serious, get whetstones. I use the ones by Shapton, but there are many good ones, and YouTube can quickly provide more information than one may be able to digest.
Two stones, or one combination stone is all one needs. To shape the edge, one needs a 1000 grit stone, unless the blade is damaged so badly that it requires a rough stone to literally reshape the blade - I would probably get a new affordable knife in such a situation. After restoring the edge, one needs to polish it. That increases how long the blade stays sharp, and it also make the cut smoother. A 4000 to 6000 grit stone is great for that. You can also polish in several steps - 2000 grit, 5000 grit, 8000 grit and even higher if you so desire. Practically, that is not needed, but if it makes you happy, there is nothing wrong with going above and beyond. Here is a video with an overview of the grits.
I believe that someone who uses their knife once a week or so can get away with a handy pull-through sharpener. The knife may not stay sharp very long but that hardly matters - a few pulls and the blade is OK. You can also have you knives "professionally sharpened" - there are many services that do that, one can usually find one on a decent size farmer's market.
If you are a bit more serious, get whetstones. I use the ones by Shapton, but there are many good ones, and YouTube can quickly provide more information than one may be able to digest.
Two stones, or one combination stone is all one needs. To shape the edge, one needs a 1000 grit stone, unless the blade is damaged so badly that it requires a rough stone to literally reshape the blade - I would probably get a new affordable knife in such a situation. After restoring the edge, one needs to polish it. That increases how long the blade stays sharp, and it also make the cut smoother. A 4000 to 6000 grit stone is great for that. You can also polish in several steps - 2000 grit, 5000 grit, 8000 grit and even higher if you so desire. Practically, that is not needed, but if it makes you happy, there is nothing wrong with going above and beyond. Here is a video with an overview of the grits.
Other cutting tools
I find kitchen shears a highly underrated piece of kitchen equipment in the West. They are great for everything from opening packages to snipping herbs to cutting through chicken bones. I have a small one and a large one - either one would suffice on its own.
I also use my vegetable peelers quite a lot, and i especially take pleasure in using it for peeling butternut squash. Not sure why I find this so satisfying, but I do and that is OK.
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