My Precious Knives!!!!
Well, I guess I don’t need to point out that I am not a typical girl-
I mean, I love shoes, and don’t mind a nice session of vicious gossip with my friends (99% of whom are a bunch of cooks- Men cooks I might add)
but that’s about the end of the similarities between me and a normal girl.
Itamar Davidov, Bishara Hinnawi, Mena Strum, Nitzan Raz
For one thing, I don’t own any jewelry, I drool over high-performance sportscars, I adore really aggressive sports and go out of my way to involve myself in truly nasty debates and discussions- and the more hostile they get, the better I like it.
The Gang
Bishara the "Meat Man"
But I guess the thing that really makes me doubt whether my chromosomes are in order, is my obsessive passion for KNIVES!!!!
Me and my Knives!!!
Now to be fair, I have been in the kitchen for 27 years, so it’s only natural that I should have accumulated a few knives over the years. But this goes way beyond a normal set of professional knives that every chef should own.
My knives are truly my most valuable possessions, and every chance I have to add to my collection- I do!
Alon has caught this disease as well now, and he is just as likely as me to be the one busting out the “beaucoup d’argent” for a really special one..
Alon cuts up a $700 fish with a Spanish fish knife!!!
When we are in Europe or elsewhere we always make sure to go to a few really top- end knife shops, and we usually discover a few hidden gems of our own, too!
Like the handmade, teflon-coated filleting knife from Finland we bought at
“Cotelleria Galli”, Via Spada 36R, in Firenze, Italia!
Now, I could really waste endless time on this subject, but bragging aside, I think it’s a damn shame that so many home cooks, even ones who are quite accomplished, and quite a few professional chefs too, NEGLECT their knives, or worse yet, don’t even bother to own a really varied set and don’t appreciate just how much better their experience in the kitchen will be when you are using the EXACT knife meant for the EXACT job!!
This Maguro Tuna was swiming 12 hours ago, Thanks for airplanes!
Nothing gets on my nerves more that seeing someone sawing away at a tomato with a dull kitchen knife! Or trying in vain to thinly slice a piece of raw fish using a damn boning knife or worse yet a Chef’s knife, instead of a razor-sharp, Japanese slicer!!! Sacrilege!!!
Now, I can hear what you guys are saying right now: “What’s the @#$! big deal?! a Knife is a knife! as long as it’s sharp, there just isn’t that much difference!”
Moshe might look like a mass murderer here, but I assure you he is a nice guy!!!
NONSENSE!!!
Just as you wouldn’t wear a pair of 6” Christian Louboutin stiletto heels on the tennis court, using a knife for a purpose other than what it was intended for ruins both the ingredient you are working with, and your pleasure in the kitchen as well.
I will describe here a few general and specific types of knives, and why I think they are worth owning- and I sincerely hope you will take my advice and stop being cheap and lazy when it comes to knives! You will thank me!!
First of all- everyone needs a Chef’s knife.
This is the most versatile and necessary knife in the kitchen, and even though it’s true as with anything else ‘You Get What You Pay For”, in this case, you can actually buy a very effective and high-quality Chef’s knife which won’t make you have to take out a second mortgage, (unlike the really esoteric Japanese sushi and sashimi knives)
My Shun sashimi knife
For example, “Wusthof” (Germany) makes exceptional knives, and their new series “Culinar” is not only beautiful, but great fun to use, too.
http://wusthof.com//desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-74/52_view-99/categories-99
I just bough a fish slicer in Prague a few months ago, and ever since then, all my cooks try to stael it every chance they get!!
Wusthof’s “Classic Ikon” series is also stellar and I tell everyone, if you can afford just one top-end knife, get this series’ Chef knife to start.
OVERALL GRADE:A
Wusthof "Culinar" series fish filleting knife I love it!!!
Zwilling J.A. Henckels makes many series of knives, and in fact I’ve been using Henckels knives for over 20 years, they are probably my overall favourite knife company.
http://www.zwilling.com/en-WW/Product-Range–sortiment/Knives–knives/Series-overview–serien.html
And up until recently, their “FiveStar” series was my top choice. That is, until they premiered their new “Cermax” series.
Made for Henckels, in Japan, by a centuries- old Japanese knifemaking firm, this is the god damn Ferrari Scuderia 16M Spider of knives!
The Cermax of cars!!!
It’s the wet-dream generator for all knife freaks!!! In short, it ABSOLUTELY SETS THE WORLD STANDARD for quality and performance. It blows any other knife I have ever used out of the water!!!! Made from high-tech Japanese MicroCarbide Powder Steel. It’s as sharp as a scalpel!!
However- it’s frighteningly expensive, extremely high-maintenance, and unless you are someone like me who needs a knife that won’t give me blisters after using it for 9 or 10 hours straight- this probably isn’t the right knife for everyone.
Cermax : The best knife I own
I don’t use mine that often, as I use it mainly as a tool to dominate and lord over other cooks, once in a while letting them test it to slice a green onion or something, after which they leave my kitchen, stifling sobs of jealousy and rage, and go home to throw all their knives in the trash in disgust!!!!!
However, their “Miyabi” series is similar in feel and precision, and at less than half the price, it is also an EXCEPTIONAL knife.
I own one, and it sure won’t be the last!
I used it for the very first time on camera shooting an episode of “Duet” with Chef Zdenek Pohlreich in Prague, and it cut through a huge chunk of meat like it was butter!
The director made us do the shot again because I said “Fuck!! This is GREAT!!”
OVERALL GRADE:A+
“Global” Knives: No doubt you have heard of this brand, because it has been overhyped and aggressively marketed to the point that every amateur cook, housewife, and many chefs seem to think this is supposed to be the world’s best knife.
To this i say, HAH!!
They are no better than a “Trophy Wife”- that is to say, it looks beautiful, but their annoying and superficial characteristics do not justify the investment in owning one.
I myself own a few, and if I make the mistake of using them to cut anything tougher than a bunch of parsley and the job takes longer than 10 mins, I have a nasty blister and a bad attitude.
I use them for NOTHING except chiffonading herbs, and I keep them razor-sharp, which helps.
They are made from Molybdenum-Vanadium, which is a metal I love, but not in these knives.. I must admit I find them beautiful, but …
OVERALL GRADE: C-
JAPANESE KNIVES:
Obviously, this is a category which could go on for hundreds of pages.
In general, Japanese knives for professionals are made from Damascus, or layered, high-carbon steel, and are fully or partially handmade.
They are precision tools for top professionals and are horribly easy to damage, very high-maintenance, and useless to anyone other than a specialized chef who really needs these tools.
This being said- I cannot live without my Shun yanagiba, my Masamoto sashimi knife, my “Takobiki”, and my Saiku vegetable knife.
however- I have decided life is not worth living until I get my hands on THIS:
A handmade, Suminagashi Deba ( called“ink on water”- because of the beautiful patterns of the dozens of layers of folded and pounded steel)
Suminagashi Deba : My next big life goal-to own this!!!
Now, as you probably have figured out.. I could beat this subject like a proverbial Dead Horse.
So before Alon beats me, for staying up all night writing about knives…I will leave you with the hope that I have at least given you a desire to go out and improve your knife collection.. And consider yourself warned!!! Once you start down this path of knife obsession.. There’s no going back!!!!!
Facebook comments:
Nice write up. My only question is, What to you use to sharpen these knives?
I just bought my first Tojiro DP, and I’m sure it wont be my last, I just need to buy some water stones before I get a crazy knife collection going.
Hi Greg!
I use Japanese Water Stones for my Japanese knives, I am attaching a link to a site I like a lot which has lots of nice Japanese knives and also an easy pictorial description of how to use the stones.O f course, it is always wise to have someone demo the process for you in person before you try it yourself but this is a nice description for you..
http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/HowToSharpen.html
for German knives/Henckels, Wusthos etc I am using the Henckels Water Stones. It is the same basic technique but for the differentr metal of the German blades the composition of the stones is also different- Any authorized Henckels showroom site can tutor you in how to use the stones.
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT trust your knives to dodgy knife-sharpening shops who will put your knives on a grinding wheel, and although they will be plenty sharp, you will lose tons of your knife each time they do it, and if you are working in kitchens and using your knives a lot, you will have to replace knives which are sharpened regularly on a grinding wheel about every 3 years, as opposed to A LIFETIME if you learn how to use the stones correctly.
I am also enclosing below a translation to one of my favourite writings- from China, it is from the 3rd century!!!
Beautiful advice for knives, and life. Enjoy!
Prince Wen Hui’s cook
Was cutting up an ox.
Out went hand,
Down went the shoulder,
He planted a foot,
He pressed with a knee,
The ox fell apart
With a whisper,
The bright cleaver murmured
Like a gentle wind.
Rhythm! Tuning!
Like a sacred dance,
like ” the Mulberry Grove”
Like ancient harmonies
“Good work!” The Prince exclaimed.
“Your method is faultless!”
“Method!” Said the cook
Laying aside his cleaver,
“what I follow is Tao
Beyond all methods!
When I first began
To cut up oxen
I would see before me
The whole ox
All in one mass.
After three years
I no longer saw this mass.
I saw the distinctions.
But now I see nothing
with the eye. My whole being
Apprehends.
My senses are idle. The spirit
Free to work without plan
Follows its own instinct
Guided by natural line,
By the secret opening, the hidden place,
My cleaver finds its own way.
I cut through no joint, chop no bone.
There are spaces in the joints;
The blade is thin and keen:
When this thinness
Finds that space
There is all the room you need!
It goes like a breeze!
Hence I have this cleaver 19 years
As if newly sharpened!
True, there are sometimes
Tough joints.
I feel them coming and slow down,
I watch closely,
Hold back, barely move the blade.
And whump! the part falls way.
Landing like a clod of earth.
Then I withdrew the blade,
I stand still
And let the joy of the work
Sink in
I clean the blade
And put it away.”
Prince Wen Hui said,
“This is it! My cook has shown me
How I ought to live
My own life!”
Chuang Tzu
Ah… You introduced me to that piece almost twenty years ago, in a small book you gave me for a birthday or something. My life is most certainly better for it. Also thank you for the sharpening tip, my knife (yes, only one,and one that I have hauled around with me for years) will be so much happier!