For anyone who has ever had difficulty in trimming a piece of meat or finding matching steak knives for dinner guests, they will all say the same thing: you need good kitchen knives - plain and simple. However, the people who complain the loudest are usually the ones who do the least about solving the problem. Why? Most people have no idea where to start when it comes to selecting decent kitchen knives.
When Martha Stewart decided to redo her Connecticut home, one of the most important design changes in her new kitchen was the addition of custom made drawers where she could keep her uber-expensive cutlery. Not content with just throwing them in a drawer, she had drawers designed that were padded, temperature controlled, and large enough so that each knife (and she has lots!) had room to lie flat without touching another one.
Of course, for those of us who just don't seem to have the necessary 1,000 sf of space needed to treat our knives like crown jewels, there are options.
Martha probably spent on her knives what we spend on new living room furniture. And of course her knives will outlast our living room furniture. In an event, we don't really need that kind of quality; we just need something to get the job done, and done well. We just need to figure out what the "job" is before heading to the store and buying something only because it's on sale this week.
A decent set of knives can be found for around $100. A superb set of knives is going to set you back a few thousand dollars. If you tend to cook fairly simple meals, or maybe you are a vegetarian, you will need to decide how you plan on using the knives before selecting which ones to buy.
You certainly don't want to be spending money for knives that will just collect dust. If your hobby is baking, find a set that can help you slice almonds, dice ginger and quarter apricots. If cook old fashioned home cooking is your preference, get a set that handle meats, vegetables and fish.
If you do cook a lot of meat, you may very well need that industrial size butcher blade but if you use a food processor to cut up veggies, you might be able to get away with only one paring knife and one chopping blade.
Without this strength added, you can easily break off the blade just doing something simple like chopping an onion. Watch some Japanese chefs - their style dictates that they literally bang their knives onto the chopping blocks for effect. If they weren't using excellent quality knives with forged one piece tangs, their blades were be coming off in mid air!
When Martha Stewart decided to redo her Connecticut home, one of the most important design changes in her new kitchen was the addition of custom made drawers where she could keep her uber-expensive cutlery. Not content with just throwing them in a drawer, she had drawers designed that were padded, temperature controlled, and large enough so that each knife (and she has lots!) had room to lie flat without touching another one.
Of course, for those of us who just don't seem to have the necessary 1,000 sf of space needed to treat our knives like crown jewels, there are options.
Martha probably spent on her knives what we spend on new living room furniture. And of course her knives will outlast our living room furniture. In an event, we don't really need that kind of quality; we just need something to get the job done, and done well. We just need to figure out what the "job" is before heading to the store and buying something only because it's on sale this week.
A decent set of knives can be found for around $100. A superb set of knives is going to set you back a few thousand dollars. If you tend to cook fairly simple meals, or maybe you are a vegetarian, you will need to decide how you plan on using the knives before selecting which ones to buy.
You certainly don't want to be spending money for knives that will just collect dust. If your hobby is baking, find a set that can help you slice almonds, dice ginger and quarter apricots. If cook old fashioned home cooking is your preference, get a set that handle meats, vegetables and fish.
If you do cook a lot of meat, you may very well need that industrial size butcher blade but if you use a food processor to cut up veggies, you might be able to get away with only one paring knife and one chopping blade.
Without this strength added, you can easily break off the blade just doing something simple like chopping an onion. Watch some Japanese chefs - their style dictates that they literally bang their knives onto the chopping blocks for effect. If they weren't using excellent quality knives with forged one piece tangs, their blades were be coming off in mid air!
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Make certain that you are using the best kitchen knife when you are cooking! Selecting the right kitchen knives will make your cooking experience fun and easy!
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