Cutlery
This knife is truly beautiful, and you can buy it from worldknives.com for $473. The 6.5-inch santoku is produced by Maruyoshi. Click on the image to get a closer look, as it really is a wonderful piece of cutlery.
I found this set of knives on the internet today, which are made by a French company, Fontenille Pataud. They look absolutely beautiful, and I love the packaging that shows from what area of France the knives originate along with a sketch of each knife. Yes, the set is rather expensive at about $370, but I am sure it would last a lifetime.
The handles also come in acrylic ‘ivory’, ebony and olive wood. The same company also produces fine Laguiole knives that are unbelievably beautiful but shockingly expensive. You can browse the knives here.
For a cheaper option, I have seen referenced a few times in the cooking forums this peasant chef’s knife from Lee Valley Tools. The manufacturer replicated a versatile knife that would have been in many French homes 100 years ago. The result is a beautiful, utilitarian piece of cutlery and it only costs $27.50. The blade is carbon steel, which will allow it to have a finer edge, but the metal will tarnish over time so care instructions are provided.
Though it is easy to spend $100 or more on a chef’s knife, often a budget knife is in order. Students, budding cooks, and newlyweds will many times have different priorities than finding the perfect expensive knife. But even under these circumstances, one should try to find the best budget knife out there.
A couple of years back, I had to buy a new chef’s knife and instead of going for something really expensive brand, I purchased the 10-inch Forschner Chef’s knife for under $30. It was highly recommended by Cook’s Illustrated and the knife didn’t disappoint. Sure it wasn’t as sharp as others I had used in the past, and the blade metal wasn’t as good, but the knife felt good in the hand and it was reliable.
After reading through the cooking forums at eGullet and Chowhound, here are some of the inexpensive knife brands that were mentioned.
Victorinox/Forschner 10-Inch Chef’s Knife
Sanelli 10-Inch Cook’s Knife
Mundial 8-Inch Professional Chef’s Knife ($10.95)
F. Dich Eurocut Commercial 10-Inch Chef Knife ($19.99)
Dexter Russel V-lo 10-Inch Cook’s Knife ($30.35)
So why are these knives cheaper? Well, for several reasons, but the main reason is that they are stamped en masse from ribbons of steel versus being forged (e.g. pounded) into shape one by one. It’s the difference between cutting a cookie from a flat piece of dough and kneading an artisan loaf of bread. And the components are different too: the forged knife will have better steel, and the handles will be higher quality too.
Many of the knives above can be purchased in restaurant supply stores, and they are commonly used in commercial kitchens around the world. These brands are cheap, relatively durable, and light weight, and that makes them good for the restaurant industry, but they also come with some drawbacks.
First of all, the steel on these types of knives is softer and will lose its edge quicker. Also because the steel is thinner, these knives are lighter and may seem ‘flimsy’. The handles too can be rather cheap looking, so don’t look to impress anyone.
With that said there are some positives. First of all the price is very reasonable and at $10.95 for the Mudial, it is a steal. Just upgrade later on and use the Mundial as your camping knife. Also, though the handles and steel are of lower quality, they are better for the dishwasher. I still hand wash all of my knives (and recommend it), but these knives can generally handle the extreme conditions of a dishwasher better.
The most recommended of the five brands is the Forschner, which is made in Switzerland by Victorinox. Cook’s Illustrated recommended it highly, and I own this knife. Also in September 2009, the Brazilian-made Mundial was featured in Bon Appetit causing a run on the budget knives.
I have never used the Italian-made Sanelli chef’s knife, but apparently Mario Batali has used this brand on Iron Chef, and I have owned a Sanelli bread knife before, which I really liked. The handles are exceptionally comfortable.
As for the German-made F. Dich and the American-made Dexter-Russell, I have never used them, but the new V-lo line on the Dexter Russel has an improved handle over earlier models.
If you want to shop for these knives, I recommend going to Mad Cow Cutlery as they have astoundingly low prices for a few of the brands mentioned. If you want to shop for the Dexter-Russell or Sanelli, you can go to Amazon or look into restaurant supply stores.
If you want buy this knive to the right, you will have to wait and pay dearly. It is a Hattori KD series gyuto (chef’s knife), and according to the retail site, “Mr. Hattori has devoted all his energies, times, experiences and techniques to create these beautiful Chef’s knives, using ancient forging techniques of the swordmaking.”
They no longer accept online orders on JapaneseChefsknife.com but will accept e-mail messages to be put on a waiting list. The wait: well that will probably take a year or so as these knives are hand forged and made in small batches, and that is a good thing because you will need to start saving to cover the $1128 price tag for a 10-inch gyuto (chef’s knife). Merry Christmas 2012.
Dave Benson, one of the founders and the CEO of Epicurean Cutting Boards Inc., has been coming on strong with knife friendly and ecologically friendly cutting surfaces in the last few years. His cutting boards are now sold worldwide in over 4,000 stores, but the lineage of this kitchen product comes not from chefs or restaurateurs but from skate boarders. Greg Benson, Dave Benson and Tony Ciardelli, the founders of Epicurean Cutting Boards Inc., based out of Duluth, Minnesota started off by producing innovative skateboard ramps and parks throughout the US under the name TrueRide, but as of 2007, they have been focusing on Epicurean cutting boards and their outdoor furniture under the Loll brand, which has been featured in Dwell magazine.
Loll Design Chair
Dave Benson and gang started off making skate parks out of composite wood and after having scraps left over (as the story goes), they offered squares of the ‘leftover’ board surface to family and friends as cutting boards. And the rest is history I guess. Now they are one of the major cutting board makers in the country, and they are in every major kitchen store to include Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, Bed Bath & Beyond and more.
So here is my take on their boards: I absolutely love them, and when I have a knife in hand and look through all of my cutting boards, 7 times out of 10 I go for an Epicurean. They are light, easy to clean, friendly on your knives and good for the environment.
Recently, I did a post on cutting boards and listed some criticisms of the boards that have been raised on Amazon.com and the various cooking forums. Some have complained about an odd smell from the sealant or resin, yet others complained that they scarred too easily, and some said that the slate boards left ‘dark bits’ in the food.
A review of the company’s website gave the following responses to these issues:
About the scarring they say: “Yes, it is normal for your knives to score your surface. Because our surfaces are knife-friendly (unlike glass or stone), it means they are soft enough that they will not bend the edges of your knives, but knives will score the surface.”
I must admit that the critics that mentioned the scoring of the surface are a bit odd to me. I have used light-colored boards and you can’t see the scoring as much with light as with dark boards, and yes, softer boards will score more than harder woods, but harder woods are also harder on knives — especially if you use expensive Japanese knives. And just today I used a brand new board from their line of recycled cutting surfaces, and I found that there was actually something very satisfying about scoring it. Just as you need to season a cast iron skillet, you need to cut up a cutting board.
About the smell they say: “Our cutting surfaces can have a ‘newly manufactured’ odor when they are used for the first time. We recommend washing your Epicurean® cutting surfaces in the dishwasher or with hot soapy water. The odor will dissipate after approximately 3-4 washings.”
I have to say that I have almost never smelled any foul odor when using these cutting boards. I am sure there is some smell at first, but I have never noticed it.
About wood particles coming off in food they say: “Over time, you may find that tiny particles from your cutting surface are appearing on food being prepared. This can occur due to the nature of the product and is more noticeable with our slate surface color. Your Epicurean® cutting surface is certified by the National Sanitary Foundation to be non-toxic and will not cause harm if particles are ingested. You may use a fine grit sandpaper to smooth and resurface your board, giving it a new and smooth finish. This will decrease the likelihood of particles appearing in your food and give you a fresh, smooth surface for your food preparation.”
Once again, I have never noticed this happening, but I have always used lighter colored boards. The new recycled boards are described (in color) as toasted nutmeg, and they are definitely darker, so I will let you know if ‘nutmeg-colored’ debris comes off in my food.
There was another criticism that seemed to come up fairly often on Amazon.com and that was that the boards slipped around a lot while cutting. This is true if you use the boards without the grippers or any other ad hoc item such as a wet paper towel to prevent slipping, but as the company has been focusing on their cutting boards in the last couple of years, there are many more options for those worried about boards slipping. There are light colored boards, professional boards, gripper boards, grooved boards, recycled boards and many other designs too.
In terms of cutting boards, I think this company is as good as it gets. Yes, they are from Minnesota, and I am too but I just learned that they were based out of Duluth last week. I used their boards long before I migrated up north. I am also not part of the company nor do I get any compensation from them. I just like their boards. Happy cutting.
You can buy Epicurean boards at Amazon
This video of Hung Huynh, the season three winner of Top Chef, is interesting. It isn’t that great of an instructional, but it is always interesting to see chef’s with great knife skills. He also uses the Misono UX10 knife, and you can see this entire knife series at japanesechefsknife.com.
I tried searching for good instructional videos on knife skills and wasn’t too successful going through Amazon.com. There were some offerings, but they seemed to get mixed reviews. One source I did find was the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). They offer over 2 hours of instruction on knife skills on DVD. I haven’t seen the video myself, but the sample video appears to be well made. The cost is $99.95.
For free, there are some good videos at Rouxbe, an online cooking school associated with the Northwest Culinary Academy in Vancouver. Just click on the hyperlink above and then click on the tab for ‘tips and techniques’.
Another good free source comes from eGullet contributer, Marsha Lynch, who has put together a tutorial (with pictures) on the eGullet forum. It provides useful information on basic knife skills and cuts.
Sur La Table has this cheese knife set designed by Coltelleria Saladini in collaboration with Alberto Marcomini an expert ager of cheeses in Italy. The knife is forged using AISI 420 stainless steel and the handles are made from Tuscan olive wood. The price of this set is $2,000. Ouch.
If you like this set, though, you can purchase separate knives by the same designer at Formaggio Kitchen. Individually, the knives will cost $100+.
After buying some nicer Japanese knives recently, I thought I would look into good cutting boards to accompany the cutlery. I certainly don’t want to be too hard on my new blades and dull them prematurely. Here is what I found browsing the cooking forums and reading product reviews.
eGullet by far has the most extensive discussion on cutting boards, and at the end of all the posting, it boiled down to a gush-fest over the cutting boards made by David Smith at boardsmith.com. The picture above is an example of his beautifully made, handcrafted cutting boards. And after all my reading on the subject, I must admit that I want one too.
In terms of other cutting boards, the brands that kept coming up in the discussion and were generally recommended were: Boos, Epicurean, Totally Bamboo, and Sani-TUFF.
I personally own Epicurean and Totally Bamboo, and I like both brands. I have noticed some premature scarring on them, but I have seen nothing related to the more negative comments on Amazon.com. It probably helps though that I have several different types and sizes of cutting boards, and I rotate them and use them for different purposes. Essentially I spread the wear across all the boards and use some only for specific purposes.
With that said, after reviewing Amazon.com and the forums I will list some of the concerns about different boards.
- John Boos/Boardsmith (butcher block end-grain boards)
Pros: Easy on knives, beautiful and high quality, and weight prevents slipping. Cons: Expensive, need to care for them more gently, can’t go in dishwasher, and they are heavy and cumbersome if you get a big size.
- Sani-TUFF (rubber cutting board)
Pros: Easy on knives, durable, doesn’t slide, can go in dishwasher, and supposedly doesn’t absorb liquids or odors. Cons: Really heavy, doesn’t give you that cutting block feel with a knife (it’s grabby).
- Totally Bamboo (bamboo cutting board)
Pros: Sustainable material, relatively light weight, affordable, bonding agent for bamboo is food safe with this brand (others may not be). Cons: Bamboo is a hardwood/grass so it is also hard on knife blades, some people have reported problems with warping, and the surface may scar too easily.
- Epicurean (composite cutting board)
Pros: Dishwasher safe, knife friendly, and very light weight. Cons: Some models slide around too much, some say coating comes off in food, and surface can scar easily.
Of course reviews on Amazon.com can be rather one sided, especially if someone received a defective product. And cutting boards are dependent upon the user. Do you use one board for everything or have multiple boards and different sizes? Do you have really sharp knives or dull knives? Do you have expensive knives that you want to be gentle on?
A person also needs to consider countertop space, sink size, and the weight of the board for handling. I wouldn’t give my Grandmother and end-grain board or the heavy rubber Sani-Tuff. But a foodie with good knives may want to consider these options. In the end, the sign of a good cutting board is one that is used a lot and feels good when cutting.
With that said, here is some points from the cooking forums and Amazon product reviews that might be useful.
(1) Try not to use butcher-block, end-grain boards for poultry or raw meat if you find it difficult to clean. And if possible, try isolate one board for raw meats and use it only for that purpose.
(2) With Epicurean, you might want to avoid the black-colored (slate) boards as any board shards that come off may be visible in your food.
(3) Plastic boards and really hard woods (including bamboo) are harder on knives. If you have expensive cutlery and care about knife sharpness, you may want to consider more knife friendly boards.
(4) There is a heated debate about plastic versus wooden cutting boards. I will not get into this debate here, but there is a good post on KnifeForum that summarizes the issues pretty well. The bottom line: know your boards, use them appropriately, and clean them very well.
Lastly, here are some cutting board options and sites I think a person might want to check out . Happy cutting.
Totally Bamboo Hana Cutting Board
Sani-TUFF Cutting board 12in x 18in x 75in
Catskill Craftsmen Cutting Boards
Michigan Maple Block Cutting Boards
Japanese Knife Sharpening Store (very expensive but nice)
I am hooked on Japanese knives today. This Misono UX10 Santuko Knife with dimples is still fairly rare in Japan apparently as the dimple thing has yet to catch on. You can buy it at JapaneseChefsKnife.com for a mere $216.80. What’s with the 80 cents? I am sure it is a currency conversion issue, but still round up or down on this one; it won’t make a difference. The knife will though. These Misono knives are well known as being one of the best in the business of cooking.
And one other thing. I know it says Swedish stainless on it, but it is nevertheless Japanese crafted with really good Swedish steel. You can read more about the steel and craftsmanship on the website.
This Shiki Santoku knife sold on japanesechefsknife.com is simply gorgeous. It is from the Japanese cutlery capital of Seki and designed by a relative newcomer to kitchen knives, Mr. Hiroaki Masui. He previously made outdoor sporting knives, but in 2006 began making cutlery. Mr. Hiro has put his creative flourish on knife handles to make them beautiful and comfortable. This knife is currently sold out, but it sells for $201.60.
