Kitchen Knives

Having a quality kitchen knife is a necessity in life. It is, after the stove, the single most important tool in the kitchen. I am vexed by the horrendously shitty blades I find in peoples knife blocks. I am a weirdo, but it's the first thing I check when I go to someone's house for the first time. I've heard of people doing this with the contents of refrigerators. Like the kind of hot sauce found in a fridge door, the type of knives someone owns potentially tells a lot about them. You have no idea how many strange looks I have garnered at house parties, pulling out every knife from the drawer. If I have been in your house, I have scrutinized your knives. Sorry. It can't be helped. I digress. It is likely that you don't even know how much you are torturing yourself by using that old, stamped, stainless steel knife. I once asked a friend at a dinner party if they would like to use one of my knives to prep the veggies they were muscling through. They told me they were fine. I insisted they weren't and told them that no harm can come from using a different (*ahem* better *cough*) knife. Within seconds they were gibbering and frothing at the mouth in glee at the difference it made. Spread the love, is my philosophy.

In future posts I will discuss knife technique, skills, and the right knife to buy. But for right now I would just like to introduce you to my children.

°Santoku

This is my first knife. I got it as a gift from my parents for my 19th birthday. It is a Kershaw Shun 6 1/2 inch Santoku. This is one of my only stainless steel blades (generally considered a bad thing, actually) but the core steel is a high carbon, stain resistant alloy that Kershaw engineered to hold a very fine edge for a long time. The first time I ever used this knife I cut myself deeply. I was washing it in the sink and telling Katelyn to be careful when using it, because it is so sharp… and then I slit my finger open like a filleted trout. Irony is awesome sometimes.

°Utility Knife

This was my second knife. I bought it because Amanda needed a smaller blade to cook with. This was a bad purchase. "Utility knives," as they are marketed, are a sham. Too big to be a functioning paring knife, too narrow to be useful in most tasks. Because of this I hardly use in anymore. Because of that, it is often the sharpest blade in my kitchen.

°Nakiri-bocho

This is a Japanese style vegetable knife. It has an extremely thin blade for getting very precise decorative cuts. This one is a gift from Amanda for my 22nd birthday. awesome knife that is very light.

°Chinese pattern cleaver

I love this blade. Chinese cleavers are not like western cleavers, which are meant for heavy chopping, but rather are used for very precise cutting with their thin blades. This is the primary kitchen knife in almost all of Asia, its versatility is astounding. I got this in a housewares shop in Vancouver, B.C.'s Chinatown for $12. It's one of the best blades I own.

°Heavy Chinese pattern cleaver

This was is the first carbon steel blade I ever purchased. I got it at An Dong Market on SE Powell Blvd. It is a beast, nearly a centimeter thick at the spine. It is made from very good steel, but came with a terrible edge. I went and got it professionally sharpened, and they gave me back an amazing knife. I once used this brute to trim branches from a Christmas tree.

°Really Heavy Chinese pattern cleaver

There is absolutely no reason for me to own this knife. It is fucking monstrous. Just look at it's size on the cutting board compared to the other knives. It is designed for rendering whole pigs into smaller pieces so that more conventionally sized knives can be used. I bought it in the same store in Vancouver as the first cleaver last winter. Explaining why this was my sole purchase in Canada to the scary police guy at the U.S. border was not very fun.

°Deba-Hocho

This is a Japanese fish and meat knife. It is very thick despite its small size, which enables it to work through bone and cartilage wonderfully. I use it as my paring knife around the kitchen. I got it for Christmas from my folks two years ago.

°Gyuto

This is my newest addition. A Gyuto (literally "cow sword" in Japanese) is a Japanese style French Chef's Knife. What makes it Japanese you ask? Well, French and German style chef knives, what you are most likely to find in many kitchens, are generally very thick mono-steel blades. Japanese knives are often made from two steels with different alloys; the center core steel has a higher carbon content, allowing for razor sharp edges that last a long time, and a jacket steel that has a touch lower carbon content, making it tougher. Anyway, every kitchen should have a good chefs knife/Gyuto. It is mandatory. I won't be your friend if you don't. They really are that good. Since I got this knife for Christmas I have hardly used any others. Which makes me feel bad because I anthropomorphize my belongings. This knife though, shit, it's a fucking Ferrari. The only way I can describe it is that it leaps through ingredients. So sharp.

So, those are some of my knives. I will be talking about use and technique soon, plus how to buy knives without breaking the bank.