Cooking For Engineers

[Guest]

Hi,

I would like to invest in some good quality knives. They would be just for home use in a one adult, one child household so would not get heavy use but I feel it is worth investing in high quality which will hopefully last many years. I plan to invest in a chefs knife and either a paring or petty knife (can anyone explain exactly what a petty is for please?) I am very short, only 5 ft tall with small hands so plan to buy a chef knife/gyuto/santoku of between 6 and 8 inches plus a smaller paring/petty knife. Sadly I don`t live near any stores where I can go to try out knives but am convinced by the high opinions expressed here that I will do fine with either Mac or Tojiro. I am not an experienced cook and have only ever had cheap, poor quality knives so I am sure I will be delighted with either of these brands.

I hope that having good knives will help me learn better slicing, dicing and chopping skills.

I have read the many threads here covering this subject and I think my choice is between the Mac knives or the Tojiro DP knives from the website in japan recommended here.......unless anyone wants to suggest another brand. I am happy to consider any recommendations.
They don`t appear to sell the full range of Mac knives at the japanese website so can anyone tell me the cheapest place to buy these (I am in the UK but Mac seem more widely available in the US) Mac is more expensive and while I particularly like the look of the MTH-80 I am not sure if I can justify the price for home use.


I will be using the knives for slicing/chopping meat and fruit/veg. Mostly chicken breasts, potatoes, carrots, swede, onions, leeks, celery, mushrooms, cauliflower, brocolli, butternut squash, tomatoes, apples. Would you say that either of the brands were better suited to the type of food I tend to cook?

Also I do not want to buy sharpening stones, I think I would prefer to buy this sort of sharpener, so I would appreciate if you could give me any opinions on these or reccomend a similar type

http://www.chefsresource.com/mac-rollsharp-knife-sharpener.html


http://www.chefschoice.com/page2a.html


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320081459381&rd=1&rd=1


Thank you for reading - I hope someone can advise me.

Caroline

[SirSpice]

The Tojiros are a great value, and with a little sharpening they'll be just as sharp as MACs. The MACs can probably keep the edge longer though. I have a Global and a Tojiro. I like my Global for slicing, but it's a bit light for chopping. I'd recommend the Tojiro, for half the price you get almost identical performance. Petty's are a little bit longer and have more belly (distance between the back and front of the knife at the heel) than paring knives.

If you don't want to sharpen on stones, get the Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker, it's a simple vertical downard motion and it works much better than the pull through systems.

The best place to ask about knives and where to get them is www.knifeforums.com

[Guest]

THank you SirSpice, I have copied my message to the other forum to see if I can get advice there. The Spyderco sharpener looks interesting! I googled it and found some good reviews.

Caroline

[randmart]

Catherine: Here's a reply I recently left about knife sharpening. A great knife you may wish to consider is the Shun 9". It is the best all purpose knife I have found.

"I am a woodworker, knife collector and a cook and over the past 30 years I have experimented with (and spent many$$ on) virtually every sharpening method including a variety of whet stones, leather stops, electric sharpeners. emery cloths etc. About 2 years ago I read an article about "crock stone sharpeners". Many years ago, people routinely sharpened their knives by repeatedly passing them over the rim of commonly used stone crocks...seemed the the angle was right and the kiln fired stone was hard and coarse enough to do a decent sharpening job. The author of the article went on to recommend a product using the same principal but with higher tech sharpening stones. I took a flyer and ordered one on line ...I believe it was about $35. It is, by far the best sharpener I have ever used. The product, manufactured by Spyderco is amazingly simple and easy to use. It consists of a base that holds 2 multi edged ceramic sharpening stones in an upright V shape at about a 30 degree angle. Two sets of stones ...medium and fine come with the sharpener. Sharpening consists of stroking the knife down the stone edges while holding it straight, starting with the medium stones and finishing with the fine stones. It takes a little practice, but the key is that the sharpener keeps the angle correct. I can put a razor edge on a a dull Shun chefs knife in a few minutes and my old high carbon Chicago Cutlery knives have never been so sharp. The beauty of this sharpener is that it removes an almost indetectable amount of steel and does not generate any heat that can detemper the edge. I still keep a good quality sharpening steel on hand for a quick sharpen.....but after a lot of years of experimentation this is the best I have found. They also make diamond stones for the sharpener which are very expensive. I bought a set to renovate edges on knives I collect, but for the average sharpening job they are not necessary. I am sure that similar types of sharpeners are out there but I have not really checked . At Christmas, I bought one for my son who is in culinary school and he and his fellow students are crazy about it."

[DanB]

As for your question about the MAC or the Tojiro, I have to tell you that I just bought a Tojiro DP gyuto (210mm) and I didn't like it. The handle was too small and angular. Just didn't feel comfortable in my hand.

I already own a Global G-2, which are often criticized for small handles. This is true, but I find that if you run your index finger along the top (without pressing down, since you don't need any pressure with this knife), it stabilizes the grip a lot. And as Michael's test showed, it's hard to find a sharper knife.

I also got a Forschner 8" recently, since I've long been curious what all the fuss was about at Cook's Illustrated. I have to say, it's a pretty damn good knife for $23.

[SirSpice]

I have a G-2 as well, and it's my favorite knife. I have average sized hands and it fits them fine. I did take the time to round the back of the blade so I can hold it higher without it being uncomfortable.

[DanB]

Somebody should design a squishy slip on cover for the Global handles for those that love the knife but aren't crazy about the handle size. The Global people clearly had Japanese housewives in mind when they made these.

[DanB]

On the MAC vs. Tojiro question again, you should know that the MAC chef's knife is the preferred knife of such chefs as Thomas Keller, Eric Ripert, and Charlie Trotter. You gotta ask yourself: do I really need a knife better than what they use? Is my food really gonna come out better than theirs? I'm betting not.

[Howard]

[SirSpice]

I don't see a direct correlation between a great knife and a great chef. Many chef's at Food Network use Henckels and Wusthofs when there are better knives out there.

[DanB]