The best three knives for a paleo mama

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Muppet

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Hello and thank you for helping a newbie. Soooo I have finally learned to cook after 40 somewhat years and I would like to upgrade my Costco Henkel knives. From what I have read and experienced it seems I really only need three knives - a good paring knife, a good chef knife and a good slicer. So I am looking for recommendations - budget is about $300-500 total. I eat a lot of meat and vegetables (we eat paleo...).

I would love to educate myself more on this forum but with two little ones I just don't have the time. So again, thank you!
 
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What type of knife(s) do you think you want? Sharp, sexy knives. Knives that say "semi-pro" and "she must know what she is doing"

Why is it being purchased? What, if anything, are you replacing? Replacing Costco Henkel knives. Too many knives, not enough quality

What do you like and dislike about these qualities of your knives already?
Aesthetics- ehhhh....not sexy
Edge Quality/Retention-...minimal
Ease of Use-ok
Comfort-minimal

What grip do you use? The one Julia Childs teaches - thumb and pointer finger squeezing blade (if you know of a better one, please educate me).

What kind of cutting motion do you use? Not sure how to answer this.

Where do you store them? On a magnetic strip

Have you ever oiled a handle? No

What kind of cutting board(s) do you use? Bamboo

For edge maintenance, do you use a strop, honing rod, pull through/other, or nothing? Nothing, but I can learn

Have they ever been sharpened?yes

What is your budget? $300-500 though cheaper is better

What do you cook and how often? I cook twice a day. We eat paleo so meats and vegetables

Special requests(Country of origin/type of wood/etc)?
 
Types...probably a gyuto and a petty, maybe a parer.
Brands Suisin, Hattori, Masamoto. All make stainless options.
 
Greetings!

Had to look up paleo diet to know what you were talking about, sounds like it would be good for a knife knut! People will chime in shortly, but the terms may be a bit confusing; gyuto will be used to refer to a chef's knife, sujihiki will be the same as slicer. For your budget you can get some great replacements. As to sharpening, most here are proponents of doing it yourself--a small investment in stones and effort will yield the sharpest knives you or your friends have ever used--and any issues can be worked through with help when you have questions.

Do you like a heavy or lighter knife (guessing that your Henckels are fairly light if they are from Costco)? Do you want a traditional western handle or would you be comfortable trying a wa (usually octagonal, round or D-shaped)?

Finally, where you are located? If you are lucky, you may be near a shop where you can at least try out some handles and get a good idea for length you would prefer. FYI, most J-knives will be measured in mm, so the general size for a gyuto will be either 210 or 240 while the sujihiki will likely be 240-270 depending on preference.

Cheers!
 
I think it's also important to not think just in terms of knives you want, but of your overall "cutting system". If you buy quality Japanese knives, you need to think about an appropriate cutting board, a least a Japanese combination sharpening stone and a sharpening instructional DVD. Budget for them appropriately. Buying 4 good quality Japanese knives (chef's or "gyuto", slicer or "sujihiki", utility or "petty" and a parer) from Tojiro DP or Fujiwara FKM (both excellent brands to begin with) will cost you about $280. A good quality 2"x12"x18" maple cutting board from www.theboardsmith.com will be $115 shipped. A combination 1000/6000 grit Japanese sharpening stone and instructional DVD is about $100 from www.japaneseknifesharpening.com (the owner of this forum, Dave Martell, incidentally). The online retailer for the knife brands can be easily found using Google.

BTW if you do a lot of boning out of your own meat, you might consider a Japanese boning knife "honesuki" instead of the utility knife.

Welcome to the insanity and Good Luck with your initial purchases!
 
Starting off you need:
Gyuto 210mm-240mm
Petty 150mm
Pairing 65mm-105mm

Maybe Suisin Western Inox is a good place to start?

After that, maybe think about the tojiro itk bread knife.

Of course you have to consider stones for maintenance as well.
 
Starting off you need:
Gyuto 210mm-240mm
Petty 150mm
Pairing 65mm-105mm

Maybe Suisin Western Inox is a good place to start?

After that, maybe think about the tojiro itk bread knife.

Of course you have to consider stones for maintenance as well.

I like this. Keep it simple.
 
Starting off you need:
Gyuto 210mm-240mm
Petty 150mm
Pairing 65mm-105mm

Maybe Suisin Western Inox is a good place to start?

After that, maybe think about the tojiro itk bread knife.

Of course you have to consider stones for maintenance as well.

+1 to the Suisin, but paleo is no bread so she can skip the bread knife and instead maybe buy a combination stone.
 
Starting off you need:
Gyuto 210mm-240mm
Petty 150mm
Pairing 65mm-105mm

Maybe Suisin Western Inox is a good place to start?

After that, maybe think about the tojiro itk bread knife.

Of course you have to consider stones for maintenance as well.

Ill offer a slightly different opinion.
I agree with the 210-240 gyuto, unless you have very limited space, the 240 will be better once you're used to it.
I also agree with the paring/petty suggestion, I think +\- 100mm is perfect.
BUT, I've never found the 150 petty to be a very useful knife. IMO, it's kind of in no-man's-land. Too big for most peeling, paring tasks, and not enough blade length for any real slicing tasks. I feel like the paring and gyuto can cover any job the 150 petty can do, and do most of them more efficiently.
Instead, I'd suggest going with ThEory's other suggestion of the ITK bread knife. It excels at breads (obviously) and, because of its scalloped vs serrated edge, it does quite a good job as a slicer for all of your roasts, chicken breasts, brisket, etc.
:2cents:

And an inexpensive boning knife like is a good idea too. I have one of these and it's quite good for the money:
http://epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=83710

Good luck
 
Go to Japanese knife imports here at the forum, Jon and Sarah are the best. For a custom I recommend Del Ealy here too.
 
Welcome to KKF!

You really only need two knives.

Suisin Inox 3 1/4" paring - http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com...rn/suisin-inox-western-80mm-paring-knife.html

Suisin Inox 8 1/4" gyuto (chef's) - http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com...-western/suisin-inox-western-210mm-gyuto.html

95% of everything you will do in a paleo kitchen can be done with those two knives.

The remainder of your budget needs to go to a good end grain cutting board and a medium grit waterstone.

Rick
+1 for the other 5%, you want a hatchet.
 
The petty is suggested really for poultry boning, tenderloins, even small fruits and veggies on the board. I would suggest the honesuki for a more advanced/adventurist user but the petty is a less specialized shape.
 
Gyuto being most important, there is a hattori fh 240 stainless in bst going for 220 which leaves ample room for a parer and maybe a 1000/4000 combo stone, board, sharpening DVD etc. it is a great knife, I got one after asking similar questions not long ago and am suitably impressed.
 
+1 for the other 5%, you want a hatchet.

Oh that reminds me, one other thing for a home kitchen I can recommend is good pair of game shears they're great for cutting up a chicken, I don't like using knives for that when I am in a hurry, I have great pair from Kershaw, which they probably don't make anymore.
 
Ill offer a slightly different opinion.
I agree with the 210-240 gyuto, unless you have very limited space, the 240 will be better once you're used to it.
I also agree with the paring/petty suggestion, I think +\- 100mm is perfect.
BUT, I've never found the 150 petty to be a very useful knife. IMO, it's kind of in no-man's-land. Too big for most peeling, paring tasks, and not enough blade length for any real slicing tasks. I feel like the paring and gyuto can cover any job the 150 petty can do, and do most of them more efficiently.
Instead, I'd suggest going with ThEory's other suggestion of the ITK bread knife. It excels at breads (obviously) and, because of its scalloped vs serrated edge, it does quite a good job as a slicer for all of your roasts, chicken breasts, brisket, etc.
:2cents:

And an inexpensive boning knife like is a good idea too. I have one of these and it's quite good for the money:
http://epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=83710

Good luck

IF she's on the paleo diet she doesn't need a bread knife.
 
You are all awesome! I am so appreciating all these suggestions! I am in Phoenix, AZ. I don't know what my handle preference is. I have skinny hands with long fingers. All I know is I am tired at sawing away at my carrots!
 
You are all awesome! I am so appreciating all these suggestions! I am in Phoenix, AZ. I don't know what my handle preference is. I have skinny hands with long fingers. All I know is I am tired at sawing away at my carrots!

Carrots?? Carrots aren't food, they're what food eats!
 
You are all awesome! I am so appreciating all these suggestions! I am in Phoenix, AZ. I don't know what my handle preference is. I have skinny hands with long fingers. All I know is I am tired at sawing away at my carrots!

I know others here disagree with me, but in practice I don't find there to be a heck of a difference between Japanese (wa-) and Western (yo-) handled knives in terms of your experience using them...I just like the aesthetics of wa- better and prefer them for that reason alone.
 
Pigs turn carrots into bacon.. Magical.
 
I know others here disagree with me, but in practice I don't find there to be a heck of a difference between Japanese (wa-) and Western (yo-) handled knives in terms of your experience using them...I just like the aesthetics of wa- better and prefer them for that reason alone.


Weight, balance.
 
You are all awesome! I am so appreciating all these suggestions! I am in Phoenix, AZ. I don't know what my handle preference is. I have skinny hands with long fingers. All I know is I am tired at sawing away at my carrots!

I'm pro getting new knives, but have you sharpened your Costco Henkels? Noticed that you said that you currently don't maintain the knives. With these knives, you should hone before each use. And then after a while, you'll need to sharpen.
 
Weight, balance.

Good point Rick...esp for a given knife with yo vs wa. Of course, with the many choices out there, one can practically get any combination one wants.
 
I'm going to back way up here and say start with just 1 new knife: the gyuto.
If you're starting relatively flesh and you're cooking for a growing family, then get something 240mm long.
To see what 1 good knife, some focus/ practice on technique, and of course dubstep will get you, just watch some of our own Theory's(pcckitchen) videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPiz6Aaa7Eg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
[video=youtube;vPiz6Aaa7Eg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPiz6Aaa7Eg&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]
Practice is a big part of it, but its as much about thinking and planning your work/cuts as anything.

Once you get used to it, the extra length will come in handy and will make it work well as a slicer. If you master your gyuto skills, you might not ever NEED a petty, paring, or slicer. And honestly for as little as a paring knife would get used in Paelo cooking (not much fruit), you can probably get by with what you have just fine. You money will get better value in a gyuto that you really love, a couple decent stones, and a nice big cutting board.

There are good stainless steels out there, but if you can discipline yourself to give it a little extra care (dont put it away wet), carbon steel will give you a better cost/performance ratio, will make learning to sharpen easier and, IMO fits with the whole paleo mentality and also your desire to look like a bada$$.

One feature that will help with comfort is a rounded spine and choil, with a couple clamps, sand paper, and elbow grease, you can do it yourself, but some knives come with the extra finishing work already done.

Anything that you get from Japaneseknifeimports.com, or korin will be excellent quality. Spend some time looking at pictures and then give them a call.

Lastly, as others have mentioned, the best way to get peak performance out of your new toy is to learn how to keep it sharp / make it sharp yourself. The factory edge will last for awhile, so use that time to learn /practice sharpening on the old Costcos.
 
I'm going to back way up here and say start with just 1 new knife: the gyuto...

Got to agree. A lot of good advice here, but the divergence always seems to take place after the gyuto recommendation. Everyone has different opinions on manufacturer or length, but are consistent with the recommendations for a gyuto. As a pro, I did 90% of my job with one. As a home cook, I do 99% of my cutting with one.
 
I have recently started eating paleo (Jan this year), and even more recently joined this forum so I don't know as that much about knives yet, but I have to agree with Justin here. I pretty much only use a chefs knife in the kitchen. I have only ever used my parer for peeling fruit, so you can decide whether you need one of those or not. The chefs knife gets used for almost all food prep. My opinion on utility knives for the home cook (like me), is that on the few occasions when they might be the best tool for the job, it's actually still easier to just use your chefs knife because you are so accustomed to using it. The only other things I can think of that would be useful is a boning knife/honesuki if you want to bone your own poultry or a Deba if you want to prep whole fish. If you roast joints of meat a lot a carving knife and fork might be useful, but the chefs knife would fill this role quite adequately as well.
Chefs knife could be a Gyuto which is much like the standard french chefs knife, but with a flatter profile and less curve. It could be a santoku, which is flatter still, or it could even be a Chinese cleaver. I have listed the basic types of chefs knives in order of popularity with the gyuto being the winner by a country mile. Most people seem to prefer the 240mm length but beginners often think this is too long and opt for 210mm. I believe many/most of the people who start out with the 210mm eventually decide to go with the 240mm anyway.
So, buy a chefs knife, an endgrain chopping board (much easier on your knives. edges will last longer), and learn how to sharpen.
 
You are all awesome! I am so appreciating all these suggestions! I am in Phoenix, AZ. I don't know what my handle preference is. I have skinny hands with long fingers. All I know is I am tired at sawing away at my carrots!

Only a 6 hour drive from JKI in Venice! I would suggest calling Jon who is the shop proprietor (and fellow forum member)--he is most knowledgeable and will not try to sell you something you do not need (he's even been known to downsell people). Armed with the good advice you've received from others so far and what you already know, you should be able to get something that will make you very happy!

Cheers!

oh, maybe this will help
http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/
 
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