The ones you get from regular shops suck big time. Plus, most Indian homes are used to just having a paring knife for all their work.
Sorry DP.
Thanks for the suggestions, keep em coming
Too many vegetarians in India to have a wide spectrum of knives. Not a fan of Santoku but Nakiri and short Gyuto are good choices. Diamond plate(s) may help meet your weight and cube requirements. And Maxim will ship knives, stones, just about anywhere.
BTW, $300 nakiri on b/s/t for $200 right now. (Hope shameless plugs ok)
Older and wider..
Keep what you love and get rid of what you don’t.
Watching episode two of 'Rick Stein's India' where he uses what he calls 'my 40-rupee Indian knife' which to me looks like a KU-clad carbon nakiri with a curved blue plastic handle.
Got that Ealy Nakiri, suggestions on Santoku/Gyuto welcome!
Way under budget, but either the Hiromoto G3 or Carbonext for the santoku & gyuto. I have a G3 gyuto and I'm always amazed at how great a knife & value it is. I'm not much of a fan of the santoku & nakiri combo...so similiar in profile. But I do like the "half height" cleaver in place of the nakiri. JCK has one that's 220 x 83 for around $100.
For sharpening, you can get a whole lot of wet-dry for not much cash and it won't weigh much, but I'd recommend the Norton 1k/4k combo stone. It's big (8x3), got good grit combo, and not a lot of money.
Seriously, 3 knives and a stone for about one-half your intended budget - who says 12 step programs don't work!
Say, what are those ones they use in the villages called where the cutting edge is mounted to a stand or pot?
Oh, here we go...
Aha... 'Bonti':
http://www.indiacurry.com/faqapplian...iankitchen.htm
Holy Moley!
http://ishouldcocoa.files.wordpress....pg?w=455&h=302
For the santoku I would check out maksim's zensho line at jns.
- Erik
I knew about bonti's but squatting on my heels with that big curved blade between my legs isn't something I'm really interested in doing.If you look close at that photo there also seem to be a large number of other types of knives behind the bonti's. Thanks for the photo Seb.