Media GQ Article on Selecting Kitchen Knives

Congratulations to Korin on getting mentioned as a source for most of the recommended knives. But there were a few things in the article that seemed a bit strange -- clearly, if that is correct, not attributable to Korin as the source -- even to my untrained eyes.
http://www.gq.com/life/food/201410/danny-bowien-best-kitchen-knives-skills
Like use of a "slicer" to fillet fish, use of a gyuto for cutting through bones, and a diagram on the proper technique for cutting onions that would seem to put finger tips very much at risk.

I can only assume that the choppin' through bones part was copied from a source that was talking about western chef knives. I have no problem cutting through chicken bones with a Wusthof or Sab, but I don't do it with my thin edged Gyutos. I've filleted fish with a slicer, before.

Thank you!

Yea... I don't know where they got this information, because I certainly didn't send it to them.

facepalm

The section on how it is virtually impossble to sharpen your own knives is BS too. I don't doubt that the pros can do a much better job than I. But I can do it - and it does not take years to achieve an acceptable level

idemhj said:

The section on how it is virtually impossble to sharpen your own knives is BS too. I don't doubt that the pros can do a much better job than I. But I can do it - and it does not take years to achieve an acceptable level

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I have no doubt you are right, but given the likely audience -- home cooks who would probably reach for an inappropriate steel or some Accusharp device that would might do serious damage to their knives -- as a practical matter recommending that they send knives needing sharpening to someplace like Korin makes sense. How many of those readers could instead be expected to buy a suitable set of stones and spend the time patiently learning how to sharpen correctly -- and then get the desired results? KKF participants are hardly typical of home cooks.

I'm sending my gyuto back to Devin with a harshly worded complaint about his inferior design. He's got a lot of damn nerve charging what he does for knives that don't have "metal running the full length." Sheesh! :eyebrow:

larrybard said:

I have no doubt you are right, but given the likely audience -- home cooks who would probably reach for an inappropriate steel or some Accusharp device that would might do serious damage to their knives -- as a practical matter recommending that they send knives needing sharpening to someplace like Korin makes sense. How many of those readers could instead be expected to buy a suitable set of stones and spend the time patiently learning how to sharpen correctly -- and then get the desired results? KKF participants are hardly typical of home cooks.

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Well, point taken. However, where I live most of the pros are hardly in the Korin class (Maksim being the exception, but only the select few will know of him). So i still have reservations about recommending nice knives, but telling people that they are not capable of maintaining them. (As you may have gathered I am a big fan of Chad Ward's An Edge in the Kitchen.)

Glad to see our little corner of the world getting some light shined on it...but wish they'd done their homework just a little better, several facepalms in that article.

So is anyone writing Mr. Sullivan and offering guidance? I rarely have much hope for articles like these, and generally doubt the sincerity of the authors, but a less cynical person ought to try being helpful.

XooMG said:

So is anyone writing Mr. Sullivan and offering guidance? I rarely have much hope for articles like these, and generally doubt the sincerity of the authors, but a less cynical person ought to try being helpful.

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Interesting idea.... @Korin_Mari, you interested (since your shop is mentioned)?

XooMG said:

So is anyone writing Mr. Sullivan and offering guidance? I rarely have much hope for articles like these, and generally doubt the sincerity of the authors, but a less cynical person ought to try being helpful.

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As someone very familiar with the publishing end of the cutlery world, it is probably too late for that. Mr. Sullivan has sold his one kitchen cutlery article and has moved on to the best bicycles for commuting, best electric lawn mower, best wide screen TV etc. etc. for this or another life style magazine.
Why almost all of these type articles have to say knife sharpening is too hard to learn is beyond me but it doesn't leave me very impressed with the author's manual dexterity.

I know how much fun it is to pile on with articles like this but I'll dissent a little and say it's one of the better articles I've seen FOR the intended audience. (Compare to the drivel Cooks Illustrated puts out advocating all things Wusthof and Vnox.)

I would not advocate cutting an onion that way, but in the end the onion will be diced and the young lad dicing it will have impressed his dining companion. (It is GQ after all) And how far back would one have to go to find the multiple page thread here on radial vs vertical vs horizontal and vertical dicing?

The chicken he is cutting the joints, does not appear to be cutting through bones - though this could be more emphasized.

His biggest fault is cutting the head off the fish with the slicer. Not my slicer thank you. Removing the filets could be done with a slicer, esp given his premise that almost everything in the kitchen can be done with 3 knives. And how many GQ readers are ever going to have to butcher a fish? Not when there are pre-packaged frozen filets available in every grocery store.

As far as sharpening, in my experience most professional chefs do not do it, housewives do not do it and the Izod clad GQ reader? Not a chance. No way is making mud in the kitchen sink going to be confused with being cool. Better to take them to Korin than have them duller than an Al Gore speach.

Suit on.

But 57 Warren St. is a long, long way from the vast majority of people.

True dat. But the majority of GQ readers are probably closer, except of course the ones in LA:groucho:. And 8 bucks buys a lot of distance from USPS.

New article in this months Cook's Illustrated about carbon steel knives, mentions Korin. They have video of their review on their website:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1558-carbon-steel-knives

Edge durability test, ouch!

Amongst the praise of Henkel's Kramer and the basic Victorinox, they mention Korin Togiharu as well (but show a picture of a Masamoto). Anyway, I guess getting some kitchen knife awareness out to people is a good thing?

Most people do have kitchens with knives in them, so my thought is any press is good press if it gets more people considering buying good knives.

Zwiefel said:

Interesting idea.... @Korin_Mari, you interested (since your shop is mentioned)?

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You know... It's funny. Whenever we get press inquiries I always send them an essay long explanation on what they want to feature... They just never use it. We also try to send them the knife catalog in hopes they will use it.

Korin_Mari said:

You know... It's funny. Whenever we get press inquiries I always send them an essay long explanation on what they want to feature... They just never use it. We also try to send them the knife catalog in hopes they will use it.

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Hahahahha....

I'm certain that is sadly true.

Noodle Soup said:

Why almost all of these type articles have to say knife sharpening is too hard to learn is beyond me but it doesn't leave me very impressed with the author's manual dexterity.

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"The more stitches the less riches..."

The article is less about teaching you something than to stick in advertisements and sell you more stuff.