Home cook, but 25 knives !

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Leifer

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Dec 10, 2016
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I assume my title here is not all-that surprising.

I use mostly Japanese stainless knives for everyday quick chopping (8" MAC Mighty), but I also have also two identical blue steel pettys, two basic Shuns, one aogami super steel, a couple stainless with carbon cores, a set (6) of Zwilling non-serrated steak knifes, and of course a serrated bread knife (offset Wustoff)....and a few others.

....I also have a couple cheap carbon types that I use mostly to practice my sharpening skills.
(BTW, I'm a lefty, so all my blades are 50/50 edged.)

Years ago as a beginner sharpener, I found it EXTREMELY useful to have these cheap knives to practice my stone sharpening. One knife was an eBay buy, a Japanese gyuto ($45) apparently made by a student knife maker in-training.
The other carbon blade, I found at a thrift store....European style ($2).


My most recent purchases are stainless, a Mac Ultimate SDK-85 heavy cleaver, and two Shibata Kotetsu types....a 150mm petty, and their 240mm gyuto - both made with R2 steel cores.

The MAC cleaver was for pure functionality....to cut through chicken backbones, etc. I will do a review of that knife soon. It's the heaviest/thickest knife I own.
The Shibatas are completely different....they are "laser type"....lightweight and super thin....and make juelianne and fine slicing a blazing breeze. :hungry3:


Anyway...nice to be here !
:D
 
Welcome to the forum!

BTW Macs don't count, Shuns don't count, Wusties don't count, Henks don't count. Got any knives? :justkidding:
 
It is not surprising. And hey, many people that would look at our kind strangely have 25 unitaskers instead that are in the end knives (peelers, spiralizers, graters, apple slicers... ) or go just as expensive on other cooking tools (especially appliances) that you don't even have in your hand most of the time in the kitchen.
 
Thanks everyone.

I do have doubles on a few knife sizes/shapes, but that's how I decide what works best.

#1....does it do it's job really good?
#2 ....is it worth it to use and maintain the knife tool. (sharpening, durability, and usefulness) ?

I'm not a prof chef. I'm a home chef that often cooks things on-the-fly.
But even in the home for 2-4 people......when a meal needs to come together quickly and efficiently....knives should help speed the operation, not get in the way at the last moment.
Mise-en-place.
I am very careful to serve everyone hot food that's meant to be hot. Plate warming.

Perfect example today.......I had to serve 3 people plus me, a NY steak, garlic green beans, a mashed root veggy, and a mushroom veal stock sauce. I had to keep the green beans raw-crisp but hot, and also get the steak med-rare. (outside on a grill).
That's a lot of careful timing and running around. Everybody must be seated....which is thankfully the duty of a first-course appetizer. (honey roasted cauliflower).

Planning, planning, planning.....lol, whew !!.....then relax, and enjoy.
I like the pressure for some strange reason, it satisfies me. :happymug:
 
I'm a fan of wokfuls of "three to five aromatics and five to twenty vegs" stuff - everything stirfried, stirbraised, curried, souped, saladed... and often shocked that there was a time when I did manage that with cheap tools (though I remember some truly frustrating moments :) )
 
"(BTW, I'm a lefty, so all my blades are 50/50 edged.)"

Some makers do lefty ground knives at an upcharge, but for example Misono's 15% upcharge isn't too bad. It's nice to finally have food release and convex working the right way!
 
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