Looking For Good Quality Kitchen Knives

mardale

Learning to sharpen your knives is a waste of time if the materials are poor quality.

I worked as a butcher for years and know how to use a steel: poor materials CANNOT be sharpened and kept sharp. It's a fact. IF after steeling they cut well its usually due to you having ripped chunks out of the edge, essentially creating a serrated blade. One that doesn't last long.

Very very few of us can afford Henckels, Global, Wusthof or any other famous names that very very few of us have even tried.

For heaven's sake don't buy any old Sabatier tat. All Sabatier knives are not created equal - the best are excellent, but the name is used on cheap or medicore knives that bear no relation to the French masterpieces.

Besides, isn't this supposed to be about saving money?

Without any question, the knives you need are those used by industrial kitchens/butchers/meat processors. Knives are the tool of a trade, and no trade would settle for second best, nor could they afford Global or Henckels metal.

You need Victorinox knives. Forget the expensive rivetted rosewood handled stuff and go for the full tang fibrox handles - like these http://www.shop.edirectory.co.uk/giltsharp/1095/mia/d/victorinox+chefs+knife/pid/1008344. They are dirt cheap and come (literally) sharp enough to shave with. Do try to invest £30 in a decent steel (not diamond or ceremic - they are too harsh) and learn to use it properly.

Most real butchers will be DELIGHTED to show you how, and some will be glad to hone your knives for you once a year to keep them angled properly.

You don't need a five piece home kitchen set like Argos would have you believe (just how many loaves of bread do you slice?), you need a chef's knife and a rabbit knife (both available from the site above) for 99% of all jobs in a home kitchen. Just add to your collection as you actually need to.

Cheap as chips - in fact so cheap you begin to doubt whether there's a catch. There's no catch.

Then it's just common sense: don't put them in the dishwasher (they rust and chip); don't put them in a drawer (they cut you!); wash them by hand, swipe them across a steel a few times before and after use only; store them upside down in a wood block or on a magnetic strip.

Trust me on this - at £10 a knife, you've little to lose. They might not have status appeal to visiting knife snobs, but they'll soon shut up when you suggest they try them out.

Matthew

thirascule

I've got this set from Jean Patrique. They are nice knives apart from the bread knife which is too serated to use. Free but £10 P&P. I've no complaints at all. They hold an edge well and have a nice comfy grip.

I get a nice little brochure about every 6 months from them with some other nice kit in, no spam emails or anything.

BettiePage

vandanfc wrote: »

Do you have a TK Max nearby ? They have had Sabatier's in at good prices. Def. the best knives around.

I got some in a knife block that were reduced from £150 down to £20 as the boc was knackered. Box went straight in the bin anyway

MINCER_2

mardale is spot on -

The two best knives I've got or ever had, are Victorinox, however I do put them in the dishwasher and have never had any problems.
I will take a dirty one back out of the dishwasher and wash it rather than use my Sabatiers and if we holiday self catering, I take one with me ( UK - not on the plane obviously).

bobdauilda

I have to agree too,some of the cheaper sabatier are dreadful. caveat emptor

berzolla

thanks for all your help. That gives us all food for thought, sorry about the pun.:T