What knives for new cook?
 

I've decided to learn to cook and want to buy the essential knives for a beginner. I'd like to buy good knives that I can take pride in that hold an edge fairly well without going crazy $wise. I know a lot of youse guys is gormay cook dudes and am hoping you can give me some good advice, eh?

A sharp knife is a good knife...

I'm not sure as to brands tho.

this guy on ebay has some really nice stuff [no affiliation disclaimer], he is a bit pricey though, look through his stuff and shop around antique stores and flea markets, there are still some great old kitchen knives to be found at bargain prices,

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/ralph1396_W0QQQ5ftrkparmsZ72Q253A1222Q257C39Q253A1 Q257C66Q253A2Q257C65Q253A12QQ_pgnZ7?_trksid=p3911. c0.m14&_trksid=m194&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSRCHX:SRCH

i would not pay retail for new knife....but i'm frugal that way.

Problem is, how many knives do I need, what type?

a small paring knife and medium size chefs or french knife would be a good jumping off point[no pun intended]. you could maybe later get a thin boning or slicing knife.a good sharpening steel and a couple of sharpening stones will come in handy too. maybe a small cleaver later on.
if you want to get really extravagant there are some really nice japanese knives.
there are knife forums too. look around before dropping a lot of cash though.

I broke down and bought 2 Shuns - a 7" Santoku and 6" utility. I also have a couple of smaller paring knives and a bread knife. I can do most everything with that setup but I don't get very fancy in the kitchen. I do like a good knife though...

depends on what your doing. what do you plan on making?

But for basics, a good fench knife, a paring knife.
I also have some very high quality little swiss knifes that i use when i'm checking food in the oven.. I forget the name though.

I'm not really a cook, but I have a 2.5" paring knife, a 3" paring knife, 4" paring knife, a 10" cook's knife and a pair of kitchen scissors. I only really use the 4" and the cook's knife. They are all made by Wüsthof.

Get something good, and you will never buy another knife. I have always been a fan of Wusthof. This would cover just about every knife you will need:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11069866

This would be a good start though:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009NMW54

Only thing I would add is a bread knife.

Most importantly, you want a block to store them in, (I have an in-drawer one) so they don't get banged up in in a drawer, and you want a proper cutting board, preferably the soft-ish plastic (polyetheline I think) type.

With proper care, they will stay sharp for a very long time. The Wusthof knives I got ~16 years ago still cut like new, and have never been sharpened.

This is one of those things that you really do get what you pay for.

And if you want, you can even get Porsche knives:
http://www.chefdepot.net/porsche.htm

Tom

after my ex-wife moved out and took the old set of knives, I survived on a 6" diver's knife - double edged, serrated on one side - for a number of years. :D

I have a bamboo cutting board - seems to be the "in" thing.

Thanks. Don' wanna drop a lotta cash, but...kinda wannabe cutting edge (after all, I drive an old air cooled Porsche :)).

At this point I dunno WTF I'm doing! That's why I'm asking. I just bought a gas grill for my patio and have a decent kitchen, eat mostly chicken, fish and vegetables (occasionaly dead cow also).

How do you decide whether to use the 2.5" paring knife as opposed to the 3" paring knife as opposed to the 4" paring knife (that seems to be cutting it pretty close. :))?

Thanks. Wusthof is sounding good (I'm of German ancestry to boot).

Ewww! Bamboo - throw in the dishwasher? Oh yeah, gonna need a salad bowl. You still turning them?

Right. So if you wuz me, what, specifically, would you buy? Say I wanted to spend up to $200 on knives.

I have yet to use the smaller two :). My mom bought the knives for me.

Ya don't throw it in the dishwasher! Yes, I could turn a salad bowl... It would cost more than a set of knives though!

The Amazon link emcon5 gave looks good...

You should easily be able to get by with 4 blades: 3" Paring, 5" serrated utility, 6" Santoku, 8" Chefs. Just stay away from the cheap stamped steel, and stick with the forged offerings.

Wusthof or Henckels.

The basics:

8" chef knife
5" serrated knife
3" paring knife
wood cutting board
washable plastic cutting board, for meats
magnetic wall rack for knife storage

If you have money left:
kitchen shears (stout enough to cut through chicken bones, etc.)
serrated paring knife
serrated bread knife

JR

Large and small Santokus I have a 6" and a 10"

8" Chefs knife, Paring knife, And a cleaver.

I find myself using the 6" Santoku the most I love that knife it just feels so balanced. and easy to work with.

Most of my knives are Wusthofs. But my 6" santoku is a Capalon. I have a cheapo $6 Joyce Chen paring knife that is one of my faves. this thing keeps an edge like you wouldnt believe.

here is my take. you need 3 knives to get by. you will get by perfectly happy too. you need a 10" chefs, a paring knife, and a bread knife. i have more, but i go to the basics everyday. the rest just tend to hang. i gave a bunch away, to minimize my life and i havent looked back. i LOVE my wustofs classics!!! there are cooler blades out there, with cooler blade materials, but my knives love to work. in these days, my blade are "vanilla". plain.

here is my jagged pill. you know what knives kick butt? they get ranked the best repeatedly with test cooks. those stamped steel forshener (i just jacked the spelling, sorry) knives. if my blade are vanilla, these are flat our "white bread". very inexpensive, and available at every restaurant supply store. i have used one..a 10" chefs. it was light (too light?) but it was a lazer beam of sharpness. very boring GREAT knives. i plan to buy a curvey butchers blade by forshener for pig butchering duties. probably $20.

oh, when you buy whatever knives. you need good cutting boards. i have two plastics, meat and fish...and one boos block maple for the uncooked veggies. i have a small plastic to cut/slice cooked food. no cross contamination. great mention of the kitchen scissor above. make sure they come apart for proper cleaning. you will find that you can scissor stuff just as fast as blade work. chopping chives (any herbs) or bacon is easy with good scissors. no board cleaning either. my scissors look like regular ones, except i can separate the two parts to clean it up. they are from france.

My wife got me one of these. I'd prefer a maple cutting board though....the surface of the bamboo one is not as "fast" as maple (for once you get really good with your knives).

I cook a lot, and my favorite knife by far is a 6" Santoku -- it's my all purpose go-to knife. Second in line is a 10" chef's knife, followed by a 3" paring knife. The others get used infrequently, but you do want to have a serrated bread knife too (though if I was going to cheap out -- this would be the one where I'd just get some piece of crap like a Ginsu.

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What Only says..

The paring and a small to medium chef knife should be top quality. Maybe a vegetable "santoku" and boning knife as well..

All my bread knifes and cleavers and etc are basic quality and work just fine.

And as "it aint the fiddle, but the fiddler" - I would take a class or two as well.:D

Wusthof or Henckels.

I bought a set of Henckels first then got the Wusthof, I really like the Wusthof better. Wish I had bought them first.
Also, I take cooking classes once in a while, my wife goes with me. If I was single I would take more cooking classes, lots of single/recently single women there.