You’ve undoubtedly heard this before, but it bears repeating – you don’t need many knives, but you do need sharp knives. I’m partial to the knives made by Global and use four of them:
- 10 inch chef’s knife (for 90% of what I do)
- 6 1/4 inch flexible boning knife (for boning raw meat, removing the skin from fish filets, etc)
- 8 3/4 inch bread knive (for bread and really ripe tomatoes)
- 3 1/2 inch western-style pairing knive (for handheld work)
Japanese knives tend to be made of harder steel (so stay sharp longer but are more difficult to re-sharpen when they do need it) and have a sharper angle than typical European knives (15 degrees vs. 20 degrees), but it’s really a matter of preference. Bottom line – invest in some good knives, keep them sharp, and learn how to use them.
Julio's Delicatessen 