/ck/ - Food & Cooking

bump i need a new knife set & i want a good one

I don't know.

How to tell if a knife is "good"...

Pick it up, examine it carefully. You'll notice it's made of multiple pieces, are they secured together well? Does it look sturdy enough to take a serious beating? Hold it like you'll be cutting with it, is it comfortable? Exert some downward pressure against something, is it still comfortable? Try rocking and sliding it a little bit, does it chafe your hand anywhere?

If it passes all these tests, it's a good knife. Knives, like guns, are personal. What's a good knife for you might not be a good knife for someone else. The least important thing, though, is how well it cuts, because that's the only thing about it you can actually change after you buy it.

>>6927168
This.
Go to one of those up scale kitchen places like Williams Sonoma. Handle the knives and pick what /feels/ right then buy for less online.

>>6927168
This.
But, remember, you get what you pay for. A cheap knife is made of cheap steel. Not always the worst thing, but it pays to be wary.
Then again, it's something you can only really tell after a using a knife for a while. So your best bet is to not buy cheap. Look for something mid-range and you shouldn't go far wrong, as long as it feels comfortable in your hand.

Other things to think about when trying a knife out is weight of the knife. Is it too heavy for your preference. Too light?
Is the weight balanced in a way you feel comfortable with? Too handle heavy? Too blade heavy?
If you're going to use it a lot for slicing veg and the like are you going to rock it? If so you'll probably want something with a slight curve to balde as opposed to completely flat.
How easy is it to care for. Some steels need to be oiled after use to prevent rusting. Some steels are stainless and don't need so much attention.

>>6927219
The will usually give you some potatoes and a cutting board to try it out on, too.

Start by looking at anything other than a Chinese cleaver. The only thing more retarded is an ulu or a straight razor (which is actually useful for scoring bread - and shaving).

The only big knife purchase you should spend money on when just starting out is a chef's knife. It doesn't matter where it's from; just do your research, try out what you can, and know that you'll get what you pay for. Spend around $100 on a chef's knife and 95% of everything a beginner needs to do will be covered.

If you buy a Chinese cleaver you'll just feel stupid when you try making food. Yeah, Chinese chef's use them, but they're outdated and unpractical.

>>6927219

>go to one of those up scale kitchen places like williams sonoma

The sad truth is that unless you have cook friends, or live in a city with actual knife shops, the only way to handle knives (which is the only way to really decide on what you want), you're going to end up at Williams-Sonoma or Sur la Table, and end up with the either one of the two most marketed Japanese brands, or one of the 2-3 most marketed German brands.

I love my G2, and it isn't going anywhere, anytime soon, but next time I'm in the market for a knife I'll have a much better idea of what I want (and it has nothing to do with /ck/).

>>6928923
no, Chinese cleavers (the thin ones for meat and vegetables) are great to use, its just a question of practices

I buy them and give them directly to a professional sharpener to make a new edge... not an cheap industrial one... then you can use the blade perfectly...

Never buy those shitty cheap knives with the plastic handles. Depending on its design, when you wash them the fucking dish water gets trapped in the handle. So annoying.

I prefer one piece knives.

Make sure you get a knife/cleaver with full tang. As with cleavers, get one with a good hefty feel. If it feels too light or too heavy then it's harder to cut precisely.

>>6929377

A chinese cleaver is not the same as a western cleaver. A chinese cleaver has a thin blade like a western chef's knife--if not even thinner. It is for slicing vegetables and meat, not for chopping bones. A heavy sort of cleaver is a different thing entirely.

>>6927024
Do not waste money on a "good" Chinese cleaver. It is a cheap tool designed for abuse. I've been using a $15 one for years, and it works great. When I gets dull I take it to Chinatown, where an old guy sitting on the sidewalk in front of a laundromat grinds a new edge onto it for $4.

Save your money for Euro and Japanese style knives, where you get what you pay for. Chinese cleavers don't really work that way.

>>6927024
http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/itinomonn-slicing-cleaver-215-mm-beefwood/

I was thinking about getting a cleaver but right now this is what I have. Great knife for the price.

>>6929528

Tojiro shills almost as hard as Taco Bell and Big Mac man combined.