Knives --

[Anonymous]

How/what do you buy & maintain knives in the normal family kitchen?
My tween/teen boys suddenly went from all chicken to steak lovers and my knives now all seem weak and not up to task. (I'm vegetarian and never had a knife issue, so now feel clueless)

[Anonymous]

I've had the same set of Henckels ProS knives for 25 years: an 8-inch and 10-inch chef's knives, bread knife. paring knife, vegetable knife, boning knife, sharpening steel and steak knives. I hone them regularly and sharpen them once a year. They live in a wooden knife block. I always hand-wash them.
I have a separate meat cleaver for bones. I never use my chef's knives for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had the same set of Henckels ProS knives for 25 years: an 8-inch and 10-inch chef's knives, bread knife. paring knife, vegetable knife, boning knife, sharpening steel and steak knives. I hone them regularly and sharpen them once a year. They live in a wooden knife block. I always hand-wash them.
I have a separate meat cleaver for bones. I never use my chef's knives for this.

I’ll look up what hone means. How do you sharpen them yearly?

[Anonymous]

Kamikoto.com

[Anonymous]

You really don't need many knives. We have steak knives. I have a 10" chefs knife, a couple of paring knives and a serrated tomato knife. I'd like a bread knife and a roast beef one but just never get around to buying them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had the same set of Henckels ProS knives for 25 years: an 8-inch and 10-inch chef's knives, bread knife. paring knife, vegetable knife, boning knife, sharpening steel and steak knives. I hone them regularly and sharpen them once a year. They live in a wooden knife block. I always hand-wash them.
I have a separate meat cleaver for bones. I never use my chef's knives for this.

I’ll look up what hone means. How do you sharpen them yearly?

I got an electric sharpener based on an America’s Test Kitchen record: Chef’s Choice Trizor 15XV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had the same set of Henckels ProS knives for 25 years: an 8-inch and 10-inch chef's knives, bread knife. paring knife, vegetable knife, boning knife, sharpening steel and steak knives. I hone them regularly and sharpen them once a year. They live in a wooden knife block. I always hand-wash them.
I have a separate meat cleaver for bones. I never use my chef's knives for this.

I’ll look up what hone means. How do you sharpen them yearly?

I got an electric sharpener based on an America’s Test Kitchen record: Chef’s Choice Trizor 15XV.

Recommendation, not record.

[Anonymous]

The knives I use regularly the 8" and 10" chef knives, boning knife, bread knife, a few paring knives, and a set of steak knives. Also a good pair of poultry shears. Mine is a mixed set, not all one brand - purchased one at a time over many years.

Like PP, I hone regularly, sharpen less frequently with a wet stone (more like once a year for me, maybe less), hand wash. I try to use wooden cutting boards, it's easier on the blade edge, for pretty much everything except raw meat.

[Anonymous]

I own a standard henkels block, and use the same chef’s knife for vegetable chopping as I do for meat cutting.

The only difference I would make with a family of meat eaters is to buy steak knives for the actual eating of dinner.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Cutco fan. Even you don't want their kitchen prep knives, their table knives are THE BEST for cutting meat. They also sell steak knives, but the table knives are perfectly capable of cutting a steak.

I haven't had good luck with Henckels or the other brand that starts with a W ... wustof? My BFF and my mom like tthe ceramic knives that they get at William Sonoma, so those may be worth a try. Not sure if they do a steak knife or just prep knives in that line.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My point was the knives I’ve always used without issue I now discover are not up to task when it comes to cutting meat. Not steak knives per se but for example cutting off the big hard fat or butterflying a too thick piece. I’m just sawing/hacking away at the meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My point was the knives I’ve always used without issue I now discover are not up to task when it comes to cutting meat. Not steak knives per se but for example cutting off the big hard fat or butterflying a too thick piece. I’m just sawing/hacking away at the meat.

Get them professionally sharpened. If there is a Sur La Table near you, they can do it for a small fee. Once they are well sharpened, you can keep the edge maintained yourself, but if you've been using these knives a long time and are not confident with a sharpening stone it's worth having them done professionally once. It'll make a world of difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The knives I use regularly the 8" and 10" chef knives, boning knife, bread knife, a few paring knives, and a set of steak knives. Also a good pair of poultry shears. Mine is a mixed set, not all one brand - purchased one at a time over many years.

Like PP, I hone regularly, sharpen less frequently with a wet stone (more like once a year for me, maybe less), hand wash. I try to use wooden cutting boards, it's easier on the blade edge, for pretty much everything except raw meat.

You need to know what you are doing with the stone. Some knife edges have different angles.