Knives

[Bacchus]

I will be attending culinary this fall and I want to purchase a set of knives outside of school. I am thinking of getting a set of J.A. Henkel knives as I have heard lots of good things about them. Are there any other knives that anyone would recommend, I want these knives to last and follow me through my carear (and maybe pass on to my son because he says he wants to be a chef like daddy's going to be. I let him help all the time in the kitchen). Thanks for any help that is given

[Pete]

It all depends on the knife, for the most part. The two 'big boys" of knives are Henkel and Wustof. I find them both to be about the same, as far as quality wise. Of course, each has a number of lines which you can choose from. For my boning knife, I prefer my Dexter Russel. Good blade and the handle is much less slippery than Wustof or Henkel's (very comfortable when boning out larger cuts of meat).

These knives will last you years and years, though I am not sure long enough to pass down when you retire. A chef's set of knives gets lots of use, which means lots of sharpening, which means slowly whittling the blade away over time.

Buying a set of Henkels or Wustofs can get very expensive. I am sure that your school will offer you a kit at a decent price. I bought my kit from school and then slowly replaced it piece by piece, keeping the pieces from my kit that I liked and giving away those that I didn't (or set them to use in my home kitchen). We were given a set of F. Dick knives. Not the greatest in the world, but I still have a number of pieces from that kit, now ten years old. That kit cost me about $200 from school. At one time I figured it out, and if I had purchased all that stuff myself it would have cost about $300-$350, for the same quality. If I bought all that stuff in Henkel or Wustof it would have cost $450-600.

[chouxbacca]

I cant say too much for sure, it is the individual's hand that decides, but I have heard good about the new messermiester elite. theres also a whole bunch of advice concerning knives if you go to the search icon at the top of the screen, just type in knives, and pow, youre hooked up. its good because this has been a popular topic here, and you get alot of experiences and opinions from the whole cheftalk crew...well...most of us anyways. But I think the rule is, feel a knife before you buy it, and make sure you could be comfortable using it to chop through 15 turnips without getting a big blister on the base of your index. or that the weight is good, the blade seems wide enough, etc. if you want more options go to knifemerchant.com. Ive never seen a better site for savings, general info, or selection. anyways, good luck Bacchus with your decision.