First of all, I want to say 'Hi'. My first post here. And second thing is a question cause I'm struggling with decision.
I'm not a pro but I like to cook. I'm a musician so I know that proper "instrument" is very important in each mastery. I'm just starting bot I've decided to start with something of good quality but just don't know if I should buy a set of knives or just one good chef's knife.
I've read some reviews/opinions of Tojiro DP and they seems to be very good choice for entrance level knives, specially for person that don't cook proffesionally. I didn't found anything in English about Miyabi Isshin serie from the link above. Any clues? And with the third option I'm open for any advice.
I live in Glasgow where I've found only one shop with big selection of kitchen knives but none of them are in my price range (around £200)
Thank you for any help and forgive me mistakes if you'll find any. English is not my primary language.
I would recommend getting either a gyuto or a santoku, but not both. You can look at getting a paring/petty knife or a slicer or a bread knife to supplement your main knife purchase, depending on your other prep needs.
How will you be caring for your knives? Do you require them to be fully stainless?
How will you be sharpening your knives, and what budget do you have allotted for those tools?
Definitely hand wash and some oil for conservation so I think that fully stainless is not necessary for the blade.
I would recommend getting either a gyuto or a santoku, but not both. You can look at getting a paring/petty knife or a slicer or a bread knife to supplement your main knife purchase, depending on your other prep needs.
I have been cooking professionally for a number of years The longer I do it, the less number of knives I need. These days I use my chef's knife for well over 95% of the time, whether it be peeling a kiwi or filleting a trout. The exceptions are a bread knife (for obvious task) and a 12" hollow edge slicer for breaking down large whole fish (although i can use my chef's knife).
I'm a musician so I know that proper "instrument" is very important in each mastery.
I'd say that the Isshin, being san mai construction, is most likely VG-10. The Tojiro is less money and a known quantity, and I doubt Miyabi can compete with them dollarwise.
Masahiro and Kanetsune are also good entry level knives, and available on ebay.
This knife intrigues me only in that I have a China-made knife which I believe is their version of AUS-10 and it's edge properties are quite outstanding for such a cheapy. But it's just a crapshoot, not seriously recomending it.
Thank you all for replies. I finally went to shop with some selection of knives to check how Japanese knives works with my hand. They have Miyabi, Shen, Yaxell, Global and few more. I was surprised actually and happy being able to try them all. Chopping board and tomatoes.
Miyabi are very light, thin blade. But wow, they cut. Big difference for me in weight between santoku (18cm but heavier) and gyuto (20cm). I liked Yaxell Tsuchimon santoku and Gou, both 16.5 but the were bit too short in first impression, 18 would be good i think. But prices...
and they were much more lighter then i suspected. I'll need to use to it. Unfortunately no Tojiro knives.
Rick Alan
Masahiro and Kanetsune are also good entry level knives, and available on ebay
For what it's worth, cutting tomatoes easily is at least as much about the sharpening as it is about the knife. You don't have to have a knife of the price and level we've been talking about here to easily go through tomatoes.
Longer knife helps if you have to occasionally work through larger foods (melons, really large onions or potatoes) or higher quantity at a time (large bunches of greens).
I don't really know what your stone flattener options are in that area. If possible, it is nice to get one with larger dimensions than the stones you will be needing to flatten. I like coarse diamond plates because they do not themselves deform over time, but they cost more than other flattening options. With a budget of ~100 GPB, I would suggest just folding a damp towel to use as your holder which also raises the stone a little from the countertop. Or you could look into stones that are mounted onto bases (many combo stones have bases)- they do about the same thing.
When it comes to flattening stones I use water resistant sandpapers on a big glass plate.
It might not be cheaper in long time term but definitely is in short time,
plus works really fast. All you need at strart is glass plate and various grits good quality sandpapers.
(for 20 sheets of A4 size you pay no more than 20usd - enough for about 20 flattening operations)
Also you can be sure that you always have a flat surface.
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