Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Chef's Knives

For years now, Porthos has been singing the praises of Japanese knives. I understood the power of a proper knife, but didn't understand how much better it got. Since we were cooking at his place for the Super Bowl, Porthos took out his knife collection and we did slices on a hard piece of saucisson (salami). Results and comments from the dudes test kitchen below.

Wustof 8" Chef's Knife - High Carbon Steel Alloy
Comments - Solid heavy knife, but could not get clean paper thin slices consistently...sometimes the knife stuck in the salami.

Global 7" G-4 - Molybdenum/Vanadium Stainless Steel
Comments - Lighter knife that cut cleaner, but still inconsistent thin slices.

Nenox G-Type Gyutou 8.2"
- Nenox Proprietary Stainless Steel
Comments - A definite what the f moment. Surprisingly light knife, that consistently made the salami feel like butter. At least 5 paper thin slices in a row...no force necessary, just proper cutting technique.

Aritsugu Yanagi Sushi Knife 10.5"
- Folded Carbon Steel
Comments - The second what the f moment. Don't know how this is possible, but this knife is even way better. More sturdy feeling and even less force is necessary. The sushi knife is a lamborghini compared to the nenox which could be considered a high end bmw.

Side note - so important and fun to compare things side by side. I would have never known how good the Nenox could be until using it right after cutting with the Wusthof. This Nenox maybe a birthday splurge for me.

Our next side by side comparison will be done with KFC and Popeye's and as usual the dudes will report on this ever so important national topic...I'm surprised this hasn't come up in the primaries :P

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm........you've left me wanting to try the Aritsugu Yanagi - and I'm a diehard santoku fan! Great post - really appreciate the tests you dudes did.

Anonymous said...

thanks for checking out our blog.
yah, i like my cutlery.
if you are looking for a good yanagi, it's gonna run you at least $400.
i wouldn't recommend picking one up for the cheap. they just aren't made the same.
my aritsugu is great. but there are plenty of really good japanese knife families still out there forging awesome blades.

it requires maintenance. like a lot of care... but if you enjoy the cut as much as i do, it's just so worth it.