The 2 questions I get asked the most often are: What knife to get and what kind of pots and pans.

The basic answer is simple: Get whatever you are most comfortable with. You have to use them.

The in depth answer involves a bit of an explanation.

First things first: never buy one of those sets in a driftwood box. You are paying much more for much less.

All any chef needs is a good chef knife, a bread knife, and a pairing or utility knife. The chef’s knife is the most important piece. Buy that first and get the rest as you can. You’ll be using it for most tasks, so make that the center of your budget.

Now onto the rest. Knives are now sold as German(western), Japanese or western style(fusion).

German knives have been the most popular for decades. The most common brands are Wusthof and Henkels. Those are the two brands you always see on the Food Network and other cooking shows. They are great knives, have stood the test of time; and, the more expensive of ones are still hand-made. German knives in general have a softer metal (56-58 Rockwell) than their Japanese counterparts, as well as, a thicker blade and are sharpened down to a 15-16 degree edge. All of that means that the knife edge will bend rather than chip, and will not require as much sharpening to stay sharp. It also means that the knife will be easier to sharpen. Shun made the Japanese chef’s knife popular in the USA. There are several others out there now, such as Miyabi, Enso, and Yaxell to name a few. Japanese knives are hand made, tend to have a harder steel (60-63 Rockwell), and are sharpened down to a 7-9 degree edge. That translates to a blade that will chip rather than bend, be harder to sharpen; but, will be scalpel sharp. The handles are also different between the two. A Japanese handle is usually straight or D shaped without an ergonomic bend in it. The western style is a German style handle with a Japanese style blade.

So after all that talk, which one is better? Answer: neither, both are great.

More confused are you? Good.

The knife is only as good as the person wielding it. You have to be comfortable with it, you have to be able to control it. The knife is an extension of your arm. The best thing to do is go to a store like Bed Bath and Beyond or Sonoma, hold several of them and see what is most comfortable for you to use. Then go order it someplace like cutlery and more or direct from the manufacturer. Keep in mind, you also want to keep your knife as sharp as possible. A sharp blade is much safer than a dull one. There are professional sharpening services available if you are not comfortable with using a stone to sharpen. If you hone your knife on a honing rod before each use, you will probably only need the sharpening service once a year. Most good sharpening services only charge 10-15 dollars per knife to sharpen it back to where it was when you received it.

Personally, I have had a Henkels knife for over 20 years now and it still gets used often. My daughter is now using it. I also have some Miyabi artisan knives that I’ve come to love and are my daily workhorses. Additionally, I have a few off of the Wusthof line. I’m not a collector, but over the years I’ve acquired a few different things. I’ve come to find that I am more comfortable with the Japanese knives.

Below left is a typical Japanese Santoku; second from left is a western style chef knife; the one in the middle is a western style Santoku; next is a typical German chef knife; the far right is a 10-inch western style Santoku.

 

For pots and pans, I tell people that if I could only have one in my kitchen it would be my cast iron skillet. It’s deep enough to make sauces and shallow enough to fry in. I do most of my cooking in my cast iron. We’ll talk about caring for them in another post. If you want to get fancy, a good enamel coated Dutch oven is also a nice addition for soups, stews, and boiling seafood. Stainless steel cookware is nice, and good to have for some dishes. However; cast iron would be the one thing I would have to come back for after the end of the world. Nothing cooks like they do. They are also something you can find inexpensively. The difference between an expensive cast iron and something like Lodge is that the expensive ones have a mirror flat finish, Lodge has some pits in it. Some people prefer the pits, I don’t. The last pan I bought was a Lodge. I got it hole and pulled out a sanding wheel on a drill. I sanded it down smooth and then seasoned it. What I ended up with was a pan as good as a 400 dollar cast iron skillet for 40 bucks plus the pound of bacon I used to season it. In addition to a good cast iron skillet, you’ll also want a 4-quart pot to make rice, pasta, or potatoes. For my stainless cookware, I look for the 5 ply bottom stainless pots. Clearly, as you progress through your cooking journey, you will want to acquire more, but to start that’s really all you’ll need.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope it helped answer some questions. Feel free to contact me with any further inquiries.