Knives

Choosing a knife

When I was setting out as a keen, amateur cook, I was given some Global knives as a gift. I find the uniformity of a set pleasing, but I've built my knife collection bit by bit. I don’t mind that they're not all matching and I have come to love the individuality of my knives, in terms of different brands and functions.

When choosing a knife I take into consideration 3 things: size, function and weight. In practice, I use 2-3 knives for the vast majority of kitchen tasks, but if you became handy with a cleaver you could use it for virtually everything - from finely sliced onions to butchery - including transferring food to the pan.

A good all-round chefs knife is usually 15-20cm long (blade length) - any longer is unwieldy for most tasks, but it's nice to have smaller knives for paring and detail work. I notice when I give cookery lessons that the majority of amateur chefs pick the smaller to mid-sized knives (10-15cm blade) for their general knifework. These are perfectly fine for most domestic tasks. Larger can be useful for cutting large vegetables, such as red cabbage or celeriac, and once you become used to them, you can also use them more all-round work.

Currently I have 2 favourite general chef’s knives: a Takayuki knife, which took my fancy at a Japanese craft fair and a Kin knife, which stays at home. The Takayuki knive has a more slender blade which makes it good for general chopping but also carving, filleting and slicing sashimi. The Kin knife has a more triangular profile.

I also have a set of IO Shen knives, which have served me well both at home and in professional kitchens. They feel sturdy and keep their edge well because they are made of a layer of hard Japanese steel, sandwiched between two layers of softer stainless steel. This means the edge can be very sharp, but mitigates the brittleness of extremely hard steel. Cheap knives are easy to sharpen and they are less brittle, but they lose their edge just as easily.

German knives, such as WÜSTHOF or Zwilling, tend to be chunkier and heavier than Japanese - still great technology and craftmanship, but a different feel. Japanese knives tend to be lighter, with a nice balance between the handle and the blade.

The most important thing is how it feels in the hand. What is it that draws you to certain knives in your existing collection? Do you have a favourite? How big is it? How heavy is it? How much of the weight is in the handle vs the blade? Are you looking to replace it, or to replicate the features that you like.

Looking after your knives

Good knives take more to sharpen, and need to be maintained, but stay that way if they're well looked after. For most people who only use their knives at home, magnetic blocks are good. Just try NOT to keep your knives loose in a drawer with other utensils, and wash your good knives by hand, rather than let them rattle around in the dishwasher. When I am travelling, whether that’s for work, or going on holiday, I carry my knives in a knife roll.

Sharpening knives

Butcher’s steels are fine for a ‘quick and dirty’ way to sharpen lower quality knives, but the problem with all manual methods is that it is virtually impossible for the user to stay true to the angles (usually 15° for Japanese knives) that the knife manufacturer originally produced. I tend to prefer a steel with a flat cross section, rather than circular.

I don’t like manual pull-through sharpeners - they are aggressive and risk damage to higher quality knives which are harder but more brittle. They do have an angle to help you, but this will only work if you pull it through straight. This rolling knife sharpener helps maintain the correct angle while being gentler on the knife.

Whetstones are beautiful pieces of kit but it takes time to become experienced and skill in using them. They have a coarser side to prepare the blade and a finer side for honing/polishing.

If you have invested in good quality knives, an electric knife sharpener is faster and more likely to preserve the original manufactured angle on your blades - though they are noisier!