Hello Everyone! I Was Wondering, Do I Need A Santuko Knife And A Chef’s Knife? Any Help Would Be Nice.?
I have a block set bought off of TV, I don’t suggest doing that. I am now building a set. I just bought a 7″ & 5″ Santuko set of Calphalon knives. I am nowing looking to get the 8″ Chef’s Knife, 5″ Santoku, 6″ Utility and 3.5″ Parer all in a set. Do I need it or can I manage with the 2 Santuko knives. Yes I know that set has a 5″ Santuko. I will probably give it as a gift to my mom if the set makes since. Thanks again for any and all help!
You don’t need more than one of each type and for most home cooks really either a Santoku or Chef’s knife is enough. not both. The only reason for having a lot of similar knives is if you have a chopping party where loads of family & friends gather together to prepare tons of food!
Yes, it is best to get knives separately as over time you’ll have definite preferences for certain types of knives, particular lengths & grips. It also depends on the kinds of food that you frequently handle eg. those who make their own bread loaves would buy a bread knife, if you cut up whole chickens or meat with bones yourself then a Chinese style heavy cleaver is very useful. Besides good knives, a really good sharpening steel is an invaluable investment.
Buy more knives.
There are reasons to use the others.
Since you already have a 7″ santuko, you really wouldn’t need an 8″ chef’s knife, but you SHOULD get a 10″ chef’s knife.
The 6″ utility knife (if it is NOT serrated) is good for slicing smaller roasts. The paring knife is essential. You use it for peeling.
Another reason to have an assortment: You can’t use a boning knife to chop carrots, obviously, and you can’t use a serrated utility knife to peel and dice potatoes…..Certain knives are made for certain jobs, and you’ll ruin them if you do otherwise. You can’t use a chef’s knife as a cleaver to crack beef bones…you’ll knick it. lol…and don’t believe what my husband says…you can’t use a good paring knife to open a bottle of beer….you’ll BREAK it! lol. It kills me when a person says they use a fish-boning knife for every use in their kitchen.
I would also recommend a 5″ serrated utility knife. This is essential for slicing tomatoes, cutting sandwiches, slicing bread (if you don’t have a serrated bread knife….another suggestion), and is just the perfect size…it should also have a smooth sharp non-serrated tip so you can core your tomatoes with the same knife. (I call this knife a tomato knife myself).
I love Henckel’s forged knives, but don’t have anything against other brands….I have a 20 year old set of henckels, and also have some chicago cutlery pieces, and they all work just fine.
A few words on sharpening steels:
If you don’t know EXACTLY what angle to use with a sharpening steel, DON’T buy one. You’ll ruin your knives if you don’t understand which angle is for honing, and which angle is for sharpening.
Best to pay a professional sharpening service every couple years instead of buying a steel that you won’t use correctly.
So many people whip that steel around and slip slap the knife up and down like they know what they are doing….then the chips start coming out of their blades because they never bothered to hone their knives between sharpening.
Here’s what I own, so you don’t feel bad about buying more knives:
2 2″ paring knives
1 3″ paring knife
2 4″ paring knives (the throwaway cheapo kinds)
1 5″ serrated utility (tomato) knife
1 6″ chef’s knife
1 8″ chef’s knife
1 8″ utility slicer
2 7″ boning knives
1 10″ chef’s knife
1 8″ santuko knife
1 8″ serrated bread slicer (scallop type serration)
I cook a LOT….and use ALL my knives ALL the time, so if you don’t cook so much, then you probably won’t use all this. I make everything from scratch. I love to cook.
I myself don’t ever use my chef’s knife anymore, any chopping is done with my santoku knives. I would go ahead and get the utility and parer seperately though, you’ll use those for other cutting jobs too small or akward for your santoku.
My favorite knife is the boning knife. The important thing is using the sharpening steel. Go for the ring!
depends on the user. I like the santuko but my chef friend hates them.
I would not get the Chef knife. I would go with a Carving Knife, Small paring knife and bread knife. Also do not forget to get a good steel to help keep the knives sharp.