Host: Hi again everybody. Welcome back to Le Gourmet TV. We’re here again at The Cooks Place, 48 Den, Fourth Avenue, Toronto, and today, we’re going to talk about knife selection and how personal it is to your hand and how you use the knife.
Guy: And your budget.
Host: And your budget perhaps, so why don’t you lead us through some of these chef knives that we have here on the board.
Guy: Yeah, I’ve gone over quite a selection of knives. It should not intimidate you and if you have the opportunity to try your hands on the knife, I thoroughly recommend that. It’s quite a different experience from looking at a picture of it.
Host: so when I come to select a knife, should I be able to go to the retailer and say, “I want to pick this knife up. I want to hold it”. Because often they’re in a glass case and locked away. Is that something that is critical to knife selection?
Guy: The retailer should ask you if you want to try the knives out, because it’s very, very important in the decision making process absolutely.
Host: Ok, then if I’m buying it as a gift for someone else, I have to take into consideration their needs as well.
Guy: Well to some extent, yes. A good knife is a good knife and that you do have if someone has very small hands and you might want to take that into consideration. And lighter knife may favor some people over heavier knife, that kind of thing, yes.
Host: Ok. So let’s walk over…
Guy: Ok, the agent chef, the classic German knife, it’s a heavier blade. It’s formed with a full tang. This is all one piece of steel. It’s forged and the bolster is formed, this piece here is formed during the forging process. And it’s gorgeously made but it’s a European style, it’s a heavier knife by definition.
This same manufacturer also makes thinner-bladed knife. Exactly the same manufacturing technique, but they use the same steel but they make it a thinner blank. They do not have this continuation of the two, of the bolster going down here. And it’s a considerably lighter knife. And what we found is that when you come to cut a carrot that you will find much less resistance for the thinner blade, think of a razor blade, (Ok.) versus a thicker blade. Think of the guillotine.
Host: ok, long term, is there any disadvantage to having the thinner blade?
Guy: No, this personal preference comes into this. Some people just feel more comfortable with the heavier blade. They’re both very good knives. As I say we find a smoother cutting action and over time, if you’re using the knife a great deal, a lighter knife can save your risk of some stress. (Ok.) So those are basically the two schools of food. This is more of the Japanese style knife, though it is made by a German manufacturer. And we’ve got a number of other Japanese knives here. This one is a similar looking knife. It’s a slightly different steel and it’s a harder, it’s a Tungsten alloy, the others are Chromium, Molybdenum, Vanadium alloy. And the tungsten allows it to be hard and sleek and more, and holds essentially a little bit longer, (Ok.) which for many of us is a big factor.
This is a slightly cheaper knife made by the same Japanese manufacturer. It feels a little different because it doesn’t have the bolster so this is little different in the hand. It doesn’t have the same steel. It has the same steel that these knives have. So and this is another Japanese knife, famous good looks, and feels very light, and another superb knife but it’s not for everyone. Some people don’t feel comfortable with that handle, and so that’s why it’s so important to get your hands on the knives.
Host: It is beautiful. It is a beautiful knife. Timmy, I don’t like the feeling. It seems, it is very light and I guess I’m used to a much heavier knife (Yes.) so I prefer to have a heavier knife (Yeah.) in my hand. But it is a beautiful knife.
Guy: Yeah, a lot of people do say to us, “a heavier knife is what I want”, but I think that’s a little bit of a historical myth. Originally, you needed a heavy knife for the quality of the steel, and the quality of the steel is so superb. You do not need that same mass.
Host: And sometimes I try to take that disconnective weight and quality, (Exactly, exactly, yeah.) wherein they don’t connect.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services