Sharp And Pointy!

Published Jul 23, 2003

One of the first things I discovered when I started to take cooking seriously as a hobby was just how important having a good knife is. For most home cooks, three or four good knives are enough — and spending just a little bit of money on them pays off big-time!

These are my knives:
Yes, I know, somehow I get along with no paring knife — I must be a philistine, especially in my presentation. In all honesty, I do wish the 8" knife were a 10". I’d get more use from it then — it’s a little too close in length to the 6" chef’s knife in the middle. All three are great knives; the top and bottom are Globals, a trendy Japanese knife that gets oh so sharp, while the middle one is a nice reliable Wüsthof. All well-weighted full-tang beauties with that will last until I decide to splurge on that plasma vibro-knife after my big promotion in 2035.

The Globals were originally procured at the somewhat intimidating Standard Cutlery & Supply Company in Beverly Hills. I say intimidating for two reasons:

1. The staff is all quite knowledgeable about knives and will call you on any mistakes you make in discussing your desired cutlery with them.
2. The guy who does the sharpening will call you out for any signs of abuse to your blade.
3. They stock a crapload of knives.

This is what you are surrounded by when you enter the store:

And this is what you see behind the counter:

Ah! Here are more Globals! Drool…

I picked up a few knives to give as gifts to a few friends who love to cook; the nice people at Standard sold me some nice stuff for just $30-$50, good starter knives that my friends can do awful things to without feeling guilty.

In a month or so, I’ll need to get my knives sharpened, they’re starting to really show their use. The only challenge then will be to suppress my lust for a good cleaver and a passable parer. Remarkably enough, I’m actually thinking of going serrated for that latter item.

I’d love to get a flexible boning knife but it won’t be until I save up enough $$$ to take some real cooking school classes that I’ll know how to use such a thing.

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