Pro Chef Tips.. Are Japanese Knives Overrated?

we're finally going to be talking about knives  in this video, we're going to discuss what you're   going to get for your average home cook as well  as what knives you should get for starting your   career in cooking so if you do happen to enjoy  this video then be sure to give it a share give   it a like and don't forget to subscribe for more  content now let's get started now I'm sure a lot   of you are wondering especially for home Cooks on  what type of knives should you get because there   are a lot and I mean a lot of different styles  just for Western Knives alone so many stars I   don't even have every type myself like a Cleaver  which there are some specialty knives that do   help with certain jobs but it doesn't necessarily  mean that you have to buy that knife unless you're   going to be doing a lot of that work the most  important knife in the kitchen especially for   the professional kitchen is the chef's knife and  these come in multiple different sizes this is   the ultimate utility knife in the kitchen the  most common sizes are 10 9 and 8 inch although   you can get them in seven to six inches and  I'm sure sure some brands or some companies   do actually make them a bit longer as well if  you have to pick one knife in the kitchen the   chef knife would be the one to pick another very  common knife to use in the kitchen is the Santoku   now this is a more Japanese influence style  knife and it takes the job of the chef knife   so if you had to pick between the two this is  a little bit smaller on average the nose is a   little more bent as well but you can still dice  onions with this you can do fine work this knife   and if you had to pick between the two it doesn't  really matter personally I choose the chef knife   over this because I prefer the French style  over this one thing to consider though when   buying a chef knife is whether or not you want  a bolster with the knife is this part that's   here I'll speak a little more about this a little  later on because there are benefits to having one   Paring knives these are the smallest knives in the  kitchen typically the smallest in your kit and we   use these for all the small fine detailed work so  you can do a lot of intricate work in Garde manger   with these little knives it is a good idea to  pick one of these up you don't have to get an   expensive one but at least I have one in the house  is important bread knives as the name implies we   use these to cut bread bread knives are not only  great for cutting bread but they're also great for   cutting fruits if you have to cut a lot of fruit  one of these will come in very handy bread knives   are serrated knives and serrated means that they  have these little teeth but these are also single beveled knives so you can't sharpen these like a  normal knife you have to take these two either a   professional or if you have the special equipment  to be able to resharpen these little grooves this   is a boning knife now these are more specialty  knives you don't have to get one if you don't want   to but these do help if you want to break down a  lot of poultry or if you want to break down some   meat utility knives these knives are great for  slicing they come in multiple different sizes   sometimes you see a lot of people using these as  chef knives and for me I don't like to use them   like that because one you don't have as enough  clearance for your fingers so you can't do a lot   of chopping so fillet knives full lineups are  typically quite flexible these are great if you   do fillet a lot of fish if you don't have one of  these you can use a chef knife to fillet fish as I   have done many times as well it's not a necessity  to get one of these but it does make a difference   and after all those knives it is important to  have some sort of Steel this is a honing Rod   honing means that you're just fixing the edge of  the knife you're not necessarily sharpening it   you are taking off steel as you can tell with this  little Parry knife that I've used extensively it's   not flat anymore this is from using the honing Rod  too much the other type of Steel is the diamond   steel now this steel will sharpen your knives but  I don't necessarily recommend it if you actually   want to take very good care of your knives this  will do the job quickly if you need it sharp just   cut something quickly but if you want to spend  a lot of money on your knives it's a better idea   to get some stones and to sharpen them properly  and then to use either the honing Rod when you   need to or to use one of these a little bit of  leather just stroke your knives and I will speak   about that a little more in another video with  my Japanese knives so now that we've discussed   a little about the types if you're a home cook  what type should you get my recommendation would   be three basic knives and a steel the chef knife  is one of the most important ones so this I would   say is a must I would say about an eight inch  chef knife for home use you don't necessarily   need a massive chef knife to be cutting a lot of  product at home I would also recommend getting a   bread knife because you can use it for more than  just bread you can also use it for fruit but it   is good to have a serrated knife in the house and  then I would recommend getting a Parry knife you   don't have to spend a lot of money on one I mean  seriously you can pick a paring knife up for just   a couple dollars and have one in the house and  then of course you need something to Sharpie   knives with so either getting a steel is a good  idea Stones if you want to sharpen your knives   properly or if you want something that's not  laborious and basically idiot proof you can get   a diamond sharpener where you just put the knife  in the groove you pull it back and your knives   are sharp now if you do want to start cooking  professionally and you're either going to do your   apprenticeship or you're going to go to a culinary  college it is a good idea to have your own set of   knives although typically in the U.S the company  will actually have their own kitchen knives that   you use to do your job so you don't have to spend  money on this if that's the route that you want to   take when I started working in London I literally  packed my backpack and I left for London I didn't   take my knives with me lo and behold I needed my  knives so my dad had to send my knives over and I   was working a week without them in many places  over here it's expected that you have your own   set of knives with you that doesn't mean that you  need to spend a lot of money on your knives but   it does mean that you need knives to work with  to get the job done when working in a kitchen   professionally you have to have a chef knife with  you you have to have your paring knife a serrated   knife a boning knife if possible you also need a  knife bag as you can tell this is very old it's   falling to pieces but it still works it's also  important to have a spatula a hard spatula and   a soft silicone spatula and then of course it is  a good idea to have a few extra little goodies   including a peeler measuring spoons this is also  a good idea to have in your kit when starting   work if you don't need them that's great but more  likely you're going to use these once in a while   a little brush a little calculator if you don't  have your phone on you markers and highlighters   these are very important especially if you're in  banqueting you can get a microplane it comes in   very handy also instead of buying one expensive  paring knife I would rather say to buy several   cheaper paring knives these cost just a few dollars  buy a few that are a few different sizes get one   bird's beak paring knife this helps if you need to  like peel anything and at least one serrated paring   knife if you have some shears it would be better  as well if you have to use them to cut anything a   steel and then any other knives that may come in  the kit you don't have to buy every single knife   to start working but having these Basics will help  you a lot also a thermometer is a good thing to   have in your kit especially when working in the US  and you have to write the temps down it's a good   thing to have this now when buying knives doesn't  matter whether it's professional or for home use   you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money  just to get the job done as a matter of fact I   would recommend spending less money if you just  need something to use at home than going out and   spending hundreds of dollars on knives that you're  not going to take care of it's not really it's not   worth it I should say you also need to decide on  whether or not you want carbon knives or stainless   if you're just going to be working at home and  even if you're going to be starting in the kitchen   I would highly recommend getting stainless steel  it's a low maintenance and you don't need to worry   about it I would also recommend getting plastic  or polymer handles again very low maintenance you   don't need to worry about them wood handles such  as this you have to oil and take care of because   they can crack and if you're in the kitchen and  not taking care of your knives you'll start to   see issues with them a little later on carbon Steel knives however do retain their Edge longer   because it's harder steel and I do have a lot of  carbon steel knives from my father from Sheffield   England English knives and a few Sabatier knives  as well but they're like 60 years old they're very   old and of course they don't have them with me  they're in the US but they do hold their Edge   pretty well if this is going to be your first job  in the kitchen if you are new to knives new to   cooking you don't know how to sharpen your knives  how to take care of them I would not recommend   spending all the money and buying Japanese knives  I wouldn't Japanese knives are typically much more   expensive per knife because there's a lot more  work that goes into making each one because a   lot of these makers are artisan knives they make  the knives one by one and the steel is typically   a lot harder a little more brittle than European  knives European knives and Metallurgy is a little   softer and the benefit with a softer steel is  that they don't chip as easily they still can   but not as easily the only downside is that you  have to sharpen them more frequently I have had   a lot of friends at work that are good chefs that  take care of their knives they baby their Japanese   knives and they still chip it's just because it's  busy in the kitchen things happen another person   grabs your knife and uses it which happens a  lot and Japanese knives are not good knives   to be using when you have to say cut through bone  or you have to cut hard materials but again that   discussion is for another video now stamped versus  forged knives I wouldn't worry too much about this   you can see the price difference if you spend a  little more money typically the knives are going   to be forged but not always because today actually  some stamp knives are pretty good but stamp knives   are typically cheaper because it is a sheet of  metal that they roll out and either laser cuts   it out or they stamp it out and they make a knife  with it now there are benefits to having a full   bolster one it does protect your hand from running  up the blade which is nice to have as you can tell   these knives don't have bolsters at all and with  this one it's not easy for your hand to run up   the blade but with this one it is especially if  you push the other benefit of a bolster is that   if need be I can use this to crack bone crack  nuts open cans no because I don't do that with   my knives but you could if you didn't care about  your knives you could use it for that the only   downside of the bolsters that since is so much  steel and it's so thick that even with a stone   I can't sharpen this I have to take this to a  professional sharpener my first recommendation   for cheaper knives is Victorinox this is the  Swiss army knife maker and they make really good   kitchen knives I picked this bread knife up about  seven years ago for about 30 Euros prices have   gone up with everything so it may be a little more  expensive now but it is a lot cheaper buying one   of these than buying one of these bread knives  from Wustoff which costs about what a hundred   or more now and if I'm speaking quite frankly for  this specific knife I prefer this one compared to   this one so it's cheaper I prefer it is a better  choice Mercer is also a good company the knives   are relatively cheaper I've used them in the past  I don't have any well I have one with me right   now but I don't know where it is acros is another  company that's here in Spain they make knives they   make spatulas they make a lot of kitchen equipment  and if you work here you'll see them Dexter is   another cheap company that makes chef knives I  have quite a few Dexter knives back in the U.S I   don't have any here with me but they are another  good company a lot of other companies out there   that I haven't listed that have cheaper knives  but Victorinox would probably be my first   choice for knives if I wanted to buy something a  little cheaper now if you want to spend a little   more money one of the companies that I love that  I've used them for years is wusthof again if I   mispronounce any German I apologize I've been  thinking in Spanish and English for quite a   while now and my German's a little rusty years  ago though wusthof used to have a few cheaper   lines of knives they had an entry level which was  very cheap and then they had this brand which I'll   put the name of it up but they don't make this  anymore and this knife kit that I got years ago   didn't cost that much money almost nothing and  now if you can try to find one of these each   of these knives will cost over 100 as zwilling is also another great company they don't just   make chef knives and they have multiple brands  of chef knives they actually own Miyabi they do   I believe have a cheaper brand of knives that you  may want to look into if you're interested Global   is another good company I don't have any Global  knives with me but I know a lot of people that do   have them and they love them me personally I'm not  the biggest fan only because the handle is metal   and when I grab a global knife and my hands are  wet it doesn't feel the same way I honestly the   feel is one of the most important things with me  when I hold a knife if whether or not feels good   in my hand if it does I like it if it doesn't  I don't like it and this is one thing to take   into consideration especially if you're going to  be working with a knife all the time but if you   just need something to cut some veggies and fruit  at home you can spend 10 15 bucks on it and be   happy instead of spending a hundred it makes a big  difference if I were you guys I would set a budget   on the maximum amount of money that you want to  spend write down the knives that you want and then   check out some of the links that I will leave Down  Below on a few different brands and I've makes a   few different sets as well I would also suggest  to go down to your local knife shop and fill the   knives in your hand before you buy depending on  where you shop the local stores may be a little   more expensive but it's totally free to walk  down there and actually pick the knife up and see   whether or not it feels good in your hand that's  free you don't have to buy it you can find a place   either online or another knife shop that may be a  little cheaper but at least it gives you an idea   on what the knife is going to feel like when using  it and one thing that is very important this is   from experience when working in any place the last  thing that you want to do is have a beautiful set   of knives because somebody will steal them I have  seen this happen multiple times in the kitchen and   it's not fun and trust me if you have a full set  of Miyabi knives and everybody sees this in the   kitchen somebody's going to want it and somebody  will try to steal it so regardless of what knives   that you get I would highly recommend to engrave  your knives with your initials or at least to have   some sort of marker that you know that is your  knives hopefully I answered some of your questions   if you had any on which knives to get and well  hopefully you learned a thing or two as well if   you have any questions or comments guys then don't  hesitate to ask and we will be making more videos   on Japanese knives so don't worry this is not just  going to be a one-time thing so in any case have   a great day take care be sure to give this video a  like and share so more people can see it and don't   forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on any  future content until next time take care

Channel: Chef James Makinson

Views: 146,926

Keywords: food, how to cook, kitchen, James Makinson, Chef James, kitchen tools, essential kitchen tools, kitchen essentials, chef knives review, chef knives for beginners, chef knives, pro chef reacts, pro chef tips, professional chef tips, cheap kitchen knives, cheap kitchen knife, cheap kitchen knife vs expensive, victorinox, wusthof, ZWILLING, zwilling j.a. henckels, Mercer Culinary, Dexter-Russell, Miyabi, Global Knives, knife review, knife reviews 2023, wusthof knives, paring knife

Id: LgqoN2Duo5U

Length: 15min 5sec (905 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 20 2023