Thread: Help: Recommendations from Chefs?

Not a chef but I like to cook.

These are the knives I bought sometime ago, and I like them a lot:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=19262
I prefer 6" knives to 8".

For pans, well we use tefal which are great to work with.
They can't stand years of intensive use, so you need to replace them after 5-7 years. Otoh they are cheap.

We have a cast iron stir frying pan from Le Creuset, and it is great.
The shape is nice, and it comes with ears instead of a long handle, so it is easy to put on the table. It weighs a lot, but otoh once it is hot it stays hot, which is nice.

If cash is in short supply, I'd go for a quality chef's knife as that's probably the most useful knife. Personally my favourite from my collection is an old carbon steel 8" Sabatier, followed by a similar size Wusthof. Japanese blades are amazing but the chef's knife styles tend to have thinner blades that are more suited to slicing. The Sabs and Wusthof will hack through most things without the fear of breaking the blade edge.

Quality carbon steel Sabatiers are available in Britain if you know where to look. Don't know about the States. I bought one recently from Axminster though they seem to be out of stock at the mo.

As for Global, been there, sold them on. The handles just hurt my hands! YMMV of course. Handle them first. They are thinner blades as well.

After that, if you are still short on cash for pots and pans, I'd just get an El Cheapo set (I paid about £4.50 from Ikea!) and replace them bit by bit when the good stuff comes up in sales. That's what I did, worked fine. I use the Ikea set for camping now so the 4.50 wasn't wasted!

Gareth

Knife, go for something 20cm, I think the next size is 25cm however in my career I have not yet come across anything that the 20cm can't do. I have a lot of German stainless and Japanese carbon. Global I'm not a fan of after seeing people drop them and they break between handle and blade, and because its one piece, your totally screwed. (shouldn't drop your knives anyway, but I guess it happens)

Pans, go around some garage sales or swap meets or whatever the term is you use, for people who sell their household items on the front lawn and get yourself a nice cast iron pan for next to nothing. I prefer the older stuff than the new, and if you season it properly and take care of it, it shall serve you just as well as any of these rubbish teflon coated pans.

Pots, I prefer heavy based ones with copper bases, but again that stuff is now something of the past. But if you can get your hands on it.... You won't be disappointed.

My 0.02

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

Global I'm not a fan of after seeing people drop them and they break between handle and blade, and because its one piece, your totally screwed. (shouldn't drop your knives anyway, but I guess it happens)

I hadn't heard that about Globals before, but that would definitely be problematic. I'll have to let my sister know about that. I agree that it's not a good idea to drop sharp implements, but if for whatever reason you do, I'd rather have it be a tad more forgiving.

Im partial to circulon pans and wusthof cutlery. I have had the circulon pans which are an aluminum nonstick coating on a steel body. The nonstick works really well and reduces the requirement of oil when frying. heavier bottom than the sides so great heat coverage and water clean up is easy. We cook here for 8 every meal and they have held up really well for three years or so. they can be purchased as sets or as open stock. i do use a significant amount of cast iron cookwear as well and they are always a bargain. once it is seasoned and properly cared for cast iron will be the last pans you ever buy in my opinion. The knives are a mixed bag of wusthof purchased partly as a set and then added to as requirements came up . I like the larger knives as my mitts are large and small handles are fairly uncomfortable. My wife on the other hand has tiny hands and has no problem with handles on the shorter knives. I have a large chefs knife that i got from walmart tho that i really like. Go figure. the series of knives there by chicago cutlery are decent and inexpensive. decent as in they cut and hold a pretty good edge for a decent amount of time. i assume you can sharpen a knife tho they sharpen quickly and i think i paid 9 dollars for the large chef and 7 for a smaller boning knife by chicago cutlery as well. It all comes down to feel for me if its something that doesnt fit your hand and that you will use who cares if emeril signed the darn thing???? thats my two pennies and i hope it helps.
Peace
Shmamoozle

Pots/ pans - if you are considering stainless clad-ware consider Cuisinart "Multiclad." About 1/2 the price of All-Clad and just as durable, functional and attractive.

I bought a 7 piece set a few years ago and it's one of the best kitchen investments I've ever made.

Le Creuset is excellent. A bit heavy but some of the best made.

A 4 quart stock pot, 1 qt sauce, and a 10" fry/saute pan should be a good start.

Also, get a good heavy roasting pan w/rack made of anodized aluminum for perfectly carmelized fond for your sauces. Enameled cast iron works extremely well too if you don't mind the weight.

A Lodge cast iron reversible gill pan has been indespensible in my kitchen.

As far as knives, buy the best you can afford, one at a time if you have to. They will last a lifetime. At least get an 8" Chef's knife and a small paring knife. Those two will do just about everything you will need. Make sure to get a sharpening steel as well.


Scott

Ivo,

I concur on getting one cast iron pan - these are nice and so cheap there's no reason not to get it. That's the one I use most. Really heavy, but I know you can handle weight And the heat distribution can be beat only by copper. Mine's 12" or so by Lodge, but it's cast iron afterall - anything would do. LeCreuset is quite fancy, but somehow I prefer non-enamelled old-fashinon stuff. I also have a light 10" teflon pan, so that I can flip pancakes if I feel adventurous. And There's a small 8" calphalon made of anodized aluminum that I rarely use. I cook soup in either of 2 pots - a stainless steel one (I suppose it's cheap as the expensive copper bottomed one got 'lost') or another calphalon sauce pan that I have. They work fine, heat distribution doesn't seem to be a big issue with soups as there's plenty of water.
As far as knives go - good suggestions so far. You probably have an idea what you like already in terms of weight and with your DMT's you can keep them sharp, but a sharpening steel is nice to strop/realign the edge every now and then (as you know it doesn't remove metal as it's too soft).
I mostly use a cheap made in china chef knife - the steel is not fantastic, but it's forged and fairly well made qualitiwise. I keep it sharp and it works really well.
Some day I'll start getting good stuff, but so far it's been doing quite well.
If you know what you like you may as well go and get your good german/japanese knife now.

Oh, and don't forget the wooden cutting board - I don't like bamboo, much prefer maple.

cheers,
ivan

Oh man you can drown in the subjectivity of this topic. All the better cutlery (Henkels, Whustof, Sabatier, etc) is good. If it's forged (not stamped) and has a good handle it will serve you as well as you treat it. My personal favortie knife is a seven inch santoku. I can demolish an onion in seconds and chop parsely into molecules just as quickly. I have about a thousand bucks worth of knives but I use only two or three. See this thread:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=20382

In the same thread you can see the cookware I have. I used to collect Magnalite (which is what Calphalon and Circulon are based on) but it has vanished from the market. Then I began collecting All-Clad but it is very costly. I have a few cast iron pieces, including a Lodge Dutch oven with stainless handles that is my favorite pot. I have a Belgian LeCruset knockoff omelet pan that is wonderful. As long as it's not bare aluminum you can get by with anything. The cutlery is way more important than the cookware.

Regarding knives, I'm going to say something heretical so be prepared.

Anolon

There. I said it.

Anolon primarly makes medium quality non-stick pans.

I am not a knife snob. I want a paring knife, a chef's knife, and cleaver and I'm pretty much good to go. I needed to replace my very old Henckel's chef's knife and I went to a lot of high end stores and none of the knives felt right in my hand. Either the handle or the blade felt like crap but more often they both did. I tried all the renowned brands I could get my hands on, because I won't buy a knife without holding it first, and they were all crap.

Then I found the Anolon 7" Santoku and it was perfect. I was looking for an 8" chef's knife but I had tried other santokus and I hated them as much as all the chef's knives. For me, the Anolon Santoku just works. It fits my hand just right and has a good heft to it. It takes and holds an edge well. It doesn't feel like it was made in China, like all the German stuff I tried, though it probably is.

If interested, I googled it and THIS is the first link that came up. I think it's pretty good for $29 and I wouldn't trade it for any of the stuff I tried that cost over 100 bucks.

Using Anolon isn't heretical. I have one of their 7" Santokus as well, and I use it almost as much as my better knives. Great balance, comfortable, and you can't beat the price (although I paid almost twice what they're selling for on that site).