Octaveman

HERE is a link to pics of his catalog. The International Pro (IP) series is the top series to get. I'm trying to find his email as this is the only contact for him and as soon as I can find it, I'll post it. Someone may post it to the link above so keep checking back. that link above is a great resource for kitchen knives. It might be a good idea to join the forum as it has invaluable information for anyone doing research into kitchen knives. The main forum is called Knifeforums.com and we're all In The Kitchen. Come poke your head around and say hello. Edited to add I found it. carter.cutlery@verizon.net . Here's a blurb I found on him too: Upon completing his apprenticeship under the tutelage of a 16th generation Yoshimoto bladesmith, Murray Carter was asked to take the position of number seventeen in the Sakemoto family tradition of Yoshimoto Bladesmithing. He is the only Caucasian to ever have had the honor and privilege of this position. In June 2001, Murray Carter was awarded the rating of Mastersmith by the American Bladesmith Society, thus proving a degree of competency by Western standards.

Hi Vaughn, I think Kramers knife that you're referring to is a Nakiri. An Usuba is a traditional Japanese design and is single beveled. The Nakiri is the same shape but is double beveled. I may not be the best person to ask about the use of a Nakiri as I'v always used Gyuto's for my prep work. That's not to say I'm not willing to try them, I just haven't as of yet although I do have my eye on a nakiri made by Takeda. So with that in mind I think the Nakkiri, Santoku, Gyuto and light-weight cleaver are all used for veggie prep and they can do the same work. The style of usage will differ, of course, but there are those that prefer one over the other and is purely a personal preference thing. I would jump at the chance to get one of his knives specially one of his damascus knives but I don't think it would be one of his Nakiri's and the only reason would be that based on his pictures, there's very little knuckle clearance. But hey, it's a custom so he could make it with more clearance, right? The rounded tip will give you good rocking action too. I say go for it. Actually, have you considered Murray Carter? Quite an amazing story behind him and he makes quite amazing knives. A Canadian who moved and studied in Japan for 10 years and was adopted by a knife making family to be next in their lineage. He now resides in Oregon. His Nakiri gets rave reviews from people who own them. Wait list is quite long right now though. Anyway, hope this helps a little

I also think they choose a set number of easily attainable brands by the masses. I know that Hattori, Tojiro, Ryusen Blazen, Misono can run circles around them but the only place to get them other than the few scattered places around the country is on the internet. It's a shame that all these Japanese brands are not better displayed and tested in the general publics eyes. Things would be turned upside down if they were.

It's a slicer for roasts, turkeys, etc. Another brand you can consider is Kanetsugu. Their Pro-M line seems to be pretty good and very reasonable. I don't know anyone that has tried them but from the description, they seem like pretty decent knives. The handles are more ergonomic than most too so that may be a plus. Maybe Chad's heard a thing or two about them.

Don't forget your stones to keep those babies sharp. Edited to add that I've heard some good things and a lot of not so good things about those knives. Like snapping in two, not being able to sharpen them, "too" light, etc. I'd stick with good old steel. Like Chad points out, your cooking style should dictate what you need and what you don't need. I'm the only cook in my house so I don't need a quasi small knife for any reason. 270mm is my size of choice although I do have a 210 that I use and enjoy using a lot more than I thought I would. I personally won't go any smaller than that for general prep. Keep in m ind that you're not getting a real long knife anyway. Do you think you'll need another knife slightly smaller? Just throwin out some questions here. Shun are good knives. I've found that the sides kind of cause drag as they slice through food. Could be an issue if you're lightly holding something and your knife is trying to pull it out of your grasp because the sides are rough. If you like the look of the damascus, you can check out the Hattori HD knives. They are a great line of knives, beautiful, comfortable handles and will last a lifetime. The sides are smooth as glass.

What brand(s)? What's your budget? Each knife doesn't have to be from the same maker. The cardinal rule to buying knives is spend the most amount of money on your most used knife. Then you can get lower priced styles that will still be good. Why spend a lot of money on a knife you won't use that often is the basic thought. I think those are good. I still think the 5 1/2 veggie knife is not needed but that's me. What would you use it for? Definately get the deba.

Chad...Utility knife? Phththt. It's only an inch(?) smaller than the chef. That's funny. Yeah, the Tojiro's handles are a bit square. Kristin, let us know what you plan on getting. Hope we didn't just make it more confusing. I had a harder time buying my first Japanese gyuto than I did deciding on a digital camera. If you've ever done the research on camera's, you know what I mean. Cheers

Wow, Chad, your quick. I would shy away from getting a santoku and a gyuto as they are duplication of knives. They both do the same thing. I also echo what he said about length...nothing smaller than a 210mm or 8 inches for your chefs knife.

These terms are used very loosely in the industry. There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to design of a chef's knife. The European chef's knife has a few features that the Japanse Gyuto does not. It is thicker, heavier and has a softer blade. The profile is also wider or taller. There is also a bolster at the heal (back) of the blade that adds weight to bring the blade heavy balance back. Japanese knives have harder blades and are thinner and lighter as a result. These harder blades help keep the edge sharper for longer periods but are also somewhat more fragile too because of their hardness level. Some Japanse knives are harder than others but even those that are on the softer side are still harder than their Euro counterparts. The Gyuto has a more French profile in that it's not as tall. The Shun is not a good representative of Japanese knives as it's chef knife has a much taller profile than the Gyuto. A gyuto is light, sleek and very manueverable. Think of the Euro chef's knife as a mini van while the gyuto would be a sports car. Global makes some good knives. I'm not all that familiar with them but have heard they make a line that is quite good. Depending on your budget there may be better choices out there that could get you additional knives for the same amount of money. I rarely use my 120mm petty/utility knife. I might for cutting up fruit but that's about it. I've never used flexible boning knives. The stiff Honesuki I use to bone chickens does an excellent job and am happy with it's performance. It has a much higher knuckle clearance than flexible boning knives that makes it great for cutting through joints, ribs or the back. I don't have a fillet knife as I have no need for one. They would be used for fish. No, a deba by nature is a thick and heavy knife. It's intended use is for breaking down fish (lopping off heads/tails) in Japan. A western deba can be used in western kitchens for heavy duty work like for chickens and fish. A veggie knife should be your chef or Gyuto. A deba would be too thick and heavy for this. Got me on this one too as I don't use paring knives either. Haven't really the need for one. I think the latter types you mentioned are for specialty work on veggies. I don't think the average household needs them. If you wanted a 3-4 inch knife, then a standard paring knife would be fine. Edited to better resemble the English language.

Ooh boy...I can see how your overwelmed by all the selections and choices of knife styles. It's not as bad as you think so have a glass of wine and relax. First it would be helpful if you told us what kind of things you would use your knives for. In other words, do you just do veggie prep (slicing, chopping, mincing, etc.), do you bone your own chickens or duck, etc. You've already said you don't need a bread knife so that's good to know. Do you tend to slice a lot of meat like roasts, turkeys, etc? This thread is a good place to start as this subject was recently discussed in this very forum. It also discusses where to buy the knives and where to send them to get professionally sharpened. The knives I recommended start at $50 and are very good for the money. Basically, there are just a few knives that you really "need" as a home chef. Some people like Santoku's and others prefer the Gyuto or chef's knife. I prefer the gyuto myself because it's less stumpy (only word I could think of). The Santoku only gets to about 6 1/2 inches long and that's just too short IMHO. The Gyuto gets to a more usable size and is just as versatile if not more so because of it's length. Weight and balance is not really an issue in the smaller sized Gyuto's either. By smaller I mean 240mm and under. Other knives to consider based on what you do in the kitchen is a Honesuki or boning knife or a small western deba. Either one of those is great to have if you bone your own chickens or if you work with whole fish. It's a heavier duty knife to take on those jobs that the gyuto probably should not do (essentially anything that involves bones). If you want a small petty then you could get one of those too but again, it's up to your style of cooking. Frankly, I use my Gyuto for 90%-100% of the tasks on any given night from mincing shallots/garlic to cutting up an onion or slicing whole heads of cauliflower. Serrated knives tear the food, non-serrated knives slice the food. Doing your own sharpening is a worthwhile skill that honestly doesn't take a lot of expertise to learn, practice or perfect. In a nut shell, the lower the grit the courser it is. Grits under 1000 are for repairing chips or reprofiling your bevels. Grits from 1000 to 2000 are good starting points for sharpening a dull knife. Grits from 3000-5000 are used to further refine the edge and start to put a nice polish on the knife. Anything above that (8000 and above) are pretty much polish stones that also serve to refine the edge to that scary sharp level. For the beginner sharpener, I would suggest getting the following grits: 1k, 3k, 5k and maybe 8k if you want to get that uber sharp edge. The 8k is not necessary for a knife to be extremely sharp. I would also suggest the DVD sold by www.korin.com. It is very helpful to seeing the process as reading about it might not be all too clear. In the knife discussion above I believe someone posted a link to Chad's sharpening tutorial. it would be a great idea to read that and use for reference and use the DVD for visual confirmation. This should be helpful in getting you started in the right direction. Feel free to ask any question you can think of. Cheers Edited to add that if you have stones and do your own sharpening, a steel will not be needed. A quick light swipe or two on the highest grit stone will straighten out your edge just fine. But if you insist, the glass smooth steel sold at www.handamerican.com is ideal.

Yes, yes.

Anyone? Recipe for Choo Chee Duck?

I really hate to disagree with you Dick but a Falk copper lid performs no better than a basic SS one. Other than aesthetics, spending $110 for a copper lid is unecessary and pointless when a $20 SS lid will do the same job and you won't have to worry about dinging or scratching it. The ones at Bridge are either the Sitram Catering or from Paderno. Send an email to them and ask which would fit Falk the best or maybe Sam Kinsley knows. Paderno Lids Sitram Catering Lids

Hello, I'm looking for a recipe for Choo Chee Duck. I appreciate any help in finding this very rich a tasty dish. TIA

www.bridgekitchenware.com sells SS lids seperately in various sizes.

Dinner two nights ago. Rotisseried Cornish Game Hens coated with herb mixture and salt/pepper and stuffed with lemon, garlic, onion, celery and butter. Drip pan below had red wine and stock in it to help keep the meat moist and add some flavor.

Your basic pepperoni pizza with mozzarella and fresh basil. Suace was thinned out tomato paste with misc herbs added.

I probably shouldn't be posting a reply because I've had the same Broil Mate bbq now for the last 15 years but I do know that higher BTU's will give you more flexibility with your cooking. It's very hard to grill something when it just won't get hot enough for really good sear marks and the resulting flavor let alone cooking your food to your liking in a timely manner. My bbq is 50,000 btu's, has an H style burner and has treated me very well. I think as long as you don't go cheap, materials would probably similar in a particular price range. Just a few thoughts.

Original Joe's Downtown San Jose. IMHO really good Italian with steaks, chops, seafood. Their Veal Scallopini Sec with mushrooms is awesome and I LOVE their ravioli. It's a casual place open until 1:30 am. See Menu. They've been there since 1956 and are family owned. Highly recommend.

Woo Hoo!!! Another one!!! The Tojiro powdered steel series is a really good series...a tough, workhorse of a knife. Koki at JCK.com is really good with the customer and making sure he/she is happy. Getting knives out the door quickly is the first thing he can do for us and he does it very well. Keep in mind that even while sharp out of the box, it is NOT as sharp as it could be because the Japanese don't typically sharpen every knife to it's fullest. Also keep in mind that unless you're willing to learn how to sharpen the knives yourself, there's just a couple of places I recommend sending the knife to be resharpened. See up thread for links to those places. They are the only places that I would trust with my knives and can make any knife screaming sharp...which is a good thing. Glad people are in love with their knives but it's no surprise to me. p.s. The knives/brands I've recommended are just the tip of the iceberg and are the most recommended knives at their price point. Feel free to let me help you spend your money on more knives if you want to fill your block. Cheers

Good question and nice picture. Really shows the differences. My favorite Gyutos are not lightweight really but they are lighter than Euro knives of the same size. My two favs which are both 270mm (10.5") are 9.8 ounces and 10.5 ounces. I must say I can't really tell the difference between the two either in usage. A 240mm knife can only be so light so it would be impossible to compare one that is 6 ounces to one that is 11 ounces because the former just doesn't exist. I feel thickness is more of a factor in performance than weight even though they basically go hand in hand. One can say that the weight feels good to them but then feel the knife plods along during usage and just doesn't perform like a thinner knife would. Think of it as driving a van versus a sports car. IMHO a thick(er) knife takes more force to slice through something than a thin knife. Factor in the level of sharpness and a knife's use could really be cumbersome or effortless. Knife skills I think are also a factor as it's hard to move quickly with a thick/heavy knife specially over long periods of time as you also pointed out. It's hard if not impossible to suggest that body type plays a factor because it is so subjective making it impossible for one person to change his/her body type for the test. A larger and heavier knife might suit a larger person better than a small/light knife but it comes down to how it feels and performs for that person. Hope that all made sense...long day at work.

That's great Diana. It's always good to hear of people's enjoyment with Japanese knives. See, I wasn't kidding about JCK's shipping was I? Another good thing is that it's $7 to ship one knife or five knives. Yes, the length will become your friend soon enough. I find that I use my gyuto's for practically everything from mincing garlic to slicing up heads of lettuce or cabbage. Glad you really like the knife.

yes

I say make a nice sized patty out of it, season it up with salt/pepper and fry it up in a fry pan. Put a slice of butter on it to melt before it's done. Then sauted some mushrooms with garlic and top the patty. Yum.

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of the soup he/she said he/she wanted to make. When I make soup I wish I had something close to a 4 quart pan so that gives you an idea of why I said a 2 quart is pretty small for that. Since most of my sauces are made in the pan I cook the meat in I don't have a lot of uses for a saucepan for sauces per se. I do have a Falk flared saucepan (called Chef's pan by Falk) that I use to reduce the liquid from a braise but it doesn't get a lot of use in general. Edited to fix the problem of my brain moving faster than my fingers.