Are You a Knife Cook or a Pot Cook?

[heidih]

From the perspective of cooking personality versus the "fire" scenario, I am a pot person. I know exactly how they will behave with various items and I am comfortable with them. Of course having to work with cruddy knives irritates me, but to me they are more a tool to get the food into my pots. My pots seem to have their own souls.

[pax]

Well, I read all the replies. In the fire I'd save my pots....but if I was forced to go cook in someone else's kitchen, I'd bring my knives.

I even have one stashed in my mother's house she doesn't know about so she can't ruin it and I don't have to keep transporting it. (Up high and packed securely!)

[Peter the eater]

Pot.

Knives get smaller and more dull with time, pots get seasoned. Plus my top pot is ten times more expensive than my top knife.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Peter the eater (log)

[emmalish]

Yeah, my pots & knives are all easily replaced, and most of the cast iron might actually improve if it went thru a house fire.  I'd save the hand-carved sassafras wood bread bowl.  Sorry for not playing by the rules!

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Ummm, would I be able to grab Celeste's bread bowl as well? I reeeeally want one...

[Tropicalfox]

If I'm going back to save something in the kitchen, I'd grab my knives, put them in the pots and run... I use BIG pots so they'd fit without banging against each other...

I don't believe I would be able to replace my "calderos" and rice wouldn't cook right in anything else...

[Susie Q]

I'd save my knives and grab a steak, a potato or two, and a bottle of wine on the way out.

I'd just snap a branch off the tree skewer my steak on it then shove it in the ground next to what was my home after I've buried my potatoes in the embers. I'd sip some wine while waiting for supper.

[Rob Babcock]

My knives. Screw the pots.

[melamed]

What if I grab the knives and my perfectly seasoned cast-iron skillet?

Good lord, this is like Sophie's Choice.

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I'll chime in with the caste iron skillet

[KarenDW]

Definitely knives. I take them with me to work in almost anyone else's kitchen. So, in the event of a devastating fire, after which I surely will need to get a(nother) job in order to replace things... the knives will come in handy. And the whole kit (3 blades) is a lot lighter than a "kit" of pots. So, trudging with them down 26 flights of stairs, 'cos the elevator is dangerous in a fire, will be "easier".

[purplewiz]

If it's only one or the other, I'd have to go with my knife, mostly because even though I KNOW it's a piece of crap compared to the newer knives out there, it's MY knife. It's still the most comfortable knife I own, and that's why I haven't bothered to replace it. I'm very big on comfort. We've been through a lot together.

My pots are just pots. Some are better (Le Creuset), some aren't, but when I have to replace them, I don't worry too much about it.

But honestly, both would be WAY down on the "save in a fire" list. I think the outdoor gas grill would be higher than either. (My gas grills and I form a relationship. After we work together awhile, I KNOW what it's going to do and where are the hot spots and how to position the food precisely for the results I want. Replacing them is traumatic.)

Marcia.

[gfron1]

I didn't realize until I had to let someone step in for me at the cafè last week. I didn't give my pots a second thought, but freaked out when I realized I didn't tell her how I wanted her to wash and dry my knives. And yes, she did manage to leave some odd stain on one of the knives.

[thomasdavis81]

probably just grab all the books i can my knives are metal... not gonna melt except the handles, my knives have life time warranties i will just take them back or have new handles put on them just like i did when someone at work dropped my 8" wusthof and broke the handle

[chuchelo]

Definitely pots! Particularly if I can stretch the definition to include all of my enamel-covered cast iron pieces. Couldn't go back into the kitchen without them! Of course, I would rely on my husband (who is definitely a knife guy!) to grab his knives going out the door.

Best of both worlds!

[judiu]

I'd take the knives.

In the words of AB: "don't touch my d*ck, don't touch my knife"

Knives are personal.  Pots and pans aren't.

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Good lord, Alton Brown said THAT? (ducks and runs very fast...)

Yes, my knives, some of them, anyway!

ETA: I actually went thru this scenarario about five years ago when my house did burn; my friends went in and rescued all my clothes, but NONE of my kitchen stuff! I love them all dearly, but they don't understand my priorities! Someone later broke in to the boarded up house and stole every thing they could move.

Edited March 7, 2009 by judiu (log)

[PatDC]

Pots.

[ChristinaM]

Knives. But I had to think long and hard about that. Can I rescue my antique silver nutmeg grater? That's the only thing in my kitchen that I'd really hate to lose and is not replaceable.

[Lindacakes]

Since I keep all my personal recipes digitally, and since all of those recipes are backed up on a CD that's kept in my safe deposit box, I can say with confidence:

Pots.

Especially the two Le Creuset pots that I own in discontinued colors. French blue and some incredible green they made for ten minutes. Really, I don't understand the fool who is playing with the pigment for the enamel on those pots.

I would need to load them in my granny cart, though, because they are spread over two apartments, in five locations, including the bedroom. Where do YOU store a twelve-inch cast iron skillet with cast iron lid? Yes, next to the bed!

But what about my DISHES for Christ sake? The ones I scoured the world of antique stores for? Dug through baskets of castoffs for? Carried home from Mexico on my lap? Wheedled out of my mother over decades?

[LaneL]

I would have to go with my knives, I have plenty of pots/pans at work, but my knives come home every night.

[Terrasanct]

I wonder if it makes a difference if you're a pro or an amateur? Pros have shared pots and personal knives. I'm an amateur, and as much as I love my knives (and my vintage Pyrex bowls, and my Kitchenaids) I'd grab the pots first. The Le Creuset in many colors and shapes that I've been collecting for years, and the All Clad as well.

I would tuck my older Kitchenaid under my arm, for sure.

[phatj]

I have exactly one pot (a perfectly-seasoned cast iron skillet) and one knife (a 240mm gyuto) that are worth saving, and they're kept within five feet of each other in the kitchen, so I think I could reasonably grab both in the fire scenario.

However, if forced to choose between them, I'll take the skillet, because I put a lot of time into getting it seasoned and I continue to do so. I haven't done anything to the knife other than a few seconds honing before each use.

[Lindacakes]

I'm just curious about the size of that skillet . . .

I have several cast iron pots and I'm not sure which one I'd protect if I had to choose . . .

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Knife, without a doubt. I hate it when people even touch my knives and if I had a duck, I'm sure I'd tell them to keep their hands off that, too.

[lala]

My knives, especially my 4 Sabatiers I bought at an incredible knife shop in Soho (London) 20 years ago. I know they're old fashioned, but they fit my small hands perfectly. I especially love the 8" carbon steel french knife.

[lcool]

KNIVES,currently in the process of a move.To an all mine kitchen,new house etc.

Everything is to the $ insured,part of the hassle.I do not care who packs the pots.

However the knives will be transported by me.Many old knives can't be replaced in any easy way.

[Just Jim]

Oh, knives for sure.

Of course that's an easy choice.

Fire in the middle of the night?

Grab my knives and run.

No thought required, since I sleep with them.