— Crystal Flowers

I'll first say that ideally you'll have a chance to try on, so to speak, uh, the knives that you select, because, um, knives, um, can be a, a, a personal thing in terms of how they fit your hand, um, the weight of the knife, and, um, uh, you know, how your fingers wrap around the handle. And, and, you know, these aesthetic and, and ergonomic considerations. Um, carrying cases, uh, can be bought separately. So don't necessarily, you know, limit your choice to, uh, set that comes with a, a knife kit, okay? Sometimes you, you want a, a matching name brand name, and I understand that. Um, but if not, then you can sometimes buy those, or you can buy 'em separately. You can buy small ones, you can buy big ones that hold a bunch of stuff. Um, so you have a lot of choices in that department. Um, you know, also think about, uh, um, the, the style of knife. There's, uh, a, a, um, well, let me, let me go back to the idea of a set. Think about, um, uh, how much cooking you're gonna do. You know, uh, how many different knives you need. I mean, generally speaking, you don't need a, a lot of knives. It could be a couple of knives, maybe it's three or four. You can always add to your set over time as you find your cooking expands. Or it shifts in a way where, uh, you know, you would benefit from some other style of knife. Okay? But, you know, think about a chef's knife. Um, you know, think about, uh, something small like a paring knife. It could be a utility knife, which is something in between a chef's knife and a paring knife. Um, you might consider, uh, a serrated knife of some sort to get you through, uh, a loaf of bread, for example. And, um, and I don't know, uh, you know, those are maybe the ones that I use most often, even though I've got, uh, probably, I don't know how many dozen, maybe I'm down to a couple dozen knives now. I probably had, uh, twice as that recently before starting to give them away. But, um, uh, also thinking about the style of knife, um, meaning, uh, I'll say broadly speaking, European style knives, the ones that we often see from, uh, German makers, uh, they tend to be a heavier, thicker blade look, looked at from above the knife. They're thick, and that affects slicing in a certain way. It, it takes some getting used to, um, uh, versus, I'll say, generally speaking, Japanese knives. Oh, that's very general here. Uh, uh, very often we come across these knives that are thin, thinner in profile, and you can really do some fine cooking. They're lighter in weight. Um, you still might want to have a heavier knife on hand to cut through some hard and dense items, because lighter weight knives can chip, uh, if you're, uh, whacking away at, um, you know, a hard winter squash, for example. Um, and so those are, you know, some things to keep in mind. And then of course, there's a budget, um, uh, knives, you know, a a I'll say decent quality knives can start from pretty affordable, you know, maybe 50 bucks or so, $60 for a chef's knife up to several hundred dollars for something that's custom made. And many brands fall somewhere in between, okay? Where a single knife may cost a hundred to, uh, $150 or, or something like that. So, you know, one's budget, uh, is always important, and I'm always sensitive to that. Um, you know, I'll, uh, start out by saying that as a, as a place to start. Okay? Uh, you might be familiar with the Swiss Army Knife, okay? The company, the parent company is called Victorinox. And Victorinox today makes a bunch of cutlery. And, uh, they make a, a line of cutlery called fx, F-I-B-R-O-X. And that particular line of cutlery is, um, it's, it's relatively inexpensive, okay? And it provides a pretty good value. Some years ago, uh, the Chef's knife from this lineup, uh, was labeled the Best Buy by Consumer Reports, uh, which I thought was fantastic. Um, there's nothing fancy about it. Um, if you want a knife to show off to friends, this ain't it. Uh, if you want a really practical workhorse, this is a good choice. Um, it's got a, a molded rubber handle. It's got a stamped steel blade. Again, nothing fancy about it. Um, but it's, uh, the, the blade is relatively easy to sharpen. It holds an edge for a relatively long period of time. And, um, because it's, uh, not expensive, uh, relatively speaking, um, you're not gonna worry about it, I don't think. I certainly don't worry about mine. And, uh, it's, it's a, a knife that, um, you know, I don't mind recommending to folks if that fits your need. And I, again, when I say need, I'm cognizant, uh, you know, of the reality that not only do we have a need to cut food, but we have sometimes, uh, an image right, that, um, is important to us among, among family and, and friends. And, uh, so this is where branding comes in, right? You, you can buy very expensive brands to kind of, uh, fill that niche. But anyway, that's a place to start. Otherwise, head on down to Williams Sonoma or some of the cutlery store, where you'll find many examples, uh, of knives, and you can try them on, you know, so to speak. Uh, and you can probably even ask them to pull out a cutting board and an onion, or some carrots, or you can actually cut a few things, uh, to see how they feel. Okay? And, uh, also keep in mind that the most important thing is for you to develop your knife skills. That's gonna bring the most joy, uh, to your longtime, uh, experience in the kitchen.