Let’s talk about knives. Again.
As I said in my review of Chad Ward’s An Edge in the Kitchen:
> First, I’m going to chuck my medium-gauge honing steel, which Chad says is junk, and get a ceramic steel.
> Second, I’m going to change the way I grip the handle of my knife. I’ve been using this Henckels 4-Star 8-inch chef’s knife for twelve years, and I’ve always held it the same way: gripping the handle with a fist. Even though I knew chefs didn’t hold their knives this way, I justified it by saying that I have small hands. It’s true, I do have small hands, but I know five-foot-zero female chefs who certainly don’t use the baby-silverware hold like I do.
Done and done, and I’m delighted with the results in both cases. Along with the ceramic steel I got a little eraser to take knife marks off the steel. This is Iris’s job, and she loves it.
The rest of my knife adventures have led me down a much murkier road. I haven’t severed anything yet, but I have had to rethink everything I knew about knives, and now you are going to come down this lonely, philosophical road with me.
(Can a road be philosophical?)
My Henckels 4-Star is currently sitting in the closet, replaced by a pair of sleek newcomers. First, I purchased the Ryusen Damascus santoku, impossibly beautiful and sharp, at [Epicurean Edge](http://www.epicedge.com/). Then I ordered a Togiharu Molybdenum gyuto from Korin.com, because I’m writing an article about knives and wanted to see what the cheapest ($62 shipped) mail-order Japanese knife would be like. (My article about buying knives is starting to feel a lot like Lynne Spears’ parenting book.)
Buying these knives has totally messed up my brain. And it’s not like I wasn’t warned, by commenter Thom:
> If you can, hold off on buying a gyutou; especially one with an ubersteel (Tojiro uses Sandvik 19C27 hardened to RC59-61 – clearly a gateway drug as that’s an ubersteel). Addiction to gyutou is very expensive. Very, very expensive and only gets worse.
Tell me about it, Thom. Until a few weeks ago, I had never thought about buying a new knife. I figured the Henckels and I would be kitchen buddies forever. Now I have two sharp new friends. Each, in its own way, is definitely better than the Henckels. They’re both sharper and will stay sharp longer. The Togiharu is amazingly light (about an ounce lighter than the Henckels, despite having a slightly longer blade). They’re better-looking. And overall, I’d have to say I’m much less happy with my knives than I was before.
Coincidentally, I’m rereading Daniel Gilbert’s book Stumbling on Happiness. He’s got my number:
> When we start shopping for a new pair of sunglasses, we naturally contrast the hip, stylish ones in the store with the old, outdated ones that are sitting on our noses. So we buy the new ones and stick the old ones in a drawer. But after just a few days of wearing our new sunglasses we stop comparing them with the old pair, and–well, what do you know? The delight that the comparison produced evaporates.
Learning about a better version of something you already own is often bad news. So now I have these two new knives. The shorter one is sharper, prettier, and more comfortable. But the longer one is lighter and, well, longer. Coming from an 8-inch knife, the santoku often feels too short. Now instead of reaching for my one do-all knife, I face a decision every time I reach into the drawer. Decisions are no fun. Couldn’t I solve everything by buying a new knife that would really bring it all together? Brains, beauty, long walks on the cutting board?
Maybe, but which one? How much do I want to spend? If I like an 8-inch knife, should I try a 9.5-inch one? Maybe something with a traditional wooden handle, like this? *Does it really matter what knife you use, at all?*
Of course it does. Right? You can’t use a big cleaver to do all your chopping…unless you’re one of the hundreds of millions of Chinese cooks who do exactly that. How about a dull 5-inch utility knife? I’ve seen plenty of people use such a thing to prepare a delicious meal.
What about no knife at all? Pepperoni pizza and farro salad with seared shrimp come to mind.
See what I mean about my brain? Basically, I started out thinking I’d tell the world about how to choose the best knife, and now I’m wondering whether any knife is better than any other, and where and when my own knife quest should end.
So I want to turn it over to you. Tell me about your knife. How long have you had it and what do you like about it? I’m not here to judge; I want to hear about real cutlery diversity, and I especially want to know if you use something other than a chef’s knife as your main tool.
Oh, it would be a shame to end this post without a link to the knife Iris said I should get. Luckily, only one was made and it’s already sold.
Mr. Itou Custom Santoku, $400.
