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What types of knives do I need in my kitchen?
What do I do with a boning knife?
Why should I NOT put my knives in the dishwasher?
Why can't I sharpen my ceramic knife?
When should I use a santoku knife as opposed to a chef's knife?
Why do you sell stamped and forged knives?
What's the difference between a stamped knife and a forged knife?
What is stamina?
Why should I buy copper cookware and not stainless steel?
Which brand of nonstick cookware is the best?
What's the difference between 18/8 and 18/10 stainless steel?
Is "surgical stainless" better?
I have a ceramic stovetop. What pans can I use?
Typically, the most used knives in the kitchen are: an 8" or 10" chef's or cook’s knife, a 3" to 4" paring knife, a 9" or 10" bread knife, and a 5" to 6" boning knife.
A boning knife with a wide stiff blade is excellent for removing bones from large cuts of meat, such as a leg of lamb. A narrow blade is usually more flexible and is ideal for cutting around the intricate bone contours of poultry.
For many reasons: The sharp edges can do damage to the rubber coating of the dishwasher baskets, eventually allowing the metal underneath to rust. Other items in the dishwasher can strike the knife edge, damaging the knife and/or the other item. If left in the dishwasher, food stuck on the blade can cause damage and pitting. Plastic handles may be discolored by detergents, and wooden ones are damaged by soaking. Hot and cold cycles may change the temper of the steel, causing brittleness.
While industrial ceramic creates an ultra-sharp, long lasting knife blade, it does require skilled handling to avoid damage. To protect your investment, it’s important to entrust your ceramic knives only to a professional experienced in methods of working with industrial ceramics, who’ll use a powered diamond sharpening wheel to sharpen your blades.
Use a santoku when thin slicing is the task at hand and no rocking blade action is required. The full wide blade is also good for picking up the prepared cuttings.
Good knives abound in both forged and stamped styles. Both have their place, depending on the task at hand, how much the knife is to be used, and how much of an investment in cutlery you wish to make.
A stamped knife blade is flat, thin steel, die-cut to the configuration of the finished blade. The edge is ground and polished producing a lighter and less expensive knife, back-heavy in the hand. A forged blade starts as a thick steel blank that’s heated to a high temperature and struck with a forging hammer to form the blade. Successive heating and cooling tempers the blade for strength and resiliency. The blade is ground from spine to edge creating a tapered blade that’s either front-heavy or balanced at the bolster.
Stamina is a very durable and beautiful knife handle. It’s made by impregnating wood with resins and dyes, bringing out the wonderful natural grain of the wood, while delivering the all strength and durability of a synthetic.
After silver, copper is the most conductive material. Buy copper when you need cookware that will both heat up and cool down quickly, giving you the best control. Copper also looks great, not only hanging on the wall, but also for tableside prep or serving, and must be kept polished to look its best. As copper will react with certain food, it must be lined with an inert metal, typically stainless steel, though sometimes tin. This makes copper cookware generally heavier than comparable pieces in aluminum or stainless steel. We carry copper cookware from Bourgeat and Ruffoni.
Each line of nonstick cookware we sell is excellent. The right choice for you depends on how much you want to spend against how much use the pan will get. If for example, it’s only for occasional use, frying an egg and using nylon tools, the choice of pans would be different from those needing to stand up to more rigorous use, even withstanding the use of metal utensils.
The "18" refers to the percentage of chromium in the steel, which helps protect against corrosion. The "8" or "10" refers to the percentage of nickel which provides additional corrosion resistance and gives the metal its shiny appearance. The higher number indicates more nickel. Both 18/8 and 18/10 are suitable for culinary purposes.
Don't be misled when a piece of cookware is labeled "surgical stainless," thinking it’s somehow more sanitary or better for it. In order for an item to be labeled as such, the stainless steel must contain more than 5% carbon. All stainless steel is manufactured with at least 15%, therefore making "surgical stainless" a meaningless statement.
In order for the heating elements in a ceramic stovetop to work properly, use pans with perfectly flat bottoms. Some pans with exposed aluminum disc bottoms can scratch the stovetop surface, if the pan’s soft metal material has been nicked. Always refer to the stovetop manufacturer’s recommendations.
