What knives make a complete knife set?

Let's pretend that I want to purchase a complete knife set. Not out of the box from a retailer. A custom made set. What do I tell the maker I want?

I call knives steak knives, paring knives, bread knives, chopping knives, butter knives.

So put it in laymen's terms for me along with the Japanese name.

I eat meat, I chop veggies, I peel fruit, I carve turkey and ham on Thanksgiving.
What knives would make a complete set for me?

Thanks Everyone!

 

A gyuto. That is all.

You can add a slicer/sujihiki, boning knife/honesuki, bread knife, cleaver, and some sort of paring knife and you should be set. At least, that is, until you decide you need a yanagi, a deba, a nakiri as well as an usuba...... you get the point.

 

In An Edge in the Kitchen, Chad Ward recommends a basic set of a chef's/gyuto, a paring/petty and either a slicer/sujihiki or a serrated bread knife (if you cut bread).

I'm not a big bread eater, and like to have a heavy knife and a boning knife, so I've used a five knife kit, like this one:



Top to bottom, 24 cm gyuto, 24 cm sujihiki, 16.5 cm Western deba, 14.5 cm hankotsu and 12 cm petty.

 

And more gyutos.

 

I got by for a long time with 2 gyutos, 2 sujis and 1 petty in my kit.

Otherwise my answer is NO SUCH THING! A complete set is like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps going and going and going. Or maybe it's like kudzu, it keeps growing and growing and growing.

 

I should add that I don't cook. But I do find myself needing a knife every now and then. And I would like to have a set of kitchen knives to show off.
It sounds like for now I can get by with 3. Gyuto, Petty, and a Sujihiki.
I don't cut bread.

What would you recommend for steak knives? For use on my plate when eating steaks.....

 

oh yeah and I guess a chopping knife for veggies and lettuce and cabbage.

and what exactly do you mean by boning knife? De-boning meat?

 

The gyuto will do just fine for veggies. It's an all-purpose, do-it-all knife.

I use the hankotsu to break down chickens, debone chicken thighs, break down Porterhouse steaks into NY strips and filet mignon, cut up a rack of ribs - pretty much anything where I might make hard contact with a bone. It's also a decent cheese knife, as the geometry pushes the slices away without too much stickage.

As far as steak knives, get an inexpensive set of serrated knives like the Victorinox rosewood if you are serving steak on regular plates. If you want a set of high-end steak knives with plain edged blades you'll need to also get wooden plates, otherwise the edges will be perceptibly duller after just one meal on normal dinner plates.

 

so custom steak knives would be out then.

Which you also brought to my attention that I'd need a nice cutting board also.

 

Gyuto - All purpose
Sujihiki - slicing ham and turkey, big watermelons, cantaloupes
Hankotsu - Anything with potential contact with bone.
Petty - small fruits and light veggie work

I think that should cover it for my purposes.

 

don't forged a bread knife

 

hankotsu can be exchanged with like five different knife shapes depending on what you like. you should explore your own needs and wants. visual desires are just as important to me as the actual need for a knife. it will make you like to use it more if it attracts you in the long run.

 

Not necessarily. If you are going to drop some serious coin on custom steak knives, just have some custom steak plates made. I'm sure David (The BoardSMITH) can make you some beautiful plates, or you can just buy some pre made:

You may find you don't need the hankotsu. Start with the "big three" and see if they meet your needs. A petty can do a good job trimming meats.

Agreed. I find a hankotsu suits my needs, but you may not.

 

I would add a nice straight tine carving fork to your mix Jason. Its always a good help to be able to hold onto what you are carving.

( yes I do know its not a knife!)

At the end of the day its what you are going to be doing that drive the selection, you say you don't cook but I know you do.. its just a level of interpretation and deciding on needs.

 

a guy comes here looking for knife suggestions, now he's getting carving forks and cutting boards and custom steak plates. Ya'll are something else!

I never knew steak plates were a thing. I've only ever ate off porcelain plates, and paper plates.
I don't think I need a bread knife. Of course I say that now.

I think I'll just stick with the big 3 as Rick said. And a cutting board, and steak plates and a carving fork :

 

I guess you might have one or two for other knives you have but you might need a sharpening stone or 2 as well

 

Let's just stop at knives for now :BF

 

and boards and wooden plates and carving forks
A couple of good knives made a huge difference to my cooking, wanted to cook even more than usual

 

in to the rabbit hole I go!

 

and the hole is quite deep. beware the lure of the shigefusa.