What's Your Usual Knife Setup

Sure we all love to collect, But whats the basic knife setup you take out for dinner?. Protein, sides, and the like, do you break out a single knife, two or three ?, and what are they, what function do they serve you. I know a gyuto can get you through most tasks, and some have moved to a single (one sec while I google the spelling not used to all the names yet) k,... Sujihiki. everyone cooks different so it will be nice to look at some basic set ups, plus help some of us new guys see what gets used for what

 

@ home single gyuto, can get it all done with one.
@ work usually single gyuto too unless absolutely necessary or time saving, lol.

 

One gyuto to rule them all... I usually have petty and a serrated blade very close by at work. At home I could get by with a paring knife but I prefer a gyuto because I have one in my hand so often.

 

I think about what I'm going to cut. Cabbage or similarly large target? Gyuto comes out. Protein? Thin gyuto. Cherry tomatoes or other small fruits/veggies? Nakiri or short funayuki. Green onion or the like? Nakiri. Medium targets like potatoes, onions, or bell peppers? Roll dice or go with gut feeling. The only knife I never find a use for really is my paring knife, so it gets assigned to cutting plastic wrap most of the time. I guess I never use my cleaver anymore either...too tall and awkward in a cramped kitchen for me.

 

At work just a gyuto, sometimes two.


These are the most used knives at my house. The Takeda in the middle is used most. The Washington forge carving knife is used on poultry and is also great at getting peanut butter and mayo out of the bottom of the jar. To the right of the Takeda is my son's knife. Mac 'morning knife' is great for sandwiches, toast and cheese. The forgecraft is almost done with thinning and once it gets a handle I think it might start pushing out the Takeda.

 

The knife blocks are next to the cutting boards, so it's easy to grab whatever is needed for what needs to be cut. One of the ~240 gyutos usually does the bulk of the work, with petties, parings and sujis pulled out for use as needed. Deba, usuba and yanagi rarely see action, but I got them to play a little with single bevels. The Tojiro IDK bread knife gets a ton of use when it's time to serve, but not really for meal prep.

 

This is going to sound really really dumb but here it goes.

I find that I grab this utilitarian 8" Deba almost exclusively. I have a fair number of Sabatier carbon chef knives that I used all the time as well as a nice veg clever that was my fave for a few years but the Deba is the one that gets the nod just about every time I cut or peal or chop or dice anything. I wish it was a little taller as it is not able to pick up what I cut with one try (have to make a couple of pickups to get everything off the board and into the pan). It is a heavy, thick bladed knife that is very well balanced.

Now the really dumb part. I DID NOT WANT THIS KNIFE. I only bought it to get free shipping on a pair of pizza peels (wood peal in... metal peel out of the oven) from a restaurant supply house thinking I would never use the knife. The cost of the knife was the same as the cost of the shipping on the peels but the knife took me over the minimum purchase for free shipping so I took the knife as a freebe.

Now I use it all the time and my other knives are mad at me. It takes and holds an edge amazingly well.

 

I use a 210 or 240 gyuto mostly at home. I make sushi for a living and have task specific knives for work. Yanagi for fish slicing for nigiri and sashimi. Deba or sometimes a mioroshi for breaking down fish. I usually use two depending on the thickness of the spine and bones. Usuba for katsura muki("spinning" cucumbers and other veg), negi, and ken. Suji for steak and pork breakdown and portioning. Gyuto for fun and cutting up rolls(we don't make very many) and other random tasks.

 

270 gyuto and 210 suji for 90% of things in work, whatever is lying around at home

 

It changes but right now it's a vintage sabatier pairing, 210 shig and a 240 Pierre mid-tech. That's all I've been using at work. Someday it's just a 270 yoshikane suji but that's when I'm hungover

 

oh I usually just grab whatever is within reach....

 

Some years ago I would preach that it must be 27cm beast or minimum 24.
I could argue it worked best for me, at least in pro setting.

At home now, I never encounter such a jobs as at work, so theres no tuna loins to cut, no huge halibuts to fillet, and every vegt prep is on a minimal scale, like day before yesterday one fennel bulb, 2 carrots and 4 potatoes.
I wouldnt bother 27cm blade with those, and therefore that is now sold/traded.

So now my most used knives are nonames. Blanks I got free from Maxim at one of the gatherings, surely cheapos, which Ive ground, made handles, and sharpened.
Decent enough, and dont hold the edge over months, so I get some practice at that too.

All of the sashimi slicers, apart from Doi's are gone too. Just no use for them. I would rather slice those very few slices needed for my small family with a santoku then bother a 30 cm shig for that, unless its sunday [off sundays are still a new thing to me ]
Yet, I dont blame others for doing these few slices with whatever chosing they may have

hbeernink, what is that awesome blade to the left of masamoto chefs knife?

 

You must have a really large knife roll to bring all those when I come down... :lol:

 

that's a 240mm hinoura shirogame #2- it's the line that he makes with his son. it's actually one of my faves these days, as the blade profile is much like a large santoku in that the tip drops from the spine (rather than a more symmetrical tip formation as you'd see on other gyutos). Same knife that's in my avatar.

gotta say I love the masamoto too- supposed to be 270, but it's more like 300 (masa's run a bit long)

 

Block is right next to the workspace, and I don't own anything fancy/high end... yet? You are all so tempting me with all the bladeporn... but generally I do it all with the santoku that came in the set. If I have a larger item (head of cabbage or such), then it's the chef's knife, since it has an extra 2 inches of edge to work with. I used to do like 85% with a paring knife, many many years ago, before I had decently sharp tools to work with.

 

I generally just break out a chinese cleaver and use it for everything.

 

If I am doing a full dinner for guests, I will put the following on my prep table:

A 240 Gyoto, a Shig-cleaver, a 180 Petty and a pairing knife.

If I need to finely slice fish or ham, a Sujihiki and/or a Yanagi will be added

 

a 210 petty or a 270 suji are my goto knives. I dont even use a gyuto ever really.

 

Is that the twisted damascus clad that costs 17 hundred dollars?

 

no, haha! those are really gorgeous as well and I've been meaning to pick one of those up - but for a few reasons I've decided that I'll only buy hinoura if I can see it in person first, and the twisted damascus hinouras are pretty hard to find in shops. I'm heading to japan later next quarter and may try to get one while there.

This one is much more practical, and more reasonable in price - it's pretty thin, very sharp, and has a really nice taper from the handle. It's a daily use knife for me. Jon carries it (the hinoura ajikataya series).