Choose the Best Knife for Your Cooking: Advice from Chef Samin Nosrat

Nothing could be more basic or more important to your cooking than your knives. And nothing can be more confusing than separating out the truth from the hype when the time comes to add a knife to your kit. Lucky for us, Bay Area chef Samin Nosrat has put together an excellent primer that every home cook should read before setting out to purchase a knife.

Knives can be overwhelming (not to mention expensive).There are so many to choose from and so many terms to get a handle on. Stainless vs. carbon steel? Stamped vs. forged? Should I buy a Japanese knife? Do I need another paring knife?

Samin Nosrat is perfectly placed to advise home cooks on knives. She has spent several years in restaurant kitchens, including Chez Panisse, but she is also deeply committed to teaching home cooks, as evidenced by her popular Home Ec series of classes. This gives her the expertise combined with a down-to-earth understanding of what a home cook needs to get dinner on the table. She also doesn't mince her words when it comes to selecting knives, as you can see from this quote from her post Home Ec: A Guide to the Knives You (Actually) Need:

"So many of the problems that home cooks face result from a cultural tendency to conflate what is appropriate and/or necessary in a professional kitchen with what is appropriate and/or necessary in a home kitchen. That conflation, or confusion, really, is actually just a terrible story being told to us by the people who want to sell us more crap and make us think that we can't cook, and cook well, without every single doohickey they're trying to get us to buy.
However, having the proper tools on hand definitely makes things smoother, easier, and more comfortable. And frankly, you waste a lot less when you use the right, sharp knife for a task."

Check out Samin's post and while you're there, be sure to click around and discover more from this amazing and talented woman!

Read more: Home Ec: A Guide to the Knives You (Actually) Need by Samin Nosrat

Further Reading:
• Samin's website and blog page
• Pot Luck Thanksgiving from Martha Stewart Living

(Images: Emma Christensen; Aya Brackett)

Comments (11)

I got a whole set of beautiful Chicago cutlery high-carbon all-stainless knives that are razor-sharp for Christmas. I like them a lot, but I totally cut myself using a medium-sized santoku knife to try to pare apples. The square bit closest to the handle is supposed to be blunt, not razor-sharp! Lol. So this post hits home.

That being said, I still love my Good Chef, $8 paring knives from the grocery store. They are the perfect size. There are two nice knives in the new set: one paring knife is way too short and pointy, the other is nice, but a little on the long side. And the set came with a curved fruit knife that looks so wicked I'm actually afraid to use it.

But yeah - chopping onions with a razor-sharp knife? SO much easier than with a dull one. Not to mention faster.

My mother lost her cutco paring knife over the summer and never replaced it. I decided to get her a new one for christmas but after hours of research online it was determined that german was what we really wanted. I got her the 3.5in pairing knife and 8in hollow edge chef's knife from Wusthofs le cordon bleu line. (sold exclusively on amazon)

This line is lighter than conventional wusthofs with less bolster, making it easier to hone and sharpen. These knifes are well worth the money (got me in the kitchen). Through research i found that you should never use plastic cutting boards because they will dull your knife fast. Any wood type board is best, Epicurean makes wood fiber boards that can go into the dishwasher, so no need to worry about how to sanitize them after using raw meat (got this for madre as well).

I have ONE good knife in my kitchen - a nice Messermeister 8" chef's knife that my boyfriend gave me several years ago. I bought a ceramic honing rod to accompany it not so long ago, and I'm danged near convinced that I don't need any more cutlery.

The chef's knife is perfect for ANY kind of slicing/dicing/chopping that doesn't go through my mandoline or food processor, and like other people have mentioned, sometimes those cheap paring knives are the bomb! (I still use some cheap-os from a Walmart block set for soft things like tomatoes, since they're serrated.)

I think the biggest thing is to not buy into the consumerist nonsense. Get what you need, and when you've got what you need, use it! For me, I don't think I'll ever need a complete set of expensive knives - one or two good ones that will last me a lifetime (most likely) is all I need.

Not really digging the layout of a lot of a lot of these newer posts. The title leads you to think it will have recommendations for knife picks or a guide to how to choose for you. The layout of the article is tough to skim through for the actual info then if you take time to read it, it's just saying go check out her blog :(

i clicked each of the links above; most do not work, simply opening to a blank page. the one that goes to the main Home Ec Series of Classes works, but you can't get to the knives page via it.

bummer. i was hoping to be validated in my current use of knives. oh well.

erinstl: I just checked all the links and they work fine for me. Sorry you have having troubles but I'm not so sure it's with the links. Maybe try them all again?

Dana

Dana, great post though it's Nosrat (with an O and an A), I've taken Samin's classes and she's a great instructor - patient, thorough, offers detailed information, great fun - does the best fundraisers.

Yes, we're so sorry about the misspelling and it's been corrected.

I find I need 4 knives. Cheap paring knife and bread knife, good slicing knife and good 8" chef's knife.

hmm. well, they still don't work for me. must be something funny with my browser. oh well.

try the Itamae vg10 Carbon steel knives- www.itamae.co.za, so strong and easy to use!!!