Choosing Your Knives

For me, the choice of a good pair of knives is among the most important decisions to be made in the process of building up your kitchen. I use my knives for at least two meals a day, 7 days a week. It is worth being picky and getting the best you can afford. I'm going to give general guidance here, as I haven't had enough experience with all of the premium brands to be able to give sensible advice (I have a budget too, unfortunately). If you follow these guidelines and stick to brands with a good reputation, I think you'll be in good shape.

The Bare Essentials

You can spend all the money you have, and most of what you will never have, on kitchen gadgets and still end up wanting. It's the nature of the art -- everybody has a slightly different style, and until you land on a style it's easy to shoot off into outer space with kitchen gear. Cooking well is truly an art, and as such it's best to become skilled before you get the high-powered (and expensive) tools. Unfortunately, this sort of advice almost always comes too late, but I'm going to forge ahead anyway on the off chance that it will help someone out there.

Cooking real food in general requires more gear than cooking processed food, simply because you generally have to start with the most basic materials. You'll be doing it all, because very few products you can buy currently qualify as real food. Hopefully our little movement will change that as more artisan level cooks join the game, but for now your choice is generally either to make it yourself or settle for an inferior product. So, if this list of "bare essentials" looks kind of extravagant to you, that's probably why. Enough disclaimer, on to the list!