An amazing knife is the cornerstone on which a fantastic meal is constructed. But in case you ask three cooks what makes a fantastic knife, you may seemingly get no less than 5 solutions. The fact is that what makes the proper knife for you’ll rely upon many components, together with your consolation degree with knives, the scale of your fingers, and what kind of meals you want to prepare dinner.
That mentioned, there is a purpose the essential 6- to 8-inch chef’s knife is ubiquitous: It’s essentially the most versatile knife. The chef’s knife is able to dicing veggies, slicing meat, smashing garlic, chopping herbs and nuts, and, in a pinch, it will even undergo small bones with out an excessive amount of bother.
There’s a bewildering vary of chef’s knives obtainable, from dirt-cheap to very costly specialty blades. To enable you make sense of all of it, we sliced and diced with dozens of knives till a easy fact emerged: A poorly-made $10 blade you sharpen each week is extra helpful than a $200 blade that is uninteresting. Every knife wants to be sharpened, some simply want it greater than others. Much of the value distinction in knives comes down to the standard of supplies, which in flip usually interprets into how properly the blade holds its edge.
We caught largely with 8-inch blades, the candy spot for the basic chef’s knife. Testing concerned the stuff you’d do in your individual kitchen—peeling, filleting, dicing, chopping, cubing, slicing, and all the opposite commonplace prep work for meats and greens. Here are our picks.
Updated April 2021: We’ve added some mandolins for these occasions when uniform slicing actually issues (and for these not snug with knives). We additionally up to date pricing.
Special supply for Gear readers: Get a 1-year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This contains limitless entry to WIRED.com and our print journal (if you would like). Subscriptions assist fund the work we do day by day.
