Kitchen Tools... and dinner.

[sarahmichelef]

One item on my holiday wish list was a knife like my favorite knife at my in-laws' house.  Unfortnately for me, that knife is one that Fran picked up when she ran into the grocery store one day and grabbed the cheapest knife she could find (for cutting something at school).  She went back to the same grocery store but couldn't find a duplicate.

Anyway, while we were at the outlets over New Year's, I discovered the santoku knife.  It looked quite similar to Fran's knife that i love, so I picked up a cheap set of 2 of them (5" and 6.5" blades).  I've been using them for a couple of days, and generally really like them.  I need to learn to let the knife do the work - it barely needs any force to slide through most things.  It's not great for puncturing the skin of things like bell peppers, but it made trimming the fat off of chicken breasts a dream.  The divots in the blade are supposed to keep things from sticking to it, but this was definitely not the case when I was chopping onions last night.  I really like the deep blades and the alignment of the handle with the top of the blade; these knives are much easier to rock than any of my other ones.  The consequences of getting the cheap ones is that they're pretty light; I think I'd like a heftier handle on them.

In related news, dinner tonight:
I've got a bunch of chicken breasts with a bit of olive oil, a lot of cumin, some garam masala, ground white pepper, red pepper flakes, and whole cloves baking in the oven.  They will be served with baked yam (hrm, maybe I should season the yam somehow as well, though that goes counter to my nuke it - cut it open - squeeze out the innards preparation method) and probably a salad for the grownups and mixed veggies for the kiddo.  Will post about the outcome after dinner.

Comments

[greydora.livejournal.com]

i have a santoku and i love it.

[almejor.livejournal.com]

The santoku is a great knife. I have one myself. I'm of the opinion, however, that everyone needs a great knife. My great knife is my Santoku, a Henckels Pro-S model. It was pricey but I never use any other knife and I love it to death. I got my mom an 8" chef from the same line and she is in knife heaven (she had never had a nice knife before).

Not sure what model

[callahat.livejournal.com]

I actually got a Henckels santoku myself, oddly enough as an engagement present before the actual engagement had taken place! Definitely the goto knife of the kitchen, and has great heft to it. I don't know about the Pro-S or whatever, cause I ripped the packaging off and didn't keep it, but it's seriously the easiest knife to use of them all. The divots should've been on the other side, though, because my offcuts do stick, and they're always on the right side of the blade and the uncut portion remains to the left, divoted side.

[almejor.livejournal.com]

PS a quality santoku slices through bell pepper skin like it ain't no thing.