Of all the pieces in a cutlery set, the chef’s knife is the most versatile and gets the most use. The Victorinox’s gentle curved edge is good for any chopping style, and its wide blade lets you easily scoop and transfer food from the cutting board. Mac Professional 6.5 in. A. Henckels Pro 7 Rocking Santoku Knife, Wüsthof's 8" Santoku Hollow Edge Classic. $35.95. For the 2017 update of this guide, we invited six friends and colleagues of all culinary stripes to our test kitchen to participate in a chopping panel. Rank . Tens of thousands of pounds of vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish have crossed my cutting board over the years. In our tests, the MTH-80 didn’t feel as delicate when cutting through tough vegetables like butternut squash, but it still had the smooth slicing feel of a thin blade. To be honest, all the Japanese knives did a superb job on our basil test, because they’re sharper and thinner, whereas the six budget knives we tested ($20 to $40 models) turned the basil black within five minutes. Mac Knife Superior Bread Knife, 10-1/2-Inch By Mac Knife . 9 watching. Start with your knife toward the rod’s handle and then pull down from heel to tip. Product Name. We liked how easily it maneuvered around curves when cutting away butternut squash skin and citrus rinds. You can grind it out with sharpening, but you shouldn’t have to sharpen a brand-new knife. The elevated h $74.95. Every knife is shaped, assembled, polished, and sharpened by professional Japanese craftsmen in a series of up to 64 steps to guarantee that every knife … The santoku would never be my first pick for this type of task—the tall blade and lack of a true point make it less than ideal for butchering. We looked for sharpness, precision, maneuverability, and comfort. But they certainly don’t hurt, either. $144.95. This blade shape is sometimes called a sheep's foot blade, which is fairly common for paring knives. And, instead of the more dramatic curved blade on a Western chef's knife, which allows for more effective rocking-chopping and -slicing, a santoku knife has a much flatter blade—it's good for shorter, downward strokes. This is why many gyutos are laminated with softer stainless steel to protect against shock and staining. Mac Professional 8-Inch is $107.20 more expensive than the average chef's knife ($34.95). The sharper a knife starts out, the more of a head start it'll give the user before requiring an intervention. In 2017, we gathered a testing panel of seasoned cooking pros and curious home cooks in our test kitchen to chop, slice, dice, julienne, chiffonade, and mince with the 15 knives we collected. Comfort: The best knives have handles that fit comfortably, which can vary depending on the size and shape of your hand and the way you grip the knife. Another honorable dismissal, this knife is sharp and precise. Add to Chrome Add to Edge Add to Firefox Add to Opera Add to Brave. Special Price $90.95 . That way you can store your knife in a drawer and keep the edge protected. The most telling test is slicing tomatoes, a soft fruit with a slippery, taut skin, and carrots, which are dense, hard, and prone to cracking if split too aggressively. Generally, chefs sharpen their own knives, but they usually know of a reputable knife person. Much as we did with the Zwilling J.A. CDN$ 169.00 Misono UX10 Santoku 7.0" (18cm) - Right. It was the standout favorite for all our testers, regardless of their cutting style or the size of their hands. Testers with smaller hands found the Tojiro DP F-808’s handle comfortable and didn’t have any issues with their knuckles hitting the cutting board. David Priest/CNET . New to Chowhound? Currently our most popular series, the Professional Series features a thin 2.0-2.5mm blade for less wedging into cuts and an added bolster on the handle for weight and balance. In An Edge in the Kitchen, Chad Ward writes that the MTH-80 is “a treat to use.” Ward adds: “They are extremely popular among chefs and line cooks because they are comfortable, reasonably priced, high-quality knives that come with an aggressive edge and hold it for a very long time.”. View Product. Henckels Zwilling Pro, we found the Wüsthof Classic Uber awkward to use because of the extremely curved belly. For this guide, however, we focused on gyutos with even bevels, which are easier for home cooks to sharpen and maintain. Slices of squash stuck to the blades of every knife we tested, but removing them from the Mac’s blade was much easier. German knives generally weigh more and have thicker blades than their Japanese counterparts, making them great for tough jobs like breaking lobsters and splitting bone-in chicken breasts. In An Edge in the Kitchen, Chad Ward cites Tojiro DP knives as “the bargain of the century.” He writes, “The quality of the handle fit can be variable, and the handles themselves are blocky, but the performance of these knives is outstanding, especially for the price.”, This Tojiro gyuto has been a popular knife in our test kitchen since 2015. He sharpens it “once a year or so,” whereas the Ikon needs sharpening every six months. MJU-65. Add to Cart Mac Superior Utility Knife 18cm SA-70 . It has also come to our attention that Mac’s 25-year warranty is voided if you purchase the knife through unauthorized third-party vendors. Unlike other Japanese knives, MAC has earned a reputation for producing hybrid of … It has a great multi-purpose size which is comfortable for most people, especially those who are intimidated by using larger chef's knives. The flat belly curve makes the Tojiro ideal if you use a push-pull cutting motion, and it’s excellent for fine cuts and paper-thin slices of vegetables and meat. Balance boils down to personal preference. With its super-sharp edge, sleek tapered shape, and comfortable handle, this knife will make your everyday dicing and slicing tasks smoother and quicker. $269.95. The long stick handle kept jabbing into my wrist, and the cutting edge was only adequate. What works for you comes down to a combination of personal preference, cutting style, and comfort. In 2020, we had to pare down our testing. It's a well-made knife, offering an excellent money-to-quality ratio. The polymer handle comes in four color choices and is secured with brass rivets. 20,762 Reviews Scanned by Raise5 AI. Good edge retention relies on a combination of steel composition and hardness, blade thickness, and bevel angle. Mac Professional Series 8-inch Chef's Knife with Dimples. Japanese steel generally has higher carbon content and, in addition to the ingredients in German steel, contains tungsten and cobalt, which improve hardness. Decent high-carbon steel knives should register anywhere between 55 HRC and 64 HRC. amkirkland | Dec 3, 2006 12:42 AM 2. Although we think the Tojiro DP F-808 is a great knife, it needs a little more TLC than the Mac MTH-80. Comments can take a minute to appear—please be patient! Even though the Mac MBK-85 is an objectively good knife, our testers were pretty lukewarm about it. Photo: Michael Hession, Senior editor Marguerite Preston (foreground) and New York Times food editor Sam Sifton tested chef’s knives in our test kitchen. And, like the MAC, it has hollow-ground divots to reduce friction during slicing. Only 16 left in stock - order soon. Then I cut carrots a variety of ways: into thin rounds, into long sticks, and into slabs that I crosscut into matchsticks and then crosscut again into brunoise. Several Wirecutter staff members also have the Tojiro and love it. You don’t have as much control with a dull edge, which increases both your prep time and your chances of cutting yourself. Score . We reached out to most of Tojiro’s authorized retailers (ArtsiHome, Cutlery and More, DistrictSale, EZbrands, and Top Quality Merch), and as of this writing, only Cutlery and More affirmed that it honors a lifetime warranty on Tojiro knives. It seemed like a solid knife, not crazy expensive, with good reviews to back it up. All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. In our tests, it performed excellently, except for one single carrot round that cracked midway through slicing, though all carrot cuts before and after that one misfire were fine. MAC Professional; MAC Chef's Series; Shop All MAC Knives; MAC Superior. Compared with other German knives we tested, the Classic Ikon has a thinner blade, a more comfortable handle, and a more manageable belly curve for better leverage and control. Notify me when available. Be sure to check what vendor you’re buying from before purchasing. The Misen couldn’t make a straight cut down the middle of a butternut squash, and it split carrots instead of cleanly slicing through to the board. Before we halved our first onion, we consulted Chad Ward’s book An Edge in the Kitchen, along with reputable editorial sources such as Cook’s Illustrated (subscription required), Good Housekeeping, and Cooking For Engineers. Review of the MAC Professional Series 9.5 inch Chef Knife - Duration: 10:35. She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd. If you learn how to sharpen your own knives, you will have tools that are truly yours. But then, I own a large collection of knives, including lots of specialty blades. Repeat on the other side of your knife and continue for four or five reps. But it isn’t as thick as that of the Messermeister Meridian Elité (0.1461 inch) or the Zwilling J.A. This stainless steel is usually hardened to 56 HRC, softer than Japanese knives but capable of taking a beating well and withstanding up to a certain level of mistreatment. But we can’t recommend this Five Two knife because it’s made from a low-grade steel (420J2) with a Rockwell hardness of 52 HRC—which is pretty soft for a kitchen knife. Read more about blade steel below. Its serrated 2 mm, 10.5-inches tapered specially hardened full tang blade is exceptionally sharp and is made from tough rust-resistant high carbon steel, which is designed to keep the blade’s razor edge sharper for a long time, so you can expect a high-level cutting performance. It’s not as keen as the Mac or the Tojiro, and you’ll need to hone it regularly as well as maybe invest in a home knife sharpener. 4.8 out of 5 stars 95. As you watch a chef whipping a knife down the rod toward their hand at lightning speed, it’s easy to see yourself taking a thumb off. Mac Professional 8-Inch is $107.20 more expensive than the average chef's knife ($34.95). The Tojiro  knife is thinner and more brittle than our top pick, so its edge is more vulnerable to microscopic chips when you use it on dense vegetables like butternut squash. Nice, please, report an inappropriate comment hold and use resistant to chipping to Japanese German! 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