Favorite and least favorite essential kitchen knives

[Hovannes]

I'll start.
My favorites are from on old Chicago Cutlery set we got for a wedding present 27 years ago,
a Chef's knife.
a Bread knife,
a Boning knife,
and a Paring knife.
Add to that:
a Lamson serrated Carver and a Wusthof Santoku.
These six knives handle everything I've ever asked of them.

My least favorite knife is a Circulon Baby Santoku which I despise and is lamentably probably my most used knife because I'd like to somehow screw it up so badly as to justify tossing it away.

I would like to get a proper tomato knife. We had one (a Lamson) but it walked away during a picnicking event, which sometimes happens to a good knife. Why couldn't they have taken the Circulon Baby Santoku?
I find that I could always use an extra paring knife.
We had one of those too, a Wusthof, but it too walked away.
These would be frivolous luxuries, of course. Our kitchen hums along just fine with the Mighty Six we already have

So what do you find are your essential kitchen knives?
Which ones to you harbor ill feelings towards?

[JimVH]

I have a big variety of kitchen knives, but 95% of my work is done with the same five:

5" santoku (Pampered Chef)
8" chef (Cat Cora)
3" paring (Pampered Chef)
4" sandwich (cheapo)
6.5" vegetable cleaver (Tuo/Amazon)

None of them are high dollar, but, except for the sandwich knife, they are all substantial feeling, full-tang, comfortably handled, and hold an edge well.

Rita, on the other hand, no matter the task, chooses the same no-name grocery store quality steak knife that has followed us around for decades that neither of us know where came from. It is cheap, unsharpenable, and I've had to glue the handle back on a few times. She guards that thing like a hawk.

[Jocose]

ONE WORD: Sani-Safe - Dexter-Russel

AMERICAN MADE AND FAMILY OWNED

[Del]

I bought myself a Shun 8" kiritsuke knife for Christmas, 2 year ago. It's still quite sharp. Cost about $200.
Whenever I need to process a serious pot of meat and vegetables, this bad boy comes out to play.



Several years ago, I got a block set of Emeril Lagassé brand knives as a premium for refinancing my mortgage. This is the family go-to.

Mrs. Del reaches for the 5" santoku, every time. It has no edge, but she is afraid of blades that are large and/or sharp.

The 7" santoku gets used a lot for quick jobs, like slicing a lime wedge for a cocktail. And the 8" chef comes out for the big jobs, like axing a butternut squash into halves.

I have a special serrated slicer, used to serve up spareribs and the occasional smoked turkey.

[JimVH]

When you combine sleep deprivation, good wifi, and poor impulse control:

It looks very slicy. I may have a Name Jim's New Kitchen Knife contest.

[Biff]

Slicy McSliceface

[Hovannes]

MacHeath.
Bragging rights if you know where that came from

[Hovannes]

Louie Miller
Jenny Diver
Suki Tawdry
Miss Lottie Lenya,
Lucy Brown
are all good names.

[Del]

MacHeath.
Bragging rights if you know where that came from

Miss Lottie Lenya

You sent me on quite a goose chase with this.

Lotte Lenya tickled an old memory.... from freshman year of high school, music appreciation class. Lenya was a singer and actress, married to songwriter Kurt Weill (The Three Penny Opera). We listened to some old recordings of Lenya from the 1930's.

Turns out, her most famous role was the evil Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie, From Russia With Love. She was the creepy old bwitch with blades in the toes of her shoes. I thought that was the reason she made your list of names.



I went looking for some examples of her singing. Here she is, singing Mack the Knife with Louis Armstrong.



I did not realize that Mack The Knife was a hit song from Kurt Weill's The Three Penny Opera. It turns out that "Mack the Knife" is a character in London's underworld named "MacHeath."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_the_Knife
==========================================

Let's all agree to name JimVH's new knife "Mack."

[Hovannes]

MacHeath.
Bragging rights if you know where that came from

Miss Lottie Lenya

You sent me on quite a goose chase with this.

Lotte Lenya tickled an old memory.... from freshman year of high school, music appreciation class. Lenya was a singer and actress, married to songwriter Kurt Weill (The Three Penny Opera). We listened to some old recordings of Lenya from the 1930's.

Turns out, her most famous role was the evil Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie, From Russia With Love. She was the creepy old bwitch with blades in the toes of her shoes. I thought that was the reason she made your list of names.



I went looking for some examples of her singing. Here she is, singing Mack the Knife with Louis Armstrong.



I did not realize that Mack The Knife was a hit song from Kurt Weill's The Three Penny Opera. It turns out that "Mack the Knife" is a character in London's underworld named "MacHeath."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_the_Knife
==========================================

Let's all agree to name JimVH's new knife "Mack."

You win!
I'll owe you three pennies next time we meet