Cooking gear

I didn’t buy a set. Just bought a chef and paring knife. I’m not a proponent of buying knife sets.

 

Regarding pans - i tell you what, man. I’ve never missed my simple stainless steel pans more than now. Having lived in AirBnB’s and furnished apartments since January 20 I have used more cheap nonstick frying pans than I can count. Every place has them. Absolutely hate them. Luckily in this place I just moved to which I expect to be in for the next 6 months I was going through all the nonsticks and I reached way back into the bottom cabinet and pulled out a heavy-bottom stainless steel pan. *angel voices*

 

20 years ago I was a property manager as a side gig and was cleaning out an abandoned property when I found this nice little sauce pan. Normally anything I'd find left behind was garbage and would immediately go in the dumpster. Not this pan. it looked like it had never been used. It was special.

About 5 years ago I decided it was time to replace some old Calphalon and looked for the manufacturer of this small pan. It had held up to much abuse and still looked like something that could be passed on to my kids. The bottom was a little worn but stamped in the bottom was "Matfer Bourgeat Made in France".

I did a quick internet search and saw that they were sold in the US by a few restaurant supply places. But ouch...the price. This was a stainless steel pan. They were going to run between $150-$200 each once you bought lids, which were sold separately. Since then we've budgeted to buy about 1 a year. I love these pans. When I use them I have visions of fine Bourdeax and smelly cheese. I'm no 5 star chef, but I love these pans.

We also have a crap load of cast iron that gets used almost daily.

 

Cast iron and carbon steel (for a lighter option) - we have a couple stainless pots for acidic/tomato based dishes, but are slowly transitioning to Staub enameled cast iron dutch ovens for those (have a 4 qt and 7 qt - game changers).

For knives, I purchased Mundial knives about 30 yrs ago and they still look and work as almost new.

-------edited for "I wish I could spell"---------

 

I guess I misunderstood that bit.

I do agree about the non-stick. I don't own one and it's decades since I did. Surfaces have come a long way since those days of grey teflon that scraped off, but still... so unnecessary! My simple stainless-steel pans and carbon-steel frying pan (which we might have discussed before) don't stick so why non-stick?

 

the existing set that was provided is serrated. The ones I bought to use myself weren’t a set.

I do keep a solitary nonstick frying pan for making scrambled eggs and omelettes but that’s about all I use it for.

 

During COVID-19, we wanted to try making bread at home and saw some good recipes using a dutch oven, but we've never owned one. So I picked up a 5-qt /10" cast iron Lodge at our neighborhood Ace Hardware. I'm generally hesitant to buy cookware for a specific purpose, but my concerns were unfounded. It works so well for many dishes. We have cast iron skillets and pans that we love but didn't realize we were missing out on pots.

 

We have a couple Lodge Dutch Ovens, but are switching over to enameled dutch ovens because they allow us to cook things that would take the seasoning off a Lodge (ie., soups/stews, tomato sauce, etc).

 

Only time I ever used cast iron Dutch ovens was camping using coals to cook biscuits or cobbler.

 

ok... understood now.

Omelet is one the main uses of my carbon steel pan. That and fried eggs. Scrambled goes in a stainless saucepan.

When my wealthy aunt moved from England to Channel Islands in 1965, somehow a cupboard full of saucepans got missed. She told my mum to keep them. A decade later, I took just one smallish one. I was looking forward to inheriting the rest! But my daft mother must have sold them or given them away. Aaaarrrgh! Lovely pans, straight-side (which I prefer) stainless with thick copper bottoms, the like of which I never saw since. I still have that pan: might be 60 years old or more.

Curiosity: does anyone here use copper pans? Always thought they must be the ultimate, but I would not be able to face keeping them looking good.

 

I got my first Japanese chef knife. 210mm Tsunehisa Sakura gyuto with aogami super carbon steel core and stainless cladding.
I also got a Tojiro DP VG-10 petty knife a couple of weeks ago. Here’s the gyuto



Closeup still of the blade

 

Awesome. I got a couple Aogami Super knives and I love that metal. Sharpen pretty easily and maintains an edge with minimal effort. Hard enough to maintain an edge without huge risk of chipping. I dont go too crazy on the edge myself but it will hold 11 degrees easily on my Nakiri. My gyuto is 13 degrees. I only sharpen them to 4000 grit for practical reasons though and then just hone and strop as needed. I got the stones to go 32000 if I want to go crazy. Shapton glass works really well with that metal as a sharpening stone. A good sharp knife is something you dont realize you need until you get one.

 

I always keep my knives sharp and I strop between sharpenings. Just never had one this nice!

 

Maaaan... cutting potatoes was a dream with this knife. Zero suction sticking thanks to the matte cladding and hammered part.

 

Potatoes are one of my favourite things to cut with a good knife, so effortless. My gyuto has a little bit of suction effect even thought it was a very similar exterior to yours; however, I think yours has much more pronounced "hammer" pockets than mine which probably makes the difference. My nakiri, which looks like something you'd find in an old shop somewhere is just a plain matte cladding, no suction effect with that one.

The Japanese shops know how to make a knife. Id be all aogami super but my knives freak out my wife and she prefers stainless steel for what she needs. I think she believes a super sharp knife is dangerous when the opposite is true.

 

Are your blades VG-10? I’m pretty sure I could be totally happy with all VG-10. It’s a great steel that some malign out of ignorance on reddit especially. My Tojiro petty knife in VG-10 is really fantastic.

i understand about the wife though. She doesn’t use my expensive Japanese knives because she’s scared she will mess them up. I have a variety of others she uses though including some cheaper Kai Wasabi knives.

 

No. TBH, Im not sure what the exact composition is. I got them before I had a good idea what I should get and they used vague terms to describe the metal - special Norwegian steel or something like that. They're serviceable as knives, just dont perform like my Japanese ones. Have some ubiquitous Wusthofs as well, mainly bread knife and steak knives. With the Wusthofs Im not too worried about the steak knives getting dulled and beat up against hard plates. Going carbon steel for steak knives is a bit overboard, even for me!

Im thinking of upgrading my petty knife and getting something more specialized like a honesuki for poultry. The biggest pain is convenient knife storage. I got a block that holds most of my knives but I got to rest the nakiri in its box on top of it, which works for now. It took me a long time for find a block that would hold nearly everything. Using magnetic strips or storing them in drawers with a sheath is a no go for me.

 

i’m doing sheaths for my expensive ones because here in the states I’m currently in a rent house and once we are able to get back to Asia I don’t trust that the lady who we hire to clean won’t trash them!

 

Carbon steel isnt hard to look after if you know how. Thats one of the benefits of my wife not liking my expensive carbons, she wont leave them in the sink! Ive seen more than a few online complaints about rusty knives and its people who just dont know how to look after them. Steel cladded carbon is even easier to look after.

 

The Norwegian steel is probably the steel Victorinox uses in its kitchen knives, something like x50crmov15. It's on the softer side, but very easy to sharpen, and maintains its edgy pretty well. It's a great workhorse for people who keep their blades sharp. I bet it works great in your kitchen since you sharpen it well.