Wired takes chefs knives to the test

Thinking about asking Santa for a new chef’s knife for Christmas? C’mon, be honest, you know you were. Heck, I’ve got three of them in my knife racks at home and I’m thinking about it. Before you bite, though, you ought to check out the review of bleeding-edge chef’s knives at Wired. It was recommended to me by Chad Ward, who (drumroll) “wrote the book” on kitchen knives -- “An Edge in the Kitchen.”

These aren’t your everyday knives. You won’t find most of them at even fancy kitchen equipment stores. Prices start at about $100 and while there are some familiar names -- Wusthoff, Zwilling-Henckels and Messermeister -- it’s more intended for serious cooks who are interested in upgrading to serious knives, rather than the average user.

The top choice is the Korin Suisin High Carbon Steel Gyutou, a relative steal (in the high-end knife world) at $100. Korin, of course, is the famous Japanese knife store in Manhattan. “This is the Bugatti Veyron of knives,” writes Scott Gilbertson. “It feels like an extension of the hand, something that sprang out of your skin à la Wolverine, slicing through a half-frozen, inch-thick round steak like it’s a kappa maki.”

Runner-up was a monster called the Richmond Addict 2 ($170) followed by the Miyabi Artisan SG2 ($140).

However, as Gilbertson makes clear in his introduction, the choice of a knife is highly personal. “The size of your hands, how you hold the knife, and what you tend to do most in the kitchen determine things like which handle type is preferable, and what weight you’ll need.”

I fell in love with Japanese gyutou knives after doing a story on them several years ago. They’re thin-bladed and cut very ... the best word is “accurately.” But I’ve found more recently that I keep grabbing my 30-year-old Wusthof for most jobs.

Still, I’d love to try that carbon steel gyutou. Santa, are you listening?

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