If you could recommend one knife?

[CharlieD]

Originally Posted by Robo410

forschner "swiss army" - makes a great line chef knives etc for food service professionals (who don't use $150 forged knives at work) cost in the $30 range for an 8" chef knife. Gets great recs from Cooks Illustrated. Sold at many kitchen and restaurant stores.

But then we are back to square one. You cannot have only one 8" knife in the kitchen, you do need a paring knife.

Also, Big... you did not say if you are a man or a woman, or at least I did not see it. That too makes difference. Now, of course I have seen women who can do things in the kitchen with one knife man cannot even dream of doing, or I have seen small man who cannot handle a big knife. There is really so much that goes into making knife desision.

[justplainbill]

Originally Posted by biggreeneggic

If you had to recommend a single all purpose knife to a beginner "at home chef", what would it be? Consider cost, durability, and quality in your assessment!

If you can afford a big green egg you should be able to purchase a high grade cooks knife like the one owned by forty_caliber.

[TommyV61]

Originally Posted by CharlieD

It's hard for me to imagine having only one knife, but i woud go to restaurant supply store and buy one of their commercial line knives, if it must be only one get a 6 inch. It will work as paring knife and also will be big enough to do bigger jobs. But onestly I would rather see you buy one 3 or 4 inch paring knofe and one 8 inch chefs knife. Those two can handle any job in home kitchen.

Couldn't have said this better myself...

[Addie]

Have any of you watch Sara Mounton? She does everything with her 12" chefs knife. But then she is a trained professional chef. And she is tiny.

[CharlieD]

Well, then you can go into custom made knives that are even biger qand chefs do everything with them. But let's agree it is much easier to peel an apple with a paring knife than with a 12" inch knife. And don't get me wrong I do have couple of them and love them.

[Addie]

I had a Shun 12" chef's knife given to me as a gift. It was just too big for me and very difficult to wield. I gave it to my son. That knife has created such a fuss with my kids that I actually had to list it in my will as to who gets it. They are still not too happy about it, but to bad.

[danbuter]

As far as paring knives go, buy a $5 one. They are so cheap, there's no reason to get an expensive one. Especially if you're like me, and sometimes break the tip off (doing stuff it's not really designed for).

[Addie]

Or if you are like me and kept throwing them out with the potato peelings.

[Greg Who Cooks]

You can't do it with just one knife. At bare minimum you need a small utility or paring knife and a large chef's or santoku knife.

[Veri Similitude]

i have done extensive research on this one online and am anticipating the purchase of an 8" mac, based on user reviews on several sites --- anyone got one of those? any feedback?