Knives. These are the tools by which you take a hunk of Sub Primal, and properly hack it down to it's Fillet Mignon(Tender tender tender....and flavorless....).Without it you are reduced to the point of bashing your vegetables with rocks and hoping for a proper small dice.
Everything will usually pass under your knife at some time, whether it be in a reconstructive sense, or if you just need to puncture that lobster's brain before dumping it in the awaiting bath.
So I'll get past my love of hearing myself talk and show you what conjures in my mind when we think of that awe inspiring term; "Chef".
The majority of my set is
Mercer, as it was the kit given to me on starting my education, though I do however have a few
Messermeister items in my set, namely my 8 inch chefs knife, melon baller, paring knife, and honing steel, but that's just because my mercer steel is worn down too smooth.
Those white plastic things at the top? Those are pastry scrapers. They are gifts from
god. You see people on Food Network (shudder) using their chefs knife to try and pick up minced garlic for one with great ease. I would love to see you do this after having had minced two bulbs of garlic. This is where your pastry scraper will come in. It CAN hold all that shit, and not even sweat about it.
The Chef's knife is clearly my bread and butter. I can do damn near anything with it, and my personal favorite chef's knife at this time is my Mercer 10 inch, it's strong, it's sleek, it's a forged full tang blade. As opposed to my Messermeister's stamped half tang.
If anyone has any questions about this equipment or any other that I may use or have come past, please ask. And hopefully the point of this thread came across properly (TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR KITCHEN GEAR, BITCHES).
EDIT: Also,
here is a link for the website I usually use to consult my knife needs. It was started by my Knife Skill instructor from American River College (only took the one course). He was a man that could show you the proper way to hold a knife, sharpen a knife, even conceal it in your anal cavity, if needs be.
Jam it back in, in the dark.