Dear Culinary Anarchy,
My boyfriend is a Chef and I want to get him a nice set of knives and wanted to know what you would recommend?
Thanks,
A long time fan.
Dear Long time fan,
At first, I thought you were simply trying to get me shot and then I realized that you could instead, help me launch the advice column.
The fact is that your question is nearly impossible for me to answer since it would be like asking me what kind of car to get him. Some guys love Ford and hate GM, others swear by Chevy. It’s the same thing with a Chef and his knives. Some love Wustof and hate Global, in fact everyone who doesn’t use them hate Globals. While my daily workhorse is a Shun, my cleaver is a Henkel and my big Chef’s knife is an F. Dick.
But you still want to get your boyfriend a knife?
Seduce his ass woman, come on! If there’s one thing that Chefs love more than cheap drugs it’s talking about what we do. The next time you see a Chefs knife, just mention it to him and I’m sure he’ll have an opinion. Find out what he likes, what brand and style he’s a fan of. Ask nicely and I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to show you the knife he’s been dying to buy for years, we all have one or two.
Since you mentioned buying a set and wanted to know what goes into one, that’s a loaded question. Most Chef’s might have 10-15 knives but we tend to only use 2 or 3 on a daily basis and honestly, unless I know that I’m going to need it, I never take my cleaver to work thus a full set tends to be overkill.
Alas, since you wanted to know what’s in a basic set, keep it simple with an eight to ten inch Chef’s knife (depending on what he likes, I like smaller knives myself), a good serrated knife and a paring knife. Everything else tends to be based on what kind of place your boyfriend works at and what kind of cooking he does.
I get it, you’re wanting to impress him but the best way to do this is by getting him to talk about what he likes, needs and wants. I’d hate for you to buy him a full set of Globals and have the rest of the guys in the Kitchen make fun of him.
Any other questions?
Let’s do this again. Got a question about food, cooking, travel, kink? Send me a message on Facebook and let’s see what happens.
As always, if you dig the content, please help donate to the documentary by clicking the button below and you’ll get access to B-reel footage while I film