Steak knives recommendations
- Thread starter Champion of Capua
- Start date
like my shun set but with a million bajillion knives they get lost. like the looks of the green egg steak knives
Are Cutco knives unpopular in some circles? I've never thought poorly of them at all. However, I've also never owned any or used many, so I don't feel right about recommending them.
Some of the feedback I've gotten is that they are expensive, stainless steel, serrated, and their sales model is a pyramid scheme. So there's that. But I love them anyways. Have a small block with a nice selection of knives.
- Thread starter
- #25
I bought two at the time. I ate the second the following January and havent bought a steak since. They could have been older. They were only aged 21 days. I prefer a ribeye but they didnt have any that were aged at all.
I bought my father in law some Tojiro VG 10 steaks knives. I got them on sale with 6 knives for $200. I have a few of their kitchen knives, and they're phenomenal. They're up there with Shun in my book.
For good knives to be useful, you really need to be able to sharpen them. I like my steak knives razor sharp, and I enjoy hand sharpening them on Japanese water stones.
If you don't enjoy sharpening, just buy some cheap serrated knives; they'll outperform a $300 flat edge set that's dull.
For good knives to be useful, you really need to be able to sharpen them. I like my steak knives razor sharp, and I enjoy hand sharpening them on Japanese water stones.
If you don't enjoy sharpening, just buy some cheap serrated knives; they'll outperform a $300 flat edge set that's dull.
I bought a set of Cutco knives from a college kid about 40 years ago. They still sit on my kitchen counter and get regular use. The Double D edges can't be sharpened by anyone except Cutco, so when they start to get a little dull, I ship them off and Cutco sends them back in about a week. I suspect that they replace the Double D knives because I don't think that they can be sharpened outside of a factory setting where they have access to the sharpening machines.
Once I shipped off two knives that my mother in law had damaged. On the paring knife, she broke off the tip using it as a screwdriver and the table knife she dropped in the bottom of the dishwasher and the heater melted the handle. Cutco replaced both of them without so much as a comment. All I wanted them to do was sharpen them.
I don't have the steak knives, as my set came with table knives that work like steak knives with the exception of the pointed tip. But, they have served the purpose of a steak knife for 40 years.
I'm very happy with my Cutco knives regardless of the naysayers.
I also have a full set of table knives. It is what fits in the "steak knife" section of our Cutco block. We use them as steak knives, and they are excellent all purpose knives for meal time. However, we also bought 2 of the full size steak knives and keep them in the larger slots in the upper section of the block. When we get a high quality steak, especially a nice thick one, the big boy steak knives come out. They are as good as anything i have ever used.
Me too! I saw a "how its made" on Cutco years ago and was intrigued. Then a couple of months later I was staying a friends house in San Fran, and got a nice loaf of sourdough from a local restaurant with our take-out order. I was amazed by the feel and sharpness of his bread knife. So I turned it over to see what it was, and it was a Cutco. I went right out and started my Cutco set shortly after. Have not looked back. Its been years, and I have not yet had to send anything for sharpening. Happy customer here. I even have a Cutco pocket knife I got for free with one of my orders!
I too have the pocket knife, but don’t recall where I got it.
As someone else noted, they cost as much or more than wusthof or Henkels top of the line Knives do. And they are substantially inferior to those. Also as mentioned their marketing system is a pyramid scheme.
That said, specifically to the steak knives, my parents did buy a set of steak knives as well as a few other things from a former member of their church. They’ve had them 15+ years now and still use them (everything else they bought from cutco is long since in the trash). They’re a little unusually shaped but they are good steak knives.
Myself personally I pay zero attention to steak knives. Any steak that would need a steak knife I cut on the board before plating. We have some flimsy stamped steel junk that my wife has owned for ages. When I lived alone I don’t think I even had a steak knife. I used an old hickory butchers knife when I wanted to cut steak.
I'm quite the kitchen knife fanatic, kinda like the most extreme straight razor fanatic here. I won't even disclose how much I have in them. With that said, if you are looking for decent but no too expensive set, Tojiro makes a good set and little maintainance. I have a few custom sets though, steak is one of my favorite foods.
We have these very nice Wusthof steak knives:
I like the blade shape (partial to a trailing point) and they were sharp right out of the box -- good knives. The only thing I'd change, to make my ideal steak cutter, would be to start with a thicker spine then grind to a saber or hollow profile. That would give me a bit more power when working around a bone-in steak.
We also have the Cutco table set, and these work great for everyday use.
I like the blade shape (partial to a trailing point) and they were sharp right out of the box -- good knives. The only thing I'd change, to make my ideal steak cutter, would be to start with a thicker spine then grind to a saber or hollow profile. That would give me a bit more power when working around a bone-in steak.
We also have the Cutco table set, and these work great for everyday use.
I have liked old hickory paring knives. USA made, wood handles, carbon steel. They were very inexpensive years ago at Walmart. The Mrs. Removed these from service. I think she tossed them in a camping box.
I have liked Rada paring knives. USA, flexible, cheap handles, stainless. These were sold at a kitchen store in the flea market, very inexpensive. The Mrs. does not like them.
She tried some cheap Wusthof knives and did not like them. The handles seemed cheap.
I liked all of the above for steak knives.
The Mrs likes her Chinese Messemeister (sp). The blades are a little narrower than the Wusthof. They have quality handles.
Any of the above would be great choices in my opinion. None are serrated. They blunt quickly if a guest pushes them hard into the plate. Guests will do what they do, probably because they are accustomed to dull knives.
However what I recommend is sharpening what you have. I think the OP indicated he has serated knives. They may be a pain in the neck to sharpen, but I would sharpen them. My leisure time is not very valuable.
I have liked Rada paring knives. USA, flexible, cheap handles, stainless. These were sold at a kitchen store in the flea market, very inexpensive. The Mrs. does not like them.
She tried some cheap Wusthof knives and did not like them. The handles seemed cheap.
I liked all of the above for steak knives.
The Mrs likes her Chinese Messemeister (sp). The blades are a little narrower than the Wusthof. They have quality handles.
Any of the above would be great choices in my opinion. None are serrated. They blunt quickly if a guest pushes them hard into the plate. Guests will do what they do, probably because they are accustomed to dull knives.
However what I recommend is sharpening what you have. I think the OP indicated he has serated knives. They may be a pain in the neck to sharpen, but I would sharpen them. My leisure time is not very valuable.
I like our Laguiole Jean Dubost steak knives.
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
I prefer non serrated knifes over serrated knifes. The singe edge knife uses a slicing motion where the serrated uses a sawing motion. Serrated knifes are difficult to sharpen where single edge blades are much easier to sharpen with just a ceramic or diamond steel(best investment I ever did for knife sharpening) You can buy small round ceramic and diamond steel for those serrated edges when they eventually do get dull (I do not use the old hardened steel knife steels that only used for straightening the fine edge, the newer generation steels use Ceramic and diamond and most chef & cooks only use them). My wife has the serrated knifes and I prefer the single non serrated knifes and 70% of the time she will use my single edge knife for slicing her fruit or what ever. Serrated knifes can be maybe safer for her but it only take a cut or 2 to learn better habits of better knife usage. I do not own those real fancy knifes but just use Victorinox
and Wolfgang puck single edge knifes, good enough for my kitchen needs.
When it comes to sharpening knifes I find it very enjoyable small task. You do not need anything real pricy unless your into really accurate professional sharpening side business.
(Diamond and ceramic steels are a good investment for every day use knifes and after a while you will find it easy to give a quick sharpen(Diamond is my preferred), if you have fancy expensive knifes some folks use painter tape or electric tap to not damage the over all finish accidently.) Most folks do not understand when cutting a steak on ceramic plates that it will dull that area quickly and cleaning knifes with other utensils clanging about. All I use is a paper receipt to check sharpness, if it slices easy it will cut 99% of your food for many days until someone else starts to use them( I just accept it as part of life and carry on enjoying my way of quickly keeping them sharp.) To clean my knife steels & hones all I use is a simple pencil eraser and mild dish afterwards to remove the blackened areas of the very fine steel fillings that are on the knife steels.
and Wolfgang puck single edge knifes, good enough for my kitchen needs.When it comes to sharpening knifes I find it very enjoyable small task. You do not need anything real pricy unless your into really accurate professional sharpening side business.
(Diamond and ceramic steels are a good investment for every day use knifes and after a while you will find it easy to give a quick sharpen(Diamond is my preferred), if you have fancy expensive knifes some folks use painter tape or electric tap to not damage the over all finish accidently.) Most folks do not understand when cutting a steak on ceramic plates that it will dull that area quickly and cleaning knifes with other utensils clanging about. All I use is a paper receipt to check sharpness, if it slices easy it will cut 99% of your food for many days until someone else starts to use them( I just accept it as part of life and carry on enjoying my way of quickly keeping them sharp.) To clean my knife steels & hones all I use is a simple pencil eraser and mild dish afterwards to remove the blackened areas of the very fine steel fillings that are on the knife steels.
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I use Opinel paring knives with great success. They are inexpensive but now beautiful. I believe there are four of them in my mailbox now actually.
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