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Every chef has a favorite knife that is an integral part of work in the kitchen.
By Suzanne Hall
MANY CHEFS would give you
the shirt off their back. But loan you their
knives? Now that’s a different matter.
They see their knives as sacrosanct, and
are reluctant to allow anyone else in the
kitchen to use, or as is often the case,
misuse, them.
Head Inn, Charlottesville, Va., also favors
Wusthof knives.
The National Culinary Review | March 2011
“The ability of any chef to perform is
enhanced by the quality of the tools
available for his or her use,” says Webb
Evans, CEC, CCA, AAC, of Globe, Ariz.,
who is retired after spending 64 years in
the kitchen. Therefore, “It was always and
forever clear that nobody ever touched the
knives of the chef.”
to the kind of knives they buy. A chef’s
knife seems to be the most popular style,
although there are exceptions. Marvis
Hinson, CCE, a retired culinary educator
in Savannah, Ga., uses a Chinese cleaver
from Dexter-Russell, Inc. And Thomas
Lansing Sr., executive chef at Gingerbread
House Catering, Cakes & Confections,
Ballston Spa, N. Y., has a Dexter Russell set
he’s been using for 40 years.
While chefs are pretty much in agreement
about lending their knives to others,
they’re all across the board when it comes
A “Wusthof man” is how Clark Sikes, chef/
manager of Sodexo Campus Services at the
College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Mo.,
describes his choice of knives. He’s in good
company. “My all-around favorite knife is my
Wusthof Grand Prix 8-inch chef’s knife,” says
Robert “Tom” Nicklow, CEC, executive chef
at Classic Residence in Chevy Chase, Md.
Andres Flores, CC, line cook at The Boar’s
Tina Powers, CEC, CEPC, CCE, program
coordinator for the baking/pastry program
at Oregon Coast Culinary Institute in Coos
Bay, Ore., still uses her trusty Wusthof-
Trident 10-inch chef knife, purchased in
1977. “I own dozens of knives, but this
knife is the one I would take with me if I
had only one knife to choose from for that
desert island,” she says.
J. Kevin O'Brien, CEC, foodservice
director for Michigan Department of
Corrections Coldwater Correctional
Complex, Coldwater, Mich., feels as
strongly about his Swiss-made Victorinox
knives with wood handles. “They are
perfect tools of the trade,” he says.
