# Favorite dish for trying out a new knife?



## jimmy_d (Oct 13, 2016)

Just curious what everyone out there likes to cook when they get a new knife. Anything in particular that gives the knife a good test? 

I just cooked up a nice big pot of beef stew with my new sakai takayuki ginsanko...


----------



## DamageInc (Oct 13, 2016)

Bolognese and french fries. French onion soup for edge retention.


----------



## turbochef422 (Oct 13, 2016)

I always go with soups. 5gallons of two or three soups and you get a good feel of the knife.


----------



## Iggy (Oct 14, 2016)

Onion tart or boeuf bourguignon :knife:


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts (Oct 14, 2016)

I tried starting such a thread before, http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/s...ishes-to-try-after-unboxing-another-new-knife


----------



## daveb (Oct 14, 2016)

Not a dish but a component of many. I do a qt or 2 of mire poix / trinity as a means of introduction. Like speed dating g without the awkwardness.


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 14, 2016)

daveb said:


> Not a dish but a component of many. I do a qt or 2 of mire poix / trinity as a means of introduction. Like speed dating g without the awkwardness.



Hahaha! Nice answer! And it's tough to have too much mirepoix


----------



## boomchakabowwow (Oct 14, 2016)

without a doubt.

hunting knife, kitchen knife..pocket knife. whatever

sliced tomatoes with cracked black pepper and a nice crusty salt.  my last knife i opened the box giddy, and my wife handed me a tomato.


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts (Oct 14, 2016)

Eventually, sooner or later a classic dish named a sharpeners salad will be created, and it will certainly feature curiously thin tomato slices, katsuramuki of radish and cukes....


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 14, 2016)

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> Eventually, sooner or later a classic dish named a sharpeners salad will be created, and it will certainly feature curiously thin tomato slices, katsuramuki of radish and cukes....



Hahahahah :lol2: can't forget onions


----------



## daveb (Oct 15, 2016)

Pickle relish have a place in there?


----------



## clsm1955 (Oct 15, 2016)

Fried rice, obviously. So much cutting!


----------



## patraleigh (Oct 15, 2016)

My favorite is seared tuna. I will very happy if new knife cut through cooked part with out fall apart.


----------



## labor of love (Oct 15, 2016)

jimmy_d said:


> Just curious what everyone out there likes to cook when they get a new knife. Anything in particular that gives the knife a good test?
> 
> I just cooked up a nice big pot of beef stew with my new sakai takayuki ginsanko...


How do you like that sakai Takayuki? Pretty laser-ish I'm guessing?


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts (Oct 15, 2016)

@jimmy_d yes, but you can't see them  But then, I find that very thin, smoothly cut onion slices can develop a surprising, sometimes unpleasant bite in a salad...

Fried rice? Yeah, great for the small board knives - lots of small amount of ingredients that need to be turned into an amount of small ingredients


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 15, 2016)

labor of love said:


> How do you like that sakai Takayuki? Pretty laser-ish I'm guessing?



So far I love it, but more on the work horse side than laser


----------



## spoiledbroth (Oct 15, 2016)

Pretty sure those Sakai takayuki knives are made by sukenari, if it's sanmai and not Damascus


----------



## labor of love (Oct 15, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> Pretty sure those Sakai takayuki knives are made by sukenari, if it's sanmai and not Damascus



I'm confused. Is there a similarity that you see? What makes you say that?


----------



## spoiledbroth (Oct 16, 2016)

Yeah preizzo had posted what I think is the same model and it's nearly identical in shape to sukenari knives. I'm looking on my phone though could be this is a different st. Either way I'm quite sure the word on the street is that company does oem work for some bigger brands.


----------



## preizzo (Oct 16, 2016)

Have a Sakai takauki ginsanko and I had a yoshihiro ginsanko (I sold) 
The was Yoshihiro was same like my sukenari, but the Sakai takauki it s a bit different in the grind, more convex and more thin on the edge instead to be more flat like the yoshihiro and of course sukenari knives!


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 16, 2016)

So I'm confused... Are they made by sukenari? And if so (with my novice knife knowledge), is this a good or bad thing, or just an observation?


----------



## labor of love (Oct 16, 2016)

jimmy_d said:


> So I'm confused... Are they made by sukenari? And if so (with my novice knife knowledge), is this a good or bad thing, or just an observation?



Sukenari makes a much more inexpensive Gyuto w ginsanko. But it's probably a lesser knife. I wouldn't sweat it.


----------



## spoiledbroth (Oct 16, 2016)

Oops yeah it was the Yoshihiro now I remember. They sell some of the pm knives too. You don't like sukenari labor?


----------



## Mrmnms (Oct 16, 2016)

I like chowders for a new knife. Trinity plus potatoes and protein. Good thing my family likes chowder.


----------



## easilver (Oct 16, 2016)

I have the Takayuki and the Sukenari ginsans and they are very different knives.

I usually make a salad with lots of parts and pieces, but usually run out of product before I run out of enthusiasm, so this thread has given me some great ideas.


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 16, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> Oops yeah it was the Yoshihiro now I remember. They sell some of the pm knives too. You don't like sukenari labor?



Oh ok good to know !


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 16, 2016)

Mrmnms said:


> I like chowders for a new knife. Trinity plus potatoes and protein. Good thing my family likes chowder.



That is a good idea! I'll have to give chowder a go sometime soon


----------



## Mrmnms (Oct 16, 2016)

Would that be chowda by you Jimmy


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 16, 2016)

Mrmnms said:


> Would that be chowda by you Jimmy



Oh yea, most definitely chowdah in my house!


----------



## richard (Oct 17, 2016)

Pico de gallo...and then often leading to a breakfast hash or scramble


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts (Oct 17, 2016)

Besan Ka Cheela, the delicious sink for all your fine dicing practice


----------



## Noodle Soup (Oct 17, 2016)

Iggy said:


> Onion tart or boeuf bourguignon :knife:



Another vote for boeuf bourguignon


----------



## KeithA (Oct 25, 2016)

My mother was Japanese, thus a lot of Japanese cooking going on. Like chili, homemade can be much, much better than at a restaurant. In fact, if I want it made the "right way", aka Moms, I make it myself. Never had it in a restaurant that compared. It involves a lot of cutting of vegetables and other ingredients such as tofu, as well as cutting the right thickness of the meat you'll be using. I'll learn a lot about a knife in the process, such as how well it slices the meat into just the right thickness and how well it does on slicing things such as green onions just the way Mom would have liked.


----------



## jimmy_d (Oct 25, 2016)

KeithA said:


> My mother was Japanese, thus a lot of Japanese cooking going on. Like chili, homemade can be much, much better than at a restaurant. In fact, if I want it made the "right way", aka Moms, I make it myself. Never had it in a restaurant that compared. It involves a lot of cutting of vegetables and other ingredients such as tofu, as well as cutting the right thickness of the meat you'll be using. I'll learn a lot about a knife in the process, such as how well it slices the meat into just the right thickness and how well it does on slicing things such as green onions just the way Mom would have liked.



Thanks Keith, that sounds great! Love me some good chili and nothing ever compares to mom's home cooking (well dad's cooking in my case - my mom will be the first to tell you she can't cook to save her life)! That does sound like a good knife testing recipe.


----------



## guari (Oct 25, 2016)

Beef ragú with lots of vegetables


----------



## Lucretia (Oct 25, 2016)

I have 2 primary dishes for trying out a new knife. (Watch out, Danny is about to spin in his grave) Chicken chili is one. 


The second stir fried vegetables (carrots, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, bok choy, cabbage, etc), usually served with pork tenderloin to try out removal of silverskin and slicing the cooked protein.


----------



## boomchakabowwow (Aug 20, 2018)

Bringing this thing back up. 

Never understood this. But I really wanted to test my new cleaver. I made French onion soup. Blasted thru the onions with precision and zero tears. Decided to deconstruct the traditional dish and do the bread and cheese as a sandwich for dipping. 

Man! I am a cleaver fan! Rethinking my kitchen knife “pecking order”


----------



## rstl87 (Oct 11, 2018)

Beef stew - Chopping vegetables, pieces of beef from whole roast.


----------



## Nemo (Oct 11, 2018)

boomchakabowwow said:


> Bringing this thing back up.
> 
> Never understood this. But I really wanted to test my new cleaver. I made French onion soup. Blasted thru the onions with precision and zero tears. Decided to deconstruct the traditional dish and do the bread and cheese as a sandwich for dipping.
> 
> Man! I am a cleaver fan! Rethinking my kitchen knife “pecking order”


How was the cleave on the horizontal cuts?

Edit: Realised I just necroed this post- sorry.


----------



## boomchakabowwow (Oct 13, 2018)

Nemo said:


> How was the cleave on the horizontal cuts?
> 
> Edit: Realised I just necroed this post- sorry.




Haha. It’s great on the horizontal cuts! I’ve never been great it it. Today (I’m prepping for tomorrow’s meatloaf) I pushed the envelope; I made FIVE horizontal cuts. It all stayed together. I had the tiniest dice. I think the wide blade gives me a visual reference as to how I’m going into the onion. It’s been fun. 

I set the knife down. Reaching for something I brushed against the edge. I git the cleanest cut. Almost like a paper cut. Cutting peppers stung!


----------



## Nemo (Oct 13, 2018)

boomchakabowwow said:


> I think the wide blade gives me a visual reference as to how I’m going into the onion.
> 
> I set the knife down. Reaching for something I brushed against the edge. I git the cleanest cut. Almost like a paper cut. Cutting peppers stung!



Interesting. I hadn't considered the benefit of a larger blade imoroving the visual reference.

Those really clean cuts sometimes bleed like stink. Bloody inconvenient in the middle of prep. Hope it heals up soon.


----------



## LostHighway (Oct 13, 2018)

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> Besan Ka Cheela, the delicious sink for all your fine dicing practice



Thanks for this. Despite having spent a fair bit of time in India I've never had this and it looks like something I'd like.


----------



## DDPslice (Oct 15, 2018)

A long time ago it was questioned here about letting my pois get all limp by leaving them in the fridge unwrapped. I said that I don't notice a flavor difference of limp carrots and celery (onions going limp is not good) but leaving frozen garlic cloves in the fridge (on a plate) for a couple days is the most satisfying thing to cut. limp celery and carrots are nice but the texture of the slightly dehydrated clove is weirdly awesome. So smooth so silky.


----------

