Knives in commercial kitchens

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rhodeskeys

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Oct 15, 2006
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I love to cook, but have no experience in "real" kitchens. What kind of knives are used most, and how are they kept up? My kitchen knives show a wide range of types and qualities; I'm curious what the pros use to get the job done in the most efficient manner. I know there are plenty of high-end Japanese etc. kitchen knives, but I'd like to know what Chef X uses every day and how he keeps it serviceable.
 
Quite a few pro chefs don't really know jack about knives or properly maintaining them. Pretty much every style of kitchen knife you've ever heard of has been used by pros, although here in the US the classic French chef's knife and paring knife seem to be the real stars.

I believe that the most kick ass kitchen knives on earth are made by Snody.
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I have cooked in restaurants in Germany and the US and I learned quickly the knives get horribly abused. I solved the problem by using my own, at that time I used a mix of Cold Steel and Warther, all carbon steel. I would take them with me to work and take them home at night. I never left them where they could get used by anyone else. Now I still have a few Warther paring knives but my main blades, yanagiba, usuba, and santoku are custom damascus Japanese. Quite a few of the chefs I know do the same preferring their own knives over those supplied by the kitchen they cook in. They may not know tactical or pocket knives but they do know the tools of their trade and don't want their knives used to scrape grills, chop frozen foods, open boxes, etc.
 
That's good advice from Absintheur. Handle the top Brands and find out which work best for you.
 
My family was in the rest business and I worked in various kitchens starting at age 12 through college. but this was all 20 years ago so times may have changed. Many use inexpensive knives and sharpening services that come on site. Many are apt to get them from restaurant supply companies, etc. This applies to more of the diner through casual dining establishments opposed to higher end places.

Obviously this does not apply to Sushi places, and many higher end restaurants have personnel that supply their own knives. Most good chefs take a roll with them or have a locker on site to store personnel belongings.

I've worked with chefs that have four figure knives and some with single digit knives. some could sharpen and some not so much. I'm interested to hear other experiences.
 
I worked in four different long term care facitlities in the maintenance dept during my carreer. These places had large commercial kitchens and part of my duties was to keep all the machinery in there running. Often I was asked to sharpen the knives while I would sharpen the meat slicer.

The knives they had were basically old worn large butcher knives. Nothing pretty, nothing special either. There were the usual Henckles, some old Chicago knives and the like. They would be very dull as nobody in the kitchen had a clue how to use the butcher steel or the stones. So I would put a good working edge on them, and the staff were happy with them.

There was one cook who did bring in his own knives, but he didn't stay long as he wanted to move on and become a proffesional chef.
 
Chef Anthony Bourdain has a few paragraphs on knives in his cooking memoir Kitchen Confidential. I just looked at my copy and he recommends a good chefs knife (either German or Japanese), a paring knife, a flexible boning knife, and a cheap offset serrated knife (pages 76-78). He argues that a solid high-carbon chefs knife will last years in a professional kitchen, but a cheap stainless serrated knife can be tossed afer a couple years when it gets too dull to work with. Interesting food for thought.
 
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I'm a Culinary School drop-out. We were given choices to purchase knife sets at discount, generally these were economical French forged blades. They worked fine and gave you experience working with and sharpening blades that did not cost a fortune. After hundreds of hours with them, you pretty much know what's a gimmick and what isn't. I don't have those blades anymore but now use hand-forged Japanese blades which are kept in a drawer but keep a Shun set in the knife block for the wife to use (wife: knife = screwdriver)

Given the trend towards updscale restaurants and celebrity chefs, most better restaurants have chefs/associates who use their own knives and who treat them as serious investments.
 
I am not a professional chef. I do 90% of the cooking in the house and always have. I grew up with a full set of Wusthofs. Nice knives but I was always sharpening them. When it came time to buy my own knives, Heinkel was my choice. An 8" chopper and 4" paring knife is all I use. They are solid and hold an edge well.

There are a lot of choices on the market now but I'll stick with what I have. :cool:
 
I've seen a fair number of cheaper victorinox kitchen knives used in work environments.
 
I have seen Global being used in a professional kitchen, and I once read Anthony Bourdain recommending it. They are very light yet well made from -I believe- VG10. i have 5 Global knives (and the sharpener) and there are two of these that I use most often (not the big classic chef's knife, I still am not comfortable with it). Here are my 2 fave ones:

Global GS1, perfect for smaller fruit and vegetable work:
img_global_gs-1.jpg


Global GS-5, a supremely handy vegetable knife with a 14cm blade.
img_global_gs-5.jpg
 
In the professional kitchens I have worked in there are two different kinds of knives.

House knives belong to the establishment and are usually cheap Chinese knives or Dexter-Russell/Forschner brands. These knives handle the inelegant tasks. They cut through bone, open boxes, puncture cans and other odd tasks that are unbecoming of a good chef knife. These knives are rarely sharpened but when they are it is usually with some sort of electronic device, giving them a toothy edge that slices well but does not push cut at all. The above knives are generally all that are seen at lower-end chain restaurants and large production cafeterias. Cooks here are not well-trained and it is extremely unlikely to see personal cutlery in the kitchen.

The other kind are personal knives. These knives belong to the Chef or the cooks and are generally compliment an entire knife kit that includes cleavers, boning knives, serrated knives and assorted kitchen tools. Most often these will be seen in Fine Dining restaurants, independent establishments and Sushi restaurants. I have seen a wide variety of major brands represented in the kitchens I have worked in. Wusthof, Global, Messermeister, Al-Mar, Kershaw's Shun series are just a small representation. These knives do almost all the prep and service tasks related to food. They are never run through the dishmachine, steeled often and usually sharpened on a benchstone.

Styles of the above knives vary widely by personal choice. German or Japanese, Santoku or Classical French, 6" 8" or 10", Chisel Grind or V Grind; it all depends on their personal preference.

I was a Pastry Chef, my personal preference was for Japanese, V-Grind, 8" in a classical french pattern.

By and large most Chefs and cooks don't know much about sharpening. They are often of the mindset that sharpening happens every six months and steeling is the only care needed in the interim. When I worked in kitchens my knives hit the stones every week to maintain a sharp edge to handle herbs and proteins with the delicate care required.

Interestingly enough I have seen that most of the kitchens I have worked in all order cutlery from the same place: http://www.knifemerchant.com/
 
http://www.gettier.org/kitchenknives_1.html

Chef Gettier, Chefget here on bf.c, is a very well-qualified professional chef. He's very picky about his knives.

I'm not a chef myself by any measure, but I did recently upgrade my home kitchen to Murray Carter knives and am appreciating a whole new level of sharpness.
 
At the kitchen I work in there are about a dozen Sanelli brand kitchen knives available, though most of the cooks (myself included) and the chef use their own personal knives.

I personally have a set of sanelli knives that I got when I started culinary school, but I plan on adding some Wusthoff knives to my collection when I have enough saved up.
 
I am surprised globals are mentioned for prof use. They are capable of being very sharp and cut very well, but the handles aren't for all, and I cannot see them as the 'choice' for a volume and/or perhaps wet environment. (I have a set of pros - love the blades, hate the handles.)

i took the first steps into getting some Carter's and then decided my wife would damage them immediately. She leaves knives blade down in metal mixing bowls all the time; she smacks the blade onto the bowl edge to get stuff off it. Oddly, she is a great cook, but as one mentioned above: knife = screwdriver/beater tool.
 
i've got handpicked vintage pieces, shapleighs hardware, case xx, a dexter, an F. Dick cleaver.... and some carefully re-worked Old Hickory paring knives. (very carefully and Much work) ..

there are knives i know are better but not for me, i wouldn't use them that much.. and these will Cut, sure enough.. even though they have soaked up a lot of refurbishing.

if a guy can sharpen a knife and is willing to reprofile one.. there are give-away knives that work fine.
 
I am a professional chef. I, too, have a wife that hasn't a clue how to take care of knives...though she knows if I ever find one of my knives in the dishwasher, I'm filing for divorce. I keep some cheap ones and 2 old wusthofs around for her to bang away with, and mine are stored away.

Most of my knives are wusthof, some sabatiers, few henkels, but my main one (pictured as avatar, is handled in desert ironwood) I had made to my hand and design by James Rodebaugh, MS out of L6. These tools are an investment, get the best that you can within reason. There is a 420 layer damascus 10" modified french curve on its way in the next year or so, with a stabilized Kauri handle. I expect to spend $700 on that one.

I steel my knife every time I pick it up, and throughout the process. I sharpen them as needed, usually only 3 times a year. High carbon needs a bit of care, but is worth it and has an old school appeal.

Some guys like the globals. I don't. I have only met one guy that could do justice to sharpening one.
 
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