Customer Reviews

Henckels Five Star 12-Inch High Carbon Stainless Steel Chef's Knife

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, you will never buy another Ginsu set again.

Don't even waste your money on cheap knives, ever. Get one set of good ones, and have them for years, like chefs do.

What knives do you really need? An 8 inch chef's (This is a 12, frankly a bit of overkill except for certain applications), a paring knife of the same quality, a block to store them (OUT OF THE DRAWER please) and a steel. A diamond block to sharpen is also a must unless you have a true professional sharpener in your area (the factory guy comes to our hardware store yearly and makes them practically lethally sharp; you may not have such an advantage.) Get a good chopping board; a huge plastic one is a great choice, as you can wash it and sterilize it easily.

12 inches is a bit large; I prefer the 8 for most applications. However, for vegetables and Chinese foods, this is a super size. The handle (very important) is well designed and comfortable. BE WARNED: you must NOT chop chicken bones or you will damage the fine edge. If you want to chop and debone meats, get a cleaver or boning knife. I like a Chinese cleaver for this type of work.

Be careful shopping for name brand knives; some lines have "cheap" starter brands that aren't worth the illustrious name stamped on them. This Henckels knife is a real pro, and worth the money.

This knife is definately overkill for many jobs, but for attacking watermelon & other large fruit for fruit trays it's great. I also like it for jobs like chopping parsely where the knife never seems long enough. If your not used to using a tool this big it will take some time before it feels comfortable in your hand. I like to bring my hand's first knuckle up onto the blade for the best control w/a chef's knife & the 5-star handles are great for this. It really shows it's usefullness at jobs where you push down at both the blade & handle end like cutting butts of meat in half in preperation for slicing or pushing through club sandwiches where even a reasonably sharp serated knife can catch on a tuff peice of bacon & tear apart the sandwich. If I was a prep cook this would be my main weapon.This may not be a great choice for around the house for many, but in a hotel setting it can quickly prove to be indespesable. As with all high end Henckels the blade holds an edge very well. When the job calls for a knife of this size, this mutha rocks!