Knives

I recall that as a young chap making his way in the world of the kitchen, a hankering after quality knives was a pretty keen emotion. Early on, I had a Kitchen Devils cooks knife (still got it in fact) which sharpened well and had a nice heft to it. It still comes camping and it’s been all round the world in the hold luggage to mitigate the blunt, thin, hopeless offerings often found in self-catering accommodation. The grip is only a little bit melted from being left too near the flames.

However, a Kitchen Devil is not a Global. I remember clearly the first time I saw Global Knives – a display case in Tylers in Loughborough – and the serious hankering began. I loved the shapes, the shine and especially the way the handle flowed smoothly into the blade. They seemed impossibly glamorous and, for someone in 6th Form, impossibly expensive.

They are not cheap.

But they are sensationally good. In my mind’s eye they are hand crafted by an acquaintance of Hattori Hanzō with an ancient forging process known only to a chosen few specialists whose ancient skills are reserved for discerning Samurai. The reality may be a bit more commercial than that however. The G2 second from the right is the workhorse, as good when finely slicing an onion as when dicing shin of beef. I’ve had it over 20 years now and it as good as ever. The edge still strong, the balance in my hand still perfect. When something finer is required the GS-3 13cm cook’s knife comes out. The 21cm G-20 is great when there is fish to be dealt with; the blade is very thin and super-flexible and I can just as easily fillet a turbot as slice wafer thin cuts of home-smoked salmon. I makes a great carving knife too. The 16cm G21 is a more classically shaped boning knife and is brilliant for separating flesh close to the bone leaving minimal waste. It is the perfect knife for getting rid of fat caps and the silver skin from big joints like lamb shoulder or beef short ribs. The tiddler on the left was a present and a good one. I’m not sure I’d have bought a GSF-23 but for onion and garlic peeling and for paring off slivers of citrus for cocktail garnish it’s perfect.

They keep an edge beautifully and I probably only need to sharpen them every 4-6 weeks which, given they get used everyday, I think is pretty cool. I use whetstones of various grits from 800 to 3000 to get them back to a level of sharpness that Kevin Costner would have been proud to get on his sword in The Bodyguard.

A note on the IKEA bread knife. It cuts bread. I could buy about 30 of them for the cost of the Global equivalent. Nuff said.