Beginner cook or a professional chef? Doesn’t matter. Improve your kitchen experience with this knife
Whether you’ve been binging your favorite culinary extraordinaires in their element, dreaming up endless recipes on your Pinterest board or Instagram account, or you’ve just spent a little bit of time in the kitchen, one of the first things of note is that the chef always has a sharp, durable chef knife. Something that can effortlessly shred through paper in the blink of an eye, an object that can visibly hurt someone if it’s even lightly grazed. But there is more to a quality chef’s knife than meets the eye, and many affordable options fall flat.
Until now.
While Made In Cookware has only been around since 2016, it is largely touted by food experts like Bobby Flay and has been recognized often on The Food Network. Their direct-to-consumer business model has mass appeal, cutting costs left and right to allow higher quality items to be listed at reasonable prices. This can be particularly appealing to the average consumer, who often can’t afford a nice chef’s knife out the gate. (Or intends to keep the whole “from scratch” cooking thing to a hobby level, like myself.)
Another thing that really drew me to this brand was the minimalistic design. After all, even kitchen part-timers have an esthetic they’d like to achieve in their space. I, myself, look specifically for grays and mint greens for a retro esthetic. The flow of the curved edges and three clean, universal color options (pomme red, truffle black, and beaune gray) make this accessible for many different design ideas, including mine.
But I didn’t realize how integral this knife would be to my everyday life until I first held it in my hand. Anyone who has watched Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl understands the importance of a well-weighted blade, but I didn’t truly understand what that meant until I held the Made In 8 Inch Chef Knife across my palms. Balanced, sleek, enticing. Everything about that knife made me want to start making meals for the whole city. And it had traveled to me all the way from Thiers, France, where it was created by a 5th generation, family-owned knifemaker. That knowledge alone made me revere this kitchen utensil more than my others, and I know I’m not supposed to play favorites. Quality craftsmanship, hammered from one solid piece of stainless steel in the knife capital of the world. It makes your cooking feel intentional, and that’s ultimately the goal when I’m spending time in my kitchen.
The weight of the knife wasn’t overbearing, but allowed even my slender, unruly hands to slice quickly and smoothly through the potatoes, bacon, and chives I prepared that first evening with it by my side. The next morning, when I woke from my early morning coma and stumbled into the kitchen to make a protein smoothie, I tried my hand at cutting frozen fruits and vegetables. With no thawing time, I felt like Zoro, painlessly chopping and creating my meal in a fraction of the time it used to take with my previous knives. (Like I said, design leads in a lot of kitchen spaces and those pretty knives didn’t cut half as well as my new friend.)
To those who geek out over blade quality - as you absolutely should - I can tell you this is the sharpest knife I have ever had the pleasure of using. By no means am I an expert, but each knife is cut at a 12.5 degree angle on both sides, allowing for a 25 degree cut. They are also nitrogen-treated and have a Rockwell score of 58-60, so they’re actually handy for use in commercial kitchens as well.
I’m serious when I advise you to keep your chef’s knife in a sheath or case when it isn’t in use, as it will destroy most things it comes into contact with. And - if you’re not-so-great at handling sharp utensils, like some of us - I would suggest finger guards or shields while wielding this bad boy.
