The Misen couldn’t make a straight cut down the middle of a butternut squash, and it split carrots instead of cleanly slicing through to the board. Many Japanese knives have single or uneven bevels. In that respect, $145 or so is a bargain. The Mac Knife Chef Series Hollow edge is an extremely sharp and durable Japanese knife. However, at this writing, the TH-80 costs less than our top pick. You can purchase this knife for about $145, which is not the most affordable but still a reasonable price for the quality it has. Her expertise builds on a lifelong career in the culinary world—from a restaurant cook and caterer to a food editor at Martha Stewart. The Mac Mighty MTH-80 is our favorite knife because it’s crazy sharp and will stay that way longer than most other knives. If you’re accustomed to the feel of a heavier German knife, the Wüsthof Classic Ikon 8-Inch Cook’s Knife is sharp and sturdy, and it fits our criteria for a good knife. But by paying a little attention to care, you will keep your Mac knife clean and spot-free. The crew at Le Coucou noted that the Tojiro was heavier than they preferred (though it’s only two-tenths of an ounce heavier than the Mac), but they rated its edge retention on a par with that of the more expensive Mac. It was the best overall for basic mise en place.”. She likes the comfortable handle and appreciates the weight compared with lighter knives, which “often feel like they’re going to fly out of my hand.”. If you can, cut some vegetables to look for knuckle clearance—nothing is quite as annoying as banging your knuckles on the board while chopping. If you drop a Wüsthof into a sink or wait to clean it after cutting acidic foods, it shouldn’t chip, stain, or corrode. We think the Mac Mighty MTH-80 is a better knife, but if you like the heft and the more substantial feel of a drop-forged German knife, we recommend the Wüsthof Classic Ikon 8-Inch Cook’s Knife. But the softer steel makes German knives more resistant to chipping. The thin, razor-sharp edge cut through vegetables with the precision of a scalpel. The MTH-80’s blade shape strikes the perfect middle ground between German and Japanese chef’s knives. He said, “It’s a mentality perspective. But knuckle clearance was scarce for testers with larger hands. The heftier drop-forged German knives fell somewhere in between, causing only a moderate amount of bruising and oxidation to the basil. Either the blade was defective or the blade was made of an inferior material than previous MAC knives. For a knife of this size, the blade has significant depth. The edge was sharp and the knife itself was comfortable to hold, but the 8½-inch blade length was a little too much for home cooks. However, at no time, will it ever affect our rankings or judgment of the product(s) in discussion or under evaluation. That said, they’re both well-balanced tools. If you need something sharp, but more affordable, the Victorinox Fibrox is a brilliant alternative. You will see knives made from American steel, and though some of it is fine for knives, a couple of formulas don’t perform as well. Since an 8-inch chef’s knife can tackle 90% of cutting jobs, you can sidestep the sticker shock of buying an entire knife set by getting one good chef’s knife, which you can use until you generate more funds to build out your cutlery collection. Former Wirecutter deputy editor Michael Zhao told us that he loves the Classic Ikon, but he noticed the difference between its softer steel and the harder Mac MTH-80. Shop for MAC Chef Knives at Cutlery and More. It is six inches in length and features the use of high carbon for enhanced durability. A good knife is the equivalent of a home cook’s right (or left) hand, which is why it’s so important to find one you really, really, really love. This santoku knife doesn't disappoint on either front—in fact, it's one I've used regularly for years in the Serious Eats test kitchen (we purchased a brand-new knife for this review, though). Photo: Michael Hession, We tested chef’s knives on a bounty of produce. It’s well balanced and easy to maneuver.”. But it didn’t surpass the Mac Mighty MTH-80 for several reasons. We found some reviews on Amazon complaining about the blade staining. Depending on your use, that could mean every six months to a year. Although the Genesis was sharper out of the box than our Victorinox pick, the latter was more comfortable to hold and had better balance. Our Price. Murray Carter told us he highly recommended it. It’s an extension of your hand that can slice and dice most vegetables, chop a mound of herbs, and handle simple meat cuts like cubing beef or slicing chicken into strips. 16 reviews of MAC Knife "I was a line cook in a former life and these were the first higher end knives I purchased. A good knife is the equivalent of a home cook’s right (or left) hand, which is why it’s so important to find one you really, really, really love. The Mac 10-inch hollow edge knife is very sharp can be used to cut a wide range of items. Required fields are marked *, Is this a review? The chefs and line cooks there used the knives during prep and service for a week. It simply doesn’t warrant its price. Although steel is a classic choice for honing rods, sometimes the material is softer than your knife, rendering it useless. It’s easy to care for a knife—it just takes attention and two extra minutes. Brendan McDermott, chef instructor of knife skills, phone interview, February 27, 2015, Murray Carter, 17th-generation Yoshimoto Bladesmith, phone interview, March 27, 2015, Wendy Yang, showroom manager at Korin Japanese Trading, email interview, April 27, 2015, Howard Nourieli, owner of Bowery Kitchen Supplies, email interview, March 18, 2015, Chad Ward, An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives, June 10, 2008, Daniel Rose, executive chef, Le Coucou, New York City, in-person interview, August 8, 2017, Scott Markowitz, sous chef, Le Coucou, New York City, in-person interview, August 8, 2017, Adam Brach, cook, Le Coucou, New York City, in-person interview, August 8, 2017, Shinji Nagasuga, cook, Le Coucou, New York City, in-person interview, August 8, 2017, Chef’s Knives (subscription required), Cook’s Illustrated, Betty Gold, 12 Best Chef’s Knives, According to Cooking Experts, Good Housekeeping, July 24, 2017. New (2) from CDN$ 219.95 + FREE Shipping. To get the opinions of some professional chefs, we sent the top-performing chef’s knives from our in-house test kitchen to the kitchen at Le Coucou (recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s 2017 award for Best New Restaurant) in New York City. Sharpness: A brand-new knife comes with what’s called a “factory edge,” which is usually very sharp. Tens of thousands of pounds of vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish have crossed my cutting board over the years. Our former budget pick, the 8-inch Wüsthof Pro, is no longer available. Selecting a chef’s knife has a lot to do with personal preference, but we’re confident that the Mac Mighty MTH-80 is one of the most widely appealing knives out there. Milk Street's wide variety of sharp, sturdy knives ranges from pocket knives to butter knives, from chef's knives to nakiris. The best Schmidt Brothers Knife review and the Best Calphalon Knives reviews may interest you too. We liked how easily it maneuvered around curves when cutting away butternut squash skin and citrus rinds. Finally, make sure you have one of the Best Knife Sharpeners or Best Electric Knife Sharpeners on the market 2020. MAC - 4" Paring Knife - SK-40. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Our previous budget pick from Wüsthof was discontinued, so we have a new one: the Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-Inch Chef’s Knife. Gadget Review works with a variety of eCommerce partners and vendors to help monetize the site’s traffic – instead of advertisers. Do not, by any means, let your edge hit glass, granite, marble, or ceramics—not even a quick slice on a dinner plate. The daytime kitchen crew at Le Coucou used the MTH-80 for prep and during lunch service for a week and praised its outstanding performance on vegetables, herbs, and fish. The hollow edges help the knife to glide through sticky foods such as potatoes, apples, and summer squash. Length: Chef’s knife blades range from 6 to 14 inches long. Messermeister’s Meridian Elité came recommended in Chad Ward’s An Edge in the Kitchen. Hold the handle with the edge facing downward and look along the spine to make sure the blade is perfectly straight. If you’re starting out, it’s safer to place the tip of the honing rod on a cutting board, with the rod perpendicular to the board. You heard it here: I have no more excuse for not keeping my knives sharp because after this review, I now know definitively how easy it is. | 3 answered questions. I tested two knives in my home kitchen, cutting butternut squash, tomatoes, onions, and carrots. It offers the best of both worlds. 1. It was the standout favorite for all our testers, regardless of their cutting style or the size of their hands. reviews and buyers guides. We think an 8-inch knife is the perfect length for most people because it’s long enough to halve large vegetables but still manageable for most home cooks. German knife blades are curved and designed for a rocking chopping motion. We especially like its smooth slicing action and blade-heavy balance. Who in Western society ever thinks about sharpening their own knives?” Carter continued, “Once they have a new sharpening skill, it empowers them to have mastery over the cutlery they own.”. Maybe you’re on a budget and outfitting your first kitchen. But we saw one big problem with the 8-inch Classic Uber 4583-7/20: Its belly curve was much more articulated than those of other Wüsthof chef’s knives. If you learn how to sharpen your own knives, you will have tools that are truly yours. Unlike Japanese knives, some German knives have full bolsters that extend all the way to the blade edge. Compared with the other forged German knives we tested, the Classic Ikon’s thinner blade cut more smoothly through butternut squash and carrots. Never put any sharp blade in the dishwasher because it’s not good for the edge to bump up against other things, such as glassware and ceramic—materials that are harder than the steel. The blade measures 6.5 inches long and two millimeters across, making it a short and thin blade. Like the other drop-forged German knives we tested, it caused moderate bruising to cut basil. Mercer Culinary Millennia Santoku Knife. Eventually your knife will need sharpening. Although we think the Tojiro DP F-808 is a great knife, it needs a little more TLC than the Mac MTH-80. A great chef’s knife can revolutionize your daily meal prep. This knife is comfortable to use, durable, and pretty sharp. Adam Brach, sauté cook at Le Coucou, said, “I’m pretty sure [out of all the cooks] I do the most knife work in the morning as far as chopping shallots and onions and stuff. Every knife is shaped, assembled, polished, and sharpened by professional Japanese craftsmen in a series of up to 64 steps to guarantee that every knife is … The MAC Professional Hollow Edge Chef’s Knife was easily my favorite knife throughout the tests. The best chef’s knife overall: Mac Professional Hollow Edge Chef’s Knife This is a moderately priced and very sharp knife that at 6.5 ounces is also pretty lightweight. You’ll also develop faster knife skills, and that’s awesome. It’s razor-sharp for a reason—MAC’s founder modeled the company’s knives on razors. For a more detailed analysis and in-depth look into each product, please read my reviews for each chef knife down below. This is designed to slice through even the toughest produce especially easily. Take a look at our Best Japanese Chefs Knives Top 6 guide for a comparison against 5 of the other knives you should consider. We found the Rada Cutlery R131 French Chef’s Knife to be comically flimsy. But it isn’t as thick as that of the Messermeister Meridian Elité (0.1461 inch) or the Zwilling J.A. While using the Ikon at home almost every day, he had to sharpen it every six months or so; the Mac, meanwhile, can go at least a year between sharpenings. For this guide, we chose to exclude full-bolster knives from our tests. But if you have an old knife set or a hodge-podge of hand-me-downs that aren’t cutting it anymore, it’s probably time for an upgrade. This granton edge, as it’s called, has long been a common feature on slicing and santoku knives. Compared with other German knives we tested, the Classic Ikon has a thinner blade, a more comfortable handle, and a more manageable belly curve for better leverage and control. If you find the Global G-2 intriguing, we suggest checking it out in person to see whether it’s right for you. Wirecutter editor Jen Hunter also loves the Ikon and said she’s used it for about 10 years. In our tests we found that well-designed ones worked nicely, causing minimal wear to knives while creating a fine edge. We understand that the price of the Mac MTH-80 may be off-putting for some people. This process includes (but isn’t limited to) annealing, quenching, and tempering. This extremely sharp Japanese knife is one of the best deals we’ve found in cutlery. $140.00 (20% off) ... More From Kitchen Knife Reviews. And like all the German knives we tested, this Wüsthof is heavier than our top pick, weighing 9 ounces (2½ ounces more than the Mac Mighty). I’ve also covered knives for this site for more than two years, racking up over 120 hours of research and testing. Mac knives are Known as some of the sharpest knives, They have razor-like edges for effortless slicing, they are hard so they stay sharp longer, One slice with MAC knives and you will experience for yourself a new definition of sharpness, nicely balanced and are a good value. 7 Best Butcher's Knives. Because Japanese knives have straighter edges, with these knives it’s better to use a push-pull motion, lifting the whole knife off the board for each cut (demonstrated above). Like the Tojiro DP F-808, it lacks knuckle clearance for large hands, but the Tojiro is a better value. In 2020, we tested the 8-inch chef’s knife from Food52’s Five Two Essential Knives collection, and we retested our new budget pick, the Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-Inch Chef’s Knife. Balance boils down to personal preference. Head on over to our Best Chef Knife Under 100 dollars review. The cut edges of basil stayed mostly green with very little oxidation, meaning the Mac’s razor-sharp edge broke very few of the herb’s cells. But it has a slightly less durable blade, and the handle doesn’t provide as much knuckle clearance. In our analysis of 42 expert reviews, the Mac Knife Mac Knife Professional Hollow Edge Chef Knife, 8-Inch placed 1st when we looked at the top 10 … by Michael Sullivan and Christine Cyr Clisset. Start with your knife toward the rod’s handle and then pull down from heel to tip. The Mac chef knife is designed to last for many years, just like the Wusthof Ikon 8-inch. The handle is made from Pakkawood. It’s a favorite of several food publications and budget-conscious home cooks, and it has an ergonomically shaped plastic handle that appeals to most people. Some chef’s knives have oval dimples carved just above the edge. MAC Knives are made within Seki City, an area within Japan that has a rich history of being the epicentre of Japanese sword-making. We endeavor to always link to authorized vendors, but Amazon sometimes redirects to unauthorized vendors in times of low stock. We think this design is so common because the full tang has stood as a benchmark of quality among both knife makers and cooks. But we found the handle uncomfortable due to the sharp edges on the spine, which kept digging into our forefingers. There are so many things that a simple comparison chart and short descriptions can't cover. With its super-sharp edge, sleek tapered shape, and comfortable handle, this knife will make your everyday dicing and slicing tasks smoother and quicker. Editor’s Rating: 5/5 If you are interested in upgrading your cutting experience, it is high time to look for a high-quality product like Mac professional, it’s considered as one of the best and sharpest chef’s knives series in the world, with an excellent cutting power which delivered by a thin, durable blade and extremely balanced.. MAC - Chef Series Bird's Beak Peeling Knife - PK-25. Hone your knife before each use, and you’ll be golden. As such, some of the links on this page may earn us a commission when you click thru and purchase from the associated partner, like Amazon. I spoke with a Mac customer service representative, who explained that the knife’s high carbon content meant that sometimes—especially when you don’t rinse and dry the knife after cutting corrosive acidic foods, like citrus or tomatoes—you might see a rust spot. This design makes gyutos great for paper-thin slices and precise cuts. Photo: Michael Hession. WÜSTHOF 4582/20 Classic 8 Inches Chef Knife (Best Overall) The blade geometry is unique in that the edge curve is more articulated than on a classic gyuto but not quite as extreme as on a German knife. Its factory edge is sharp, but not as keen as those of our top pick and runner-up pick. This Mac knife is razor-sharp and has dimples along the blade to stop food from sticking. (For more on knife care, see our discussion of care and maintenance.) Forged or stamped blade: Blades are either forged or stamped, and both methods can produce high- or low-quality knives. Even though the Mac Mighty MTH-80 tends to be on the pricier end of the knives we tested, we think its combination of performance and superior build will give you many years of happy use—much more than a budget knife. Knife makers like Mac and Tojiro heat-treat their blades to make them just as strong as forged steel. The G-2 also comes highly rated by Cooking For Engineers. Latest review: This knife is a pathetic product unable to do basic requirements of an electric knife. Many big knife makers claim that a full tang extending through the whole handle helps balance the knife. When you are buying a knife, it’s good to spot-check the spine and edge for defects. Be sure to check what vendor you’re buying from before purchasing. Some manufacturers offer a lifetime warranty on their knives, but Mac only offers 25 years. 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