Last Wednesday, I hopped on a double decker Megabus and rode to New York in order to learn about knives. Many months ago, I’d gotten an email inviting me to visit Korin, a specialty shop that sells Japanese knives and tableware and finally the day had arrived for my trip. As a fan of good kitchen knives, I was incredibly excited to learn a little more about the breadth of knives available out there.
Located downtown near City Hall, Korin has been in the business of knives and tableware for 30 years. A family operation, the store was initially open only by appointment to the restaurant trade (they currently work with the likes of Nobu, Grammercy Tavern and Per Se) but in recent years, the shop has been open daily to the public as well.
In addition to selling an incredibly vast array of knives and tableware, they also offer sharpening services using a variety of Japanese water stones. They can sharpen and repair nearly any type or style of knife, save those with a serrated edge.
Having seen what they were able to do with some of my more beat-up knives, I am a true believer as to what a good sharpening can do. There is no one that I know of in Philadelphia producing this level of edge quality. Happily, you can mail your knives to Korin should you not live near enough to drop in for sharpening.
Korin sells Western-style knives, traditional Japanese knives and a Japanese-Western hybrid. The difference between these knives is in the edge. Western edges are sharpened so that they have a symmetrical edge. This offers a blade that is fairly durable and relatively easy to maintain. Japanese knives are traditionally sharpened on just one side of the knife. This makes for an incredibly sharp edge, but not as easy for the home cook to maintain.
Then there’s the hybrid knife. Made of thin, high-grade steel, the edge is sharpened to an asymmetrical edge that leads to a sharper, more durable blade. The only issue with selecting a knife with an asymmetrical edge is if you have multiple cooks in your household who have different dominant hands. These knives are sharpened differently for righties and lefties. Just something to keep in mind.
One of the things that my hosts stressed when showing me through the knives was the fact that in Japanese culinary culture, there are different knives for different tasks. The giant knife with the extended blade in this picture? It is designed for cutting soba noodles. Thicker blades are designated for butchering, while thinner ones are for making more precision cut. Blade shapes also vary depending on region and maker.
One blade that I fell particularly in love with while visiting Korin was the Petty knife. It’s seen as an analog to the paring knife, as it’s both light and highly maneuverable. However, as you can see (it’s pictured below), it’s got a longer blade that you typically find on a Western paring knife. Since introducing it to my kitchen a week ago, it’s rapidly become my favorite knife for quick tasks like slicing up an apple.
If you’re a knife nerd like me, make sure to visit Korin the next time you’re in New York!
I love my Santoku!
My favorite kitchen tool is probably my Wusthof chef’s knife. I feel helpless without good knives in the kitchen!
My favorite kitchen tool is my locking tongs.
My favorite kitchen tool, though not one that gets used terribly often, is definitely my big rolling pin. It’s comfortable to grip, nice and hefty (perfect in case of zombie apocalypse), and dishwasher safe. AND the plastic chills well in the fridge or freezer, which is nice when you’re rolling out biscuits and or pie dough. AAAAND it came with has 3 pairs of slide-on rings in different thicknesses so you can control how thin you roll the dough out. Pretty rad little toy. 🙂
My favorite is probably my Bosch mixer.
My microplane zester – I use it for citrus zest, cheese, grating nutmeg….all those weird tasks that are hard to do otherwise or don’t seem worth getting out a grater for.
I also use spatulas (the stirring kind with a rubbery tip, not the flat pancake-flipping kind) all the time.
Makes me wish I lived back in NYC! My favorite knife was a French tomato slicer that someone helped themselves to. My now favorite knife is my Cutco carving knife that I’ve owned for over 20 years (and still keep it in its original cardboard sleeve). I would love to get a paring type knife that works!
Every kitchen should have a wok and at least one or two japanese knives! I would love to add one to my kitchen 🙂 These are a work of art!!
Favorite? That’s a hard decision… The item I use most is a little serated blade paring knife, but the thing I wished I owned (I’m living with my parents at the moment) is my mum’s old pyrex mixing bowls. I’ve always loved them…
my favorite kitchen tool is definitely my cast iron pan
Recently moved and was forced to rearrange all my kitchen tools. Amazed how often I use a micro planer. Of course, a sharp kitchen knife is always a plus.
I would have to say that my favorite kitchen tool is my kitchen scale (as opposed to the bathroom scale, which is not my favorite). I love it and use it nearly every day. My husband’s would be his Santuko knife, so I know he’d be very very excited about this. Thanks!
Oh…just one? I’d have to pick my chef’s knife. I could do without all the fun extras, but a good knife is an absolute neccessity.
I love my immersion blender. What a useful tool!
We got a new set of pots and pans for our wedding and now I don’t know how I got by with my old cheap stuff!!
Either my mom’s kitchen aid mixer (sadly I’ve moved away and no longer have access) or my little paring knife. I do everything with that it seems.
I can’t live without my benriner. It makes such quick and lovely work of a mountain of vegetables. so precise.
Favorite kitchen tool has to be my stone mortar and pestle. Toasted and then ground spices some how seem…better….when I hand grind them
My grandfather was a hotel chef in Seattle in the teens and 20’s last century. My grandma, who is 93, recently gave me his hotel recipe book (manually typed with many notes) and his tools. I received a 12 inch carver, an 8 inch chef’s knife and a large grill spatula. They are all carbon steel and have full tangs and my grandpa’s initials were hand carved into the wooden handles. I never knew how a good knife felt in my hand until these. The chef’s knife is my current favorite. I use it daily.
I go-to knife is a little serrated one that is great for cutting just about any smaller item. My other favorite tools would have to my bamboo utensils.
I would have to say my 4″ paring knife… love that one.
I was a bit intimidated by the Kitchen Aid food processor I got for Christmas this year. It has a whole separate kit to hold the many different accessories and pieces and parts. Once I dug in and figured it all out, though, I have come to wonder how I ever survived without it!
As much as I love all the gidgets (fillet knife), gadgets (3 stage electric knife sharpener), pots (stainless steel 10qt stockpot), and pans (15″ cast iron) in my kitchen picking one thing is hard. But my vote goes to my step stools for best kitchen tool. Without my step stools our two girls wouldn’t be able to participate in the kitchen safely. We actually had to buy different color step stools to prevent turf wars over kitchen jobs between our girls. Yup, step stools!
Hard choice, but I’d have to say my favorite kitchen tool is my KitchenAid mixer. I love it for breads and kneading!
hmmm, hard to choose – my cast iron skillet and my santoku chef’s knife are both total workhorses, but nothing compares to the wooden spoon that was once my grandmothers. Nothing feels as good in my hand and when making one of her famous Greek recipes, it’s nice to know that that spoon has been stirring the same pot of food for the last 30 years.
hmm, i’d have to say my current favorite is my microplane grater… but i’m willing to switch allegiances for that gorgeous petty knife!
My favorite kitchen tool is my paring knife- so handy, so lovely, so useful.
i think my favorite thing in the kitchen that helps our busy family life run a little more smoothly is my kitchenaid mixer. but also id have to say that i rely on my crock pot quite often as well. thank you very much for this opportunity. 🙂
Oooh pretty! Its like a jewelry store for knives? 😉 I’d love to win!
Favorite kitchen tool? My electric kettle. As a tea drinker, it’s the best for heating water in a hurry and works for all types of liquids. Thanks for the contest.
I would have to say my laptop. I bookmark recipes then follow along by checking the directions on my laptop.
My favourite kitchen tool is a spatula. So versatile!
Hands down my mom’s old dutch oven. It’s older than I am and the seasoning is the most perfect nonstick surface I have ever used. I love breaking it out when the weather turns cold for hearty stews and camping trips!
I like knives too. I was taught to use a Chinese butcher knife, but I tend to use a santuko these days. Never enough good knives.
My favorite kitchen tool is my Zojirishi rice cooker. Not only does it cook rice perfectly, but it plays a happy little song at the end of the cooking cycle. I like to think that my rice cooker is very pleased about a job well done. 🙂
I went to this store when I was a culinary student at the CIA. Amazing!
My favorite tool in the kitchen is my microplane!
I couldn’t live without my garlic press – we love garlic! But, my husband would say, hands down – good knives! In fact our first ever fight was about my mis-use of a good knife on some baking chocolate. Don’t worry – I’ve learned, haven’t dulled anymore knives chopping up chocolate, and have come around to see that value of a lovely kitchen knife.
My favorite knife? I am learning to use properly and love my chef’s knife. For baking, definitely my KitchenAid stand mixer – lets me make bread weekly without insanity. For putting dinner on the table, its currently a toss up between my shiny, pretty, new tagine and my enormous wok of happiness.
I love my crockpot. A lot.
My favorite, although not the most practical or used, is my apple machine. It peels, cores, and slices apples. I just love the feeling of accomplishment when the apple comes out perfectly sliced and cleaned.
My favorite kitchen tool is my “granny fork”, a long steel three-tined fork with a bone handle that my mother gave me from her grandmother’s kitchen stuff. With really sharp tines, the “granny fork” is the perfect bacon flipper and one of my greatest all-around kitchen tools. 🙂
My favorite is my handy steak knife I use to cut everything.
My favorite tool is my pressure cooker!
Does a dutch oven count as a kitchen tool? Because I love mine.
It’s funny that you mention slicing an apple with the petty knife because it brings back a childhood memory. My dad made friends with a coworker who was originally from Japan and his wife wanted to learn how to make an apple pie. My mom went to their house to teach her, and was very surprised when the lady brought out a giant knife to peel the apples. But she did it with ease! Maybe it was one of those petty knives?
Oh, and my favorite kitchen tool (besides a sharp knife) is my immersion blender.
I feel like this is a little akin to choosing the favorite of your children – but I guess if I have to choose one thing I’ll say it’s my Kitchenaid stand mixer.
My favorite kitchen tool is my big red le creuset sauce pot. I use it almost daily.
It would have to be the one knife I own that fits my small hands.
Beautiful knife!
Without a doubt my chef’s knife is my favorite kitchen tool. Always looking for a good knife.
My favorite kitchen tool is my Wusthof 10″ chefs knife. Luckily, other family members think it’s too long, so it doesn’t see some of the use/abuse of other knives. It will be with me for many years to come and through many meals to cook.
My favorite tool is my immersion blender. There’s just so much you can do with it open a whole slew of opportunities for making things.
My favorite kitchen tool is my offset spatula. It has a bakelite handle and I use it for cutting cheese curds as well as spreading frosting. Great contest!
My favorite kitchen tool is a good pair of chopsticks. They’re multipurpose!
I love my knife and wooden spoon plenty, but right now my favourite kitchen gadget is my my mini whisk. It mixes small amounts of liquids like salad dressings and marinades so well.
my blender stick. i use it constantly and have become the queen of soups.
I’ve inherited my Gramma’s obsession with pretty wooden spoons. I just love them!
I actually love a simple wooden spoon that was my grandmother’s. It’s only about 12 inches long and has a dent in the handle near the bowl from years and years of use.
My santoku knife is definitely my favorite kitchen tool, but I’m dying for one of these Korin knives!
My cast iron cookware. Can’t live without it.
My favorite kitchen tool is my food processor but I could easily make it one of these knives!
I love my cookie spatulas (they’re much smaller) and my Cuisinart. and lately, I’ve had a borrowed dehydrator & I’m falling hard for it.
Wow, what a cool place and fun field trip! I love that knife in the second picture–like a work of art.
Besides a set of knives which are used the most, I think my favorite tool is my bench scraper–cuts dough, scoops up chopped veggies, cleans off the dough bits from my work area. Its the tool I’m always reaching for, and it rarely makes it from the drainer to the drawer where it lives.
My 5″ analon santoku knife would be my favorite as well as the
things I inherited from my Nana. Potatoe ricer, a beautiful oversized
wooden bowl with a red hand handled chopper and some really old
corningware bakewear. I’d love another good knife.
What a great field trip! My latest favorite tool — a vintage Sabatier carbon knife, easier to keep sharp than the high carbon ones.
While it is not exciting or unusual, my favorite kitchen tool is my Cutco peeler. It has never let me down and is without a doubt the best vegetable peeler I have ever used.
Diane
Great information I would love to win. Thanks for the chance
Hands down, my favorite kitchen tool is the knife. I can use my chef’s knife for almost anything, even peeling an apple if necessary. When one studies cooking for a living, it becomes the go-to tool. Much like scissors are a hairdresser’s tool, a chef knife is mine.
I am jealous! There are some Japanese suppliers here in Montreal, but nothing like Korin. In fact, a lot of my former cooks at Koko Restaurant used to order their knives from Korin. It’s nice to see the place behind the scenes!
I love my citrus reamer. It is wooden, simple but oh so effective and in heavy use. I wish I could say ‘my knives’ but sadly they are no fun to work with, so the give away is perfectly timed.
the most indispensable tool is our chef’s knife which we got a crazy mash up of a store that the Japanese are expert at when we lived in Japan several years ago.
A few years ago my husband bought me a stand mixer. I’ve been having a love affair with it ever since.
A favorite kitchen tool? What a hard choice! There are so many things I love and that make cooking so joyful. I suppose I’ll have to go with my newest kitchen gadget as it has all the luster of novelty in addition to my love for it. And that is my hand-crank grain mill!
Without a doubt, my knives. I am never in the kitchen without using them. Great giveaway, thank you!
What interesting information – makes me want to have many more knives to do many more things. My favorite kitchen tool is a measuring cup my young son gave me this Christmas. It has the measurements on the inside so all you have to do is look down into the cup when pouring in liquid – what a great idea!
I love my microplane! I use it every single day. Maybe at every meal.
right now my favorite kitchen tool is my microplane grater 🙂 though i’m sure this awesome knife would quickly become my favorite kitchen tool if i were to win!!
The proof is in my dishrack. My Le Creuset cast iron skillet goes from stove to sink to dishrack and never gets a chance to sit in my cupboards. I can’t think of anything (except maybe a fork) that I use more often.
My Le Creuset braiser is at the top of my list. My husband calls it the “magic pot”, because he loves everything that comes out of it.
Odd as it may sound, my favorite kitchen gadget is my grandmother’s ice cream scoop – solid, thick metal with curved handle. I love it, and it always reminds me of her.
I love my crock pot, but that’s more of an appliance than a tool. One of my favorite tools is a little plastic orange peeler I got at a home party years ago.
My favorite kitchen tool might be my paring knife. I use it a lot more than the others. I’ve got two of them actually – one is a lovely Wusthof classic and the other is red with white polka dots.
I use so many things in the kitchen. If I had to ‘pare’ it down, it would come down to my chef’s knife, my Wolfgang Puck skillet (always on the stovetop) and my lime juicer! (Oh does that count as cooking gadget or mental health aid!?! tee hee!)
What a fun field trip! My favorite kitchen tool is my 8″ knife — but the heavy flat whisk runs a close second.
considering that I haven’t been out of bed for more than an hour, right now my favorite kitchen tool is my coffee maker, not sure that counts, um……probly my bread knife?
I would love to visit the knife store! My favorite knife (this year) is from a Wolfgang Puck set I bought for my husband, it’s got a 5″ blade and is just the right size for so many jobs. We also have the smaller and the larger which are equally wonderful, but the middle-sized one is my fave.
Thank you for all the great info, Marisa, you always get me thinking!
Sue Blando
I love my digital scale! Makes me feel accurate about following recipes and counting calories.
Thanks for the chance to win that knife! I can always incorporate more knives in my kitchen… My favourite kitchen tool has to be the silicone spatula. Whoever invented that one is a genius!
Most used and most loved is my Santoku 5 inch Henckle knife. It never even gets put away, I use it so much. I’d love to see how these compare.
My first job was working for Lamson & Goodnow many, many years ago so I have to go with my old L&G knives – they sharpen theirs for free.
My favorite tool is probably my slow cooker, but I also love my cast iron skillet.
Thank you for the giveaway! My favorite tool is a chef’s knife!
Ohhh, look at all those beautiful knives! My favorite tool is my kitchen aid mixer. Thank you for the contest.
It is difficult to pick just one kitchen tool. I love everything that has to do with cooking! I have a 1 quart Revere sauce pan that I have had for at least 15 years. I have warmed up countless servings of soup and oatmeal for my children in it. I would be lost with out it! Great give away!
My favorite kitchen tool (right now) would be my mixing bowl. I have so many favorites though. My favorite kitchen knife is a slim ‘tomato’ knife that cuts so thin it is not even funny!
My Henkle chefs knife is my favorite tool but I couldn’t live without my pepper mill.
My kitchen tool is my garlic press. I use it often, and I would love a new knife!!
Oh, so many favorites….I would guess right now (this is hard) ….it would be my 30+ year old Kitchen Aid Mixer.
My favorite kitchen tool would be my Kitchen Aide Mixer….LOVE IT.
My favorite tool is my JA Henkels chef’s knife. My friend and I cook together frequently and, unfortunately, I only have one nice knife (the other one is from Ikea). A new knife would help preserve our friendship.
Whoa! I think my fav kitchen tool would have the be the wooden spoon. So commonplace yet so very useful. I must have at least 10.
Good knives really make a huge difference. My favorite tools are my Wusthof knives or Krups MultiMaster, which does it all.