Buying new knives in honor of Rosh Hashanah? Or to be ready for the month-long cooking marathon?
There is a minhag, found mostly in the Chassidic community, of purchasing a new knife for Rosh Hashanah. It is said to be a segulah for parnassah, so it can only be a good thing! Also, we can all use a new knife once in a while, so why not buy it in time for the biggest cooking marathon of the year?
Knives run the gamut of price points, from single to triple digits. But the best knife is the one you are most comfortable using. It needs to fit your hand and your culinary needs. And your budget.
Here are some of our favorites:
Renee loves this Wenger 8.5-inch Cook’s Knife and also the ubiquitous 5.5-inch Icel knife found in just about every Jewish housewares store. The Wenger is a serious knife for a serious chef—but lighter than many competing brands so it’s more comfortable for many women.
She also enjoys this Gunter Wilhelm one for slicing meat.
I love my Wusthof Classic 6-inch Chef’s knife. It’s a workhorse that I grab all the time. It’s great for all sorts of slicing and dicing, though it is a bit short for slicing a roast. I also received a set of Shun knives that are epic. They slice everything like a dream, but they do require more TLC than most knives. Because I wash those by hand as soon as I’m done using them, it’s easier to keep them parve. I use just the slicer for meat, because it handles a large roast beautifully.
I also have a few of those “Jewish knives” in both 5.5-inch and 4-inch sizes, with straight and serrated blades. They’re affordable and easily found in the many colors needed to keep an organized kosher kitchen—and they work really well! Victoria, Shaindy and Leah all unanimously stated that they only use the Icel (here’s a chef knife and a 4-inch serrated) and/or similar Victorinox knives (here’s a 4-inch straight edge), so it must be true!
This is an excellent bread knife, exceptionally great for cutting sourdough.
Keep in mind that the best knife is only good as long as it’s sharp. Your best investment will be a honing steel like this one. Or check out this post about electric knife sharpeners. Sharpen your knives regularly and you’ll be slicing and dicing in the New Year like a pro!
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Glad to hear that such talented cooks use regular knives also…! Thanks for this great post!
Just ordered the knife sharpener. Was just wondering if you can use the same one for all knives or do you need separate ones for milchig, fleishig and pareve.