Product Review: Forschner Victorinox 8” Chef Knife

Product Review: Forschner Victorinox 8” Chef Knife
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A Good Knife Makes Healthy Cooking Easier

A good 8-10 inch chef’s knife is the single most important kitchen tool a person can own. Healthy, vegetable-centric recipes such as stir-fries and vegetarian pizzas are easy to prepare with a quality chef knife, but even a simple task such as cutting up an onion can be an exercise in futility without one.

However, not everyone who is changing her diet for health or weight loss reasons can just go out and drop $150 on a quality knife. Fortunately, there’s one high-quality knife, the Forschner Victorinox 8” chef knife, which can be had for under thirty dollars. Read on to learn why this knife a good choice for the healthy kitchen.

Chef’s Knife Handle Design

According to Chad Ward, author of the book An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Knives, the single most important thing to look for in a chef’s knife is comfort. After all, the best knife in the world won’t do any good if it is left in a drawer, and nobody wants to use a knife that causes pain.

The Forschner Victorinox chef knife is comfortable for almost all cooks. It has a straight Fibrox handle with a slightly “squishy”, pebbled surface. Though some people are put off by the lack of “ergonomic” shape, a straight handle is actually better for most people. “Ergonomic” bumps, bends, and curves can turn a knife into an instrument of torture if the cook happens to have smaller, larger, thinner, or wider hands than the knife was designed for.

Also, the pebbled, soft surface of the Forschner Victorinox knife allows the cook to keep a firm grip when the knife is wet or greasy, which reduces the likelihood of cuts and other injuries.

Knife Shape, Weight and Balance

According to America’s Test Kitchen magazine (which as been called “Consumer Reports for Cookware”), a good chef knife is one that has a slightly curved blade, moderate weight, and a good balance between the blade and handle.

The Forschner Victorinox knife fits the bill on all three counts. Its gentle curve makes chopping and mincing easy, while its 6 ounce weight is neither to heavy nor too light. The knife’s weight is equally balanced between handle and blade. This is ideal, since a heavy blade can be awkward, and a heavy handle can cause wrist fatigue.

Cutting and Edge Retention

The final aspects to consider when buying a knife are cutting and edge retention. The best-designed knife in the world is useless if it cannot actually cut. The Forschner Victorinox knife is a good chef knife because it is well-suited to a wide range of kitchen tasks.

It can cut through tough butternut squash, mince delicate herbs without bruising them, and do just about everything in between. Also, with regular honing, this knife’s edge remains sharp for 3-6 months of daily use.

Price and Where to Buy

As of this writing, the Forschner Victorinox 8” chef knife retailed for $20-$30, depending on the merchant. It is available in most major kitchenware stores, or online at www.cooking.com.

References

Kimball, C. (Ed.). (2005, 1 August). Inexpensive Chef’s Knives. Cooks Illustrated Magazine. Retrieved 31 May, 2010 from https://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment/overview.asp?docid=10417

Swift, S. (Producer). (2008, 23 August). The Splendid Table: Summer Fruits [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved 31 May, 2010 from https://splendidtable.publicradio.org/listings/shows08_08_23.html