My Best Knife

My favorite knife used to be a cleaver. I bought it for $15 in Chinatown in Chicago.  With a knife like that, even the hardest squash doesn't stand a chance.  Hiya! Bam!  But, a couple of years ago I bought a knife for our vacation condo.  (Vacation condos tend to be bereft of decent knives.  It's part of their charm.)  I found this Chicago Cutlery knife ($20) at my favorite store: Target.  Sadly, they do not carry the knife anymore.  But you can find it on Amazon.

This is a knife worth swooning for. (Careful! Put the knife down first.)  It has a good weight and the blade is really thin and sharp.  It's good for cutting everything from onions to carrots to meat, fish, and, yes, squash.  It's good looking too, if a knife can be said to be handsome.  And it's less intimidating to dinner guests than a cleaver.  (Especially when said cleaver is being wielded by your eleven-year old son.)


It even has a cool name: Santoku.  My Santoku is seven inches long and has divots along the blade to reduce its friction and make it look extra cool.  It's a chef's knife based on the "bones" of a cleaver.  (I knew I loved this knife!)  The blade is high-carbon stainless steel, so it keeps a sharp edge. 

Long story short, I bought another one for home.  Now, that's love.