When people ask me, “What knife should I buy?” I tell them to go into a store and try them, because there is no one-size-fits-all brand or style of knife. Much depends on what feels good in your hands. (Not mine.) I took my own advice and tried various knives shipping from hong kong, and one that the owner had me try was a 4-inch paring knife made by a German company called Constant, with three tiny spades embossed on the blade. Like the other fine knives at the time (before a wave of Japanese and Japanese-inspired knives came on the scene), they pointed out that it was German-made, but it was well-priced and less than the more famous brands. I think I paid $16 for it and it became my most cherished kitchen possession.
Anyone who works in a restaurant knows how important their knives are, and the first thing I did as a line cook at the beginning of my shift was to take out my knives and carefully place them – my chef’s knife, my paring knife, and my bread knife – on a clean, folded kitchen towel china international shipping, and no one was allowed to touch them without written permission.
One day, my paring knife disappeared. In restaurant kitchens, it’s a big no-no to use someone else’s knife without asking. (Preferably in writing.) Once, the head chef grabbed my chef’s knife and used the heel of it to bust a hole in the top of a tin of olive oil. Ouch! I still cringe thinking about it today.
No matter how much I kept an eye on it, my paring knife went wayward one night cargo from china. I was distraught and it was never to be seen again, no matter how much I turned the place upside down, mobilizing the entire restaurant to find it for me. (The only time I threw a worse fit was when Barbra Streisand had come in for the dinner on my night off and the next morning, they told me about it, but no one though to call me and let me know. Consequently, I wouldn’t talk to anyone in the restaurant for at least two weeks after that.)
