# Buying "good" steak knives



## bdd8 (May 5, 2012)

What makes a good steak knife? Do they need to be as sharp as cooking knives? Is serrated better or smooth? Do we apply the same principles in buying cooking knives for steak knives? 

Recommendations? What are your faves?


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## twyst (Jan 22, 2012)

Ive used many a steak knife and can say I dont really have a preference at all. I dont think the quality of steak knives is really a big deal (unless they are ultra cheapo) for anything other than aesthetics.

That being said, I own use and love a set of laguiole fleur de lys steak knives. They are beautiful and Im a saints fanso the fleur de lys was a big selling point


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## bdd8 (May 5, 2012)

Twyst said:


> Ive used many a steak knife and can say I dont really have a preference at all. I dont think the quality of steak knives is really a big deal (unless they are ultra cheapo) for anything other than aesthetics.
> 
> That being said, I own use and love a set of laguiole fleur de lys steak knives. They are beautiful and Im a saints fanso the fleur de lys was a big selling point


I didn't think so. As you said as long as you don't get uber cheap throw away knives they should be okay. As long as the blade stays rigid and doesn't flex. And from my experience with cheap steak knives (e.g. $50 for 4) they've served me well. Never sharpened them. And they've never had trouble cutting through the steaks.

I am already considering buying some Tojiro cooking knives so maybe I'll get some of their steak knives as well. Or Shuns. Or maybe some Wusthofs.

Will check out the Languiole....recall that name...i think they also make corkscrew knives.


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## twyst (Jan 22, 2012)

BDD8 said:


> Will check out the Languiole....recall that name...i think they also make corkscrew knives.


Yep, they make pretty much the best corkscrew on the market.


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## romanas (Jan 28, 2012)

My thoughts about steak knives are simple. I serve steaks on glass/ceramic tableware, so it makes very little sense to use sharp j-knives because they'll get dull. Well, there is an option of serving steaks on wooden boards with sharp knives. But all sharp knives need good care and I'm not sure that I want to spend my time sharpening steak knives. At least, I already spend enough time sharpening other knives...

On the other hand, serrated knives seem to hold reasonably good "cutting ability" when used with glass tableware. Major disadvantage of serrated knives is that they are quite difficult to sharpen, so my approach is to buy not expensive knives and just replace them when they don't cut anymore.

Also, when it comes to steaks, I like to use solid knife with wide blade.

Taking in to account all these reasons, I have chosen steak knives by Tramontina from Churrasco line.



Major problem about these knives is that it's difficult to buy them outside of Brazil. Fortunately I have found a shop on amazon.com that ships these knives (about 50$ for 4 pcs). They are branded for Smith&Wollensky steakhouses, but I can live with this.


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## bdd8 (May 5, 2012)

Good point Romanas. We should all know better. As most of here would know not to use our expensive cooking knives on a hard surface. Why would we with ultra sharp (e.g. Shun Premiers) steak knives? I guess steak knives are the only knives most of us on this forum don't invest much money in if any.

I have seen some steakhouses serve steaks on cutting boards. I assume they have grooves cut in at the edges for the juice to drip into. 

But since i'm going to be eating on ceramic plates...


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

IMHO, I'd be embarrassed to serve a steak that required a "steak knife"!


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## indygal (Dec 7, 2010)

No answers here, but I have a favorite knife for cutting steak & other meat, and would love to find more like it.

I picked them up at a garage sale.   But it looks just like an ordinary table knife,

except the cutting part of the (one piece) is a little smaller than a table knife.  The edge is sort of serrated, not much

but enough to really make cutting easy.

 I will try and get a picture of it and put it on this post later.

Indy


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