Cooking can be one of the most equipment dependent practices you might ever encounter. Most home cooked meals are more forgiving when it comes to making do with what’s on hand. However, your work flow in the kitchen can be greatly enhanced by simply having a strong equipment foundation. For most, the bare minimum extends to cooking knives, cooking pans, a cutting board, and something to stir with. This article will look at the knife set—more specifically, the three-piece Binging With Babish knife set.
Andrew Rea, popularly known as the person behind Binging With Babish, made a name for himself with his cooking content. In its early days, his channel was dedicated to recreating iconic dishes from films. While the channel remains true to its central theme, it has also made its way into the cooking ware market.
Since owning a good knife is integral to cooks of all levels, I had high expectations for a product offered by Binging With Babish. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need equipment that will break the bank, but rather a trusty tool that will get you from point A to point B. The Babish three piece knife set includes an eight inch chef’s knife, an eight inch bread knife, and a three and a half inch paring knife (informally referred to as a mini chef’s knife). All three knives boast German steel blades that come out of the box as sharp as possible. The knives have a sleek yet comfortable handle. The entire set comes inside a canvas roll up bag, providing easy and safe storage for the knives. The bag also ensures you won’t risk cutting yourself on accident.
The phrase, “like a hot knife through warm butter” is often used to describe knives working exceptionally well. However, that is a complete understatement for these knives, which were shockingly sharp. I started cutting onions expecting at least a slight amount of resistance, but when I applied pressure, it felt like there was nothing standing between the blade and the cutting board. The same could be said for the paring knife. Peeling ginger with the small blade did not feel daunting at all and it was probably the fastest I’ve done such a task with minimal waste.
The third knife, the bread knife, might not be an urgent item for the average homecook. However, my household is that of a baker’s as well. The bread knife does absolute wonders at cutting the top off cakes to make them level. All three knives have sliced and diced through many different ingredients without sacrificing performance, particularly the chef and paring knife.
If you are an average cook who isn’t used to wielding a knife that almost behaves like a lightsaber, then I recommend using extra caution. The worst thing you can do is underestimate the potential of a knife when you are bear clawing the mushrooms you are rapidly chopping.
It’s also important to note that these are not the “As Seen on TV” knives that sharpen themselves. Even though the blades have performed consistently for 3 months without sharpening, you’ll still gradually feel them lose potency. It’s bound to happen and nothing to truly fret over.
On the Binging with Babish website, there’s a whole page dedicated to the care you can provide to your knives to ensure they stay sharp. Like most kitchen equipment, a knife’s efficacy can entirely depend on the user. Finding burrs in knives is normal, just as it is normal for a blade to eventually get dull. What shouldn’t be normal is letting those details slide. As the Babish site says, “If you love them, they will love you back.” Sharpening knives and taking good care of them will keep your cooking game at a new level. Again, you don’t need to break the bank—a decent sharpening kit can get any of your knives in great working order, but Babish knives are ones you want to keep pristine.
The knife set costs a mere $45 and is usually on sale, providing a lot of value to consumers for a relatively inexpensive price. This set, and frankly all of Babish’s products, are excellent tools for home cooks, especially those who are on the novice side of experience.
