In “Pot on the Fire”, John Thorne insightfully pointed out that “Cooks, at least serious cooks, can be roughly divided into two major groups: pot cooks and knife cooks…… it is a matter of which serves as the lodestone of their kitchen – the piece of cookware that, in case of a fire, they would run to rescue first…”. Going by this definition, it is not how much I have spent on pots and pans vs knives, and it is not about what is on my “To-Buy” list. Instead, it is about which tool makes the closest connection to me.
By this definition, I am a knife cook.
About two months ago, I moved into a very nice temporary apartment. It has a 24 hour front desk,
a nice balcony view, a comfortable bedroom….etc. You get the idea. The kitchen is nicely furnished. However, the quality of its cookware and knives was lacking.
It has thin disk-bottom stainless steel cookware,
and it has serrated knives with a glass cutting board.
I immediately knew that I could work with the below average quality pots and pans, but I would have a difficult time using these knives and a glass cutting board. I went back to my old residence and picked up exactly what I needed the most - one chef knife and one wood cutting board. (Later on I found out these serrated knives have absolutely no cutting edges. I couldn’t cut bread or tomato wit them – even though they are serrated).
So what about you? Do you make a closer connection to you pots and pans or to your knives?