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Equating Cost with Quality

Cooking instructor Peter Hertzmann, author of Knife Skills Illustrated, says many people tend to equate cost with quality when it comes to knives, but the truth is, a $30 chef's knife can give you the same end result as a $400 version. Forged knives (which are molded by pounding heated metal into shape and treating it) are preferable to knives that are stamped out of a sheet; forged knives are less flexible so they keep their edge longer. The most important thing, though, is how the knife feels in your hand; it should be heavy (but not overwhelmingly so) and should feel balanced (i.e., the blade shouldn't feel weightier than the handle, and vice versa).