R&G Reviews Taylors Eye Witness Veritable Sabatier's Cooks Knife

One fundamental requisites of cooking is cutting. In some food preparation, this accounts for more than 50% of the entire time required in the cooking process. Therefore, a good cutting and slicing implement is an important component of anyone’s kitchen. Seriously, if you have a strong passion in cooking and food preparation then you should have a keen eye in finding a good, not necessarily the best, chef’s knife or cook’s knife………one that could safely and effectively respond to your specific kitchen requirements ………… it may not always be true or applicable to others but particularly tailored to your needs.

As mentioned in my post about CSN Stores’ offer last month, I am to review one of their quality products which as per my sharp choice is a 25-cm Taylors Eye Witness Veritable Sabatier Cooks Knife. I love outdoors……..I love cooking ……..I love fishing……….I love camping………I love hunting (although it’s been quite a long time since our last expedition….:-( )………of course, it should follow that I love knife…….especially high quality cutlery that could withstand the rough and tough demand and condition of outdoors environment.

To provide a good review, I tried to understand the over-all components and mechanics of a chef’s knife. And in order that even non-chef or non-foodies for that matter, could understand the technical terms that I will be using when referring to particular part or parts of this Sabatier Cooks Knife, let me provide you an illustrative guide on the basic parts of a typical chef’s knife.

This cook’s knife is made by the reputable Sabatier Company of France. The product information probably provided by the company states that it is a well balanced knife with blades made from a single piece of high carbon stainless steel that is precision ground and hand honed for a perfect cutting edge. It also states that traditional Sabatier - 3 solid brass rivets secure the tough, high-density handle firmly to the blade for reliable, superior performance. Now, we have the chance to verify portion of that statement; to check if this cook’s knife could perform as expected and live up to the reputation of its manufacturer.

One indication of a good product is the availability of fake or cheap imitations in the market……..and gladly (or should we say sadly) this Sabatier knife has a lot of inferior clones (apparently from China), only suggesting that it (original) has a fine quality at the onset. So, if you will decide to acquire one, be very wise in buying. Don’t unsuspectingly fall victim and end up purchasing a copycat product way below your money’s worth.

This knife is forged from a single piece of steel and is full-tang. By full-tang, it means the metal in the knife runs from the point or tip of the blade to the butt or the far end of the handle. We can see the blade, bolster and tang all connected; indicating it came from a single piece of steel material. Simply, this means it has an inherent durability and strength to sustain long time usage………a continuously repeated process which a good chef’s knife should endure.

While it still possesses the needed weight, the blade of this knife is obviously thinner or narrower than its German counterpart. It is smooth, sleek and conspicuously tapering from the spine towards the edge. This means easy cutting action of the blade which can provide a precise, swift and clean cut in every stroke.

Out-of-the-box, the edge of the Sabatier cooks knife is razor sharp. It could easily cut into vegetables such as squash, bitter gourd and eggplant, fruits such as apple and orange, and meat such as pork and beef.

Remarkably, after all those slicing and cutting, the knife still holds its edge. I never had the chance to sharpen it yet and therefore I cannot comment on the re-sharpening aspect.

The knife’s scales are made of really high density wood securely riveted to cover either sides of the tang. As most fine woods with evident grains are, the handle has an everlasting beauty and appeal. However, it seems it is not so comfortably and ergonomically sitting in my hands as other knives are.

For features such as safety in handling, ease of usage and over-all control, this is a minus factor……….but then, it could be considered as only a small downside. After all, the suitably constructed handle guard compensated for this and with its pronounced lip, it could probably prevent or minimize slipping even when the hand is wet.

Over-all, this 25-cm Taylors Eye Witness Veritable Sabatier Cooks Knife is a great knife. As for me, it lived-up to the reputation of the Sabatier Family as a world class knife makers.

Of course, whilst there may be better knives in the market, they are priced much higher and basically grouped on a different category. Considering the reasonable price tag that this Sabatier Cooks Knife carries in CSN Stores, it is, by all means, worth having in my kitchen ………… and probably yours too! I pretty much sure that its 20-cm version would be fun to use as well. Paging Alexandra of CSN! :-) I’m just kidding. c”,)