The cooking enthusiast's best friend and the most essential knife in the kitchen for cutting, chopping, slicing, and dicing fruits, vegetables, meat, and poultry. This high-performance knife has been created to meet and exceed the most exacting culinary standards of the world's greatest chefs, those of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. The knife is precision forged from a single blank of high carbon steel and has a thinner blade and a redesigned bolster that reduce the overall weight of the knife for improved comfort and control; the redesigned bolster allows for precision cutting with the heel of the blade. The knife is incredibly sharp: the knife has a specially-polished cutting edge which eliminates the microscopic teeth and allows for more precise cuts. The seamless, completely hygienic handle construction features a durable Hostaform-C handle, triple-riveted to the fully-visible tang.
Made in Solingen, Germany, W sthof knives offer a harmonious blend of precision cutting performance, integrity of materials, safety, and comfort. The knife is hot-drop forged by hand from a single blank of high carbon no-stain steel, a specially alloyed surgical steel consisting of exacting proportions of carbon, chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium. The blade is perfectly tapered from bolster to tip, and from the back of the blade to the edge, and is honed by hand. Perfect balance is assured by the full extension of the tang through the length of the handle. A seamless, totally hygienic fit is achieved by the durable Hostaform-C handle, triple-riveted to the fully visible tang; the handle is buffed and polished by hand. Dishwasher safe, although hand washing with a mild detergent is recommended.

Both professional chefs and discriminating home cooks are familiar with the superior performance of Wüsthof knives, but Wüsthof has surpassed its own high-quality culinary tools with the creation of the Classic Le Cordon Bleu line. This knife collection combines Wüsthof's almost 200 years of forging expertise with input from the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu school of the culinary arts in Paris, established in 1895. The result is a knife that looks similar to Wüsthof's Classic line but with much-improved features that are aimed to appeal to a high-end, professional customer.

The Cordon Bleu Difference

Balance
This 8-inch cook's knife is more lightweight than other Wüsthof knives, yet it retains the substantial balance and heft Wüsthof is known for. Less metal is used to form the high-carbon stainless-steel blade and half bolster (as in some Japanese cutlery), so professionals who perform repetitive cutting tasks should experience less wrist fatigue and greater agility with the knife. In addition to its excellent handling, the half-bolster design also allows for the entire blade, from butt to tip, to be sharpened on a steel, and a rear garnishing point can also be used to carve, tenderize meats, and remove eyes from potatoes or soft spots from fruit.

Blade
The blade on this cook's knife is mirror-polished--a process that hones metal fibers into a completely smooth surface to provide less resistance when cutting--yielding an extremely sharp edge that exceeds that of traditional Classic knives. This cook's knife is noticeably sharper and minces garlic into minute pieces or slices effortlessly through a watermelon's hard rind. As with all Wüsthof collections, Le Cordon Bleu knives have full tangs that are seamlessly bonded and triple-riveted to a traditional-style, molded polymer handle. This knife is a precision tool that is designed to be stored in a professional-level case rather than in a knife block, and it is covered by a lifetime warranty. --Cristina Vaamonde

« Excellent knife »

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2008-01-12

« Quick Cutting »

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2007-01-29

« Mixed feelings »

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2007-01-20