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[richardhawk]

I know this is more of a post stuff you cooked thread but I went to Alma a few weeks ago and I still can't get over this dish.

Frozen duck liver on a bed of coffee granola with pickled carrots. I enjoy cooking but I've recently started going to "nicer" restaurants and I've slowly come to realize that I want to pursue cooking as more than just a hobby. I'm not sure how about to start though. A friend of mine suggested getting a part time job somewhere but I already work full time and I'm not sure I would be able to swing that. Anyone got any suggestions?


Also had some really good Steak tartar with pine nuts and a spicy cod roe aioli at Joule in Seattle.

 

[CrankyJay]

I know this is more of a post stuff you cooked thread but I went to Alma a few weeks ago and I still can't get over this dish.

I'm totally okay with people posting meals they had elsewhere.

 

[zbarron]

I'm totally okay with people posting meals they had elsewhere.

Agreed. I often use this thread for inspiration when I meal plan before shopping.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

I enjoy cooking but I've recently started going to "nicer" restaurants and I've slowly come to realize that I want to pursue cooking as more than just a hobby. I'm not sure how about to start though. A friend of mine suggested getting a part time job somewhere but I already work full time and I'm not sure I would be able to swing that. Anyone got any suggestions?

You wanna become a professional chef but want to keep your day job??

 

[Funky Papa]

I'm all for posting pictures from meals at restaurants. I eat with my eyes as much as with my mouth and a lot of times I like to try new recipes just because they look tasty.

On an unrelated account, I'll be making beer preserves soon. Stay tuned for disaster.

 

[richardhawk]

You wanna become a professional chef but want to keep your day job??

Probably worded this wrong but there's no way I would be able to quit my day job and cook only having experience in my own kitchen. That is to say I doubt I would be able to support myself.

 

[zbarron]

Probably worded this wrong but there's no way I would be able to quit my day job and cook only having experience in my own kitchen. That is to say I doubt I would be able to support myself.

Do you mind if I ask why you want to cook in a professional kitchen? Specifically what the appeal is? Home cooking and restaurant cooking are two different beasts.

 

[richardhawk]

Do you mind if I ask why you want to cook in a professional kitchen? Specifically what the appeal is? Home cooking and restaurant cooking are two different beasts.

I can only say my experiences with home cooking since that's all I've done but it's incredibly rewarding and enjoyable to cook for people. I've been doing it consistently since I was 14 and it's one of the few things I've keep up with into my adult life. So as cliche as it sounds I legitimately love seeing people happy after I feed them haha. I'm not sure if this would transfer over to a professional setting since you don't see how each person reacts to your food but I would love to try it.

 

[zbarron]

I can only say my experiences with home cooking since that's all I've done but it's incredibly rewarding and enjoyable to cook for people. I've been doing it consistently since I was 14 and it's one of the few things I've keep up with into my adult life. So as cliche as it sounds I legitimately love seeing people happy after I feed them haha. I'm not sure if this would transfer over to a professional setting since you don't see how each person reacts to your food but I would love to try it.

That's a very good reason. If this will make you a happier person than your current job and you can figure out a way to make it feasible I say go for it. I personally prefer the freedom of cooking at home. I cook what I want, when I want and have no one to answer to but myself. If you want to cook for more people you can do a weekly meal thing with a group.

If you have a large circle of cooking friends you can either do a weekly potluck get together or a meal exchange. I've been tempted to do meal exchanges before. Twice the variety with half the work.

If you don't have many friends who cook you can join or start a meetup group.

Up until about 6 months ago I cooked one real meal every month or so. I took cooking classes in high school but never enjoyed cooking for myself. When I met my wife I was the sole bread winner and didn't have the time needed to make nice meals. 6 months ago my wife got her career job and we can afford for me to be the one at home which has given me the opportunity to cook to my heart's content. Like you I love cooking for other people, making them happy and taking care of them. Who knows maybe your life will take a similar unexpected turn that will open a door for you.

I am much happier being the Chef De Cuisine at Chateau de les Barrons than I would be working for someone else.

 

[CrankyJay]

I can only say my experiences with home cooking since that's all I've done but it's incredibly rewarding and enjoyable to cook for people. I've been doing it consistently since I was 14 and it's one of the few things I've keep up with into my adult life. So as cliche as it sounds I legitimately love seeing people happy after I feed them haha. I'm not sure if this would transfer over to a professional setting since you don't see how each person reacts to your food but I would love to try it.

Could try catering on the side, weekend gigs only.

 

[entremet]

I can only say my experiences with home cooking since that's all I've done but it's incredibly rewarding and enjoyable to cook for people. I've been doing it consistently since I was 14 and it's one of the few things I've keep up with into my adult life. So as cliche as it sounds I legitimately love seeing people happy after I feed them haha. I'm not sure if this would transfer over to a professional setting since you don't see how each person reacts to your food but I would love to try it.

You could always work at a restaurant for free to find out.

It's very different.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Frozen duck liver on a bed of coffee granola with pickled carrots. I enjoy cooking but I've recently started going to "nicer" restaurants and I've slowly come to realize that I want to pursue cooking as more than just a hobby. I'm not sure how about to start though. A friend of mine suggested getting a part time job somewhere but I already work full time and I'm not sure I would be able to swing that. Anyone got any suggestions?
.

Are you local to Los Angeles? Here are my tips:

1. Don't get into the restaurant business like me.

2. I hope you like being broke LOL!

OK but on a serious note the best thing for a guy like you is to "stage" (pronounced st-aw-ge) at a restaurant you respect or think you might like working at. If you are serious you will come in for a full service (at least 8 hours) and work for free the entire day, Honestly you will probably be more in the way than helpful for your free labor which is why you will do a lot of menial and nasty tasks such as trash duties or peeling 100lbs of potatoes. But if you aren't willing to do those task you shouldn't even considering getting into this industry.

Now if you are in LA and are still interested hit me up and maybe I can set you up. I have connections around town and am actually opening up a place very soon.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Are you local to Los Angeles? Here are my tips:

1. Don't get into the restaurant business like me.

2. I hope you like being broke LOL!

OK but on a serious note the best thing for a guy like you is to "stage" (pronounced st-aw-ge) at a restaurant you respect or think you might like working at. If you are serious you will come in for a full service (at least 8 hours) and work for free the entire day, Honestly you will probably be more in the way than helpful for your free labor which is why you will do a lot of menial and nasty tasks such as trash duties or peeling 100lbs of potatoes. But if you aren't willing to do those task you shouldn't even considering getting into this industry.

Now if you are in LA and are still interested hit me up and maybe I can set you up. I have connections around town and am actually opening up a place very soon.

Lmao echoing this. We chefs do not make money, we do it for love of our craft. Also, restaurant cooking is VASTLY different from home cooking, know this.

It is fun having an industrial arena to play with, though.

Staging is definitely the way to go. I dunno about Zyzyxxz, but staging was how I got my breakthrough having only part-time oddjobs in college under my belt. I got my ass kicked at a top 3 restaurant in my city, but it taught me a lot and really put me on the path to I am now.

Zyzyxxz if I ever go to LA, we need to meet up.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Very apropos--my wife and I talk about this a bit, as I have a very specific love of cooking breakfast and she loves to bake. I sort of want to do a pop-up breakfast joint on weekends or something, because I know how miserable the restaurant business is and have no intention of leaving my well-paying job for it. But it's so ridiculous and farcical to try to pull something like that off. Instead I'll just slowly keep creating a kitchen environment where I can play short-order cook on the weekends for any guests we can lure over to the house for brunch... (any of you are welcome if you're ever in southern Maine).

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Lmao echoing this. We chefs do not make money, we do it for love of our craft. Also, restaurant cooking is VASTLY different from home cooking, know this.

It is fun having an industrial arena to play with, though.

Staging is definitely the way to go. I dunno about Zyzyxxz, but staging was how I got my breakthrough having only part-time oddjobs in college under my belt. I got my ass kicked at a top 3 restaurant in my city, but it taught me a lot and really put me on the path to I am now.

Zyzyxxz if I ever go to LA, we need to meet up.

For sure, hit me up before you make it out here, LA is a difficult town to get acquainted to in a short amount of time but knowing locals makes eating around town much easier.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

For sure, hit me up before you make it out here, LA is a difficult town to get acquainted to in a short amount of time but knowing locals makes eating around town much easier.

Yea it's on my list of places to go. I had a mentor who was sous chef at Nobu LA and he raved about how I needed to work there. One day, southern California's economy and housing market scares me.

On a side note: Just got the phone call today that I got hired at JW Marriott as a banquet chef. Benefits and PTO, here the fuck I come. :3

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- Congrats! Having benefits and PTO is important.

I like cooking, but would NEVER work in the food industry. For one thing, I never follow instructions/directions, and a second thing, I like having flexible hours at my job. I think for people who are entertaining working at a restaurant, try to throw a few dinner parties and cook for 10+ people to see if you still like it.

Like others have said cooking at home is a lot different than cooking at a restaurant.

 

[entremet]

Any break bakers here. I wanna get into this year as one of my cooking resolutions.

I used to own a hand me down Kitchen Aid from my mom as a first apartment present. Sadly, it died after 30 years of service--those things are tanks, but really pricey, so I'm wondering if I could do it without an electric mixer.

I hate manual kneading, though.

 

[BriareosGAF]

I used to own a hand me down Kitchen Aid from my mom as a first apartment present. Sadly, it died after 30 years of service--those things are tanks, but really pricey, so I'm wondering if I could do it without an electric mixer.

I hate manual kneading, though.

I make loaves pretty regularly as my kids' prefer my bread over store bought. I've never used an electric mixer, myself, but have been kneading by hand for almost twenty years now (wow, I feel old). The method I use only has about ten-fifteen minutes of hand kneading, what process are you following?

 

[Cosmic Bus]

If you want to get into bread without a mixer and hate manual labor, man, you're just asking to be perpetually frustrated. Spend the money or embrace that forearm ache.

 

[zbarron]

Any break bakers here. I wanna get into this year as one of my cooking resolutions.

I used to own a hand me down Kitchen Aid from my mom as a first apartment present. Sadly, it died after 30 years of service--those things are tanks, but really pricey, so I'm wondering if I could do it without an electric mixer.

I hate manual kneading, though.

Before I got my stand mixer I'd bake Challah and Pretzels which I kneaded by hand. For low hydration doughs it's not so bad. If you hate kneading though I'd suggest using a no knead recipe. Just google it. You mix the ingrediants together in a bowl overnight, then bake it in the morning. It's the easiest way to make bread and still turns out good. Admitedly I prefer the taste of my hand kneaded recipe but often it isn't worth the time and energy, and that's with a stand mixer.

If you want a stand mixer in the future check out slickdeals.net every so often. They often have ones on sale. I paid $175 for mine.

 

[entremet]

I make loaves pretty regularly as my kids' prefer my bread over store bought. I've never used an electric mixer, myself, but have been kneading by hand for almost twenty years now (wow, I feel old). The method I use only has about ten-fifteen minutes of hand kneading, what process are you following?

Just basic bread recipes. Most mention stand or hand mixers in lieu of kneading.

 

[nakedsushi]

Any break bakers here. I wanna get into this year as one of my cooking resolutions.

I used to own a hand me down Kitchen Aid from my mom as a first apartment present. Sadly, it died after 30 years of service--those things are tanks, but really pricey, so I'm wondering if I could do it without an electric mixer.

I hate manual kneading, though.

Google for "no knead bread." I've made it a few times and it tastes ok. Honestly, I don't think kneading bread is that bad and it's not like I have Hulk Hogan arms or anything. Your sweat and tears flavor the bread like nothing else.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Yea it's on my list of places to go. I had a mentor who was sous chef at Nobu LA and he raved about how I needed to work there. One day, southern California's economy and housing market scares me.

On a side note: Just got the phone call today that I got hired at JW Marriott as a banquet chef. Benefits and PTO, here the fuck I come. :3

Congrats, the money hotel chefs make is so tempting but I know for my career path it would be a big step sideways. Not knocking you for your chosen path as the money and benefits are worth it as long as you still find the work rewarding.

I'm just one of those masochistic fools who dream of doing their own thing and failing.

 

[CrankyJay]

Congrats, the money hotel chefs make is so tempting but I know for my career path it would be a big step sideways. Not knocking you for your chosen path as the money and benefits are worth it as long as you still find the work rewarding.

I'm just one of those masochistic fools who dream of doing their own thing and failing.

Just curious, do you have any culinary inspirations? Like, particular restaurants or chefs?

 

[Korey]

I'm trying to speed up food preparation, specifically vegetables like chopping up onions, carrots, celery.

What's the best "onion, carrot, celery, etc." chopper you guys use?

Either a lever type thing that makes a bunch of slices at a time, or an appliance.

 

[OnkelC]

All things considered (assembly/disassembly/cleaning etc.), using a knife is faster than any purpose-built tool when preparing household-sized amounts.
practice and routine are key here.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Congrats, the money hotel chefs make is so tempting but I know for my career path it would be a big step sideways. Not knocking you for your chosen path as the money and benefits are worth it as long as you still find the work rewarding.

I'm just one of those masochistic fools who dream of doing their own thing and failing.

I would do that, but I have $270 monthly loan payments that put a bummer on things. :/

I'm gonna do the corporate gig till I kill my debt and then that'll be where I can do my own thing.

I'm trying to speed up food preparation, specifically vegetables like chopping up onions, carrots, celery.

What's the best "onion, carrot, celery, etc." chopper you guys use?

Either a lever type thing that makes a bunch of slices at a time, or an appliance.

Knife.

 

[Mario]

Trying to liven up my low carb, high protein diet so tried a chicken stir fry with kelp noodles, wilted spinach, cashews, peas and carrots.

The kelp noodles were a new ingredient for me. Raw they taste like nothing, like chewing solid water in an odd sort of way. In the stir fry they softened up and soaked up all the flavours of the dish in the best way. Best of all, pretty much zero calories for all of it, so I'll be continuing to use it to bulk out my diet dishes.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Just curious, do you have any culinary inspirations? Like, particular restaurants or chefs?

I like to be able to eat out anywhere with my friends and like and not be broke from doing it. That's the main thing.

Other than that I'm trying to do a lot more research on Cantonese Chinese cooking as I want to do something eventually that proudly represents my heritage and the flavors that I grew up with.

 

[Funky Papa]

All things considered (assembly/disassembly/cleaning etc.), using a knife is faster than any purpose-built tool when preparing household-sized amounts.
practice and routine are key here.

Yep.

I was looking at some vegetable dicers and a mandolin, but then I realized that I only cook for one, sometimes two, and the days I cook in bulk I generally do stuff like chili and stews, which don't require a lot of dicing.

 

[zbarron]

All things considered (assembly/disassembly/cleaning etc.), using a knife is faster than any purpose-built tool when preparing household-sized amounts.
practice and routine are key here.

In several cases I would agree with you.

I just bought a mandolin a few weeks ago and for several tasks you would be correct. What I have found is it is the least true when doing julienne, matchsticks or thinner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baow2ezJ80Q
I know she is going slow for demonstration but even at a fast but safe speed for a home chef look at how much slower it is to julienne that zucchini with the knife. As fas as clean up you can see that it doesn't dirty the mandoline much if at all. It requires the same cleanup time a knife would but since you can slice right over a dish that you are already using you can subtract the time cleaning the cutting board.

The recipe where I saved the most time was latkes. I grabbed a mixing bowl, filled it with water and matchstick sliced the potatoes right into the bowl. I did about 5 pounds of potatoes. That recipe was delicious. Maybe I'll do it again this week with pictures.

This also doesn't mention the benefit of perfectly even thickness of slices every time which obviously makes for more even cooking. While the mandolin wasn't a needed tool it can save a whole lot of time when used wisely. Also it's a hell of a lot cheaper than a decent knife.

 

[BriareosGAF]

That's a reasonable point--we use a mandolin primarily for two reasons. 1) Perfect julienne for salads with things like daikon and carrot, and 2) uniform very thin slices for e.g. cucumber salads. Those are both very laborious to pull off with knife work with the same consistency.

At the same time using the mandolin almost always has the anxiety of "am I being careful enough."

I should really buy a nicer professional mandolin, the one we have is a bit crap...

 

[CrankyJay]

I like to be able to eat out anywhere with my friends and like and not be broke from doing it. That's the main thing.

Other than that I'm trying to do a lot more research on Cantonese Chinese cooking as I want to do something eventually that proudly represents my heritage and the flavors that I grew up with.

I'd definitely like to see more "low key" fine dining establishments...if that's a thing.

Basically, awesome food where I can still wear a t-shirt and jeans.

 

[GiJoccin]

I'd definitely like to see more "low key" fine dining establishments...if that's a thing.

Basically, awesome food where I can still wear a t-shirt and jeans.

at least in nyc, pretty much every new place is like that

or at least, that's what i wear to restaurants...

 

[CrankyJay]

at least in nyc, pretty much every new place is like that

or at least, that's what i wear to restaurants...

we have a handful here in Buffalo...probably not on the scale of NYC tho

at least we're getting some gourmet food truck options in the area

 

[richardhawk]

Emailed 3-4 places asking if I can stage. It's probably a bit impersonal instead of just showing up but work is really hectic this week. Not getting my hopes too high but I'm extremely excited about it.

 

[CrankyJay]

Emailed 3-4 places asking if I can stage. It's probably a bit impersonal instead of just showing up but work is really hectic this week. Not getting my hopes too high but I'm extremely excited about it.

Your other option is to join some local foodie groups...usually area chefs are parts of those groups. You'll have a better chance of getting a staging gig if the chef personally knows you from these meetings.

Check FB for foodie groups in your area.

This seems like a good read: http://herbivoracious.com/2012/03/so-you-want-to-stage-intern-at-a-restaurant.html

 

[dofry]

Was at mom's house on xmas holidays and I improvised this indian style chicken recipe based on some yogurt marinade for chicken I read online. It turned out great and everyone loved it, so I'll share it here:

Indian style-ish chicken

Marinade for Chicken:
- 800 g Chicken breast filee. Non-marinated
- 500 g Turkish yoghurt
- 6 garlic cloves (or paste)
- 1/2 lemon (juice)
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 2-3 tsp Sambal Oelek (or any other chilipaste)
- Salt
- Pepper

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.
Put half (250g) of the yoghurt into a bowl.
Crush garlic into the bowl.
Add everything else and mix.
Combine chicken pieces and youghurt mix into a sealable plastic bag.
Mix well and put in a fridge for 4 hours. Or let it rest overnight.
This tenderizes the chicken and makes it nicely yellow. Yellow fever haha

Other ingredients:
- 2 big onions
- Rest of the earlier youghurt (250g)
- butter for frying
- 100g creamy cheese
- 1-2 dl cream
- ～2-4 dl chicken- (or herb-) broth
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Cardamom
- 2 tsp Gingerpaste fresh or from a jar
- Chili as much as you want
- 2-3 tbsp Tomato pyre
- Salt (soy sauce is salty so not much)
- black pepper
- lemon pepper
- a dask of soy sauce

Set the oven on while you start frying things. Don't know degrees. 175 in Finland.

Wipe off excess marinade from chicken pieces, Fry in butter.
Cut the damn onions into shreds and fry that shit in butter too.
Add in a bowl designed for oven of course my horse.
Put in all the spices of the Orient and mix that tender young meat. Lovely. Lolita.
Pour that cream and yoghurt on top. Add chicken broth so that you cover the chicken pieces by a tiny bit.
Mix and add soft cheese, shred that mofo cheese with a grater if it gives you trouble by being all hard. You the man!
Careful with than cinnamon, mon, can be overpowering.

Put in the oven for an hour. Check around 30 minute mark if you need to add something more.

Eat with sticky rise and a nice salad. Baguette on the side for sauce dipping

..and of course you could add cut tomatoes and anything else you like to make this better. For now, it is heavenly.

Hope you like it. And if you don't, you are wrong and I hate you.

 

[CrankyJay]

Hope you like it. And if you don't, you are wrong and I hate you.

I like your style!

 

[dofry]

I like your style!

Well I try my best to not take any critigue well and improve as a person

 

[DietRob]

Hope you like it. And if you don't, you are wrong and I hate you.

That looks delicious. I'm going to the grocery tonight and will try to get everything I need for this dish. I'll go with naan instead of baguette and use brown rice since it's a tad healthier.

 

[dofry]

That looks delicious. I'm going to the grocery tonight and will try to get everything I need for this dish. I'll go with naan instead of baguette and use brown rice since it's a tad healthier.

Yeah, definitely naan if available. Any tweaks are ok.

Would appreciate feedback on how it turned out as it's difficult to estimate the amount of spices. And if you changed anything

 

[InfiniteBento]

I made a thread asking about knife recommendations & other tips + pointers for equipment/books but was redirected here. KnifeGaf hasn't been posted in for 2 years so I figured this would be my best bet.

You guys wanna recommend me some stuff pls? :/

 

[CrankyJay]

I made a thread asking about knife recommendations & other tips + pointers for equipment/books but was redirected here. KnifeGaf hasn't been posted in for 2 years so I figured this would be my best bet.

You guys wanna recommend me some stuff pls? :/

Knives are one of those things where you'll want to test drive them yourself to make sure they are comfortable for you.

I could easily recommend you a Global knife but if you have big hands you may find them uncomfortable.

Do you have access to any high end knife stores near you?

 

[InfiniteBento]

Unfortunately, there aren't many craft knife stores in my area. Only Williams Sonoma has some but you can't try them out. I work with Korin knives at work and they seem pretty great but I was curious if anyone had any other experiences with other forms of knifeware or any kind of pointers when it comes to their uses + different forms.

 

[tirminyl]

I had tilapia with white rice for dinner and attempted to "plate" it instead of plopping it on the plate like I normally do.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Recently, I was given an incredible opportunity to apprentice in an expensive traditional Japanese sushi bar in my town.

I'm learning all the basics of prep currently but the 3 owners are anxious to teach me as much as possible. They want me to invest in a professional grade Japanese knife set and invest in other culinary tools.

However, I have no idea where to start. They recommended Korin knives and I'm currently looking into their 6 inch chef knives but I was curious if anyone on here has any other recommendations for a solid foundation knife. Along with any other pointers for culinary equipment or even books to check out.

I'm strongly interested in learning Japanese cuisine along with French pastry. So any & all recommendations for foundation tools/books would be awesome

Wow, where do I begin?

(Bear in mind that I'm still a relatively young chef. Still, I've got a solid foundation in traditional Japanese cuisine as my mentor was a Nagoya-raised Japanese immigrant. Sushi, sashimi, ramen, yakimono, agemono, etc. So I have some idea of what I'm talking about.)

• First things first: No Korin. Not at this point in your career, anyway. ChefKnivesToGo is what I swear by. Free shipping on orders over $60, and Mark Richmond (the owner/merchant) has way fairer prices than Korin. He also carries Japanese blacksmiths that Korin doesn't.
  
  Secondly, until you give us more details on your tasks, I'm going to draw on my own experience on what you'll need for what. So, with that:
  
  A six-inch chef knife is okay, but if you truly want to be a Japanese chef you'll need a "real" knife. I'm talking a 210mm to 240mm chef knife ("gyuto" style). Don't do stainless, don't do VG-10 or that stuff. Get white steel or blue steel (shirogami or aogami, respectively). Japanese cuisine requires very intricate knifework, so you need a knife which can get a screaming-sharp edge. Blue steel is stronger and maintains its edge better than white steel, but it's also significantly more expensive.
  
  I personally use a Goko 240mm gyuto. It's fucking terrific, it sharpens obscenely fast and it's a very handsome knife.
  
  
• However, the three traditional Japanese chef knives -- the "knife set" your mentors are probably talking about -- are the sacred trinity of the deba, usuba and yanagiba. You will eventually need all of these to reach full potential as a Japanese chef.
  
  Bear in mind that in America, most sushi bars sell considerably more maki than nigiri or sashimi. For the sake of maki, a gyuto or a sujihiki are outright superior knives for cutting sushi rolls than a yanagiba, and let no one tell you otherwise.
  
  
• Do not get a santoku. This is a knife meant for the home cook, not a professional chef.

I could keep going on, but it'll be a boring wall of text without your input InfiniteBento. Give me a budget and an idea of what you'll be doing. =)

 

[Keen]

Wow, where do I begin?

(Bear in mind that I'm still a relatively young chef. Still, I've got a solid foundation in traditional Japanese cuisine as my mentor was a Nagoya-raised Japanese immigrant. Sushi, sashimi, ramen, yakimono, agemono, etc. So I have some idea of what I'm talking about.)

• First things first: No Korin. Not at this point in your career, anyway. ChefKnivesToGo is what I swear by. Free shipping on orders over $60, and Mark Richmond (the owner/merchant) has way fairer prices than Korin. He also carries Japanese blacksmiths that Korin doesn't.
  
  Secondly, until you give us more details on your tasks, I'm going to draw on my own experience on what you'll need for what. So, with that:
  
  A six-inch chef knife is okay, but if you truly want to be a Japanese chef you'll need a "real" knife. I'm talking a 210mm to 240mm chef knife ("gyuto" style). Don't do stainless, don't do VG-10 or that stuff. Get white steel or blue steel (shirogami or aogami, respectively). Japanese cuisine requires very intricate knifework, so you need a knife which can get a screaming-sharp edge. Blue steel is stronger and maintains its edge better than white steel, but it's also significantly more expensive.
  
  I personally use a Goko 240mm gyuto. It's fucking terrific, it sharpens obscenely fast and it's a very handsome knife.
  
  
• However, the three traditional Japanese chef knives -- the "knife set" your mentors are probably talking about -- are the sacred trinity of the deba, usuba and yanagiba. You will eventually need all of these to reach full potential as a Japanese chef.
  
  Bear in mind that in America, most sushi bars sell considerably more maki than nigiri or sashimi. For the sake of maki, a gyuto or a sujihiki are outright superior knives for cutting sushi rolls than a yanagiba, and let no one tell you otherwise.
  
  
• Do not get a santoku. This is a knife meant for the home cook, not a professional chef.

I could keep going on, but it'll be a boring wall of text without your input InfiniteBento. Give me a budget and an idea of what you'll be doing. =)

Great write-up, thanks! Now I want that Goko, and it's, fortunately, sold out.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Cooked a birthday dinner for my mother, some classical Japanese fare. The star of the night was my winter vegetable nimono (simmered dish).

Lotus root, shiitake mushroom, carrot, daikon and white onion, all simmered in fresh konbu dashi seasoned with light soy and mirin.

That yellow stuff on it? It's not fresh lemon zest -- it's fresh yuzu zest. Fucking totally changed the flavor of the shiitake mushroom.

(Still can't believe I found that yuzu.)