Do You Need a Fancy Bread Knife?

I'm a big fan of using the right tool for the job in the kitchen. No surprise there, yet I frequently get that FOMO-y feeling that something new or different might be better than what I own. Several months ago, I looked at a set of carbon steel knives made in Oregon by Steelport. They were beautiful, with their blade patina and sculptural wood handles. I wondered if I was keeping up with the Portlandians, and particularly their bread knives, when I compared it with my inexpensive but high-performing Mercer Culinary Millenia. The Mercer is America’s Test Kitchen's top pick for serrated bread knives, with its snub nose and pointy teeth. The black plastic handle is grippy, chunky, and functional. It immediately replaced its predecessor, a nostalgia-inducing but low-performing stainless number that I got in Paris for cheap because it had a crack in the handle. Looking at the Steelport 10-inch Bread Knife at my favorite trade show, I daydreamed about how it might work even better than th ... Read full article.