GOOD news to professional chefs, culinary students, cooking enthusiasts and homemakers who have been wanting to invest on a good set of knives but find imported ones too expensive: Masflex KitchenPro has finally launched its Culinary Knife Collection designed and tested by Chef Gene Gonzalez, restaurateur par excellence and well-known culinary educator who’s behind Café Ysabel and the Center for Asian Culinary Studies (CACS).
After three years of R&D and meticulous study of the knife blade, steel composition, bolster weight, tip and point angles and handle types, after which an intensive use test of each knife was put in place, the Masflex KitchenPro Culinary Knife Collection bearing the signature of Chef Gene was finally launched at The Loft, Manansala Tower, Rockwell Center, Makati City last October (2013).
The collection consists of nine types of essential knives, each with a different functional use:
- 3.5-inch Paring Knife – a handy and versatile knife for small cutting jobs. It can be used for deseeding and peeling vegetables and fruits and for probing and processing small pieces of protein, such as chicken wings, small fresh fish, small poultry and ribs. It is also excellent for food and pastry decoration, such as garnishing and pastry shaping.
- 6-inch Fillet Knife – is flexible and streamlined narrow blade that can debone, probe, de-skin and separate protein tissue for fillets, roulades and escalopes, as well as slice processed meats and raw fish.
- 6-inch Boning Knife – has a streamlined and narrow firm blade that provides excellent ability to reach into bone and cartilage. It can be used to slit and proble into narrow areas to help debone or separate protein or tissue from bone. Great for butchery, food processing, catering and kitchen production tasks.
- 7-inch Santoku Knife – lightweight and scaled down with an Asian designed cutting edge, it is built for fast cutting tasks, such as micing, chopping and slicing vegetables and boneless proteins. The recessed kullens on the blade prevent ingredients from sticking to the knife while cutting.
- 7-inch Cleaver – is designed to do the heavy work of chopping meats and vegetables for stir-fries and vegetables. It can cut through small bones and braise pieces with less force.
- 8-inch Serrated Knife – is best for cutting breads and slicing cakes for layering and frosting with ease, as well as slicing very soft tomatoes.
- 8-inch Slicing Knife – boasts of a streamlined blade built for slicing large fillets, roasts and processed meats, such as ham; and is great for pastry and cake production because it slices cakes and crusts with accuracy and ease.
- 8-inch Chef’s Knife – is sleek, handy and built for speed in multi-purpose tasks of cutting, slicing, chopping and mincing.
- 10-inch Chef’s Knife – is the ultimate chef’s knife for heavy tasks of cutting, chopping, slicing and mincing.
The Masflex KitchenPro Knife Collection comes in two handle styles, aptly called Power and Flair.
Power has a handle style that utilizes an ergonomic triple riveted handle shell and has the heavier handle between the two to ensure that the weight of the knife aids in the cutting process and does most of the work for the user.
Flair utilizes an extremely ergonomic handle that contours to the shape of one’s hands, with a horizontal tang without rivets that makes the knife look very modern and trendy. Flair has the lighter handle between the two.
Both handle types, though, have an enhanced bolster for greater balance, stability and control. They are both Full Length Tang Knives, which means that one piece of steel goes through the entire length of the knife from the tip of the blade to the end of the handle. They also both come with a synthetic handle material called POM, which has been developed by Dupont and features high stiffness and high heat deflection temperature.
Masflex KitchenPro knives can be bought in a per piece basis, and the prices will surprise you because they are very affordable. Depending on which knife you buy, each knife in the collection will not cost you more than Php1,000. For the quality that they offer, since they are manufactured by the same company that supplies Martha Stewart, Masflex KitchenPro knives are well worth it – especially if you compare it to imported knife brands that cost you an arm and a leg each.
To demonstrate the efficiency and versatility of the Masflex KitchenPro knives, Chef Gene Gonzalez conducted a short knife skills demo during the formal product launch, followed by a full cooking demonstration featuring four sumptuous dishes: Salmon Meuniere with Lemon Cream, Chicken Breast with Lemon Cream, Fragrant Chicken and Chicken Inasal. He fabricated the chicken, the salmon and the other ingredients using Masflex KitchenPro knives, with marketing manager Hiren Mirchandani providing the audience with more information about the knives.
Masflex KitchenPro Culinary Knife Collection’s DVD on Chef Gene Gonzalez displaying his Fruit Ninja moves to slice whole fruits in mid-air using Masflex KitchenPro knives was also shown. After the video, Chef Gene took himself to task and made an actual mid-air fruit-slashing demo, which he successfully accomplished.
By the way, completing the Masflex KitchenPro Culinary Knife Collection are a 14-inch Honing Steel for refining the sharpness of all types of knives; Kitchen Shears, which can cut and shred fresh herbs and vegetables, cut through small bones in chicken and fish, and assist in baking tasks; Wall Mounted Magnetic Knife Holder (in 33cm and 50cm sizes) for practical storage of knives and other metal household articles; Knife Guards (in 4-, 6-, 8- and 10-inch sizes) to help protect the knife’s edge and blade from scratches; and a Hand Washing System that consists of Chef’s White Fabric Refresher, KitchenPro Hand Cleaner, KitchenPro Hand Soap and KitchenPro Hand Sanitizer.
The complete collection is now available in leading department stores nationwide.
