"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> On 11/20/2013 11:00 PM, Polly Esther wrote:
>> We are blessed with grandchildren who are setting up new homes and, of
>> course, kitchens. I've been thinking about what kitchen Christmas gift
>> would be useful and realized that I frequently reach for a 'steak
>> knife'. Not many steaks served here and I don't know if these young ones
>> 'do' steak very often either. The question - if I ever get to the point
>> - can any one recommend a set of steak knives that they've bought
>> recently and can recommend?
>
> A little late to the thread, but...
>
> No recommendation about steak knives. I can't imagine finding myself
> "frequently reaching for a 'steak knife'". Myself and most people I know
> only use them when eating plated steak. Since you don't know if the
> grandkids even eat steak often... well, I wouldn't consider that a useful
> gift.
I haven't even owned any steak knives for close to 30 years. I used to make
steak, perhaps only because I had the knives! The set I had was a wedding
gift to my parents. They gave them to me, most likely because they never
used them. So when I had company, I would often make steaks. But since I
don't eat steak and in those days ate no meat at all... I got rid of them.
My now husband actually took them only because he had no sharp knives. But
then we got married and I got them back. Heh. By then they were probably
50 years old and the wooden holder they came in didn't look so good any
more. I got rid of them again and I've never missed them.
Now if I do serve steak? I can just use one of my other sharp knives.
Husband is the only one who eats it anyway so only need one knife.
I can't imagine young people eating much steak because it is one of the more
expensive cuts f meat.
As for kitchen gifts, I would think there is no one thing that is a safe
gift for anyone. My mom gifted me with a ladle, complaining to me that she
had always wanted one. I didn't get that at all. Um... Dollar store! Go
buy one! I already had plenty of ladles so didn't need one at all. But I
can remember her dishing up the soup and stew with a brown, melaine coffee
cup because that was all that she had.
Then she gifted me with a mayo scraper not once but multiple times. Every
year in my Christmas stocking. This after my telling her that mayo was one
of those things we didn't eat much of at our house and then when I bought
it, I always wound up throwing the jar out with some left in it. Even the
tiny jars. These days I buy it only when needed for a recipe and usually
buy the plastic squeeze bottles.
Then there was the muddling spoon. My parents were sooo proud to give me
that! I didn't have one. Did I? Well, no. Perhaps because I don't DRINK!
And I'm not about to have a cocktail party that would involve my muddling
anything! I am sure they had no clue what it was when they bought it.
Then there are the countless other things I've been gifted with over the
years that were either cheap imitations of good things I already own,
duplicates of things I need no more of or things I just plain will never
use. Like the wine decanter or the punch bowl.
>
> Here's a thought. Ask them what they'd like "Santa" to bring them for
> their kitchens. 
Yes. Very much agree. I've already let it be known that I want the red
topped Rubbermaid set of food containers. Gonna toss all of my old ones
when I get them. Assuming that I do get them. And if I don't? Will buy
them and still toss the others.
>
>> Also - my favorite for everything cooking big spoon is marked Utica
>> Cut Co USA. When it is busy, I feel deprived and use something else.
>> What is your best favorite reach-for cooking spoon? Polly
>>
> I most often use wooden spoons. I have a lot of them with varying handle
> lengths to handle pots of different depths. One is slotted, the other
> with a hole in the middle.
I have a general dislike for wooden ones. Exception being those very
expensive ones that are mostly decorative.