If you’ve ever watched Gordon Ramsay in action and wondered what kind of knife he’s wielding — the exact knife choice varies but generally he favours heavier, thicker German profile knives from brands like Henckels, Wüsthof and Hexclad.
Ramsay is no stranger to Japanese knives — he’s often praised them in the past for their sharpness, precision and craftsmanship but when it comes to what he uses - it’s his own branded gear.
Let’s be honest, the biggest reason he’s using any product is likely commercial. Like any globablly recognised professional and celebrity, he’s partnered with a range of brands, and it’s part of a broader business strategy for him to make the most of that fame and rightly so. Using and endorsing his own brand products or knives he has partnered with publicly helps boost the brand’s visibility and of course ultimately his bottom line.
That’s not to say the knives are bad, far from it. They’re solid, practical tools designed for Western kitchens with durability and reasonable performance in mind but compared to finely tuned Japanese blades, they’re definitely more mass-market and less artisanal and the biggest difference is the hardness of the steel.
Typically German style knives are significantly softer so while you'll often experience good sharpness (not compared to how sharp Japanese knives are though!) right away, they require significantly more sharpening and maintenance to keep sharp.
One thing we definitely agree on is that you don't need huge sets of a dozen or more knives - a small number of well chosen knife shapes will cover many jobs in most kitchens.
So while Ramsay certainly respects Japanese craftsmanship, in the kitchen (and on camera), he’s using the knives that carry his name and that likely make him a lot more money.
