Reddit reviews Mercer Culinary Genesis 6-Piece Forged Knife Block Set, Tempered Glass Block

Hi everyone!! Sorry for the late response, but basically I just used the recipe from sallysbakingaddiction with a few modifications from the first time I made these. (https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/lemon-bars-recipe/)

Some suggestions

• I personally didn’t melt the butter like the recipe says, and instead let it soften to room temp and then creamed it with the sugar like most recipes typically recommend.
  
• I also reduced the amount of sugar in the filling to 1 1/2 cup
  
• For the lemon juice, I definitely recommend using fresh squeezed lemons and I found it to be more like 6-7 lemons instead of 4
  
• I also strongly recommend using a glass pan and lining it with parchment paper
  
• For the crust, I found it better to blind bake it for much longer (closer to 25 mins) to make sure it didn’t end up undercooked (that happened to me the first time I made these and the crust ended up rock hard the next day)
  
• I also whisked the eggs separately first and tried to get them really well incorporated
  
• Sifting the lemon curd over the crust helped remove most of the bubbles, and the rest I just popped with a chopstick
  
  As far as cutting:
  
  I really didn't do anything special, but my best advice for smooth cuts is to wait until they’re firm but not too hard. After about an hour at room temp and then an hour in the fridge they were the perfect consistency to cut. I think it’s best to use a really sharp knife and make sure it’s not serrated! If you’re interested in the exact one I used, here’s a link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IBU9FW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (I used the 8-inch chef's knife). It also makes a huge difference if you wipe down the knife after every cut and if that still doesn’t work, try running it under hot water for a few seconds.
  
  (Also sorry just realised how long this is haha)

I just wrote a long reply in this thread discussing some Japanese $80 options, but Mercer also deserves praise in this discussion.

If we ask the hypothetical question "what's the cheapest way to outfit a kitchen with professional-quality knives that will tackle all kitchen tasks with aplomb?", I think Mercer's X50 lines are the answer. The Mercer Renaissance, Zum, and Genesis lines stack up right against Wusthof and Henckels for performance and quality (while costing a whole lot less), and the Mercer Millenia stack up against the Victorinox lines.

Mercer even sells small sets that contain every knife you'd ever actually need to cook (Chef's, Paring, Bread, Boning) for $125 or $130 or $139 depending on which handle you want, and even a set with the working-kitchen giant grippy handles if you can handle that and no block for $80.

Buy something to keep them sharp, and there would never be any actual culinary/cooking-related reason to upgrade. Everything above that level is preference, enjoyment, hobby concerns. If you just want to outfit a kitchen with quality sharp knives for every task (and hence, be safer and cook better) I'd buy the $130 set and be done with it. I'm tempted to buy a set for my girlfriend's parents so I don't have to use their 20-year-old Cutco junk over the holidays.

This is what they recommended when I took some classes at the local culinary school.

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Any of the forged sets from Mercer

https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-6-Piece-Tempered/dp/B000IBU9FW/

https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Renaissance-6-Piece-Tempered/dp/B004A8NMEO/

They sell similar with different holder, count etc...

They're as good a value as you'll find. You can get the whole set for the price of a single Shun, Henckles etc... Also note that Henckles sells many different grades of knife. This knife is just as good as the bulk of them.

RE cutting board... Just get a decent thick wood cutting board... (Never Glass)

I believe your standard cuisinart food processors come with a huge amount of attatchments and modifications for all kinds of wacky things, like turning it into a meat grinder or a deli slicer. I have not tested the slicer on mine and don't know if its appropriately thin enough. I don't use that much thin cuts and don't need a l arge volume of consistent slices so I just get by with my quality chef knives and take it as an opportunity to practice knife skills. You can totally cut a salami paper thin and slightly transparent with a good knife. Unless you're making a ton of food, you spend more time cleaning and assembling the cuisinart than just using a good knife, even if the knife is slower.

This is a super sharp high quality set of knives I use and recommend, they're not top of the line but they will give you paper thin salami slices. Everything I've ever cut with them feels like cutting butter. http://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-6-Piece-Forged/dp/B000IBU9FW

I bought a 'kitchenIQ Edge-Grip 2 Stage Knife Sharpener' on Amazon for like $10. It works fine and seems to keep the edges sharp with just a few passes.

It looks like Williams doesn't have the Mercer knife sets anymore, but does sell them individually. I bought the Mercer Renaissance 6-knife set in the glass holder - it's on Amazon.ca here. Camelcamelcamel says its at a historically high price right now, but goes as low as $139 (albeit on Boxing Day - maybe set a price alert and grab it for around the $200 mark - what I paid).

Poking around a bit, it looks like Bed, Bath & Beyond have some decent deals on some quality knife sets, surprisingly. There's a couple Wusthof sets I'm looking at now...that said, you definitely don't need one of those ridiculous 12-14 knife sets with the massive wooden block. I'd say (as would most real cooks/professionals) that you only really need 3-5 good knives at most. And don't store them sharp-side down in a wooden block.

Are you talking about something similar to this

https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-6-Piece-Tempered/dp/B000IBU9FW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1543602889&sr=8-3&keywords=mercer

Mercer has been my new favorite knives for a couple of years now. German steel, great balance and heft, superior handle.
Three nice setups here for a home kitchen here - https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-6-Piece-Tempered/dp/B000IBU9FW
If you're looking for just one chef's knife, I use this at home, and couldn't be happier with it - https://www.amazon.com/ZELITE-INFINITY-Chef-Knife-inch/dp/B0110EKTUU

http://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Genesis-6-Piece-Tempered/dp/B000IBU9FW/ref=pd_sim_79_9?ie=UTF8&dpID=41eqM2lUmAL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR129%2C160_&refRID=1QNFW0AA9QXP1JPXHFY9

So this is a good set then right?