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The Gangsta Chef with his French Knife- note the E.Dehillerin Knife in one hand, and the Rick Stein Cookbook in the other.

If you don’t know E.Dehillerin, then two things may have been omitted from your life experience: any (even cursory) training in french cuisine or possibly a trip to Paris with someone who has had such training. My training (cursory as it was) came in the form of television cooking shows and Rick Stein at a Rhodes Event in D.C. Therefore, when Jaci and I went to Paris in 2006, one of our destinations was of course E.Dehillerin on rue Coquillière, which was barely three blocks from our hotel.

It was like a fairy tale on the inside- shelves of sous pots, whisks, kitchen gadgets, and of course, chef knives on bare plywood and wire racks. The aisles were perused by serious looking men and woman with a look of having gotten up at 3 am to begin the morning sauce prep only to have their break dedicated to finding a new companion at arms in this magical culinary warehouse.  The staff was efficient, professional, and serious- this was no tourist destination, this was an epicenter of culinary culture in the heart of the culinary world and they quickly found me a chef knife that was balanced perfectly for me and my limited talents, completed the transaction, and ushered me out the door with a “bonne cuisson”. To say the least, it was the experience in my cooking career.

After managing to get the chef knife through customs on the Eurostar (a chef’s knife was not uncommon luggage between Paris and London), the knife stayed corked and papered for the duration of our stay in Oxford- no meal worthy of such a chef’s knife. Although the knife travelled with me to North Dakota, it suffered a similar fate.

Therefore, when we got to Arlington and I unpacked the knife simultaneously with Rick Stein’s Complete Seafood on the week before our anniversary- I knew what meal this knife was destined to make- a Ragout of Seafood with Saffron sauce. The ingredients cost well over USD $175, including saffron, lobster, and Pierre Jouet- but this was the meal to break in an E.Dehillerin knife! Jaci thinks that I dressed up with a tie because it was our anniversary dinner, but in truth, I dressed up for the knife- what self respecting writer goes at his work with a bic in pajamas? The same had to be true for the knife.

Dinner took over 4 hours to make- but it was a complete success- due primarily to the magic of the knife (the dinner was well above my pay grade). And thus, a Gangsta Chef and an E.Dehillerin finally became united.