Review on Messermeister Meridian Elite Stealth 8 Inch by Lucia Ingalls

I bought this knife partly because Sarah Moulton used it on her old PBS cookery show and also because I heard about Messermeister's collaboration with US cookery schools. Simply put, the knife lives up to the ad. I purchased the 10" Meridian Elite Stealth and can confirm that it was superbly sharp right out of the box. With regular hardening this kid holds up the sharpening well. Despite the relative thickness of the back, the 15 degree bevel runs through the itself toughest chopping jobs smoothly, like 4 lbs of sweet potatoes that go in my poutine kimche and then gracefully sliced into paper-thin onions for garnish.The knife is large enough for the toughest of tasks, yet it handles the details perfectly.Works like julienne, chopping garlic or Brunoise.By the way since you are essentially wielding a short sword the top third of the knife is REALLY BIG ENOUGH to do all the fine work.So I don't have to be I don't get lazy with my little Santoku anymore.I know I do already raving about it, but what I like most about this blade is the handle, I have huge hands and my previous kitchen favorite, the old Wüsthof Le Cordon Bleu 9 inch kitchen knife, has an annoyingly small handle as well as an uncomfortably short shaft. My grip was always choked by the knife and while I liked its other handling qualities, it always bothered me when using it for larger jobs. For the Meridian Elite line, this is not a problem. The grips are longer than the equivalent grips offered by Wüsthof (even the Classics which have other grips from the Le Cordon Bleu range) and it fits me very well. The balance is also better than any other knife I've ever worked with. It is ideally located at the nip point of the roller. All this makes the knife particularly easy to handle, especially considering its size. All in all, I can't say enough good things about my knife master. It's slightly supplanted my old favorite in the kitchen and is so big that guests rarely want to use it when I have guests in the kitchen (all the better. Don't know if I'll share it well).