cooking tools

Hello everyone!

Back in 2015, i wrote a blog entry about knowing your tools. That blog entry was related to cooking tools and i used a picture of the knives I had at the time. 

I will repost it along with an image or 2 with my current selection of knives. I wrote a blog post where i gave some tips to someone who just starts to sew. The blog entry i will repost here

We all know we need some sort of tools to be able to cook. One of the chefs' most important tools are his knives. Clearly, nobody can prepare food without a knife. And owning a good knife is also important.

[current thoughts? WOW, wai deep, LMFAO, but, ok, past me, carry on!]

I wonder how many of us use all of the knives they own when they cook, or when they eat? If you're not a chef or a butcher, you probably have a couple that you use every single day. You probably use the sharpest of them daily - I know I do.

Speaking of which, which knife do you think is sharpest here? Well, the one in the middle is - the flowery one. That's a santoku knife with a ceramic blade. I recently bought it and ever since then I'm wondering why did I wait for so long to buy one.

The santoku knife is a Japanese all-purpose knife. Japanese and Western knives are meant to be used in a different way, especially when butchering. When slicing, you probably use your knife as if it was a saw, going back and forth with the blade. If you ever buy a Japanese knife, NEVER try do to this.

Instead, place the blade on top of whatever you want to cut, and press down. Alternatively, place whatever end of the blade on the meat/ fruit/ vegetable, press and slide the blade through until you reach the other end of the blade and the cutting board, all in a single move! It's really that easy!

The black knife and the little knife to the left of my santoku, are the next sharpest knives I own. I use the little one for carving and peeling. I like to cut cheese with the black pointy one. It can cut really fresh bread much nicer than the bread knife - the large serrated one [the one looking like a saw].

The knife with a long blade and wrapped in the tape is one of the least sharp knives.. along with the butter knife {the blunt one with a light blue handle]. Kind of sad thinking that's supposed to be a chef's knife. The knife with a transparent handle cuts relatively good and I use it constantly for various tasks.

The knife I use the least is the one made entirely of steel. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it. Its blade is serrated on one of its side. I occasionally cut cheese with it. The knife with a red handle a wavy blade, on the extreme right is the one I use to make "curly" french fries and potato chips. I also use it to slice cheese and cucumbers. It's used like the santoku: press down on the food item you want to cut. Makes the food look fancy for a party.

Now, that's all of the past entry. Let's bring this post in the year 2022. My current selection of knives is much smaller. At some point i realized i don't use the serrated bread knife much. I mean, we rarely buy bread that needs to be cut by hand, at home. Yes, we buy already sliced bread, or we slice it in the store, or just break from it at home. 

I'm uploading this image straight from my iPhone, and I'm not sure why is it upside-down. The knife with a brown handle is relatively new to the house, but it was used by my mother before. I was also used by someone else before that. 

The flowery knife remained. Then, in the middle, i got what appears to be a cleaver, except it's not. it's very light-weight, has a sharp blade, and I believe it's an all-purpose one in China and some other East Asian countries. 

The knives i use the most these days is still the flowery one along with this butcher-like knife. The one with a brown handle gets used quite often as well. Its handle and weight feel wrong in my hand, therefore i don't actually enjoy using it. 

I can't remember when i last used the knife with a waved blade. You might want to know I also have some fancy-looking butter knives. I found them as a treasure back in 2019. 

The 2 small knives are for cutting or peeling vegetables or something of the like, i think. The one with a black handle is sharper than the IKEA one. I use them pretty often, mostly for fruits and various vegetables. Sometimes for slicing boiled eggs. 

What's even better these days, is that i can sharpen my knives whenever i feel like it. :D 

I don't know if you can really tell this knife sharpener has 3 ... "slits?" each "slit" is different. The one closest to the red handle is the roughest. The middle one is medium rough, and the one furthest away is the smoothest. 

I usually pass the knife through each "slit" about 10 times. This gives me a very sharp blade that can cut through anything almost like through soft butter. I don't sharpen every time i need to use the knives. 

I obviously can't sharpen the waved knife. However, i can sharpen the small knives. It's been a few years since i got the small ones, and i can't recall needing to sharpen the one with a black handle. I can't say the same about the one with a red handle.  

Want to learn how to sharpen a knife a home? watch this and this video!

How much do you know your knives?

©Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.