KNIVES KINVES EVERY BODY KNIVES!
If I were to look in a drawer would I find a knife? If I did you already failed. Why? KNIVES DO NOT BELONG IN DRAWERS! But to continue, what would this knife be made of? Do you know? FAIL AGAIN Can you tell me what degree your blade is? FAIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Can you EVEN tell me if you have sharpened it or honed it before?
Okay so let's get down to it.
The only knife you need...
Is really a Chef or French knife. It really does EVERY but having a few others helps, but more on that later. The first thing when you look for a knife isn't how pretty it is or if it has a guarantee to never dull, which they all will, or any Bologna like that. You want to HOLD the knife. If you do not HOLD a knife before buying it, you might as well play the lottery. Because if you hold a knife and you can't hold it right or comfortably, you WILL cut yourself and YOU WILL damage your knife.
Knives also are an investment. So think about having your buddy with you a while.
With your Chef knife, always always always buy forged. You should be able to see a bulge between the blade and the handle, and a noticeable thickness opposite the blade. This basically means that this blade was not punched from a massive sheet of metal. You want to have mass and weight, and enough metal to hold an edge and reshape the edge for many many years.
Now the second biggest factor when buying your knife is the metal. Metal is not metal in every knife. Your higher knives will contain carbon and usually be labed as high carbon steel. Carbon steel is NOTORIOUS for rusting and getting nasty, but we can now create a metal with the carbon that allows the blade to be reshaped easily, but also hold it's shape, and NOT GET RUSTY! Old style carbon steel knives would get rusty if the humidity was too high.
And the angle, I prefer the Asian 16 degree, it's much sharper, but can easily be broken or chipped compared to a European 22 degree angle. If you are new and feel you want GERMAN STRENGHT go with a 22 degree.
These three brands are my top fav, and these are my favorite blades.
The Shun is my personal knife because I enjoy the blade and the handle
is a perfect fit for me. Some people realllllly love the Global weight and
balance, but others can't stand it. The Henckles are probably the best over all blade and handle, and easy to learn from.
What else do I get?
While still talking knives, the 3 knives you EVER need are your Chef, a serrated blade, and a paring knife. A serrated blade has teeth that cut and grip hard or super soft foods. Cutting up a pumpkin with a Chef's knife is brutal, and so is cutting cake, that's where your serrated blade comes in. A paring knife does everything from peeling, to small knife work, to trimming of large cuts. It does almost as much as your Chef knife does.
Oh you DO care about me!
There are TWO things you MUST have to care for your knives. ONE is a honing steel. A honing steel will help straighten your edge of your knife, it will not create a new one, and for that you must have professionally done unless you currently sharpen other sharp things. Which... please continue. But if you do not or are not a scout, please find a local store to sharpen them. Most Whole Foods do accept knife drop offs for sharpening! With your honing steel, use it every time you take out your knife and when you put it away. And if you are marathoning it, hone every half hour. the SECOND thing is A CUTTING BOARD(S) Please dear diety in diety space, DO NOT EVER EVER USE A HARD CUTTING BOARD MADE OF GLASS MARBLE OR METAL. I will fucking stab you if you do! If you currently have these as boards, surrender them as platters or as baking tools, NEVER touch a blade to these. And now that I have your attention... INVEST IN A SET OF PLASTIC BOARDS! They will NOT last forever and should be replaced periodically, but they are the safest on your knife.
I prefer the Shun steel for two reasons. The grooves on the steel are very very precise and smooth, second I totally dig the wood Handel. If you are super nerdy like me, you will LABEL your cutting boards for: Poultry, Meat, Vegetables/cooked food.
Washing Up For Bed
Knives never and will never after this go into the dishwasher. Run your knife under hot water and with A SPONGE ON A STICK soap up and clean it off. Then if you are SUPER ULTRA GERMAPHOBIC, you can dip them in a small tub of bleach spiked water, then a quick rinse and DRY OFF RIGHT AWAY. Even though it's not as stainy as carbon steel is, it WILL MARK.
And after you've done this DO NOT PUT THEM BACK IN THE DRAWER!!! do what professional chefs do, put them in a magnet block on the wall, and IT IS VERY STRONG, or put a clasp around the blades to protect them and THEN put them in the drawer
These beauties snap on your blade and have small rubbers inside to suspend it. These not only will save your blades, they will help you keep your blood inside your body!
THIS WEEK I WILL PRODUCE A KNIFE CUTTING VIDEO SO STAY TUNED! SAME FURRY COOKING SITE SAME FURRY COOKING TIME!
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