All About Knife Care
Friday, September 28th, 2007I’m not completely sure, but I personally think that the knife was the first cooking tool ever created by man. Ever since the Stone Age, man used knives to hunt and gather their food, and later on used to prepare food when fire was discovered. Today, the knife remains as one of the most important tools you could have. The ubiquitous knife is used everywhere, from homes to restaurants to cruise ships.
But although we can all agree about the importance of this versatile tool, the fact remains that still a lot of people don’t know how to handle and take care of their knives properly. A friend once jokingly explained that perhaps it’s because knives don’t come with an instruction manual.
One of the things that really annoy me is watching people handle knives wrongly. But then, no one showed us how to use knives properly whe we were little. All we knew at that time was that knives were dangerous and better kept away from us kids. There may be no instruction manuals for knives, but I believe that people who use them regularly should at least take the effort to learn how to handle them correctly.
You have to learn how to correctly hold a knife. Basically, there are three ways to hold a knife, but it depends on the kind of knife and what is it going to be used for. When cutting against the board, the knife should generally be held with the thumb and forefinger gripping the blade. Grip the handle with your other three fingers. When you want to cut hanging meat, the knife should be held like a dagger to get the right amount of leverage. And when turning or peeling with a small knife, one or two fingers should grip the blade, with the othersthe rest around the handle.
There are also several ways to properly care for your knives. A wooden board should be used for chopping and cutting. Plastic boards are not as gentle on the edge of the knife as wooden boards. It’s also better to use one where the cutting surface is end grain, rather than side grain. Why? End-grain surfaces are the smoothest, least abrasive surface to cut against, so your knife’s edge will last a longer time.
When storing knives after use, it’s better to use paperboards or plastic sleeves. Clean a knife after using it, then dry and store. Never wash knives in a dishwasher, or just throw it in the wash basin. Remember that you have to protect the edge from other hard surfaces. To properly sharpen a knife, the best way is to use a knife sharpener with an abrasive, diamond surface. Of course, you can always use a whetstone, but it takes a lot of experience to be able to sharpen a knife to razor-like sharpness with it.
Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the automatic knives and supplies you need.
Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the puma knives and supplies you need.
- Azlan Irda