Cooking: All About Knives -

All About Knives

Cooking:

Although I'm not completely sure on this, but I personally think that the first cooking implement created by man was the knife. Several millennia ago, man used knives to hunt and gather their food, and when he learned how to make fire, the knife was a major tool in food preparation as well. Today, the knife remains as one of the most important tools you could have. Everywhere you go, from homes to cafes and restaurants, you will find all sorts of knives being used for almost every food preparation and cooking task.

However, even if we know that the knife is a very important piece of equipment, it's sad to see that very few people know how to properly handle and care for a knife. A friend once jokingly told me that perhaps it's because knives don't have instruction manuals.

One of my pet peeves is watching people use knives incorrectly. But then, no one showed us how to use knives properly whe we were little. Our parents just told us that knives were dangerous and to keep away from them. Knives may not come with instruction manuals indeed, but I believe that people who use them regularly should at least take the effort to learn how to handle them correctly.

First, learn how to hold the knife properly. There are three basic ways to hold a knife, depending on the knife and what is being cut. When cutting against the board, the knife should be held with the blade between thumb and forefinger. The handle should be held with the other fingers. When you want to cut hanging meat, for example, the knife should be held like a dagger for proper 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. Use a wooden board 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. The end-grain is the 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 the knife first after use, then dry before storing it away. Never wash knives in a dishwasher, no matter how convenient it may seem. Remember that you have to protect the edge from other hard objects. It's more dangerous to use a dull knife than a sharp one, so always keep your knives as sharp as possible. To truly sharpen it, an abrasive surface that is harder than the knife must be used, such as a diamond honer. Using a whetstone needs lots of experience to achieve a fine, razor's edge.

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the knives and supplies you need.