| Wednesday, 23 May 2012 | How to choose and look after a chef’s knife |
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Cooking is no fun with a blunt and clumsy knife, invest in a chef’s knife and cut with purpose. They can be expensive, but look after it well, and you’ll be using it for the rest of your life. When buying  • It should fit in your hand comfortably, knives will often be smaller for women than men - the ideal should feel like an extension of your hand. • Weight is important too. Remember you’ll be wielding this knife in a repetitive motion while chopping, you won’t want to take breaks mid-julienne. • Grip, you’ll be working with wet hands a lot of the time, and a slip could be painful. • Stainless steel is good, carbon steel is better. • A knife with a slight curve on the tip is helpful when it comes to slicing. • The best knives are one piece of steel. After frequent use the knife is likely to fall apart if it has a wood, or rubber handle. Take care • Beautiful knives don’t like dishwashers; the friction can damage or dent the blade. Clean immediately after use in soapy water, and dry. • Store your knife on either a magnetic strip, or in a knife block, and not in a drawer full of utensils. • When scraping food off of a board, use the flat back of the knife and not the sharp blade – if the knife makes a shrieking sound you’re using it in a way that can damage it. • Use the knife on wood or plastic boards, glass or marble cutting surfaces aren’t kind to its blade. • If you take all the above precautions, you won’t need to sharpen your knife that often, but when you do, you can get it done professionally or do it yourself: there are two types of sharpeners: stones and sharpeners, which create a new edge and straightening steels, which are used to hone the edge. Where to buy • Value-for-money at Banks. • A premium brand at Chef’s Warehouse (they do sharpening too). Malu Lambert's been a lifestyle journalist, for the last six years, with a focus on food and wine. Follow her on Twitter @MaluLambert, and view her blog and portfolio of work at: www.malulambert.com |