This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
 |
 |
I’m not completely sure, but I personally think that the knife was the first cooking tool ever created by man. Several millennia ago, knives were used by man to gather and hunt for 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. 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 use knives incorrectly. The problem is that nobody taught us how to do it properly when we were just kids. 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. There are three basic 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, a knife should generally be held with the blade between thumb and forefinger. Grip the handle with your other three fingers. When cutting hanging meat, for example, the knife should be held like a dagger to get the right amount of leverage. And when turning or peeling with a small knife, it should be held with one or two fingers gripping 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. Get a board with the end-grain as a cutting surface, rather than side grain. 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 the knife first after use, then dry before storing it away. Never wash knives in a dishwasher, no matter how convenient it may seem. Always protect the knife’s edge against other hard surfaces. To properly sharpen a knife, the best way is to use a knife sharpener with an abrasive, diamond surface. 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 puma 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
