Comments on: Home Cooks’ Biggest Disadvantage

By: Emilia

Emilia — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:14:17 +0000

I used to use the DMT guided stone sharpener (similar idea to the Edgepro posted before), but have since gone to the Chef’s Choice sharpener. The model I’ve got has angles for Amer/Euro knives and a separate one for Japanese knives. It handles single bevel Japanese knives by using one side of the stone. A stropping disk finishes the citting edge, but leaves the actual ground portion as is. Works well, but you don’t get the polished cutting edge that hand honing gives. You also don’t get a multi-bevel edge, which some people like. I’m pretty pleased with it.

From our friend John Y.

By: Crepes (and the power of ratios) | Michael Ruhlman

Crepes (and the power of ratios) | Michael Ruhlman — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:41:54 +0000

[...] My recent post on keeping your knives sharp. [...]

By: paseo

paseo — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:02:58 +0000

No propane?

By: Bobbi Sundman

Bobbi Sundman — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 15:46:29 +0000

We have a nice sharp wusthof knife (love it) and while preparing a tasty bolognaise sauce on Sunday, I sliced my thumb along the side and right through the nail! Now I need to either learn some better chopping skills, or remember that there’s a mandolin in one of the kitchen drawers!

By: goober

goober — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 02:43:41 +0000

Accusharp costs about $10, fits in drawer, and can be used by a smart chimp or any human. That plus a few licks on the steel get my knives sharp every time. Simple, cheap, and quick.

By: MP Wall

MP Wall — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 23:26:43 +0000

If you look in restaurant supply you will often find commercial knife supply and sharpening. These places often have pretty good prices on knives as well. I used to use Northwestern Cutlery in Chicago near the meat market area, they had 4 wet stones turning all the time. MPW

By: john phipps

john phipps — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:33:13 +0000

Check out an induction cooktop. I like mine much beter than gas. Amazing heat control.

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By: Witloof

Witloof — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:24:00 +0000

I have Wusthof knives, and steel and sharpen them regularly. I live in Manhattan, and the place to go ’round these parts is Samurai Sharpening Service at the Chelsea Market. She is there every Saturday and Wednesday, and does a tremendous job.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:18:38 +0000

A related, but equally important point: my husband, a retired skilled tradesman, is most adept at keeping our knives honed, and when needed, sharpened (he’s still teaching me honing – practice makes perfect). But the best sharpening will not help a poor quality knife.

Our chef’s knife for the last 10 years or so was a decent brand available at local kitchen supply retailers (Chicago Cutlery), but just not a great knife. No matter how well Bob honed or sharpened it, it just didn’t slide through food as it should; our two small Shun knives were telling us what to do, but we didn’t realize it, because, well, it *was* a decent knife, right?

He got me a Wustoff Icon for my birthday, and what a difference a better quality knife makes! So keep them sharp, but don’t skimp on them too much either; you really do get what you pay for with knives.

By: TJ

TJ — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:14:35 +0000

Let’s turn this discussion around…
What is the home cook’s biggest advantage?
I always like to find that stuff in life.

I think, for the home cook, it may be scale?
For example, I love making no-knead bread. I have heard/read bakers say that they wish they could do it, as there is no comparison on a quality/effort basis, but they can’t achieve the scale they need for commercial enterprise.

I’d be curious if others had different ideas though!

(as penance for turning the discussion off course, I will go sharpen my knives after work)

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:38:24 +0000

A girlfriend bought me a set of Henckel knives many years ago. Best kitchen gift ever! But, I admit they need to be sharpened and thanks for the reminder to get that taken care of!

By: Bill R.

Bill R. — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:01:04 +0000

The biggest problem in my kitchen is not my knives; I could shave with those. The biggest problem is the damn electric cooktop. No gas in my area, so no gas stove! It makes me hate cooking. And it sucks having to do stuff like put up with a portable butane burner or stir fry on the porch over a turkey fryer.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:33:13 +0000

How often do you recommend having knives professionally sharpened?

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:44:04 +0000

Sorry about the poor spelling…it should read..knives

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:41:00 +0000

My dear late mother in law had the ugliest but sharpest, knife I’d ever used. The blade had oxidized to a mottled gray/brown and had been sharpened to a misshapened curve by years of running the edge along the base of her old crockery mixing bowl. On cleaning out her home upon her death, my husband and his brother competed for the knife with several rounds of rock-sissor-paper for the inheritence. Husband lost. Dang! Regarding professional knife sharpening…the butchers at one of our local grocery stores in San Jose, CA, advertise that they will sharpen customer knifes by appointment. It’s a nice service to offer! They do a good job, too.

By: E. Nassar

E. Nassar — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:48:10 +0000

I love my DMT diamond “stone” as well. It’s good to see you recommend it! Also, pressure cooked stocks: There is no better or more efficient way to make a full flavored amazing stock (unless it is fish or vegetable stock, then sous vide is the way to go)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:46:05 +0000

One problem for people who don’t know how to use knives is that they’ve been trained to cut a certain way with improper equipment. My mom often uses a dull serrated steak knife to do her cutting, so it’s been difficult to try to teach her the different grip and motion required by a sharp chef’s knife. Old habits die hard, and a sharp chef’s knife, improperly used, can do a lot more damage than a very dull steak knife.

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:16:26 +0000

I have one well used, very sharp, JA Henckels chef knife that I bought in 1990 in Germany. I keep it as sharp as I can, and find it to be my favorite all purpose knife that I always grab first. Heavy and sharp, I use it for nearly everything.
I even peel apples after seeing chef Symon do it while making an apple pie. It seemed awkward at first, but you get better and faster the more times you do it. I now find it faster and easier than grabbing the peeler.

My question is:
is it possible to over hone the blade? I see butchers do it after every few slices, I try to do it before and after each use and keep it on a wall magnet so it does not get dinged in a drawer. Am I over honing the blade? Or is more honing better, if your careful on keeping a good 22.5 angle?