Without knives there is no paradise. Having a good kitchen tool is essential For our results to be optimal, let’s talk about the product we are talking about. It does not matter if we talk about ingredients or kitchenware, the reality is that it will always be better to have good materials.
Obviously, this splashes on cutlery, a basic element of any kitchen, whether domestic or professional, and whose initial investment, sometimes high, justifies that we guarantee the good treatment of our instruments to last for many years.
The price universe is almost infinite, from convenience store battle knives to custom-made signature knives, but the most common thing is that at home we rely on average terms with well-established guarantee brands.
Nor do we need to have a block with 25 knives, Unless we are professionals, very restless or have enough space for them, because our daily kitchen does not demand that our table look like a sample of cutlery.
Actually, for what we usually cook at home -and look what we cook- these three knives could be enough, although if you want to extend the collection you can do it by following these tips, to see which knives suit your needs.
Whether they are three or a dozen, it does not change the care we have to take with them, especially if they have cost us good money and then we mistreat them when cut, clean, dry or when we leave them to the hand of God in any occasional sharpener.
Therefore, we ask a master cutler and two chefs so that they can tell us how to treat knives, with what products to be careful with and thus extend the useful life of this fundamental piece of our kitchen.
The advice: better little and good than a lot and bad
The maxim of cheap is expensive is often replicated in the kitchen, where saving a few euros ends up taking a bill in kitchenware and cutlery. This It does not mean that we should buy 200 euro knives for domestic use up -unless we want it to-, but it does mean that relying on a too cheap knife has its trade-offs.
The cheaper they are, the poorer their steel, their shank and their edge are, so they chip and dull sooner, complicating the cut and, curiously, increasing the risk of injury from skidding or because we have to make more force when cutting all kinds of products.
Because, a good knife must be sharp and durable, Noting that it cuts when without much effort we can chop vegetables, meat or fish with little difficulty and where knowing how to use the tip is as important as using the edge.
It is convenient reject too soft-bladed knives for two reasons. The first is that their edges last less time and the second is that, if they are long, they tend to sag and make the cut more uncomfortable. This usually happens with cheap knives, which cut very well at first, but quickly lose their edge.
Those of hard blade are thus more expensive, heavier and also more difficult to handle, but they are also more resistant and their edge is much more durable, so a good initial sharpening allows us to work with it for a long time.
How to take care of your knives like a professional would
You probably won’t mistreat your pans by hitting them with the ‘nanas’ thoroughly and taking any non-stick they have with you. Well, you should avoid the same with knives, to which it is common to mistreat, both in the cut and in the wash.
We must be clear about what each knife is for, what attacks it and how we can lose the edge in a matter of few movements if we take the indicated ingredient, how can it happen with bread and tomatoes, two of the most common enemies of cutlery.
“It depends on how the knife is and the material“, indicates Andres Maldonado, knife master in Maldonado Knife. “A stainless steel one will suffer less than a carbon-steel knife, which are more delicate and rust sooner if we don’t take care of them,” he explains.
“The price of the knife is not only in the blade, but also in the handle, which sometimes goes unnoticed,” he says. “A good knife must have a balance of weight between blade and handle, and that both are resistant “, clarifies.
For this, it considers essential that “the blade is hard because they are more durable and the longest-lived sharpening “versus the much weaker, soft-bladed sharpening that” needs to be sharpened again and again “.
“Generally, the first ones are going to be more expensive, but it compensates for the quality of the cut and because we are talking about an investment. Initially, a good knife costs much more money than a bad one, but in the long run we will be changing them often, and that is where the cost is perceived, “he assures us.
Say goodbye to the dishwasher
“Always at hand. We use, wash and dry,” he explains. Ricardo Sanz, Michelin star in the restaurant Kabuki wellington (Madrid). “Enough with a soft scouring pad, a little soap and rinse thoroughly“indicates a chef who is also used to making continuous sharpening during service.
“A dishwasher at home is not the same as one in a professional kitchen, but in no case would I put the knife in them“, explains Toño Navarro, chef at the Essentia restaurant (Tarancón, Cuenca).
“Dishwasher products have soap and rinse aid, plus being a long time and with a lot of temperature, and with pressurized water, then it dulls and chips “, he says.
The best option, in his words, “lukewarm water, a soft scouring pad and a grease remover such as Fairy And that’s it. “Whenever we talk about stainless steel, of course.” If it’s a carbon knife, you have to clean it right away and dry it well, “he says.
Do not keep them in any way
The classic wall magnets or studs are the longest and safest option so that our knives do not suffer, although we do not always have space. In this case, Toño Ramírez advises fleeing from the drawer. “They blunt, dull and scratch easily if we put them in the same drawer with other instruments “, he says.
“To avoid it, we can have a knife sheath or the classic knife blanket, and with that we already avoid it, “he says. In any case, everything that means crowding, stacking or storing in any way should be discarded.
In that case, even in the classic magnet we must take into account that we should not put the knives too close together. In the case of the block, things change, although certain guidelines must be clear, such as “do not keep the knife wet, because it moistens the wood and leaves a stain on the edge”, explains the chef from Cuenca.
Think where and what for
We do not use a chef’s knife in the same way as a lace, nor do we use a peeler in the same way as a fish knife. “I work with a lace, a onion and one with alveoli for the fish,” says Toño, who advises at least that we have a finite and flexible one to remove fish loins, for instance.
“Nor can you cut bread with a knife that does not have a saw because it dulls it very quickly “, he assures. Something that does not happen with another myth like the tomato.” What happens is that it is a knife that is no longer sharpened and therefore, instead of cutting, it crushes, but if a knife is sharp, nothing happens to cut tomatoes, “he illustrates.
“During a Kabuki service we can sharpen the knife several times, and when we finish, we sharpen it and save it for the next service,” confesses Ricardo Sanz. “Japanese cuisine demands very precise cuts and also often use the tip of the blade, so it is important to always keep a good edge, “he says.
Something that Andrés Maldonado also clarifies. “Generally, chef’s knives are versatile, whether they are santoku, deba or yanagiba [con estos se suele cortar el sashimi], and the key is to take advantage from the tip to the blade, and not mistreat them, of course, “he says.
“We can’t hit the board with the knife To make according to what cuts, nor to work on very hard surfaces that dent the edge. They have to be treated wood or plastic, not marbles or directly on the plates “, he adds.
Better to sharpen daily than once a year
Logically we do not maintain the same transfer of knives and use in a restaurant as at home, but in any case it is convenient that, like all maintenance, let’s not leave your review for the last minute.
“I sharpen them every day with the machine, with just a couple of passes, and I don’t let them dull,” he explains. “The knives in the machine become dull due to the heating of the stone. If you make many passes, it heats up and ‘eats’ the blade more. If you don’t let it heat up, it won’t ‘eat’ it, “he says.
Stone-sharpening has thus become fashionable, adding to the classic butcher’s or cutter’s sharpening, and the no less frequent sharpening machines, which we must control precisely before we know what we are up against.
“I would not put a good knife in this type of machine. First I would try a lower quality one”, warns Andrés Maldonado. “If you want a knife to last you, you must take it to a good sharpener or sharpen it yourself, “consider.
“A whetstone is enough for household knives, but as long as it is fine-grained, because they are going to be more respectful than coarse-grained ones, “he assures.” It is still a sanding process, and the larger the grain, the more we are reducing the blade, “he catalogs.
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