Knives. Use them.

Now for Our technique talk. Now I'll be posting actual technique fine points as this blog goes on, so don't worry about this being my manifesto on knives and knife skills. This will be brief. I'm just going to hammer a couple points home. 

1) Invest in a good knife- You can't make bricks without clay, can't make cheese without milk, and you can't julienne basil with a piece of crap you bought at the dollar store. 

 

And no- Cutco, sharpsafe, and all other "never gets dull for 3 easy payments blahblahblah" don't count either. (Please don't spam my comments with how they're awesome, I'm pretty set in my ways on this, and have yet to see them truly outperform or come close to a REAL knife). 

 

When I say knife, I mean Wusthof, Global, Shun. They're my holy trinity of reliabitiy, and have yet to hear of them steering anyone wrong, so long as they're cared for.  Henkels... we'll get to that later. 

 

Now, The big caveat here is that these knives are not cheap. You're unlikely to find a good chef's knife for under $100 unless you are incredibly lucky and vigilant of places like woot.com and Williams-Sonoma sales. What's more, you need to buy the set with the block and every knife you'll ever need, right?

Wrong. 

First off, yes, knives are expensive. However, a good knife will last you most of your life. It may even outlive you. So in the big picture, that price tag isn't quite so large. 

Secondly, you only need 3 knives. Really. You need an 8" chef's knife, a 3 1/2" paring knife, and a serrated knife, preferably a larger one (and frankly, you don't even need a great one of those. serrated knives are the sledgehammer of the cooking world, it's not hard to find a good one for cheap). Why have all those other knives? Extra convenience. If you slice meat every day, buy a slicing knife. That's what it's designed for. But Your chef's knife will do just fine for the job. 

2) Care for your knife- Despite the mystique surrounding this skill, its much easier than you'd believe. Simply put, when you buy your knife, ask for a care demonstration. You'll be sold a honing steel (which you need). If the store can't show you how, don't buy from that store. I'll be posting about knife care soon, so hold off worrying for now. In the meantime, here's some good advice for the day to day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRUYAgrsoLw

3) Learn the skills- This is the hardest part. Knives are sharp, knives can cut you. Understandably, this scares some people. However, it has been proven that it's better to be cut by a sharp knife than a dull one (trust me on this). As said, I'll be posting videos about knife skills and care later, but for now here's something to keep you tided over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iXtDYOso1o

Oh, and while guys like, say, Gordan Ramsey can dice an onion in 5 seconds, favor control over everything else when you're starting. speed comes with practice.

So here's our first discussion of knives and why you need to invest in something worthwhile.

Until next time, Stay Sharp.