Handling and Caring for Knives

I’m not completely sure, but I believe that the knife was the first cooking tool ever created by man. Ages 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. Everywhere you go, from homes to cafes and restaurants, you will find all sorts of knives being used for almost every food preparation and cooking task.

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. 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 wrongly. 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 that’s not a reason why people shouldn’t learn to use them properly.

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. For cutting against a board, the knife should generally be held with the thumb and forefinger gripping the blade. Grip the handle with your other three fingers. When you want to cut hanging meat, for example, hold the knife in a dagger-like fashion for proper leverage. When using a small knife to turn or peel, one or two fingers should grip the blade, with the othersthe rest around the handle.

Learn also how to care for your knives. Use a wooden board 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. The end-grain is the 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 a knife after using it, then dry and store. Do not wash knives in a dishwasher, no matter how convenient it may seem. Always protect the knife’s edge against other hard objects. To properly sharpen a knife, the best way is to use a knife sharpener with an abrasive, diamond surface. Of course, you can always use a whetstone, but it takes a lot of experience to be able to sharpen a knife to razor-like sharpness with it.

Article Source: http://www.free-article-directory.net

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the knives and supplies you need.