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An Edge in the Kitchen

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Table of Contents

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Contents

. 1

Introduction. 3

Part One: Choose Your Weapon. 6

Chapter 1: So You Wanna Buy a Knife. 6

  • Common Knife Myths. 10
  • Feel, Steel And Another Word Which Defines Cutting Ability And In A Perfect World Would Rhyme With The First Two
  • Now You Know

Chapter Two: Types of Knives and their Uses. 28

  • The Big One: the chef’s knife. 30
  • Three Virtues and a Cow Sword: The Santoku and Gyuto. 31
  • The Little Ones: paring knives. 34
  • Slice of Life: slicers and bread knives. 35
  • Close to the Bone: boning and filet knives. 36
  • “Utility” Knives. 38
  • Hello Mr. Cleaver: Chinese cleavers and vegetable knives. 38
  • Shear Madness: kitchen shears. 40
  • Pottery Gone Wild: Ceramics. 41

Chapter Three: A Knife for Every Budget 42

  • Starter Kitchen – Less than $25 to less than $100. 43
  • Budget Gourmet – $100 to $200. 45
  • The Big Upgrade. 47
  • Get Funky. 49

Chapter Four: The other half of the equation, cutting boards & storage. 53

  • Cutting Board Basics. 54
  • Wood versus Plastic: 57
  • Cutting Board Sanitation: 57
  • Knife Storage & Transport 60

Part Two: Cut Loose. 64

Chapter Five: Essential Knife Skills. 64

  • Why bother?. 64
  • Knife Safety and Etiquette. 64
  • Stabilize and Organize. 65
  • Claw Your Way to the Top. 66
  • Pinch Me. 67
  • Look Where You’re Going. 68
  • Rock Out!
  • Push/Pull 69
  • The Pinch & The Claw.. 70
  • Planks, Logs, Cubes. 71
  • Precise Cuts. 73
  • Informal and Rustic Cuts. 77
  • The Alliums – Onions, garlic & leeks. 84
  • Other Fruits and Vegetables. 90
  • The Meat of the Matter – Proteins. 96
  • Knife Skills Workouts. 105

Part Three: Stay Sharp. 116

Chapter Six: The Art and Science of Maintaining Your Knives. 116

  • The Sad Truth About Kitchen Knives. 116
  • Edge Basics. 118
  • The Whole Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth: Microserrations. 123
  • Why Edges Wear 124

Chapter Seven: Maintenance. 126

  • Steeling your Knife. 126
  • Types of Steels. 130

Chapter Eight: Sharpening Fundamentals

. 131

  • The Burr 131
  • The Angles. 132
  • I Find You Abrasive. 132
  • Consistency. 137

Chapter Nine: Your First Edge (I’m so proud) 138

  • Get Ready. 138
  • Here We Go – Step by Step Basic Sharpening. 139

Chapter Ten: High Octane Edges

. 143

  • Thin is in. 143
  • How Low Can You Go?. 143
  • The Compound Solution. 144
  • Sharpening a Compound Bevel 145
  • How to Tell if Your Knife is Sharp. 149

Chapter Eleven: Advanced Sharpening Techniques. 151

  • Stropping. 151
  • Handling Serrated Knives. 152
  • Traditional Japanese Chisel Ground Edges. 153
  • Waterstone/Sandpaper Technique. 156
  • Rounding the Spine. 158

Chapter Twelve: Overview of Sharpening Systems. 159

  • Benchstones and Waterstones. 159
  • Edge Guides. 160
  • Rod and Clamp Systems. 161
  • V-Systems and Crock Sticks. 162
  • Pull-Through Systems. 163
  • Electric Sharpeners. 163
  • Professional Knife Sharpening. 164

Conclusions. 165

Resources. 166

Acknowledgements. 172

Index. 173