The joys of giving professional advice

[rikibeth]

eternaleponine is going off to graduate school at University of Michigan at the end of the summer. We were chatting, and she was talking about having to learn to do domestic things like cooking and grocery shopping for herself.

Naturally, I stressed the importance of having Good Knives.

I told her that to start, you really only need three: an 8" chef's knife, a paring knife, and an offset bread knife.

We looked online for my Dexter-Russell offset bread knife, but the exact one I have was not to be found. The Forschner actually looked closer to my model than the Dexter-Russell white-handled one. This one looked the most like what I have, but I knew nothing about that brand's blade quality, never having used one, so I suggested sticking with the Forschner, because they're the same people as Victorinox, which means Swiss Army knives, and it's hard to go wrong there.

Oh, and a sharpening steel because it's important to keep the straight-edged knives in good condition.

And a 12x18 acrylic cutting board. Because they're dishwasher safe and bleachable, and will cushion the knife.

I suggested buying three cutting boards in different colors -- one for raw meats, one for fruits, vegetables, and other ready-to-serve foods, and a third one reserved for garlic and onion to segregate the stinky things -- but even though the colored cutting boards were only $6 each, we agreed that it would probably be too much trouble to train a roommate to follow ServSafe procedures, so one would do for the basics.

Good trustworthy knives are THE most important things in a kitchen. And eternaleponine said she only had crap knives in her current collection of kitchen stuff.

I love the Internet. I got to give good advice AND go shopping with my friend, and help her get the right things, even though physically we're two hours' drive apart.

We probably ought to get together in person again before she goes, though, so I can show her the Really Cool Way to dice an onion with the offset knife.

eternaleponine, got a Tuesday you can trade off with anyone?

Comments

Re: What do you use the knives for?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

The paring knife is for any job where the chef's knife would be awkwardly big.

The serrated knife? What DON'T I use it for? I use it for EVERYTHING at work except mincing herbs. It's much better for cutting bell peppers than a straight edged knife. Likewise slicing tomatoes. And citrus. I use it to slice the rind off of honeydew and cantaloupe melons for fruit salad, and then because it's in my hand it's just as easy to dice the melon into chunks with it. I can make lovely even parallel cuts in an onion with it, first one way and then the other, and then slice it on the third axis and have perfect little dice fall away. (Okay, at home I do that with a chef's knife, but the chef's knives at work never seem to stay in good shape, even with regular use of a steel, and the offset serrated just does a better job.) I core tomatoes with the tip of that knife, even though most people use a paring knife. I slice strawberries into quarters. (Most people use a paring knife for that too.) I slice sandwich rolls in half, and split cakes into two layers. I slice cheese off a block with it.

The Dexter-Russell offset serrated knife has truly become an extension of my hand.

You can see why I was so annoyed when shadowflyer used it to trim his bamboo drum broom, right?

Re: What do you use the knives for?

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

Yeah... My mom had a pair of glorious silver scissors when I was little that were *only* for fabic, never paper. She knew... When we couldn't find other scissors and used them, she knew...

I've never figured out what's best for cheese-slicing. Serration... noted.

I think I've seen the onion-cutting technique, but I don't remember... Does it require cutting towards your hand? I mean, how do you hold the onion? Is it dangerous? How do you get the skin off the onion beforehand without cutting it?

Is the offset serrated better than an um... onset? serrated? Seems like you couldn't apply as much force...

I use the chef's knife for everything. But I think the main thing is that I don't do such a variety of stuff as you in the kitchen...

Re: What do you use the knives for?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Okay. The onion thing. Without bothering to take the skin off the onion, slice off the top. Then take a small slice off the circumference to make a flat surface to rest it on. Now you have free corners from which to peel the skin. Do it.

Lay the onion down flat on the bit you sliced off. Hold it in a claw-like grip near the top of its curvature. Make even parallel cuts, as far apart as the size you want your dice, from the stem end nearly but not completely to the root end, knife blade parallel to the work surface. I prefer to start near the bottom and work up.

Now make even parallel cuts with the knife pointing stem-to-root and perpendicular to the work surface, again, almost but not quite entirely to the root end.

Now start at the stem end and make as if to slice round slices off the onion. These slices will fall apart into lovely diced onion. Yay.

I don't know what principle is behind making the offset better, but I know I can get a lot more precision with it than I can with a conventionally-shaped bread knife or a long knife with a serrated edge. I go with what works.

And your mother knew about the silver scissors because cutting paper DULLS them.