Essential Equipment
The
necessary tools to be a good cook need not be many or expensive. The only reason to equip your kitchen with
modern gadgets and fancy cookware is if they make you happy. Granted, some of the finest cookware that is
heavy, well made and built to last for generations is well worth even the very
high prices it sells for. I love Le
Creuset enameled cast iron and a few nice pieces of copper cookware are as
useful as they are pretty. That said,
they will not make you a better cook. Moreover, who says you have to buy
new? As I mentioned, quality items are
built to last generations. I shop for
such professional quality and luxury items at estate sales, yard sales, flea
markets and junky antique stores.
Knives
There is
an old French saying that cooking began with the first cracking of an egg. But, other than in cooking eggs, cooking
often doesn’t begin with a pot or a pan, it begins with a knife. As with most all kitchen tools, quality
knives can be extremely expensive. From
European brands like Henkle and Wustoff, to the impeccable craftsmanship of
high end Japanese knives, if you are one to enjoy spending on luxury items, you
can probably drop as much on a few of these as I did on my old pickup
truck. Again though, that will not make
you a better cook than someone with a lesser expensive, quality knife if it is
well suited and he knows how to use it.
What I
would consider to be essential knives rarely come in a matched set. I like a good, French type chef’s knife, a
paring knife, a boning knife, a filet knife, a cleaver, a carving knife and a
bread knife. Of course, all manner of
steak knives and utility knives find their uses. You would be surprised how many chefs use only
one or two knives for most jobs though.
A European chef may use a chef’s knife to chop and dice, butcher meat,
hold the spine of the knife as opposed to the handle and use the tip as a
pairing knife, use the heel of the blade as a cleaver and even filet a fish
with it. Many Asian chefs use a cleaver
style knife for almost every job. Speed and skill are tantamount in a
professional kitchen and many of the world’s best chefs have learned to adapt
“the knife that fits their hand” to most any purpose as a matter of
convenience.
I will get
into the qualities to look for in selecting a knife soon, but I want to stress
the importance that the knife must fit your hand. Most all but custom made knives are designed
to fit the average person’s hand. If you
have small hands, these will be too big for you to hold them comfortably. If, like me, you have very large hands, these
knives feel very awkward and they tire my hands, wrists and forearms
quickly. My favorite knife is a chef’s
knife that belonged to my uncle. He was
a man who enjoyed collecting luxury items, and he owned several extremely
expensive knife sets. When he passed
away though, I did not ask my aunt for any of those. There was one old Sabatier that he favored
because it fit his hand. He was also a
tall man, and that knife fit my hand perfectly.
Sabatier is an old French brand that has gone through several changes in
ownership. Some of their knives are
finely crafted for professional use.
Others are cheaply made of inferior materials. Mine is made of high
quality steel, holds a sharp edge and fits my hand. It is not one of their finest, nor it is one
of their inferior products. It is just a
good, dependable, comfortable knife.
With proper care, it rarely needs sharpening and has never let me down.
The
qualities that make for a good knife are quality, hard but not brittle
steel. Soft steel sharpens more quickly,
but dulls just as quickly. The blade
will attach to the handle in one of three ways.
In both many of the most expensive knives and the cheapest knives, the
tang (the part that goes into the handle) runs all the way through. In the expensive knives, this is made of hand
forged steel and makes them solid, strong, properly balanced and built to last
for generations. The cheaper knives are
made from stamped steel. Essentially,
the knife is cut from a sheet of metal - one end is shaped and sharpened into
the blade of the knife, while the other end is sandwiched in the handle
material and riveted together. Such
knives are light and lack balance, but can occasionally be very good. The classic American and Canadian knives of
early - mid 1900, such as Old Hickory and Dexter (even Herter’s) were made in
this way, but with heavy carbon steel and finely grained hardwood. Although much less expensive than the fancy
imports, never pass one up if you get a chance to buy such knives. They have to be oiled after washing to
prevent rust, but the butcher knives, especially, are excellent. The compromise is a smaller tang, sometimes
called a “rat tail” that goes into a hollow handle, often filled with fine sand
for balance. Again, many knives in this
category will not be the finest but my Sabatier is made in this style, and I
have no complaints. In truth, it will
wear out sooner than a full tang knife, but that will not be in my
lifetime.
There are
two ways to hold a knife properly. The
way I prefer is to pinch the blade between my thumb and forefinger and grasp
the handle with the rest of my hand.
This is very comfortable to me and gives me the best knife control. However, many of the world’s best chefs
(Jacques Pepin for instance) prefer to lay the forefinger along the spine of
the knife so that the knife almost becomes and extension of this finger. Years ago, Alton Brown warned against this
grip, as a slippery wet finger could slide off of the spine and be cut by the
blade. That made sense to me… and as I
don’t like to cut myself, I adopted the grip I use. The wrong way to hold a knife is with all
five fingers wrapped around the handle.
Unfortunately, that is the most common grip. It annoys me greatly to watch a cooking show
in which the star is chopping away with a ridiculously expensive Japanese sushi
chef’s knife held in this manner! This
grip causes the knife to be unbalanced in the hand. It requires more muscle exertion from the
hand, wrist and forearm. It is awkward,
sloppy, will cause the cook to tire more quickly and will lead to cuts.
Beyond
that, the blade of a knife should be sharp.
I sharpen my own knives with a variety of whet stones - my grandfather
taught me how. If you do not know how to
properly sharpen a knife, there are many online tutorials and videos that will
show how. If you own expensive knives
and are hesitant to sharpen them yourself, there is likely a professional blade
sharpener in your area that will keep your knives in top shape for a minimal
fee. A steel is a metal rod with a
handle that goes with most knife sets.
This is used between sharpenings simply to realign the microscopic teeth
of the blade’s edge. Beyond this, you can keep your knife sharp and prevent
damaging the blade by always cutting on a wooden or plastic cutting board -
never a stone counter, never a plate, etc.
Dull knives cause more cuts than sharp knives. Keep your knives sharp.
Conversely,
make sure that any part of the knife that comes into contact with your skin is
smooth and comfortable to hold during long use.
I learned that lesson using one of the cheaply made, lower quality
Sabatier chef knifes I found in block set in a vacation rental. My enjoyable vacation of fishing and cooking
with a magnificent view of the sea was much impacted by the sharp edges of this
blade’s spine and its uncomfortable bolster (where the blade meets the
handle). As I was absent mindedly (lack
of mindfulness is always a mistake) chopping onions, suddenly the onion and board
were covered in blood! No, I had not cut
myself. The poorly designed knife caused
a blister that was bleeding a surprising amount. Like anyone who has cooked professionally
would do, I washed the wound, slapped on a paper towel and some duct tape and
got back to work. But then, it was
work. No longer was I able to enjoy what
I was doing. Had I the foresight, I could have prevented that injury by
smoothing the edge with some fine sandpaper or by wrapping my hand in duct tape
beforehand. Obviously, it is better to
simply use a better knife.
The other
aspect of knife safety and efficiency is in knife skill. That is very hard to put into words
alone. Again, there are many excellent
videos by Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Alton Brown and others online that teach
proper knife technique. I will also post
videos on my Rumble channel. But
essential, in terms of chopping, slicing and dicing is to use the non-knife
holding hand to control the knife. That
is a bit counter intuitive. The knife
hand moves the knife up and down and back and forth. The belly of the blade stays in contact with
the knuckles of the opposite hand, fingers curled in. In this way, the non-knife hand controls the
cutting as it guides the knife, with the fingers safely away from the blade. And, now you know why I recommend seeing this
done - even I would be confused by what I just wrote!
This article is an excerpt from
Available on in paperback on Amazon:
The Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: Carroll, Judson: 9798354856374: Amazon.com: Books
Also, I am back on Youtube. Please subscribe to my channel: @judsoncarroll5902 Judson Carroll - YouTube
Read about my new book:
https://sophiainstitute.com/product/herbs-that-heal/
