What Knife should I buy?
One that feels comfortable and fits you, the best knife in the world is no good if it gives you the claw after 15 minutes.
Other than that I'm a fan of an 8" chef's knife, There's enough blade to do most jobs, but not so much that it's ridiculous and hard to use.
The more you spend, the harder the blade will be, which means it'll stay sharper for longer, which is good.
A sharp knife is a safe knife, as you don't have to put much horse behind a good sharp knife, a blunt one you have to push harder, and risk horrible fuckups.
It's also worth considering where you're gonna keep your knife, as they're kinda made for cutting flesh, which people are made of, knife blocks or magnetic racks are ideal (odd that) don't ever put them in drawers, unless you don't like your fingers.
So, which one?
I like Global knives best right now, they kinda do the high end but affordable thing, they also look good.
The 8" G2 (top in that picture) can be had for £60. Now, I know that seems like a fair bit of money, but given it's the thing that's in your hand 90% of the time when you need a knife and will last forever, I think it's a fairly good deal.
Annoyingly, that's not quite the end of it, you'll need some other stuff, too.
Cutting Boards
These are a fair bit more simple than knives, they just need to be big enough to hold your knife happily, and not slip around.
Size is important, you want your board to be bigger than your knife, else you won't be able to cut properly, and will probably scratch up your worktop.
This is bad:
This is good:
You want a board made of Plastic or Wood, which you use comes down to preference and cost. Wood's faster, lasts forever (you can sand and refinish it). Plastic is slower, doesn't last forever but can be chucked in the dishwasher.
Not Glass, Marble, Metal, or anything else super hard and shiny - These are too hard and give you a fair chance of cutting your fucking hand off, along with ruining your investment in a good knife.
To stop your board slipping around, a damp cloth or bit of kitchen roll under there should do the job nicely, you can get anti-slip matting too, but it's not as free.
Care and Feeding of Mr. Stabby
Knives are dead easy to look after, they like to be kept clean and dry, they don't like dishwashers, and they like to be honed/sharpened regularly.
I'll start with the sharpening, because it's complicated.
Get a minosharp sharpener, they're cheap, easy, and will revive the most abused of knives, Use it whenever your knife starts to suck, a quick run through won't hurt before you use the knife every time, either.
If you're feeling a bit more Flush, it can be nice to get a Steel, these are made of something hard, with really, really hard stuff on. They're great for honing your knife, and ideally should be used before you start using your knife.
They work by gently pushing the very edge of the knife back straight, giving you a better cutting edge.
Basic method is to hold the knife at 9-12° to the steel, and run the knife across it, like you're trying to slice the steel, I tend to do it 3 times a side, then
2 times, then 1 time. Works pretty well for me.
Should look something like this:
However, this isn't always enough, sometimes the knife will just be a bit too knackered, which is were the minsharp will come in.
Worth mentioning are sharpening stones, but there's a significant risk of fucking up and killing your knife if you don't know what you're doing, so don't bother.
Remember to wash the knife after you sharpen it, iron filings aren't nice.
As far as washing goes, safest is a chopping board in the sink, the blade of the knife flat against it, and using a brush and hot soapy water. Never use a metal scratchy thing, never put them in a dishwasher (not only is it bad for the knife, it's bad for your hands if it moves while it's in there)
Actually using the bloody thing
Right, first thing's first, tuck your bloody fingers away if you want to keep them, it allows you to rest the knife against your fingers for more stability too, which is good.
This is WRONG.
This is Right
If you do fuck up with your fingers tucked away, you might take a sliver off a finger or 2.
If you fuck up doing it wrong, this happens, if you're lucky.
Secondly, hold your knife right, no pointing down the blade, it's filled with regret.
I like to hold my knife like this:
This is also acceptable, though I find I have less stability and control.
What you don't want to do is this:
Now you have your knife held in some way which is safe, you can probably start cutting.
Try to keep the front of the knife on the board, lifting the rear, feeding your victim in (ideally not your fingers), and sliding the knife forwards and down to slice, be fluid and go slowly, speed comes with practice.
You should end up with something like this:
Though the position is all kinds of fucked up for getting a photo's sake.
I also suggest watching this video (and the 2nd part of the ep) as it's bloody good information.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Qzz8R_J1c[/media]
