The first thing you’ll learn about being in a professional kitchen is that you need sharp knives. Your chef life will be spent running and working against the clock – the last thing you need is your most-loved knife going blunt on you.
Cooking is all about precision, and if you have ever tried to fillet a fish with a blunt knife, you’ll know what you’re working to avoid. If you’ve just entered the chef world, the first thing you need to do is to make sure that you have a knife sharpener and a strategy for using it.
Chef knives are a massive investment, and below are five chef-worthy knife sharpening tricks for you to use:
- Honing
Honing helps to keep your knife’s existing blade edge sharp and straight. To do this effectively, you will need to get a honing steel. Position your blade carefully and comfortably on the steel. Touch the heel of your knife to the top of the steel at approximately a 20-degree angle.
After applying a bit of pressure, slide the knife down the steel. Test your knife afterwards and repeat if necessary.
- Use A Sharpener
Be careful when choosing a knife sharpener to buy, the cheaper ones can damage your blades and plenty of them are a plain waste of time and money. Do your research before you buy and once you’ve bought one you can trust, you can get to using it.
Place the knife sharpener on a flat surface and secure it. Put your knife into the course slot and pull it towards you with even pressure. A sharp knife leads to more adventurous cooking.
- Sharpening Stones
Once you’ve bought your sharpening stone and marked the edge of your blade with a Sharpie pen, slide the knife over the stone until you establish the correct angle to use for your particular knife.
Each style of knife has a different angle that it sharpens at, so don’t give up hope. Look online for strategies to use to get the best results.
- Polish Your Knife
After sharpening your blade with a coarse grit, you need to polish the edge on a fine grit stone. That will help finish the sharpening process and hone your knife. If you want to, you can take it to the next level by honing your knife on a leather strop – that is one of the best ways to achieve a fine edge.
You need to polish and strop your knives frequently, that will keep them in good condition and maintain their edges in between sharpenings.
- Extra Tips
Keeping your knives as sharp as possible is no small feat. Once you get the hang of sharpening them, it will get quicker each time. Mastering knife maintenance is key to keeping your knives as sharp as possible.
Keep your knives clean and dry as often as possible and choose to cut food on wooden cutting boards – these are better for the health of your blade. The most important thing to do when sharpening your knives is to keep your angle consistent – that will help your blade last longer.
