- Joined
- Jan 25, 2022
- Messages
- 143
Well then, I guess I stand corrected. There is âsmashingââŚ.. although at 70 Bess the apex slips between hair follicles at .25 mu.(Crushing is a term used by chefs when the cutting process is squeezing more juice/fluid/blood out of the ingredient than is optimal for high-end cooking. Line cooks and new guys hear about it a lot because if they are doing it they tend to get re-trained or canned. Tearing is the term usually used for rough cuts in meat and especially fish. I don't hear the term smashing too often in this context!)
I used to think that, until I saw a simple demonstration of the draw and chisel techniques, side by side, cutting the same piece of food. Then, to make sure I could believe my eyes, I duplicated the demo. I gotta believe my senses!
This Ginsan 3 knife has a screaming primary grind of about 2.25 degrees, it was sharpened to 3K at 14 degrees per side and it got two strokes per side on 6 micron strop. It gets a consistent 96 or so on the BESS machine, for what that is worth, and it is starting to whittle hairs. The tiny bevel is bright and shiny but not at or near a mirror polish, and you can hear the edge chew a little bit when you cut fine paper slowly. It is sharp, but not what I would consider polished.
I sat down with a ripe tomato, as we are making lasgne or something, and just for fun I turned up the light and started comparing the draw cut to the chisel cut.
The chisel cut absolutely would not get through the tomato without squeezing out considerably more juice than the draw cut. This is not a close call, and it can be duplicated with potatos or carrots or brocolli. The result of the cut doesn't look like it was run over by a truck, but it clearly looks different.
This is an easy test to run at home. Just watch the workpiece closely as you execute draw cuts with a sharp but not highly polished edge, and chisel cuts with the highly polished bevels. I actually put a brand new razor blade to the test, and while the tomato barely deflected, there was a perceptible amount of what a chef would call crushing. The big kitchen knife crushed less when using the draw stroke than the razor did with a chisel cut. Probably not enough to bother about, but a guy who makes his living with the food he cooks knows that every little detail contributes to where his kids go to school!
With good technique, we don't need highly polished bevels.
When I related the story of the meat cutters stating they preferred a refined edge I donât suppose they changed the way they used the knife. I imagine most would still draw the knife. Refined edges can push cut, however, Iâm not going to change my technique as drawing the knife is still more effective .
My point was a refined or polished edge would out perform a toothy edge in the kitchen with ease of cutting and precision based on the opinion of a bunch of professional meat cutters and myself. And just to clarify, Vadim wasnât polishing the bevels, just refining them. Under a microscope I imagine they still have micro serrations as do mine.
Love the cutting board