- Joined
- Apr 3, 2008
- Messages
- 369
This weekend, as part of my "try something new" rotation, I pulled out an Imperial Stockman that I bought a couple of years back but have never really used.
It's made of carbon steel and was manufactured in Ireland. It has disturbingly stiff springs. Almost hazardous to your thumb knuckle. Open firmly and with care.
It's an awkward size to classify, as it's a bit larger than "medium" and a bit smaller than "large."
We'll call it "extra medium" after the fashion of the Light My Fire folks, who use that appellation for their bigger-than-regular-but-not-large sporks.
I used it for various tasks throughout Saturday, and it performed very well -- very well indeed for a seven dollar knife --requiring only a few strokes on a diamond steel in the morning, and no further attention for the rest of the day.
The blade stock is quite thin, which lends itself well to slicing tasks.
The final job of the day was to pare a couple of pounds of strawberries.
As far as the actual cutting performance, I have no complaints at all. It made the trimming and spot removal easy. I might as well have been using a razor knife.
The chemistry, on the other hand, was something else.
Almost at once I could smell the interaction of the steel with the strawberries, that familiar semi-acrid "metallic' smell.
I was unfazed by this, since I expected it. It did a fine job, and I wound up with a couple of pounds of nicely prepared strawberries, ready for snacking the following day.
I used baking soda to neutralize the acids on the blade and to remove excess blackening, cleaned up the knife and oiled it. Congratulated myself on a successful test drive and went back to rinse and bag the berries.
The berries, however, still had the metallic odor clinging to them. Most of that went away with rinsing, but not all of it.
It was at this moment that I reviewed my recent carbon steel experiences with food.
I concluded that, in this day and age, with high-performance stainless steels available which don't taint the food with a metallic taste, there really is no justification -- beyond personal curiosity -- for using carbon steel in the kitchen.
The interaction with meats isn't bad, almost unnoticeable really, but with fruits and vegetables it's pronounced and leaves a distinct taste impression on the food.
A story told to me years ago by a guy who worked with cosmetics finally made real sense. He explained that in harvesting plants -- like rose petals -- it was forbidden to bring the plant material into contact with metal. No steel wheelbarrows, no steel shovels, no metal holding bins. He related how a product expert, known in the trade as a "nose," came into a room with bins of rose petals and at once remarked, "these petals have been handled with metal; throw them out." At the time, I imagined that this was just "enhanced storytelling" and dismissed it as an anecdote used to make the point that the experts were very well attuned to their craft.
I no longer think that.
Having had the experience myself of smelling fruit that clearly had a metallic aspect to its scent validates the tale.
I do believe I will confine the applications of my carbon steel blades to outdoor work and woodcraft. It's really good for that.
Food? Not so much.
It's made of carbon steel and was manufactured in Ireland. It has disturbingly stiff springs. Almost hazardous to your thumb knuckle. Open firmly and with care.
It's an awkward size to classify, as it's a bit larger than "medium" and a bit smaller than "large."
We'll call it "extra medium" after the fashion of the Light My Fire folks, who use that appellation for their bigger-than-regular-but-not-large sporks.
I used it for various tasks throughout Saturday, and it performed very well -- very well indeed for a seven dollar knife --requiring only a few strokes on a diamond steel in the morning, and no further attention for the rest of the day.
The blade stock is quite thin, which lends itself well to slicing tasks.
The final job of the day was to pare a couple of pounds of strawberries.
As far as the actual cutting performance, I have no complaints at all. It made the trimming and spot removal easy. I might as well have been using a razor knife.
The chemistry, on the other hand, was something else.
Almost at once I could smell the interaction of the steel with the strawberries, that familiar semi-acrid "metallic' smell.
I was unfazed by this, since I expected it. It did a fine job, and I wound up with a couple of pounds of nicely prepared strawberries, ready for snacking the following day.
I used baking soda to neutralize the acids on the blade and to remove excess blackening, cleaned up the knife and oiled it. Congratulated myself on a successful test drive and went back to rinse and bag the berries.
The berries, however, still had the metallic odor clinging to them. Most of that went away with rinsing, but not all of it.
It was at this moment that I reviewed my recent carbon steel experiences with food.
I concluded that, in this day and age, with high-performance stainless steels available which don't taint the food with a metallic taste, there really is no justification -- beyond personal curiosity -- for using carbon steel in the kitchen.
The interaction with meats isn't bad, almost unnoticeable really, but with fruits and vegetables it's pronounced and leaves a distinct taste impression on the food.
A story told to me years ago by a guy who worked with cosmetics finally made real sense. He explained that in harvesting plants -- like rose petals -- it was forbidden to bring the plant material into contact with metal. No steel wheelbarrows, no steel shovels, no metal holding bins. He related how a product expert, known in the trade as a "nose," came into a room with bins of rose petals and at once remarked, "these petals have been handled with metal; throw them out." At the time, I imagined that this was just "enhanced storytelling" and dismissed it as an anecdote used to make the point that the experts were very well attuned to their craft.
I no longer think that.
Having had the experience myself of smelling fruit that clearly had a metallic aspect to its scent validates the tale.
I do believe I will confine the applications of my carbon steel blades to outdoor work and woodcraft. It's really good for that.
Food? Not so much.
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