Recommend a high end present knife... my brother already has Wusthof

[wacki]

Plus one

question: how does your brother sharpen his knives?

However I tell him to? He's a good cook, just doesn't know anything about knives. I couldn't make up my mind on a kitchen knife so I bought him a cheap gift short term. I still plan on buying him a nice kitchen knife or starter set as an upgrade to what he has. I'm new to knives and I'm currently exploring.

I picked up a steel from Shun and strop for him. Why does the sharpening matter?

 

[Peak_Oil]

Why does the sharpening matter?

A sharp knife is a safe knife. It goes where you tell it to go.

A sharp knife will not ruin your ingredients. It will slice a soft tomato clean. You can scrape meat off a bone easier with a sharp knife than a dull knife. Sometimes you might like to flex the flat of your knife against a cutting board to slice something thin, and it helps if the edge bites into the material cleanly. There is less effort expended in the process of cutting that will help your chef do his work more efficiently.

I'm not chef Ramsay, he apparently uses a steel. I don't know anything about steels, I use a sharpmaker to keep my edges up. Paper wheels are supposed to be amazing, they're on my list to own one day. Best wishes to you and your brother, I hope he gets a lot of use out of the tools you bought him. There is a lot of information on how to strop properly. It seems to take some practice. Those who use a strop (I don't) seem to get a lot of mileage out of it.

 

[jimnolimit]

However I tell him to? He's a good cook, just doesn't know anything about knives. I couldn't make up my mind on a kitchen knife so I bought him a cheap gift short term. I still plan on buying him a nice kitchen knife or starter set as an upgrade to what he has. I'm new to knives and I'm currently exploring.

I picked up a steel from Shun and strop for him. Why does the sharpening matter?

the whole purpose of a knife is to cut, the sharper the edge the better it cuts. people have the habit of treating sharpening as a glancing after thought, but sharpening is a primary task when it comes to knives. whether you have a honda or a mercedes, what good are either car when the fuel gauge hits E?

"steels" and strops are good for maintaining and refining an edge, but eventually you will need to put a fresh edge on knives for them to perform at their best.

if neither one of you know how to properly hand sharpen, i would suggest practicing on cheap knives first and build up you technique. but hand sharpening takes some time to get good at, if you want a quicker way to sharp edges look into a sharpening kit that use jigs or guides. to give you an idea, the lansky 3-hone sharpening system (LKC03) is a basic system and runs about $25-$30.

 

[Peak_Oil]

[video=youtube;dw0Ij1Fxgq4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=dw0Ij1Fxgq4[/video]

Chef Julia talks about knives and how to use a steel in this video, as well as how to chop an onion. I think Chef Ramsay has a better way to chop an onion, but I would not say that I know any more about how to chop an onion than either. This is a case of finding something to learn from anyone who can teach. I have been trying to learn how to cook a classic trifold French omelet for the last month. I got close once, but not quite. It was very good, but I have miles to go. Omelets are simply difficult to make properly.

I don't think I really knew what medium high heat was until I melted butter four or five times in a row in the same pan. When does it foam up with a nutty smell, and when does it go brown? it's a tricky call.

Chef Julia's method of making a classic French omelet is completely foreign to me. Still, it looked good, didn't it? Very interesting. More to learn.

 

[franzb69]

not that hard to learn to make the french style. it's the only way i've been making my omelettes since i went to culinary school.

check out eamon burke's videos on kitchen knives on youtube.

there are quite a few videos on there on how to keep them sharp as well.

murray carter, jon broida of japaneseknifeimports on youtube has tons of great videos on sharpening. these guys know what they're talking about.

julia's take on knives and cooking overall is how i learned to cook back in culinary school but it's a bit outdated. correct but outdated (the knives part, the cooking methods will forever stay the same).

=D