A sharper knife

My husband is a chef. Having good knives is vital to his profession. Not only do having a good quality (which doesn't always mean expensive) knife help him do his work more efficiently, but it helps to keep his fingers safe as well. I'm amazed when i go to someone elses home and help in the kitchen, how often I find dull, cheap knives. That man of mine would never allow those to pass in our kitchen, even if he never cooks in it.

Back when we were first married ( eleven and a half years ago-yikes!) we didn't have much in the way of kitchen equipment. What we did have though we chose carefully. He picked out our first few knives, which were pretty inexpensive and came from a mall type kitchen supply store. We didn't have a knife block so when we got home he promptly made sheaths to keep them all. Not only did this keep them sharp because they couldn't bang around against other things in the drawer,but they kept my fingers safe every time I opened that drawer.

After we were married a little while longer we invested in a more expensive knife set that came with a wooden knife block. They make finding the right knife much quicker. After every few uses, he makes sure the honing blade (the thing that looks like a round sword) was run over it a few times. To keep them in tippy top condition we bought a neat little gadget from Target called the Knife shark(?? at least that's what I seem to remember it being called-there's no name on it). It's small and easy for me to use when he's not around which is really most of the time. We also have a sharpening stone that we purchased at the Asian market. He's the one that uses it. Hubs is so sure to keep sharp knives that his friends from other restaurants have often called on him to come and sharpen their knives. He's just that good at it.

A few years ago I heard, or read (sorry I don't remember where so I can't give them proper credit) to store your knives in the knife block sharp side up. This prevents drag every time it is pulled out and in of the slots. My handy dandy mini-sharpener comes out the drawer less often since I started doing this quick little step. Of course, when I visit those homes that have a knife block on their counter, I share my little tip and flip all of the knives over. When I encounter those drawers of knives just floating willy nilly in the drawer without a sheath? I say a quick prayer and use extreme caution while trying to saw away at the food I'm trying to help prepare.

For more kitchen tips head on over to Tammy's Recipes.