Knife skills

My pau taught me a couple of useful things about knives:

1.  A sharp knife is safer than a dull knife.  Why?  Because when you're trying to saw away at that chicken breast with your piece of crap supermarket blade, you'll probably apply more force to fight the flesh resistance.  And if the blade slips in the wrong direction, you could really do some damage.  Besides, clean cuts heal easier and faster than jagged puncture wounds.  I'm just sayin.

2.  A good all-purpose knife needs a little weight.  Simple physics, folks -- a heftier blade cuts through things with more force than a lighter blade.  So you do less work.  That's why cleavers are so heavy -- they need the weight to hack through bones. 

3.  A good knife will last many years.  You think you're saving money by buying those cut rate, plastic handled jobbies but you're really not.  For the price of one fancy meal out (or three lesser meals), you can have a good ten years (or more) of cleanly minced onions, well-defined tomato slices, and quick mirepoix. 

4.  If your knife has a serrated edge, and it is not the bread knife, you should get rid of it.  You can't re-sharpen a serrated edge.  I know the commercial told you that it stays sharp forever, but you have been lied to.  If your knife came free with another purchase, or if they gave you free things with the purchase of your knife, you have been suckered.  I don't care how many aluminum cans you cut through.  Throw them out.

I use two knives.  I love them deeply and equally.  They work for practically everything I need.  I'm not generally hacking up rabbit carcasses or filleting skate or anything, so I don't ever need the flexible boning knife.  I rarely buy whole loaves of bread, but when I do, I borrow my roommate's serrated bread knife.  Otherwise, these are my babies. 

Glestain Santoku -- 6 3/4" blade

This is the multi-purpose extension of my fingers.  It has the perfect amount of weight -- more than the Globals, less than an 8" chef's knife.  The blade doesn't rock very well, but that doesn't bother me.  There's a generous metal rest where the blade meets the handle -- essential for marathon chopping sessions.  The grooves on one of the blade's faces allow cut bits to fall right off the blade -- especially useful for sticky things like garlic. Plus, it looks really cool.  Please note -- this knife wasn't made for left-handed cooks, unfortunately.  I got mine in Tokyo at Tokyu Hands for 11,000 Yen, but it can be found at Knife Merchant for a very reasonable $139.50.

Global paring knife -- 4" blade

This little knife was forged from a single piece of metal and is completely seamless, making for super easy clean-up.  It starts super-sharp and stays sharp.  The thin blade makes it ideal for skinning an apple, while the chef's knife-like shape and 90 degree corner edge makes it great for small jobs on the small cutting board.  I got mine from Bed, Bath and Beyond for around $45.  Cooking.com carries them for $45.95.

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More on my dad and knife superstition here.