What Every Cook Should Have in Their Kitchen: a Knife Like Marco's

Date: 03 October 2015 Page: 14 Circulation: 394910 Readership: 995000 Size (Cm2): 833 AVE: 25389.84 Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48 What every cook should have in their kitchen: a knife like Marco’s Doyouknowyour Damascus steel from your santoku? Lydia Slater on how the £100 knife became a culinary status symbol feel well balanced and comfortablein good kitchen knife is your hand, with the blade and the handle the cook’s best friend, the same weight (you can check by the most basic — and resting the knife across your fingers; it essential — of culinary should stay level). Heavy knives are tools. “Without a good often assumed to be superior, because A knife, you can’t have weight implies a good-quality steel, but culinary finesse,” says some chefs shun them. “Professional Camilla Schneideman, managing chefs often prefer a slightly lighter knife director of Leith’s School of Food and if they’re going to be chopping with it Wine. “You can’t cook with precision or all day, and Japanese knives tend to be make vegetables look nice. A good knife lighter than their European can change your life.” counterparts,” says Carla Sturm, the Ever since Global, the stylish all-steel director of Cook School at Borough Japanese knives, arrived on the culinary Kitchen, London. scene, a collection of designer blades The size of a knife is also a matter has been a must-have for any kitchen of choice, although most chefs tend to worth its salt. use a larger knife because the longer Sales of branded knives at John Lewis cutting edge makes them more efficient have risen by 21 per cent in the past and requires less arm and wrist year, while sales of professional knives movement. Schneideman, though, says at Leith’s Cookery School have increased that smaller people may prefer smaller by 58 per cent. However, it’s no use knives because it can be difficult to get spending hundreds of pounds on knives sufficient leverage on a large knife. if you don’t know how to use them or It’s important to ensure that a knife has to keep them in good condition. Here a “full tang”, ie, that the blade runs are the basics. through the handle to the end (check for rivets). A full tang means that a knife Choosing is less likely to fall apart. A good starting point is to go to a well-stocked shop and use a few knives Basics (try chopping a carrot). A knife should Four knives will suffice for 95 per cent of fl llbl d d f bl

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kitchen work, says Sturm. These are: choose an Asian one. 0 Chef’s knife (or santoku knife) These are typically 16-20cm long with a The best brands pointed tip for slitting and a blade for chopping; the back of the knife can be “Always go for a recognised used to crack hard items like crab shells. brand,” says Bruce Crane, 0 Paring knife Usually 8-10cm long, owner of Loose’s Cookshop in these are for delicate jobs, such as Norwich, a knife specialist. He mincing garlic. sharpens knives sent to the 0 Boning knife If you cook a lot of store from all over the UK, and meat, a boning knife is essential. The recommends the German narrow blade is 14cm long and is brands Henckels (“quality designed to remove bones without knives that come with a wasting meat. lifetime guarantee”) and 0 Filleting knife Perfect for fish-eaters, this is a 16cm knife with a thin, flexible Wüsthof, and Robert Welch, a “terrific” blade that can cut around tiny bones. British knife-maker. Leith’s Damascus steel knife set When it comes to Japanese knives, (£277.50) includes both a Sturm recommends Kai, made in Japan European-style chef’s knife and a from Damascus steel. “Because of the santoku knife. “We also always angle of the blade, they slice through advise people to buy a small, everything like butter,” she says. The serrated knife, which is great for stylish Global is another market-leading preparing fruit and shiny- Japanese knife make, but Sturm isn’t a skinned vegetables,” says fan: “I find food can get stuck in the Schneideman. indentations in the handle,” she says. You may want to avoid How much do they cost? A decent ceramic knives. Although they chef’s knife can cost more than £100, but, keep their edge much longer properly looked after, will last a lifetime. than steels, they are “It amazes me that people are happy to considered an add-on to a spend £150 on a pair of shoes, but won’t knife set: they can’t be used to spend £40 on a knife they’re going to use slice hard foods, and will break every day,” says Schneideman. if dropped. Storing Japanese v European According to the experts, a wall- mounted magnetic strip is the best A European knife tends to be thicker in option, as long as it’s out of reach of cross-section and more curved in profile children and strong enough to keep the because it’s designed to cut using a knives in place. Knife blocks can be rocking motion. An Asian knife is unhygienic because since they’re hard to thinner with a flatter profile, and the clean, any food left on the blade will blade is used to chop straight down. The lodge in the block and become a blade angle is sharper, at about 15 breeding ground for bacteria. Storing degrees, compared with the 20 to 22 knives in a drawer is not recommended: degrees of a European knife. Marco it’s easy to cut yourself, and is likely to Pierre White swears by the Mac sashimi blunt the edge of your knife. knife (not cheap, at over £100). “A Japanese knife slices easily but is more likely to chip and Sharpening needs sharpening sooner,” says Ideally, a knife should be honed every Sturm. “Ask yourself what sort of time it’s used; in practice, most of us go cooking you like to do, then choose for years without sharpening blades. A the knife to match.” If you eat a lot blunt kitchen knife is not only inefficient, of meat or root vegetables, go for a but dangerous — it’s more likely to slip. robust European knife; if you’re Every kitchen should have a knife- mostly slicing fish or sharpening tool, either a whetstone, chopping veg for stir-fry, hAi

honing steel or pull-though sharpener. A whetstone is made of stone. Most people soak it in water then sweep the knife across it. “A whetstone seems intimidating, but it’s quite easy to get the hang of,” says Sturm, who recommends practising on an old knife. “We have 20- minute free tutorials in store.” The Japanese Knife Company also offers a two-hour course (£99). A honing steel is shaped like a conductor’s baton and covered in tiny grooves to realign the blade’s “teeth”. It’s crucial to angle the knife correctly. “Hold the knife at 90 degrees to the steel,” says Crane. “Then halve the angle to 45 degrees. Then halve it again, to 22 degrees: that’s the angle you need.” A pull-through sharpener will hone a blade to a fixed angle on both sides. These should have two slots, one containing tungsten (to sharpen), the other ceramic (to polish). Cheaper models with just one slot should be avoided. “They can take a lot of steel off the blade,” warns Crane. Adjustable sharpeners are available (he recommends online store Kitchen IQ) and can sharpen blades to a variety of angles. The choice of chopping board is also important. “A wooden or plastic board protects a blade,” says Crane. “Never cut on a glass counter-saver.” And the quickest way of all to kill a good knife? Put it into the dishwasher.

Marco Pierre White, who uses a Mac sashimi knife; below, Kai five-piece magnetic knife set, £899, harrods.com