At the behest of some of my friends, I’ve decided to start this blog. It’s mostly about food, but I’ll be injecting anything and everything else I can think of.
To follow this blog and try out some of my suggestions, you’ll need an appetite, a knife and a fry pan. Any chef knife will do, so long as it cuts, holds an edge and doesn’t mash your tomatoes or bread when you slice. Forget the sets. You can do everything with a good chef knife that you can do with a whole set of knives. Do not order this online. I repeat, do not order this online. You want to feel the knife. Is it comfortable in your hand? Does it feel awkward? Will your arm get tired swinging it around for a half hour? Pick one that’s comfortable. The knife doesn’t need to cost $160 like some of the really nice Shun knives out there, but don’t go with something that’s $20 at Wal-Mart either. You’ll regret it as soon as the blade snaps, and you have a shard of punched steel sticking in your eye, causing you to bleed blood and aqueous humor all over the tomatoes you just rough chopped for your ragout. As for a fry pan, forget the non-stick, calphalon or all-clad. You don’t need those. Sure, they look nice, but they’re way too much to start out. Find your closest restaurant supply store and go in. Pick out a decent sized stainless steel fry pan (they should not cost more than $40. If they do, check out this link). You want your pan to be heavy. If it feels like you can give someone a concussion if you tapped them with it, you’re good to go. You have your knife, your pan and your appetite and you’re good to go.
Learn to care for your equipment, too. Get your knife sharpened professionally ever 3 months. Please. Take it to Raley’s if you have to. They offer complimentary knife sharpening and they’re pretty good at it. If you’ve got a more expensive knife, don’t take it there. Find a cutlery shop or ask your favorite restaurant where their chefs and line cooks get their knives sharpened. Your knife will thank you by cutting much more cleanly as you prep, and your arm will thank you as you do not develop carpal tunnel from having to lean on the knife to get it to go through the boiled potato.
April 3, 2009 at 8:22 am |
Hi, this is a comment.
To delete a comment, just log in, and view the posts’ comments, there you will have the option to edit or delete them.