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A COOK’S KNIVES TELL YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIS OR HER CHARACTER AND COMMITMENT

02 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by culinarycuesblog in Uncategorized

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chefs, chefs knives, cooks, kitchens

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Do you remember that first knife that you called your own? Mine was a 12-inch Sabatier carbon steel beauty that held a razor sharp edge. That knife could slice through vegetables like they were butter, and far too frequently mistook my fingers for a carrot. Still, I loved that knife, sharpened it on a wet stone every day and kept a flat steel close to my side whenever I worked. The carbon steel was not pretty, but I sacrificed that for the edge that I could have used for shaving. Unfortunately, someone else felt that he or she needed my knife more than I did and it disappeared one year. I still mourn the loss of that blade.

There is a unique connection between a cook and his or her knives. We may only use two or three different knives (French, Paring, Boning), but the longer we cook, the more we become obsessed with adding to our collection. It is not uncommon to find a cook carrying a tool box that weighs as much as a sack of onions – filled with specialty tools that may only find a place on your cutting board a few times a year, but they are always close at hand – just in case. How we care for those tools goes a long way toward defining the type of person we are, and how serious we are about the profession we chose.

“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.”

-Marshall McLuhan

Here are some of the observations that I have had and continue to rely on as I mentally assess the quality of a cook:

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT COOKs BY WATCHING HOW THEY CARE FOR THER TOOLS

RESPECT:

Cooks that respect their knives are more likely to respect those people around them. Their respect for others, however, is determined by how well they care for their own tools. Mutual respect cannot be turned on and off – if you respect your tools then your peers know they can count on you.

ORGANIZATION:

There is a connection – caring for your tools clearly reflects on your organizational profile. When I see a neatly tied knife roll and watch how religiously a cook unwraps that roll and gingerly removes knifes from their appointed slot, I can guarantee that this level of organization and reverence for order will follow as they set-up a work station.

SKILL:

Watch a cook who cares for his or her tools and you can be confident that they know how to use them. A seasoned cook knows that a cared for, sharp knife makes the work of a professional so much more fluid and enjoyable. I guarantee that a person who cares for these tools is a cook who produces those perfect knife cuts, who makes child’s play out of mincing herbs, boning out a leg of lamb, cutting steaks, and drawing a slicer through a prime rib without any effort.

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

-Confucius

OWNERSHIP:

Cooks who take ownership of their tools as an obligation are far more likely to take ownership of the restaurants tools, the ingredients they work with, and the finished product that carries their invisible signature. There is a connection.

CONFIDENCE:

When your tools are at the ready, when they are known for what they are capable of, when the connection between your hand and the knife is definitive, then the cook feels empowered to perform at a high level. The brain may tell the hands what to do, but the fundamental connection between the hand and the knife can be electric. The knife becomes an extension of the hand muscles and the brain that sent the message. A well cared for knife helps to provide the confidence that cooks need.

PROFESSIONALISM:

In every career that relies on tools for performance, there is an understanding that to be accomplished, to be respected, and to be connected to the very best at their trade – you must hold those tools with respect and care for them. The condition of those tools allows you to be part of the ranks of career cooks who wear the chef’s toque and tie on an apron. At the same time, it is not the tool that makes you a professional it is how you care for and respect those tools and others who are part of that club.

PRIDE:

In essence, a cook’s knives are part of the uniform. The uniform that represents professional cooks back to the time of the Renaissance is important to any serious cook.   Wearing the uniform and holding that beautiful, closely honed, incredibly sharp knife that sits perfectly in your hand and stands ready to slice, dice, chop, bone, and carve is as significant historically as the double breasted white coat and hounds tooth pants. The cook stands a bit taller when the uniform is clean, pressed, and starched and shows a high level of confidence when that roll bag is opened to reveal an inventory of cutlery – each with a specific purpose, each razor sharp and at the ready, each gleaming with attention to their blade surface, bolster, and handle. When the cook is ready it is because his tools are also ready.

“Japanese chefs believe our soul goes into our knives once we start using them. “

Masaharu Morimoto

Chefs – when you are preparing to interview cooks for a position in your kitchen, you may want to start by asking them to show you their knife kit. Watch the care with which he or she unwraps that roll bag and how they lay open the inventory of tools. Ask the cook to present a knife to you for inspection. Watch how they present it, maybe with a bit of trepidation since they rarely allow others to handle their important tools of the trade. Look at the handle, the bolster, and the blade; are they impeccably clean? Test the edge – is it sharp and ready for work? You may not need to go any further with the interview – a cook with tools at the ready is a cook that will perform as a professional on the job.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting and Training

www.harvestamericaventures.com

 

 

 

 

 

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DON’T MESS WITH MY KNIVES!

29 Thursday Aug 2013

Tags

chefs knives, culinary, kitchen, knives

Masa Morimoto once said: “Japanese chefs believe our soul goes into our knives once we start using them. You wouldn’t put your soul in a dishwasher.” (or in the hands of another person…

WOW! So what is the deal with chefs and their knives? Maybe it is a deranged fascination with things that are sharp, or maybe it is professional pride. More than likely it is a respect for the tools of a trade – no different than an artist and their brushes, a photographer and camera, a musician and their instrument, a plumber and their wrench, or a carpenter and their hammer. It is, after all, the tools that allow a craftsperson to accomplish tasks and demonstrate their skill. I tend to think that with chefs it is more like a Hell’s Angel and their Harley (don’t even think of looking at my bike).

There is a very interesting bond between a craftsperson and the tools that they use. I would go so far as to say that you can tell how serious the cook is by how they treat their knives.

Let me point out a few personal stories with my own knives. The first real knife that I purchased was in 1968, a student of hospitality encountering my first knife salesperson. I had to have one! He convinced my to fork over (like the play on words?) what little money I had for a 12 inch, 100% carbon steel Sabatier French knife. It was a beauty. Nothing holds an edge like carbon steel and this one could be used to shave with. It did not always sparkle like stainless steel, but man could it cut. I had that knife for 20 years until it disappeared one day from my knife kit, grrrrrr. By the way, if the person who “borrowed it” is reading this post, I hope that bad karma catches up with you. When my grandfather was still alive (he was a pattern maker) he made a knife for my father who later passed it on to me. Again, carbon steel with a rosewood handle. This 10 inch chefs knife served me well for many additional years, but alas, it also grew legs and walked (a pattern is developing here).

I felt that I really came of age as a cook while working as the lead night cook at the Beef Baron Restaurant, part of the Statler Hilton Hotel in Buffalo. One day when I arrived the Executive Chef assigned me my own knife drawer with a lock. I was important and my tools had a home.

As time went on, I began to hone my knife skills, especially with detail garde manger work. I was pretty good with a paring knife and was able to tourne vegetables with the best of them. One day I was introduced to a bird’s beak knife and my life changed. To this day, no one can match my tourne skills as long as that knife is in my hands.

Another event that demonstrates how I feel about those tools happened while I was working at the Statler Hilton. I was 20 years old and working on a Kosher Wedding (the type where the Rabbi must be present, the ovens burned off to sanitize and all stainless tables covered with starched white linen). During service of a prime rib dinner (had to be hand sliced) my knife became dull so I reached for another trusty 12 inch slicer in my drawer. Just as the blade was to touch the meat, the Rabbi jumped up from his stool, grabbed the knife from my hand and threw it on the floor (it had not been blessed beforehand). That was probably one of the few times in my life when I came close to causing bodily harm to another human being.

Knives have not always been kind to me. I have more stitches in my hands than I care to count (well over 30) from various incidents when my knives turned on me. At one point I was on a first name basis at the emergency room. Now, those cuts serve as battle scars and the source of some interesting stories.

So, how do you choose the “right” knives? To me, there are only two parts to the selection process: how well it maintains and edge and how does it feel in your hand. If at all possible buy knives that have a healthy percentage of carbon steel in them (the blends with stainless look nice and stay sharp), I prefer wood handles, although the health department frowns on them and make sure that the bolster and tang are such that you can minimize blisters on you hand from repetitive motion.

I do have a pet peeve (having been in culinary education for 30 years) with way too young novice cooks owning $300 knives (Henkels or Shun). It would be similar to buying a 17 year old a new Mercedes after they get their learner’s permit to drive. You need to earn the right, through experience to have something that beautiful. Get your sea legs on something in the $50 range until you have cut yourself at least 100 times.

Another pet peeve is when others assume that your knives are public property and can be used for anything and everything (opening cans with the heel, servers using them to cut lemons on a stainless table, or dishwashers using your carbon steel French knife to breakdown cardboard boxes). This is when chefs and cooks might just go postal. Just watch the look of either disbelief or contempt when someone asks a chef if they can borrow their knife, or worse, simply grab it off of their cutting board. Be prepared!!!!!!!

Some people have more knives than they can keep track of. They need every special tool that comes out and can be seen wheeling in their Craftsman 20 drawer chest to their corner of the kitchen. The other extreme was my friend, and talented chef: Jose Faria who owned two knives that worked just fine for him.

Don’t mess with my knives is a message to all who enter the kitchen. These tools are more than just instruments to perform a task, there is an unusual and yes maybe a little creepy, relationship between a chef and a blade – don’t go there.

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