Archive for the ‘gadgets’ Category

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Blades of glory

August 24, 2010

We all know from crappy holiday house kitchens that there’s nothing worse than a blunt chef’s knife – the kind you end up bludgeoning, rather than cutting, food with – and I take care to keep ours reasonably sharp. But the other day, as I end up doing only every few years, I had six of our knives professionally sharpened. Man oh man, what a difference.

Makes me realise that even using our nifty little Victorinox sharpener thing, which I have loved for its ease and relative efficiency, doesn’t really keep the knives in as good nick as I’d like. Before that I’ve used a whetstone, which works pretty well, but I have never mastered any skill at all with a steel. I seem to blunt the knife rather than sharpen it any time I’ve tried.

I see here that CHOICE tested knife sharpeners and ours came out somewhere in the middle, so I either need to learn how to properly use either a steel or our old stone (do they ever wear out? I’ve had mine for a thousand years) or get a new sharpener which I’m loath to do, especially after reading Fenella Souter’s  amusing and inspiring Good Weekend article on the movement towards eliminating waste and saving cash, prompted by these people and their passion for not being diddled.

I guess the other aspect of good knife care is storage – long gone are the days I kept knives in the drawer. We have one of those great wall magnet strips that the blades just stick to, and a few years ago were also given one of these cool knife blocks, where the fibre things just move to accommodate the knife.

And what about cleaning? I usually just chuck them in the dishwasher, though I’ve just now read elsewhere that it’s not good for knives – but does it do anything to damage the actual blade, or is it only to prevent damage to the wooden handles?

So what about you – how do you keep your knives pointy? Do you ever have them professionally sharpened, or are you a whiz with a steel? Any tips? And what are the essential knives? We have lots, but only because I was given a large set by generous friends for a big birthday years back. Otherwise, we would have only two in constant use – the big Furi chef’s knife and the beautiful little Wusthof given me by the Lunging Latino, which I believe is known as a ‘sandwich knife’. Go figure.

Now, while we’re on the topic of slicing and dicing, I was thrilled to be alerted to this very useful knife skills video on the ‘claw grip’ over at Beyond Salmon (thanks Daniel Koontz at Casual Kitchen) – it demonstrates very clearly how to hold a knife, the action needed, and most importantly, what your other hand should be doing.

So happy chopping, shuckers. And do tell me how you keep your blades in glorious condition, or any other sharp points we should be discussing!

PS: My knives were beautifully sharpened by the lovely folks at the new Chef and the Cook – check them out if you’re in the neighbourhood.


Posted in equipment, gadgets, techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments »

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True confessions of a colander girl

August 4, 2010

How many colanders is too many? I think I’m starting to develop a problem.

When I think of the scant array of battered utensils my mother used to prepare  decades’ worth of  three meals a day for a family of seven, I am rather ashamed of my kitchenware excess. But I do love a simple, well-made and cheaply produced invention – and you can’t go past a colander for that thrill of pure practicality.

At last count – excluding two tea-strainers and one of those wide flat spatter-reducing-things  – I have four holey rollers that could be variously described as colanders or sieves:

  • the Big Bertha conical colander thing bequeathed to us by a former cafe-owning friend, which is excellent for draining gargantuan quantities of pasta, but that’s about it;
  • a large, traditionally shaped stainless steel colander with feet pictured at the rear of this photo – again, good for pasta or large vegetables, but its holes are too large for rice or smaller grains and not plentiful enough for really fast draining;
  • a medium-sized, open-meshed sieve with a wooden handle (no burns!) and hooks for sitting over pot edges;
  • and a 12cm diameter, fine-meshed sieve that’s very useful for draining small quantities of anything and for scooping bobbing things from pots.

Along with tongs, I find a good sieve among the most useful tools of the kitchen. Not a day goes by without my using either one of these colanders, or the large flat spoon with holes also in the picture (why don’t I know the proper names of these things?).  If I had to choose one, I’d go with the medium-sized, wooden handled baby that can be used for anything from noodles to couscous to rice to quinoa to lentils.

Then there’s the whole slotted-spoon arena …. what about you? Do you sieve, or no? And if you were to choose just one holey mother of utensils, which would it be?

Posted in equipment, gadgets, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 4 Comments »

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Cheap thrills: a groovy little gadget

June 9, 2009

clipthing2clipthing1Have added this to my list of inexpensive essentials on the kitchen gadget front.

It’s a spoon-drip clip thing – no idea what it’s called, but I bought it from one of those middle-of-the-shopping-mall stalls the other day.

The clip grip works like a bulldog clip, and eradicates the need for spoon rest, saucer or whatever when you stop stirring. Works so long as the lid’s off the pot, anyway …. another silicone kitchen invention to love.

[Just be sure not to accidentally touch the boiling hot metal bit when you take the clip off – that shit is harsh, my man (sorry, too much of The Wire of late).]

Posted in equipment, gadgets, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »