Demystifying Knives — You Only Need Two!
May 7th, 2009 Posted in Cooking tips
The other day I stressed the importance of developing really good knife skills. Now, by “really good” I don’t mean training for a career in food carving; I merely mean getting supercomfortable with the knives you have and use on a regular basis so that you can get meals on the table with just minutes of prep time.
For too many years, I kind of made do with crappy knives. I guess I believed that great cooking was within reach even if all you had was a butterknife. I still think that’s true for certain situations — you find yourself in a borrowed cabin, say, and you’re determined to make a good dinner — but, ever since I’ve used good knives, and kept them sharp, I’m sold on the pure beauty and joy that they can bring to everyday life.
Lots of cooks have knife sets. Many of you know that I’m not much of a believer in sets of anything, and this most definitely includes knives. Ask a set owner how many of the several dozen knives are used regularly, and the inevitable answer seems to be “two.” I agree with them. I have a few more, mainly because I can’t bear to throw them out, but 95 percent of my prep involves just two knives. Professional chefs obviously need more than two, but I’m guessing that an overwhelmingly large percentage of us home cooks can cook just about everything we’ve ever wanted to with just two.
Both of the knives shown above are Japanese, but it really doesn’t matter where they’re from. You should have a large (I like six inches) chef’s knife/santoku, and a small paring knife. That’s it. But both should be really good quality. You can probably expect to spend at least $100 on the big one, and $50 on the small one. But they’re the last knives you’ll ever need.
On Sharpening
So how to keep them really sharp?
Lots of people take their knives to a professional to be sharpened; plenty of farmers’ markets these days even have mobile sharpening dudes. I really can’t recommend that route, for the sole reason that the powerful grinders they use really take off a LOT of metal. Go to them often enough and you wind up with knives that look as if they’ve had 30 percent haircuts! Besides, who wants to pack up the knives, schlep them someplace, and pay for this destruction?
I think I’ve tried every method of knife sharpening, including purchasing ceramic knives that allegedly don’t need sharpening at all. In fact, they do, and Kyocera’s solution — to box them up every once in a while and send them to Kyocera for professional sharpening — borders on the absurd; they’re great while they’re sharp though.
The best solution I’ve found is a diamond-surfaced stone, shown above. It has two sides of diamond coating: one rough and one finer. Superdull knives need the rough side, but reasonably not-dull knives work well with the finer side. Three to four strokes on each side of the knife gets them razor sharp.
You’re not quite done yet though — now just glide it up and down a sharpening steel (which would more accurately be called a honing steel, since that’s what we’re doing here) to remove the tiny burrs created by the diamond, and you will have scary-sharp knives.
On Grip
Most cooks grasp the handle of a knife, but my friend Charles Haynes showed me a method that we both believe is superior, and that offers far greater control. Move your entire hand about an inch UP the handle, toward the blade, and grasp the handle where it meets the blade, with your thumb and forefinger, and gently squeeze it. Use your other three fingers to grip the handle, but keep relaxed about it. It’s a lot like “choking up” on a baseball bat. It may sound strange, and perhaps feel awkward at first, but I urge you to try it. You’ll soon see that it becomes like an extension of your hand; it will give you confidence and remove the fear of hurting yourself. Knife slips become far less common because control is radically increased.
It’s also important to use your knives tactilely, not visually. If you rely on the fingers of both hands to do the work, you can proceed literally blindly and not worry about hurting yourself, because when your fingers talk to one another, they don’t miscue.
This is how it’s done, assuming you’re right handed: hold whatever is you’re cutting–be it an onion, a carrot, piece of meat, or whatever—with your left hand by pointing your fingertips toward the middle of your palm. Imagine that you’re imitating a cat, claws drawn—that’s the shape you want for your left hand. Now, holding the knife as described above, tap the flat, broad side of the blade against the first knuckle below your fingertips, to let your left hand “know” where the knife is. There is virtually no chance of slicing off a fingertip if you do this—it takes the fingertip out of the equation entirely. Feeling the broad side of the blade against your left knuckle, you can now slice and dice with impunity without even looking, since you’re now proceeding by touch (i.e., feeling the blade against your knuckle), not by sight. It never ceases to alarm and amaze my friends and cooking students who watch me do this, and who tend to rely on their eyes to not lop their fingertips off. This “claw” method, along with the “high grip” method of grasping the knife, can be learned in just a few minutes, and will provide a lifetime of vastly increased pleasure and safety in using really sharp knives.
The hands do a lot better when they operate on their own, without much bossing around from the eyes or, especially, the brain. Try focusing your awareness into your hands, and letting them figure out the best way to chop something.
On Slicing
Most people use a knife like a hammer—they bring the knife straight down on a piece of food, and rarely use a sawing motion. I find that the combination of sawing and hammering is the best; it lets the sharpness of the knife do most of the work. There is also a palpable pleasure in feeling, through the fingers of your right hand, the feeling of really sharp metal glide through something.
Your left hand is the guide. If you want really thin slices of something, you barely, almost imperceptibly, move it. If you want thicker slices, you’ll move it more.
One last, if obvious, point: don’t use your precious knives for ANYTHING other than preparing food. Don’t open packages, don’t use as a screwdriver, don’t cut Styrofoam, don’t cut thread.
Anyone have any tips I haven’t covered?
27 Responses to “Demystifying Knives — You Only Need Two!”
By
Wakeford on May 7, 2009
That’s a nice primer on the use of knives. I, myself, have often only used one knife in between the large knife and the paring knife sizes.
I know that most professionals will grip the knife as you describe. But I find it somewhat uncomfortable. I use a hybrid technique which involves choking up but where I rest my index finger on the top of the blade. This seems to give me the added precision I need.
Hearing about the curled knuckles reminded me of my father who taught that technique to us as children.
By
alison mcq on May 7, 2009
great post and great tips on sharpening and yes, i agree – i only use 2 myself!
By
ellen on May 7, 2009
great descriptions, but if you EVER decide to teach a hands-on knife skills class, I’ll be there.
By
Scott on May 8, 2009
Great post, Eric. I also use a bread knife in addition. And there are times that a flexible boning knife is the best tool.
Of course, the situation you describe is when there is only one person cooking/cutting. We need more for 2 of us, and we each prefer different knives. But, my personal use is along the lines of what you describe.
By
Ed Ward on May 8, 2009
Thanks for this. A chef friend of mine had a cloth thing with about 12 knives in it that he brought to work with him, but confided to me that if he didn’t, his employers wouldn’t take him seriously. I spent enough time in his kitchen, though, to notice that he used two of them almost all the time: the big one and the little one.
I’ve got a third one, a super-sharp knife I picked up in the market in Kyoto, which I intend to take with me if I ever return there for a little touch-up. It’s used in emergency situations where neither of my German knives — the big one and the little one — are sharp enough, or I need to really pulverize fresh herbs.
Some day I may need a boning knife (I don’t consider my bread knife to be a cooking tool), but first I’ll have to learn how to bone a chicken.
By
Eric on May 8, 2009
Thanks peeps.
I might have a special thing about it, but there’s really nothing like the pleasure of a heavy sharp knife gliding through something. Frisson!
By
Karena on May 8, 2009
Great post, Eric. I learned the “choking up on the bat” knife grip from my mom, and I always thought it was more comfortable because we both have small hands. Didn’t realize that other people use this grip!
One thing I’ve noticed about keeping knives sharp is to wash and dry them after cutting something acidic, such as citrus or tomatoes. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but they seem to dull faster in the summer, when I eat boatloads of tomato salads!
By Carol Peterman on May 9, 2009
I really like the control I get when I use the choke-up grip with large knives. Thanks for the comments on using a stone for sharpening. You make it sound easy and now I am thinking it will be the way to go. The last time I had my knives professionally sharpened I was shocked at how much metal was removed.
By
Deana Gunn on May 12, 2009
Hi Eric,
That’s great advice about knives. Especially on grip. Of all my knives, I also only use two or three of them. My collection also includes the bank of very nice but rarely-used 10-inch knives (except for one poor 10-inch santoku now named the “coconut knife” after the day I walked in on my husband hacking open coconuts with it…)
I love the tips on knife sharpening. I’m a relatively lazy knife-sharpener but I have a wonderful father-in-law that is obsessed with sharpening stones and sharpens my knives to scary-sharpness every time he’s over (I also have a drawer full of every sharpening stone possible which he brings for me) Your entry might have just inspired me to actually use them a bit more myself so I’m not always going from kinda-dull to scary-sharp overnight.
The only tip I have is one that should be obvious: lovingly hand wash and dry your knives. I’m surprised at the number of times I’ve been at someone’s house and seen them pop their nice expensive knives into the dishwasher basket with all the other cutlery. Nothing good can come of the beautiful edges of your knives clanging around with all the silverware in your dishwasher. If you do put them in the dishwasher, at least lay them flat on the upper rack or away from other metal.
By
Eric on May 12, 2009
I forgot about washing and drying, thanks Deana! Very, very important. As Deana sez, good knives and dishwashers don’t mix. It really only takes a few seconds to carefully handwash and dry them.
And how about storage? I like my system of a strong magnetic strip, mounted to the wall with screws. They cling on with a satisfying snap! And they’re out of harm’s way.
By
Deana Gunn on May 12, 2009
My knives go into two blocks. I think the magnetic strips are very cool yet slightly creepy (like the knives are going to fly off the wall any minute like a bad 80′s horror flick). Yes, I know, completely irrational.
…Although this one might get the prize for creepy knife block: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/11/spinning-knife/
By
Eric on May 12, 2009
Yeah, I think households with young kids might not go for the strip; it’s a long, sharp way down!
By
Trisha on May 13, 2009
Hi, been lurking around for a while.
I use a santoku and a paring knife, my DH uses a chef’s knife. That was all there was until I recently bought a serrated knife, so much better with bread and cakes. But maybe that’s more baking than cooking.
Regarding slicing and the sawing motion, I tend to push and DH tends to pull while hammering down. I think this is because of the difference in length and shape of the blade in addition to the weight. Have you ever noticed this difference between users of santokus and a chef’s knives??
By
Eric on May 13, 2009
Welcome Trisha! What the hell’s a DH?
Never noticed the difference…I seem to pull half the time and push the other half!
By
Trisha on May 13, 2009
DH? Darling Husband!!
This isn’t standard!? Oh my, you’ve got to forgive me, I’ve been living in Japan for the past 20 years. It’s only very recently that I’ve begun commenting on blogs written in English! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
By
Eric on May 13, 2009
Wow, DH is darling husband! I’ve been gone too long!
Is it called dei eichi in Japanese?
Where in Japan are you?
By
Eric on May 13, 2009
Do Japanese sometimes belabor it, as in “daaringgu hazubando?”
My nickname in colleage was the katakana king. (kingu)
By far the greatest way to learn the Japanese language (or at least katakana) is to have conversations in English but katakana-ize every word, and write it down.
Mai neemu izu torisha, foa ekussampuru.
By
Trisha on May 14, 2009
Uh oh, sorry, Katakana Kingu, I didn’t mean to say DH’s used in Japanese – just saw it used in others’ comments (in other Elnglish blogs), like you might use BF or FIL or IMHO or the sort.
But then, ‘Dahlin’ is jokingly used to refer to boyfriends and husbands… and I’ve even heard it simplified to only ‘Dah’.
Aimu in Toukyou, bai za wei.
I hope I don’t disappoint you in saying I’m a Japanese that grew up in the US. That’s why I’m not too confident with commenting…
By
Eric on May 14, 2009
Ha! Dah!
By
Dave on Jun 9, 2009
Some great tips. One technique not mentioned is to develop what I call a “rock n’ chop” which is similar to the movement of a locomotive arm. An almost circular/oval movement where the knife tip never leaves the board. (Kinda’ hard to describe. Watch Jacques Pepin and you’ll see what I mean. His knife skills are other-worldly) I personally am not a fan of santoukus as they don’t work as well for the rock n’ chop. I like the standard French chef’s knife, preferrably a 10″ blade, as I have big hands. I also like the Chinese chef’s knife for heavy duty items like acorn squash. They’re cheap, durable, and sharpen extremely well. You just have to get over the fear factor with them, and get accustomed to the size/weight of them.
By
Eric on Jun 9, 2009
I know exactly what you mean, Dave, about Jacques’s technique. It’s remarkable. Any tips about buying a Chinese chef’s knife? Are you in the SF Bay area? Links?
I was in a fancy knife shop in Amsterdam the other day, fondling some otherworldly 10″ chef’s knives. A joint collaboration between Zwilling and Miyabi. It was probably the most beautiful and alluring knife I’ve ever held! Here it is:
http://tinyurl.com/mdjcez
By
Pearl on Jun 9, 2009
For a complete novice, can you recommend either brands or features to look for when buying my two essential knives?
Thanks!
By
Eric on Jun 10, 2009
I honestly think brands don’t make a lot of difference, assuming we’re talking quality knives like almost any German or French knife in the European tradition of knives, or almost any Japanese knife for one-sided sharpening. I did most of my early cooking on a set of Henkels, with a Wustoff or two thrown in. Now I do like the Shun, and the Miyabi. As noted in the above response, the new knives from Miyabi-Zwilling seem especially compelling. It’s hard to convince myself that I need another knife, given the above essay! But if I did I would almost certainly give the MZ a shot in the lineup.
I think it’s important that a complete novice feel what a good knife feels like. It will really make you WANT to use it, and to cook. I’m struggling here in Amsterdam with some superchallenging knives (the steak knife has been declared the winner for every job!), and it really makes me realize how much LABOR crappy knives are. They make even ME not want to cook.
It’s precisely the opposite with great knives: you can’t wait till it’s time to use them again! And your cooking soars as a result, for the simple reasons that you do it more, and that you really begin to enjoy the process, which is absolute key to becoming a better cook.
By
Pearl on Jun 12, 2009
Thank you! That helps.
By
Esther Y on Mar 25, 2010
Hey Eric! I was your student optometrist, hope your contacts are working well for you.
I am following your blog now! Great article on knives…I've been making do with crappy knives and not knowing how to keep them sharp and it's been a huge pain. Hopefully when I finally get a job I'll get myself some quality knives like the ones you suggested. 
By
@breakawaycook on Mar 26, 2010
HI Esther! So good to see you here. Don't let lack of a job stop you! You can get a good knife for $50, and it will last forever. Did you see the recent video on knives?