/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>wustof classic ikon 10 chef's knife, ikon 3.5 pairing, shitty cleaver
> vast; breaking down primal cuts, chopping root veg, fish, any type of cut from batonnet, julienne brunoise-large dice.
>2-5 days between (average)
>if you don't have a callus on your pointer finger from pushing your blade down you're doing it wrong.

I just ordered a Shun 8 chef's. Only because i had a gift card for a store that didn't have anything else to interest me.
But I soul bonded with my classic ikon 10. I hold it hours each day, have broken down thousands and thousands of pounds of food, and keep it with me during service as my go to knife.

>>4610099

Why were you cutting your pubs with that knife?

Santoku

>>4610105
Those are actually scars from when it was run through the pit by a stupid fucking dishwasher. Picked it up or whatever to clean it Its never happened again.

Here is a pic of it new.

First and last questions, see pic

Common tasks? Dicing, mincing, julienne (for knife), saute, roasting.

How often do I sharpen? Once/week on the stone, and before every task with my ceramic steel.

>>4610122
forgot pic

>>4610112
...you put your chef knife in a dishwasher?

op works in a hotel/restaurant that serves around 250 on a fri or sat night from 5-9. We have 26 rooms if that means anything. We cook with a brigade of 3(maybe 4) online - 1 person to expo/grill, 1 person to fry/salads and 1 person to sautee, oven and flattop and 1 person offline to grab things and prep them for us.


Special from this past weekend.
skate wing grenobloise

>>4610107
...you're trolling, right?

>>4610129
No fool I work in a kitchen with 10 other people after servers and dishwashers chef and sous chef. It was taken by a new dishwasher and he ran it through while I wasn't aware.

>>4610122
Right on. I'm going to be holding one of those tomorrow. I just tracked the ups.
I am thinking the western weight i've been used to is going to throw me off a lot especially being used to a 10 vs 8. However I sharpen my blade like a eastern blade that is I have one side significantly sharper and have a very sharp(small) cutting edge. So I will be used to that. I like it because my blade draws into the food and not away and out.

>>4610149
Oh, sorry. I misread your post. Just went back and checked. That's really frustrating. At work, I wipe mine off after I use it with a rag, then put it in my victorinox bladesafe and tuck it behind my line so no one fucks with it.

>>4610168
It will be glorious. I'd been using a wusthof classic (8 inch) before I got my shun, and I'm so much happier with everything about it.

Of course, enough is never enough... I'm setting my sights on a hand made usuba next.

>>4610143

the 70's called.

>>4610071
>>favorite blades
dexter russell 8inch chinese knife

>>common kitchen tasks
slicing meat, chopping veggies - mostly julienne and dicing. grating ginger. crushing garlic. Cutting my finger tips when I get wasted and decide its good time to play with kitchen knives

>>how often do you sharpen your blade?
once a week or so depending on use.

>>how do you hold your blade?
two finger and thumb pinch high choke.

>>4610183
lel, not a lot of color in that dish, huh?

>>4610186
You julienne with a cleaver???

Impressive.

>>4610099
Can you demonstrate your grip? Because I pinch grip my knife and have a callus, but it's at the base of my finger.

>>4610175
I don't think i've EVER washed my knife. I wipe it after EVERY use. Most I ever do is run it under sani water for 10-30 seconds. (almost always when I go from raw to cooked, exception being when i'm online and can't make it in time).

pic is from my perspective at work.
Wish I had more pics of my knife to bump but I only have pics of plates of food...

>>4610193
They really are not a cleaver. Way to thin to properly cleave.

>>4610183
It is a classic I'll give you that.

Here - duck breast with saffron rice and a blood orange and basil glaze.

>>4610196
Very similar to our line, actually, haha...

> favorite blades
5 and 7 calphalon santokus
paring calphalon (I call it Sting)

> tasks
preparing veggies mostly

> how often
the 5 about once every 4 months, though I need to do a better job as its not getting as sharp any more

> hold
index across top per Mr. Brown

>>4610195
We're on the same page.

>>4610215
Cool... my wife is an artist (mostly woodcut), and I get really frustrated cooking with her, because she tries to hold a knife like a woodcut tool, and has hurt herself doing it before. She just refuses to do it right.

This is the best pic I could find.

my kitchen has for the employees about 35 different victorinox (i think) that we rent and they take them and sharpen them weekly (hardly enough). Anyway a lot of the cooks use them and don't have a problem with them. I hate how weightless they are, and always dull. I WILL use them to cut bags, cardboard, things inside 1/2 pans ect (where my blade will hit metal instead of a soft cutting board) ect.

>>4610229
oh man scares me. I see the barbacks holding lemons and limes with their fingers extended and the blade not even touching their lead hand. i'm just waiting for this to happen.... pic related.

>>4610143
>Special from 1975
ftfy

>>4610243
>>4610183
ok i'll bite. I wasn't born until 1980 so what was the food trend of 1975 this dish represents?

>>4610237
Oh shit... yeah, I've luckily never done that. In fact, I've only ever cut myself in a professional kitchen once (and it was while prepping potatoes, I just skinned my index finger a little). I've also never had worse than a 2nd degree burn in the kitchen.

>>4610243
That sounds about when skate went from trash fish to decadent fish maybe 85, however its still tasty as fuck. I have to argue good food never goes out of date man, especially classics. I'm trained in classic french cooking, that's what I do. That's not all I do, but technique is the foundation which food is created.

I made the other day (sorry no pic) spinach pasta with semolina flour of course. take about 500 grams plus and 1/2 lb sauteed and puree spinach, mix with 5 eggs olive oil and salt. Then my fry cook and I made them into smoked duck breast stuffed raviolis.

Classic Ikon creme.

>>4610248

Not same anon but when someone mentions food from mid 70's the thing that comes to mind is fondue.

My go-to knife for all vegetable cutting

Shitstorm intensifies

I really want to get a damascus steel knife because they are so pretty. Any reason not to?

>>4610249
I don't cut myself with a knife often, but when I do - guarantee every time i skinned the flesh off my left hand lead between the knuckle and nail of finger index and middle.


Pic is what I carry in my knife roll to and from work everyday. Tools of the trade brothas.

bump before i go out for a quick smoke.

>>4610272
That's exactly where I skinned my finger...middle finger.

You take way more than I do, though... I just bring my chef and paring. Of course, I sort of regret getting the 8 inch, and more often than I'd like, find myself putting my beautiful, wonderful knife down so I can use the cheap 10 inch knife the kitchen provides.

>>4610272
I approve

>>4610268
specialmagickitchen.com/archives/2709

my preferred sharpener is on the right.

>>4610099
>>4610112
>Those scratches
Enjoy fostering bacteria and getting everyone sick.

>>4610308
I don't think you've ever worked in a kitchen or that would be the least of your worries.

>>4610313
lol, right?

>>4610313
>implying more than 10% of /ck/ has ever worked in a professional kitchen

>>4610309
My preferred testicle is on the left.

>>4610277
Whats the glass tool on the far right of the pic used for?

>>4610391
smoking apparatus. I mentioned smoked duck breast spinach raviolis before. what.

>When you cook, you take a life. When you eat fish, or meat, you take a life. And you must be very respectful of the ingredients and that is very important.

>>4610342
Cmon you can't honestly polish a good edge with that?

>>4610071
>only one I bring to work is my Tojiro HD Gyuto pic related
>everything from thin slice onions to breaking down fish to mincing parsley etc. My everything tool
>not enough, maybe once every couple months. My old carbon blade almost everyday, but the stainless takes like an hour to put a new edge on
>like Im supposed to? On the blade. Callus on my index finger

>>4610444
i hate those things. dont trust them at all.
>>4610440
>he doesnt know a bing when he sees one
you are alright boogie

>>4610451
perhaps if you sharpened your sword every few days you wouldn't have to put a new edge on. I only have put a new edge on my blade when A) it fell off a table B) someone else fucked with it - one time an employee asked to use it I said it was dull and he went upon himself to use a steel and fucked it so bad.

>>4610461
Yea I did about a week ago while watching some TV. I dont know if Im just rusty or what but it didnt seem to sharpen it nearly as much as I hoped. Im considering just taking to a place to hit it with a grind stone. Only problem is the reviews of the place near me seem way to hit or miss. Meh

>>4610071
>favorite blades
My small stainless chopper, cost about 7 bucks.

I have a $2 stainless chef's knife I use at my GF's place that I'm quite fond of because it's so cheap and does the job. I use it in place of her Ikea serrated knives.

>how often do you sharpen your blade?
Maybe once a year.

If you mean *hone* then once per week or per fortnight, depending on how much it gets used.

>how do you hold your blade?
I don't know how to answer that. The regular way?

Choke up on the grip a bit for finer tasks, but it's not a large knife so not that unwieldy.

>>4610467
I have no idea what you just said.

>>4610461
you've got a 7" calphalon santaku as well
good job

>favorite blades
currently Hiromoto AS 10" as work horse
Wusthof heavy 12" and mercer 8" as beaters and large chopping jobs that are better done by hand than food processor
fujiwara nashiji and wusthof ikon at home
>common kitchen tasks
whatever needs to be done
butch, stocks, soups, chef's table, garde manger fancy shit, random prep for failure cooks
>how often do you sharpen your blade
I keep the hiromoto close to razor polish with touch-ups 3-4X/week, others greatly vary with use, usually 2 or 3 blades full sharpen (generally no reshaping, but full bur/debur) each week
>how do you hold your blade?
sort of a claw/pinch, most pressure between thumb and middle section of index finger, first index finger pad resting on spine

>>4610490
is high carbon stainless steel - Chicago cutlery santoku, this is a shot of my shitty knives minus my ikon 10 for size reference.

however i have to say, when I cook at home. this is my home knife. I dont cook at home often or to the volume so the 20$ edge holds fine. I would highly recommend as 10/10 for any homecooks.

>>4610461
what filet is that? what do you think of it? been looking around

>>4610495
my filet knife is my wusthof classic
>>4610272 pic related
I dunno what knife you mean but i think every knife in this pic is 4/10 at best most below 2 (with the exception of my classic ikon 10). I think filet knives are difficult because they're so flexible and a bitch to sharpen. I almost never use mine once a week maybe twice.

>>4610493
Any more recommendations? Ive been in the industry for nearly 2 years now and have moved up quickly from dishwasher at a cafeteria to line cook at a fine dining place. Problem is I dont have a formal culinary education so even though I know how to make a basic stock, if you told me to put a mirepoix in water I wouldnt know what the fuck you were talking about. Do you understand what I mean?

RIP nicest knife I ever owned. Left it in my car while I stopped at a friends after work FOR AN HOUR and it got stolen. :(

>>4610507
Yes I understand brotha. but how did you get into a fine dining without knowing how to make a mirepox? Equal parts of celery, onion and carrot is a mirepox the basic of a lot of soups and sauces. FIrst learn knife skills, they will impress everyone, then learn sauces - start with the mother sauces, espangole, sauce de tomat, hollandise, bechemel, velute (i'm drunk don't mind the spelling). This is assuming you already know how to cook everything and anything perfectly as well as butcher it. THe next step is to learn tricks of the trade to get things done more efficiently and faster. Observe anon. I can't help you from here.

>my chef used to say baptism by fire baby. keep up with your peers learn from them at a pace that exceeds theirs and your ambition and you will be well on your way running a restaurant.

Bottom line it takes passion man.

>>4610506
ah
the one with the yellow handle looks like a filet
boning?
I like my old sabatier cimeter, but it's showing its age
I'd like to find a 10 or 12" that isn't a crazy expensive custom or crappy steel
maybe I'll just get another cimeter

>>4610525
My chef said he hired me because I asked for a stage and came ready to cook with shitty worn out cheap work shoes. he liked that and knew I wanted to learn. Most of my past experience was part time because I was in college, and now am working my way around and learning fairly fast. Im fast as hell at what I do know, but my line is 3 people max every night, so I dont get much chance to observe to observe little things at times.
man I typed too much, Im stoned

>>4610530
I really don't know, somehow food speaks to me. I can hear it when its done in the oven... I can hear the way the oil sizzles when someone else cooks i know whats happening when someone else is cooking. I've just cooked so much in such little time. I've messed up my fair amount. The reason I prevail is ambition.
>self study
>working in a kitchen can often be a free education
>if it doesnt' come naturally I can't force it upon you. Just eat out folks. You need to be able to dedicate 50 hours a week, never have a weekend off. always do the most gurelying hard sweaty work. burns cuts and scars my god. You really have to love cooking to be good at it man. No offense.

>>4610530
cooking is easy anon, but only if you have to dedicate yourself to it. You have to have gusto, determination and benediction.

pic is kitchen aboard a steam train mid 1800.

bump still thinking of knives. I really feel no closer relationship to anything than my knives, I respect and love them. I kiss them everyday I use them for good grace. An extension of my arm.

pic is one of my old kitchens.
years ago.

> 2013
> still not using a serrated utility

>>4610576
Cutting a lot of bread or a lot of rope, anon?

>>4610576
trolling right? A serrated blade is good for nothing but breads and not always best at that. I spent 15 dollars on my offset serrated. The chefs knife has been around for 2000 years its superiority does not surprise me.

Anyone using kyocera ceramic or serrated has lot to learn about blades. There is something to behold of forged steel cutlery.

There is a reason you will only find one serrated in any one kitchen.

I just bought this beast a few weeks ago and it plows through just about everything I do while looking cool as fuck. It is not really a rock n chop knife though. Have to adjust and learn how to use its shape to your advantage.

>>4610587
If serration is only for bread, why are steak knives serrated?
Fucking owned.

>>4610587
I love my forged steel, but it isn't stopping me from wanting to try a kyocera ceramic knife. it gets just as sharp and stays that way for longer, sounds pretty win to me.

>>4610615
>I love my forged steel, but it isn't stopping me from wanting to try a kyocera ceramic knife. it gets just as sharp and stays that way for longer, sounds pretty win to me.
If you have the money to burn and you want to have tried one then I'd say go for it, but have realistic expectations.

I have a first-gen Kyocera, and while I'm very fond of it I have to be honest and tell you they're probably not as good as you've heard. First thing is that while they are sharp from the factory if you know what you're doing you can get a steel edge far sharper (and keep it that way more easily) and the knife is simultaneously way stronger and more resilient, so win win.

Second thing is they don't/may not hold their edge as long as they're reputed to. You'll read how you have to be careful of acidic foods and this is no joke, they can actually etch into the edge so you end up with it being blunt and ragged as the same time. You can sharpen them, but it's not easy.

My ceramic is now 30 years old and every time I use it on something resistant, even thick carrots for example, I'm nervous it might stress enough to break. I don't know what the breaking force is, and as a result it's something you continue to be nervous about indefinitely. And obviously if you drop it on a hard floor you can likely kiss the tip goodbye at best, if it doesn't break into multiple pieces.

So overall while I like the idea I have to say steel gets my vote 99% of the time.

14cm Wüsthof Santoku is pretty much all I really use. Fits like a glove.

Pic related is my current knife.

After research I've determined that the next thing I'll get is a VG-10 knife like a Shun.

>>4610604

A steak knife is not a kitchen knife, it's a table knife. It's not relevant to the discussion of kitchen knives. Likewise we're not talking about combat knives, camping knives, or diving knives either. Many of those are serrated but again that has nothing to do with a kitchen knife.

>>4611005
vg10 is yesterday's news. get with the program, it's aeb-l now. in other news, cupcakes are out of style along with mango salsa on everything, The Rachel hairdo, and dancing the macarena.

>>4610974
My god you sound like a retard. a 5 minute read of their website debunks most of the things you bring up.
>inb4 kyocera rep
http://kyoceracutlery.com/uncategorized/ceramic-vs-steel-knives-%E2%80%93-all-in-good-taste

>>4611005
Aw fug, I just realized these fancy nip knives have handles that aren't ambidextrous. And the yanagiba I was looking at seems to only have lefty models from a few European sellers.

>>4611095

>aeb-l

M390 doe.

>>4611104
>buying a stainless yanagi
>buying a shun yanagi
>buying any machine made yanagi

I think what you want here is a suji. don't say nobody warned you.

>>4611112
I just liked the thinner profile.

>>4611115
a suji is thinner at the spine than a yanagi, so I'm not sure what you mean by "profile".
it's also not handed like a yanagi except to the extent that some have a 70/30 grind but that is easily changed with a coarse stone.

I bought myself a block of Wusthoff Grand Prix 2's.
Do any of you guys have any opinions of them? They're awfully sharp, nice feel too. But then again, I've only held a few Victorinox knives at the abattoir I work at, and shitty cheap knives at friends houses.

>MFW lived alone and bounced between room mates every other month so never bought my own cutlery outside of a survival knife I used for everything

>MFW Had to move back in with my mother and her husband and all of the cutlery in the kitchen is dull, the sharpest thing being a chinese style butcher knife with big dents in it from being used to hack through what would seem like, the counter top

>If I were to buy anything sharper, they'd be cutting their fingers off left and right, judging by their proficiency with a kitchen knife

If it's not serrated, watching them try to cut something actually makes me cringe.

Also my mother's husband likes to cut things directly on the counter top, which is why all of the knives are dull. "You can't put a scratch in this counter, just go ahead and cut it right on that", it's not the counter I care about, it's the fucking knives. USE A CUTTING BOARD, WE HAVE PLENTY.

Fuck, I want a nice kitchen knife, JUST ONE. I would love to not have to saw a fucking onion in order to cut it.

>>4611165
I think you might find you're less likely to cut yourself with a sharp knife, than with a dull one.

>>4611175
this is bro science at its worst.

someone who never cooks and has no sense is likely to cut himself matter what, just by trying some retarded shit.

your average house wife with muscle memory and knife habits based on dull knives is guaranteed to end up in the emergency room if you secretly put a 16000 grit edge on her daily beater.

stop retweeting bad kitchen lies.

http://www.amazon.com/Yoshihiro-Cutlery-Hammered-Damascus-8-Inch/dp/B00D6DVTM6/

Cheaper than a Shun, and ambidextrous. Any non-obvious flaws?

>>4610604
because they're for customers, servers, and dishwashers who can't be counted on to treat them properly and keep a truly sharp edge, so restaurants are forced to go with the shittier saw option.

>>4611102
>a 5 minute read of their website debunks most of the things you bring up.
No it doesn't.

It doesn't even address a couple of my points and regarding the brittleness of the blade, they do the exact opposite of debunk that. Do you even know what the word means?

As far as edge retention goes, ignore the experience of an actual user and believe the hype if you want to. Maybe you're just not old enough to have learned to take a company's own claims about their products with a pinch of salt.

The leaflet that came with my knife said, and this is pretty much an exact quote, "Never needs sharpening!" The same company that used to make that claim now offer a resharpening service. Just goes to show how much credence you can give to marketing blurb.

>>4611005
mah man. I just pretty much buy a new victorinox ten inch every six months. My work gives me a knife allowance so it's all good.
For a stamped steel blade they are just fine.

>>4611137
I think the grand prix are great knives. Since I use mine so much, I went for the ikon series because of the comfort. Next because of the weight balance. If I remember grand prix has unleveled bladed that is the blade is heavier, also making it easier to push through food ect. The handles don't get slippery as those laminated ones.

>>4611286
When I bought mine they were $1100 down to $250, so I couldn't pass them up. Really happy with them so far.

>>4611274
I am curious what is the knife allowance?

My restaurant rents a bunch that get replaced with new sharp ones weekly.

>>4611337
whoopsie posted wrong pic.
This is the only pic I can find of my first knife I ever owned (professionally).

Winco

My ex has this blade now. Not that I would use it today for anything. But for 20 bucks will get your first cuts made. Will also be a good practice blade for sharpening to learn how to do it properly.

bump with another kitchen i worked in.

My shun 8 chef's should be arriving in the mail any hour now.

>>4611193
same price as a shun however sun is not an ambidextrous knife. I like a taller blade from spine to edge because it allows me to chop faster if it never leaves my lead hand.

>>4611541
Really? One of the consumer reviews indicates it fits equally well in left or right hand.

So how do you guys sharpen your blades?
Wetstones, eletric shapeners or what?

>>4611187
>bro science
Any wood shop/woodworking class taught ANYWHERE will teach you the same thing. Sharp tools don't slip like dull tools do.

>>4610313

Is that the kitchen at the George's Greek in Lakewood, CA? Cause that looks EXACTLY like it.

>>4613141
woodworking class is not the kitchen. but if you want to send your mom to the ER, be my guest.

a sharp knife only makes you a marginally better cook.

stop obsessing.