What Should I Carry in My Knife Bag?

So you're starting out as a Cook, and you haven't taken enough courses at Cash Cow Culinary Academy to be "given" a knife kit. Or maybe you're a Line Cook trying to go deeper into the craft. You need a better knife, and they aren't cheap. So, what knives will help you the most and make a big difference at work?

The Mystery Set. . . except that one in the middle.

Well, let's explore what it is you'll be doing at your job, shall we?

The Beef

The Beef

I've written before about the challenges that come with tackling large-scale projects for Bailey's Restaurants. Our Commissary staff produces massive quantities of food to be portioned and finished at each of our 7 restaurants. We butcher 3-6 whole pigs weekly for making pulled pork, sausages and other goodies. We cook at least 1,000 pounds of bacon a week. We produce a hundred-plus recipes for use all over the company. In the last few months we have brought Whole Steers into our wheelhouse.

Success! 40,000+

Yes! 

Good Skills, Good Tools, Good Attention 

Make wild ideas possible.

Here's the proof:

The spoonful of peppercorns is resting in a bed of carrot micro-dice, accomplished with the formidable Shun Edo Santoku.  Watch the event unfold by clicking this video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwzELYaMAD0

(OK, so the dice could be more uniform in shape.  I will do better next time in the name of chef-perfectionists! It's not easy to manipulate damp carrot threads into even stacks.)

Here is the raw material.  That's 4 ounces.

Here are some images of this alien micro-landscape. (All Photos by Zoe Eon Fink)

First I cut the carrot into slices.

Then into little threads.

Then into dice. (Grains of Kosher Salt at right to show scale.)

That's more than 40,000 pieces.
Which means each one weighs approximately 1/10,000th of an ounce.

YES!! Thanks to all who helped on this project. NAMASTE!

The 40,000: What If?

40,000

That's a big number (in some contexts.)

What if it were the answer to the following question:

Into how many pieces can a person cut a carrot?

This Person:

This Knife:

This Carrot:

(OK.  Haven't chosen the Carrot yet. . .)

Sounds like an action film, right?!
It's a no-holds-barred real-life man-versus-nature contest happening in my kitchen tomorrow.  Video to follow.  Just you wait and see!

The Pleasure of Work: 200 Times Over

When you love what you do, you find reasons to work more!  That's not crazy, really.

I didn't really have to cut the veggies into brunoise (tiny dice) for this Chicken and Rice I made for my pre-schoolers. . . but I wanted to use my knife and my skills.

Wounded Beauty: the Backbone

Wounded Beauty part 2

What I have heard for years about Shun knives is: they cut true. I am in a position to agree. But why do they perform so well? Any knife geek can tell you that a good edge makes a good tool.  But it's the backbone and handle of the Edo knife that elevate it in my experience.  

Wounded Beauty

Have you ever had to care for something that needed your help, but that scared you to even touch it? 

Back in 2001, in Minneapolis, a woman sat down on the retaining wall in front of my apartment building sobbing.  I had never seen her before.  No one from my neighborhood, she was clearly hurting and had no place to go with it but the public sidewalk.  I was coming down the stairs to get on my bicycle, and I felt moved to do something.  Or rather, I became rooted in place, unable to walk past her and go about my business.  I sat down on the wall a few feet from her, gathered up my courage, trying to think of a response to her unknown grief.  Eventually, I moved closer to her, said hello, and put my hand on hers where it rested on the stone.  She looked at me, apologetically, ashamed maybe of being in such a state.  It was hard to look at each other, but she gripped my hand and then it was easy to just say reassuring things. 

"You're not alone.  You can survive.  Do you have somewhere to sleep?  Do you have anyone to talk to?"
She nodded, couldn't speak yet but nodded clearly.  After a few minutes, we had one more mutual hand-squeeze and I got up, unlocked my bike, and went to work.


What reminded me of that encounter was the weird thrill of a situation that arose last week.  Luckily, in this case, the wounded beauty that came to me was merely a knife.