• who@feddit.org
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    22 days ago

    If you use wooden cutting boards / blocks, rub mineral oil into them every once in a while. This will reduce the water they absorb and make them less likely to warp or split.

  • go $fsck yourself@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    The chopping technique is not really that necessary. It’s great for chopping lots of veggies at speed, but if you’re just cutting veggies for a single meal then there’s not that much benefit unless you’re already highly practiced and that’s your default.

    What’s far more important is just being cognizant for each cut you make. Walk don’t run.

    • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      The chopping technique is about eliminating risk, mostly. Sure for a single meal and being aware you’ll be fine. But getting into the habit of a good technique means you’ll be fine even when you’re tired or distracted

      • go $fsck yourself@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        If you want to spend the time and effort to practice that technique, go for it. But the benefits don’t really make it worth it for most people.

        into the habit of a good technique means you’ll be fine even when you’re tired or distracted

        The technique described in the image is not the only “good technique”. A person could reasonably develop their own “good technique” simply by being cognizant of their cutting.

  • walktheplank@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    There are but two necessary knives. A chef’s knife and a paring knife. Sharpened appropriately. Usually not even a paring knife but sometimes the small size is beneficial.

    • Pulptastic@midwest.social
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      22 days ago

      Bread knife would like a word. Chef knife technically works but bread knives are usually longer and work much better at cutting without smooshing.

      • Psythik@lemm.ee
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        22 days ago

        Scissors too. A good pair of kitchen scissors makes slicing small vegetables like green onions much easier.

        • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          Bread knives are so much nicer to cut bread with though. But yeah, a chef’s knife and a paring knife are all you “need”.

        • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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          22 days ago

          I definitely need a bread knife to properly cut good bread, if only for the teeth. The bread I eat is more dense and has a hard crust compared to say American wonderbread. I also like to dry out some of it and then double toast slices for that extra crunchiness. No way a smooth edge can deal with that.

            • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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              22 days ago

              Well good for you, i guess you cooking anecdotally in fine dining invalidates my experience entirely. All of a sudden the bread parts itself on my chef knife like the red sea for moses.

              • walktheplank@lemmy.world
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                22 days ago

                Perhaps you just need to learn to use the knife properly. Knives also need a steel which should be used regularly. Blunting a knife on a crust shouldn’t be a thing if you keep your blade sharp. That’s the point.

    • Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com
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      22 days ago

      I’d include a santoku in there, and probably some scissors. Sometimes you just need the straight edge of a santoku, instead of the curved edge of a chef’s knife.

      And sometimes serration is necessary. You’ll blunt your chefs knife on certain sourdough crusts, or crush softer breads, but a bread knife will glide right through.

  • unknown@sh.itjust.works
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    22 days ago

    I use a bred knife to slice cheese off a block every day. Line it up and push down, one hand on handel the other on the spine at the top. It works better than any other knife to slice cheese blocks.

    This post makes it sounds like I am committing a war crime.

  • ninjaturtle@lemmy.today
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    22 days ago

    This should be noted that the knife part is only for western style knives. Same with the cutting technique. That’s only for a curved type blade.

      • ninjaturtle@lemmy.today
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        21 days ago

        Are you saying that the chef knives they have are too straight for your liking? As you want more rocking motion. Probably best bet is a custom knife.

  • toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    in my experience, granton blades just make the food stick more. i always figured it was just a lazy way for companies to save on materials.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      It doesn’t help them save on material since the knife is ground from an originally flat slab of steel. The amount of material they remove from that bar is irrelevant to their materials cost, although it does add a bit of machine work.

      The scallops in the blade are effective at preventing some foods from sticking only if you are using a long slicing motion. When chopping down from above they accomplish nothing.

  • Psythik@lemm.ee
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    22 days ago

    This chart is missing a knife that I have. The blade hooks forward instead of backwards, like a bird’s beak.

    Since it’s small and the tip extra pointy, I use it for precision cutting. I’ve also found it useful for thin slides of cheese, since the blade is also not as thick as the other knives in my set. Still, I’m wondering what its actual purpose is for.

      • Psythik@lemm.ee
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        22 days ago

        I have that one too but that’s not the knife I’m talking about. It’s about the size of a paring knife and it hooks forward. Almost like a scythe but not nearly as dramatic of* a curve.

        (When I get home from work I can upload a picture if anyone cares to help out.)

        • OCATMBBL@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          I’m pretty sure it’s just called a bird’s beak paring knife.

          Reading further about it, it’s intended for tasks while holding the object you are cutting, rather than using a cutting board. Like peeling an apple in your hand.

          • Psythik@lemm.ee
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            22 days ago

            Ah okay that makes sense. I prefer a peeler, but I can see purists preferring such a knife. Thanks for the info.

  • M137@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Of course this is done in idiocy imperial. Fuck your 'Murican “we need to be special so we use this objectively shitty thing to be different”. Only 3% of the world has a use for this, while the rest 97% are fucking tired of having to do extra work to convert.

  • Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    A chefs knife will do for everything. Keep it sharp enough and it’ll even slice bread. As for the onion horizontal cuts are unnecessary. Offset radial cuts are fine (as you move away from the centre vertical cut you angle it more).

    • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      What’s the x axis on those graphs? I can’t zoom in enough on this picture to read it. I did look it up, but I only found versions with the exact same resolution

      • Psythik@lemm.ee
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        22 days ago

        It’s not your fault; even if you could zoom in, there’s not enough resolution to make out any details.

        Your Lemmy app is probably preventing you from zooming images beyond a 1:1 pixel ratio, preventing you from zooming them past their native resolution. Voyager doesn’t have that issue, if you were considering a different app.

  • Please_Do_Not@lemm.ee
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    22 days ago

    As a chef, the only inaccuracy I see here is that bamboo cutting boards are good for knives. They are a great, cheap, sustainable option, but the silica content makes bamboo incredibly hard, and it will dull your blades faster than wood or plastic cutting boards.

      • OrganicMustard@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        I never understood why people use serrated knives for bread, it gets crumbs everywhere. I use a sharp chef knife instead and it’s much cleaner. I use it for 95% of stuff, there’s no much need for any other.

        • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          22 days ago

          That’s one way to say you never had anything besides soft buns and bread.
          Once you get full grain or (as someone mentioned) a bread with a hard crust, you will wish for a serrated knive.

        • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          If you’re cutting soft soft bread, then a plain blade is fine, but if it’s a crusty bread like a sourdough, the serrated blade is much better at cutting the crust without crushing the soft interior (IME, not a chef)

      • Please_Do_Not@lemm.ee
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        22 days ago

        I don’t see this suggesting a bread knife for meat, but a dull serrated blade beats a worn plain edge for any purpose. And produce is anything grown like fruit and veg.

        • moody@lemmings.world
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          22 days ago

          It’s got produce, bread, and meat highlighted for the bread knife.

          The only thing I’ve ever used a bread knife for is bread.

          • Please_Do_Not@lemm.ee
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            22 days ago

            Ah I didn’t see that little spiral graph. I agree with you for anyone who keeps their knives sharp. But if you’re trying to cut thin slices off a roast and have to choose between a bread knife and a dull chef’s knife, I’d likely go for the bread knife. That said, I don’t know they intended it that way, and it totally could have just been an error.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        “Produce” is presumably fruit and vegetables, although that’s a pretty broad category to lump together given that so many vegetables behave differently. Consider a tomato versus lettuce or a yam, for instance.

      • InquisitiveApathy@lemm.ee
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        22 days ago

        The infographic only states that a bread knife is good for bread. It is correct in this regard.

        Produce is the general term for fruits and vegetables and things of the like.

    • Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com
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      22 days ago

      The best cutting boards use end-grain for this exact reason. It’s not just a decorative thing. The direction of the wood grain directly determines how quickly the board will dull your knife. Wood is made of two main parts: A hard fiber, and a soft filler in between each fiber. The hard fiber is what dulls your knife when you cut.

      Imagine cutting on a tightly packed bundle of really tiny straws. If you cut across the bundle, your knife will be cutting into each straw, dulling in the process. But if you cut on the end of the bundle, the knife blade will slide between the straws instead of cutting them.

      The straws will last longer when you’re cutting on the end (because you’re not cutting them) and your blade will last longer (because it isn’t cutting the straws). And an end grain cutting board is essentially cutting on the end of the straw bundle.

    • Psythik@lemm.ee
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      22 days ago

      Bamboo cutting boards suck because you can’t put then in the dishwasher. They break apart from the heat, which also means that you can’t get the water hot enough to sanitize (140°F+), so hand washing is a non-option either without burning yourself.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    I will add another bullet point to the list above, specifically regarding cutting boards. Poly cutting boards are also acceptable and primarily what I use. However, if I see you using a glass cutting board or a plate as a cutting board, or chopping directly on your granite countertop, I am afraid I am going to have to hurt you.

    I am, as you can imagine, the default knife sharpener within the circle of my family and friends. However for quite some years I would not sharpen any knives for my sister anymore because she refused stop using her stupid 1980s glass cutting boards. (I believe they were probably actually intended to be serving trays, but good luck making people understand that.) She kept complaining that my sharpening was “no good” because her knives dulled so quickly.

    I was eventually able to coordinate with my brother in law who was also sick of it, and we located all of the glass boardlike objects in the house and surreptitiously threw them away.

    • Zwiebel@feddit.org
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      22 days ago

      Is “poly” a local american slang for plastic? Anyway I prefer wood because I’d rather have some wood fibres in my food than microplastic. Not that anyone knows if it’s actually harmful or not

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Sort of. Polymer, actually. It’s a common end-run around calling something “plastic” outright because that in and of itself is typically a shorthand for “cheap” or “flimsy.”

        Anyway, the plastic cutting boards in commercial use (i.e. the ones I use because I am that kind of nerd) are made of high density polyethylene.

  • Balthazar@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    For an onion, I’ve never diced it by making the cuts indicated by number 1, figuring the layers essentially do that for you. Am I doing it wrong?

    • theherk@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      No, people do it both ways and you’ll even find both techniques by the pros. But anybody claiming it makes them more even I really don’t think is thinking it through. By adding the extra cut across those natural layers, you’re actually making to very small bits when the crosscut is near the layer boundary.

      That’s why I think it is not only easier but superior not to add the crosscut.


      Chef Jean Pierre explains this here.

    • Duranie@literature.cafe
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      22 days ago

      I radially dice my onion. To me it seems like the horizontal and vertical cuts leave more uneven bits considering the layers already present. I angle my “vertical” cuts towards the center, then start chopping.

    • toomanypancakes@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Not wrong per se, but you’ll end up with more inconsistently sized pieces if you don’t do those initial cuts in my experience