I was 19 years old when I started my apprenticeship in Germany. I had nothing, as in, I had no chef clothes, no knives, no idea what I was getting into. I just left everything I knew behind in Canada to pursue a dream of mine.
None the less, this story isn’t really about me, it’s about what I invested. I was young, eager and ready to start my career as a Chef so I invested in my future. My salary was $300.00 a month and on that salary I bought my chef clothes, 5 Jackets, 5 sets of pants, 3 sets of studs (Plastic removable chef buttons in varying colours). The bill was $500.00. I also bought my first set of knives. I had a chef’s knife, both 6 and 10 inches long, a paring knife, a peeling knife, a bread knife, fillet knife, a carving knife and a ceramic sharpener. The bill for my knives was $800.00. 20 years later, my chef clothes no longer fit me but my knives are as good as new. I respect my knives, I care for them and have had them professionally sharpened only twice in 2 decades.
I am not saying that we all need to go out and buy a professional knife set but I will say this:
Rule #1: Always keep your knives sharp!
Why is that such a hard thing to do? Is it that we buy cheap knives and think they’ll do for now and then we’ll just replace them when they’re dull; or is it that we think that if it’s sharp that we’ll cut ourselves more easily. I think for the most part it’s just not something we ever think about.
Rule #2: Buy a proper knife!
We don’t need the über set of knives that cost thousands of dollars because they’re shiny and made of 1000 year old steel and we don’t need to get the full set of knives off an infomercial because they can cut through a brick and then a tomato for three easy instalments of $19.99. We need one good 8-10 inch Cook’s knife that can do most of it. It may cost anywhere between $125.00 to $160.00 but it’s a knife we’ll have for life.
Rule #3: Take care of your knives!
How many of us throw our knifes in the drawer with all the other kitchen gadgets and utensils? How many of us do not use cutting boards? How many of us do not know that our local butcher will probably give our knives a whole new edge for approx $2.00 a knife?
Just following these three simple rules will make your kitchen a much better place. Visit this website if you’re serious about buying a new knife to start your collection or even if you’re looking to add to your collection. www.wusthof.com
Then either buy it online at the above site (if you know what you’re doing) or go local to any of the following places.
Hold it, test it, feel it, try it out, buy it and then USE IT!!
