Good knives need good care. This means that you use the knives correctly, keep them clean and sharp and store them carefully. If you take good care of your knives, they deliver the desired cutting performance time after time.
It may sound like kicking in an open door, but still, use the right knife for the right job. You chop with a cleaver, boning with a boning knife and cutting meat with a carving knife.
Correct use
Avoid sideways movements with the knife. This will damage the cut. The knife is simply not built for this. So you do well to make sure that you only make up and down movements with the knife.
Some important tips:
Watch out for bones, bones, frozen foods, and hard kernels. It is better to grab a cleaver or boning knife here. Not only do such hard things dull your knife, they can even cause bites to break out of the edge. This is also called chipping. Eternal waste of your beautiful knife!
Never use much force. After all, a kitchen knife is so sharp that it slides smoothly through almost everything. If you have to apply a lot of force to get through something, chances are that the cut is blunt. Check the blade and take another knife if necessary. When you suddenly shoot through, you can end up hard on your cutting board, with all the consequences that entails. Not only for the knife, but also for your own safety.
Always use a plastic, or even better a wooden, cutting board. Marble and glass are easy to wash, but not good for the blade because they are simply too hard. A good rule of thumb is: if your knife doesn’t scratch the plank, the plank is too hard for the cut.
To clean
We recommend that you always wash your kitchen knives by hand. Even if the knife is dishwasher safe according to the supplier. A knife with a wooden handle will immediately be visibly damaged and a riveted handle will eventually tear on the rivets. The handle can also crack due to the heat. Learn more about clean a wooden knife block
Aggressive detergents in the dishwasher block do irreparable damage to your knife. Detergent affects hardened steel and plastics, with possible consequences, such as rust spots on the blade and dull handles.
In addition, when cleaning in the dishwasher, there is a good chance that the knife will come into contact with another hard object. For example in the cutlery tray. This can damage the cut. And if the dishwasher is not turned on immediately, food residues (spices, sauces, juices) can damage the blade and cause stains. Add all the above points together and you will understand why we recommend that you wash all knives by hand.
If you still want to clean kitchen knives in the dishwasher, put the knife with the blade upwards so that the water runs directly downwards. This keeps rust formation to a minimum. As soon as the dishwasher is ready, you should always dry the knife immediately.
Sharpen
No matter how carefully you cut, there will come a time when your knife needs sharpening. It is therefore wise to keep your knives sharp. This also cuts much finer. When it comes to sharpening, It is easier to keep a reasonably sharp knife sharp than to get a dull knife sharp again. We have the necessary information about sharpening knives on our website. You can do this yourself. We give you five good reasons to sharpen your knife yourself .
Storage
Never keep your kitchen knives loose in the kitchen drawer. When the knife is loose in a drawer, you run the risk of your knife coming into contact with other hard objects. This can cause burrs to form on the edge. Certainly not conducive to the sharpness of your knife. In addition, rummaging in a drawer with a sharp kitchen knife is not really a good idea. We are happy to explain the importance of properly storing your kitchen knives in this article. Preferably use knife guards, or rather a good knife magnet or a wooden knife block.
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