“The most dangerous item in the kitchen is an non-sharp knife”
This is something I’ve heard about 40 times since I’ve started working on my cooking game. This is also something that I have never subscribed to. In fact, my knives are so dull that they can barely cut the food, which in my head means, they cannot cut me. The last time I used a sharp knife, within 2 minutes it had sliced halfway through the tip of my finger!
However, now that I’ve started to learn things like knife skills, and since I started actually cutting up food, I have found that my dull knives are really making things hard on me. Cutting food in general is tough with a dull knife, and making small dices and juliennes (type of cuts, Google bro!) are impossible. In order to up my game, I’m going to need a real knife.
So I went out and bought this insane knife…why not…what could go wrong…
This is the DALSTRONG Shogun Series Santoku Knife, and it is totally badass bro! It has a lion on it and its all Japanese and stuff. I’m gonna beat the s**t out of the kitchen! You can read all about it or buy one on Amazon as I don’t want to take up this post with a list of features. It was over $100…ug that hurts just looking at the price. It better last a lifetime!
My new Dalstrong Shogun Series Santoku knife in all it’s badass beauty
Note: Everyone says that a Chef’s knife is the most important knife in the kitchen. So why did I get a Santoku knife? Basically because it is a very similar knife, and the only chef’s knife that was comparable was way too big. This should suit my purposes well.
WORKING ON MY KNIFE SKILLS
The first thing I did when starting to cook was purchase a very cheap chef’s knife. I think it was somewhere around $10 and after a few uses it could barely cut anything. I used this knife to practice my cuts, with the thought that it could not cut off my finger. Today I realized how bad/unsafe it was as I tried to cut onions and carrots and instead of cutting it was sliding all over the place. Luckily not into my fingers.
Once I realized that I could not perform the proper knife skills (or remain safe) without a sharp knife, I went out and paid 10x as much for my new cool looking blade. Perhaps I should have just sharpened my knife and really worked on my skill until I “earned” this new knife…but like many people, I buy the most expensive tools even when I don’t know how to use them, making them useless…or something like that.
Now I can continue to improve my knife skills…
My Loyal And Faithful BRO
The knife is my bro in the kitchen. I will protect it with all my heart…The instruction manual (yes, this knife came with a 40 page instruction booklet) calls the knife my “loyal and faithful servant”. Boss! I shall return the loyalty.
When I am done using my knife, instead of tossing it in the sink for a week covered in gunk like a typical knife, I should probably take care of it. No dishwasher, handwash, and dry dry dry. Also I plan to get rid of my glass cutting board as that is bad for the blade compared to a wooden cutting board.
It also came with a sheath, so that not only makes it extra cool and safe, but it will protect my dear friend.
Dalstrong Santoku knife with protective sheath
HONING AND SHARPENING
The other item that I purchased was a honing “sharpening” steel. According to people who know what they are doing, you need to be using this for your knife not just every time you use it, but multiple times throughout one use if you are using it to make many cuts. Using this item looks badass, and it appears to require some practice to get it right. I hope I don’t screw it up.
Sharpening your knife with the honing steel is not actually sharpening the knife. You are supposed to get the knife professionally sharpened at least once a year, so I’ll keep that in mind as I go on with my new knife. You can also use something called a whetstone, but that just looks annoying. I may just pay to get it sharpened. They don’t recommend using a home electric knife sharpener.
So now I have the tool that I need to become a better chef. Keep in mind this is the first non $10 knife I’ve ever owned, and I bought it mainly because it was expensive-ish and looked cool. I don’t know if you should get one, or even get this brand. After I use it a million times I will post a review…this was just an introduction.
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