Lightweight, agile, sharp (like some people I know...)

A knife is one of the most primitive and fundamental of all the kitchen tools. Meat, knife, fire: dinner. Since knives exist in the bull’s-eye of the kitchen I spend a considerable amount of time thinking about them. When I’m visiting my mother in Oklahoma, I approach the “knife situation” very carefully. I don’t want to hurt any feelings! She has one amazing and deadly all-carbon slicer that I use for its edge but it doesn’t do for chopping or mincing. Her other knives are of varying strange shapes and designs, but none of them has quite the muscle I need.

So here’s my plan. Next time I visit (and I happen to be checking my bag) I’m going to take her one of these 6-inch Victorinox/Forschner chef knives. Yep, and since my dad is lately into cooking, he’ll especially appreciate the surgeon-like keeness of the blade. It goes back to that meat, knife, fire impulse.

Yes, I’ve cut myself with my kitchen knives. But it’s the dull knives that slip and jump and fail to dig in, often aiming instead for a finger. Sharp knives are paradoxically safer in the kitchen.

This knife is my all-around champ. It’s light, sharp and I can mistreat it by getting it wet, which I have to be careful of with my wood-handled knives. I reach for the 6-inch blade more often than the larger ones because it is a little more maneuverable. And the price of it is hard to beat at around $20 to $25.

You can get a fine chop with a sharp blade

I use a steel to straighten the edge on my knife every couple of times I use it. I don’t set out to do it, I just run the knife over the steel right before I need it. The effect is that the blade will seem sharper and cut better. Every few months put a true edge on with an electric honer, if you have one. Then once a year have it professionally sharpened (I probably do this less often because I forget to — the seasons blend together in Southern California and that’s my final excuse).

The best place to store knives is upside down in a knife block and the worst place is knockin’ around in a drawer. If they do have to live in the drawer, keep a cardboard cover on them so they don’t get nicked by the vegetable peeler or the grater. Speaking of the grater, it’s wreaked more havoc on my hands than any knife!

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