The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,571 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,327 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ
For this week’s Farm Kitchen/Get it Together Expert Level Merit Badge, I was a little wary. A little concerned. Perturbed, if you will.
Sharpen all my kitchen knives, and keep them razor sharp at all times?
Sounds terrifying.
Photo by Nóż użytkowo via Wikimedia Commons
I mean, wasn’t I the epitome of safety, the guru of precaution, the wizard of cautiousness, by keeping my knives at the blunt end of the spectrum?
Turns out … not so much.
Actually, a little note from me to you, chickadees, a sharp knife is much less dangerous than a dull one.
Guess I wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
Haha!
When I first discovered that little fact (the one about the knife, not the one about what’s between my ears), I was startled. It just didn’t make sense. But here’s the deal, peeps:
If your knife is so blunt and dull that it can’t even slice a tomato without making Grammy’s famous marinara sauce, then you’re probably going to use a lot of excess force. And excess force, however good for your forearms and biceps, is not so peachy keen when you’re chopping and dicing and slicing and peeling and julienning and etc, etc.
Photo by Knightia13 via Wikimedia Commons
Also, dull knives slip around quite a bit more (probably because they’re gleefully somersaulting away in their fiendish attempts to never mince the garlic) and that’s never a good thing either.
So, color me late to the party, but I’m here now. And guess what I brought? To our imaginary party, I mean?
Sharp knives.
I feel like a ninja.
Photo by Stéphane Gallay via Wikimedia Commons
My tomatoes are sliced to a paper-thin degree, my garlic is finely minced, my apples are quartered and peeled and diced (did somebody say pie?), my bread hasn’t been hacked to death, my roast chicken looks like it was butchered by Julia Child herself, and I am one happy camper.
I’ll never go back to those dull-as-dishwater knives again. I’m a changed woman!
If you’re interested in sharpening up your cutlery, here are a few ideas and methods to get you started on your way to culinary delight:
- A whetstone
- A knife steel (sometimes called a honing steel)
- A high-quality knife sharpener
And hey, don’t be slow in deciding …
Chop, chop!
My mom always keep her knives sharp and I learned from her how to do it. When she moved into the assisted living facility, I got her small hand held knife sharpener and it continues to keep my knives sharp. There is nothing more annoying or dangerous than a dull knife because it makes you use it improperly and that increases the possibility that you will injure yourself. Lessons learned from my own mistakes!
Think it’s time for a bit of knife tune-up here in this household ~ sharpen first, no worries later.