How To Care For Carbon Steel Knife
Carbon steel knives are loved past many chefs for their ability to keep dangerously sharp edges with minimal sharpening, even after months of wear and tear. Merely carbon steel is to knives as cast iron is to skillets: It gets a bad rap for being hard to maintain.
Nosotros'll admit: carbon steel requires more maintenance in the moment than stainless steel to prevent it from rusting. Only the few extra steps required are well worth it. With carbon steel, you'll terminate up sharpening your knives a lot less, and using them more often (take, for example, Messermeister'due south Essential Carbon Steel Parer & Chef's Knife Fix, available in the Shop). And the beautiful blueish-grayness patina that the blades volition take on? Well, that'southward just a bonus.
Carbon steel is thought to maintain its sharpness better than stainless steel because of the grain of its metal. The effectively the grain of the steel, the thinner and sharper its edge tin can be honed. Stainless steel contains chromium, which prevents the metal from rusting. The chromium combines with the carbon and creates big, brittle clumps in the otherwise fine grain of the metallic. These clunky chromium carbides weaken the structure of the stainless steel, whereas the pure carbon steel's grain isn't compromised by chromium carbides.
Caring for a carbon steel knife is not as intimidating as it seems—in fact, the kind of maintenance required is really the kind of maintenance you should be giving to your good stainless steel knives, too. After all, your chef'due south knife is your most important tool in the kitchen. It should be treated right!
Before your showtime use:
Break in your carbon steel pocketknife past treating it with vinegar before the beginning time you use it. Rub the unabridged blade with a white vinegar-dampened newspaper towel and permit the bract sit for v minutes. Rinse the vinegar off, dry out the blade completely, and so echo the entire procedure over two or three more than times. The bract volition start to show a blue-grayish colour. This is the beginning of your patina. Patina is non rust—it actually acts as a barrier to slow oxidation. As you use your knife more than and more, y'all'll see this patina developing and darkening over fourth dimension. It's your knife'due south personal (beautiful) history.
Earlier each utilize:
Hone the edge of your knife before each apply. Honing is different than sharpening: Just because a knife isn't cut cleanly doesn't mean it isn't sharp. The sharp edge may merely be out of alignment, or "rolled over." Realign the edge by anchoring the tip of a honing steel on a cutting lath—retrieve of the honing steel as a "sword in the stone"—and cartoon the bract of your pocketknife downward the honing steel at a very slight bending, x times on each side.
While yous cook:
Wipe the blade with a make clean kitchen towel after each chopping task. Say your recipe calls for a clove of garlic minced, an onion chopped, and a tomato diced. Mince the garlic, wipe your pocketknife dry. Chop the onion, wipe the knife dry out. Dice the tomato, wipe the pocketknife dry. This is especially important with acidic foods.
After each utilise:
After you're done using your knife, wash it immediately in warm, soapy water. Don't allow the knife languish in a sink total of dishes, where it tin can become dinged up. Under no circumstances should you ever put it in the dishwasher.
Once you've hand-washed your knife, dry it completely correct abroad. And and so stow it away. A knife block, a sheath, or a magnetic knife strip are all rubber options for your knife. Simply don't throw information technology in a drawer unprotected! (The horror.)
From Our Shop
And in that location you have information technology! That doesn't audio and so difficult now, does it? Even Julia Child prefers carbon steel knives (and Julia knows best):
Do you use carbon steel knives? Any care tips you lot'd like to share?
Source: https://food52.com/blog/19753-why-chefs-love-carbon-steel-knives-and-how-to-care-for-them
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