this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2024
141 points (98.0% liked)
Asklemmy
43945 readers
899 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy π
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Small set of whetstones so I can keep my kitchen knives absurdly sharp. Sharp vs "meh" vs dull knives make a huge difference in speed, comfort and safety. I've scuffed my knives a bit getting into things, but at least they're sharp as hell and touching them up only takes a few minutes.
Also it's hardly unconventional, but a quick read thermometer (fold-out type) is almost a must.
I have a shameful ikea sharpener (you know, one with a sort of a wheel you roll the blade against) but it is amazing.
Roll roll slice & dice!
Nothing shameful about it. It gets the job done to a satisfactory level. What more can you ask for?
Its okay and does the job, but learning to sharpen on a stone can be done in a spare afternoon with a youtube video and a 5 dollar diamond stone from ali. Your knives will thank you.
The 2 big problems with pull sharpeners is that they sharpen parallel to the blade, making the knife edge more brittle and they deepen defects in the blade, so if there are even tiny dents in the edge, the pull sharpeners will make them larger over time.
Whatever works, of course. I'm not trying to go all hipster, I just think it's sort of pleasant work with the whetstone, and having crazy sharp knives is weirdly satisfying.
I haven't figured out how to get a good edge with stones. "it's all in the angle" but without some kind of guide I can't find the right angle. I tried marking the edge with sharpie, it helped a little bit still not as good of an edge as I get with other means.
On the flip side, I am a professional metallographer so I am extremely experienced in progressive polishing to insanely fine grits. I just don't have a good feel or control of the angle. Metallography has to be perfectly flat.
Quick read thermometer is essential. Do you not cook pork chops because they come out as dry, flavorless pucks? Thermometer fixes that. No more guessing how many minutes per inch of thickness at whatever temp, just look up what "doness" you want, and check them every few minutes.
Also, digital kitchen scale, and onion goggles.
For the onion googles:
Get a USB fan and a powerbank and aim it over your cutting surface.