There’s one thing you can do at home to instantly improve your cooking says Chef Moon Kyung Soo, senior executive chef at Melbourne’s Kisume: sharpen your knives.
With 22 years of kitchen experience – most recently at Michelin-starred restaurant Mikuni in Singapore – Moon knows his stuff.
“Blunt knives can damage your food rather than cutting through it,” he explains. “Blunt knives can also slow you down and cause injuries. Learning how to sharpen your knives is an essential cooking skill.”
The professionals use ceramic sharpening stones, “But that’s not the only option,” Moon says. Here are his three at-home knife-sharpening solutions.
One
“Buy electric knife sharpeners from a range of places, including Chef’s Hat or Chef’s Armoury. You can use this easily at home just by placing your knife inside, and it sharpens it for you.”
Two
Use a steel knife sharpener. “This looks kind of like a rod. To sharpen your knife in the home using one of these, make sure you hold the handle of the rod at the top and place the tip of the sharpener on your chopping board. In the kitchen we hold it the opposite way, but you might loose a finger or two doing this at home. If you’re sharpening Western knives, make sure you are doing each side, 50/50. Asian knives only have one sharp side, so you sharpen it 80/20. This method is one of the easiest and best ways to sharpen your knives at home and a sharpener often comes in the pack when you purchase a set of knives.”
Three
“Maybe none of the above works for you, or you don’t have any of these at home when you need them most,” Moon continues. “So I reveal the final way you can sharpen knives at home – you’ll see why it’s the very best and easiest method of them all. You can use a ceramic mug! Yes, that thing you drink your coffee out of. Place the mug upside down, hold the handle, and use the base of the mug to sharpen your knives. The base acts like a stone. Run the knife across the base of the mug on each side to sharpen your knife. Done.”
Find more Broadsheet Kitchen Hacks here.
