YoshiThe reason why you shouldn’t use dull knives is,
It can cause serious injury since dull knives need more strength to cut food than sharp knives.
In addition to that,
The food won’t taste as good because the cut is not clean or sharp.
It means many cells around the cut are crushed and that causes some taste of the food to be lost.
Lastly, the cut doesn’t look beautiful.
This affects the presentation of your food.
1. Well, but my dull knife still does the job..
I know what you are thinking.
Probably you haven’t used a really sharp knife for a long time so you forgot how it felt when you used it.
Remember:
There are so many benefits of keeping your knife sharp.
2. A sharp knife makes your food taste better
When you use a dull knife, it crushes soft foods like tomatoes and sashimi.
Crushing and not cutting the food can cause a lot of bad influence to your food.
Umami leaks from the food.
And the texture of the food will be ruined.
Your tongue is a very sensitive organ.
So the sharpness of your knife can make very big differences.
3. A sharp knife improves your cooking skills
Can you believe this?
Keep reading and you will find out…
1. A sharp knife gives you better control
You can relax while you are cutting food since you don’t need extra pushing.
And this is the correct way of cutting food when using a kitchen knife.
You will be more confident and less tired of cooking.
2. You can use the weight of the knife to cut
Imagine:
You can cut food just by putting the knife on the food.
That is the feeling you can get while you are using a sharp and keen knife.
Because a sharp knife cuts food by its weight.
It makes it easier to do slicing and dicing vegetables.
3. A sharp knife makes you a better chef
Do you know why?
Because these knives are comfortable to use.
That makes you use the kitchen knife more,
And you are in the kitchen more frequently.
If you start liking your tools, you will be able to improve your skills faster.
4. You can learn the right way
A kitchen knife is not made to be used like an axe.
You don’t need strength to cut food.
You need to have good posture.
And you need to be relaxed.
If you use a dull knife, you will feel resistance when cutting the food all the time.
However:
When you use a sharp knife, you feel it differently.
So you can tell the condition of the food.
Like knowing the carrot has more water than a regular one, or if this carrot is a little old etc..
Or you can tell the freshness of the fish and the amount of fat.
Then you need to adjust the condiments or cooking time.
You can tell a lot of information just from touching the food with your sharp knife.
It sounds like a pro. Doesn’t it?
A kitchen knife is your sensor.
4. A dull knife is dangerous
Dull knife needs extra pushing to cut foods.
That means when the knife slips, you can easily get hurt.
Imagine:
You accidentally hurt yourself because of this unsharpened knife.
It hurts and is a scary experience.
It takes some weeks to heal…
That means you will have to do all the activities by one hand.
You will regret that you didn’t sharpen it.
There is no benefit of a dull knife.
Except if you want to be an expert at buttoning your shirt with one hand like me before. (It happened to me!)
5. Why does your knife get dull?
A knife gets dull when it hits the cutting board.
It happens little by little.
But it is said:
If you don’t take care of your kitchen knife,
In 3 months, your kitchen knife will start to lose its original sharpness.
And…
In 6 month, your kitchen knife will be completely dull.
6. How to tell the knife is dull
Here are some indicators…
1 Your tomatoes gets crushed while you are using the knife.
2 It makes a lot of crumbs while you cut bread.
3 It is difficult to cut raw chicken meat.
4 It is difficult to slice a cabbage.
(link to how to sharpen)
About the author
Yoshi
Yoshi is a self-proclaimed kitchen knife lover, blog writer and founder of “Chisaki Knife”.
“I am from Ibaraki prefecture in Japan, just an hour away from the capital, Tokyo.
A good kitchen knife is great! It can help me cook without stress.
Using and taking care of my kitchen knives is one of the most satisfying moments for me in the kitchen.
A sharp and keen knife makes me feel good.
Because of the crisp feeling and sound of ingredients on the cutting board.
And the cut looks beautiful.
It will make you a better chef.
And you can feel proud of your cooking.
My greatest dream is to connect people with kitchen knives through my blog.
I want to share with you – a lot of interesting and funny stories as well as tips and tricks about how to use and take care of your kitchen knives.
Knowing more about your knife can help you appreciate your cooking and make it taste extra delicious.”
Have you used a dull kitchen knife?
I have.
I used the knife in my friend’s kitchen long ago.
I was cutting carrots.
The knife was dull.
And because of that I put too much pressure onto the blade.
The knife slipped on the carrot…
I knew something went wrong.
And a moment later, I felt a pain, then I saw blood coming out.
My friends were worried about the injury and said,
“Are you okay?”
But it was just an annoying noise.
Because I was very angry with myself.
The wound was cured in 10 days.
However:
Everytime I go to that friend’s house, I feel a little bit of fear and regret.
This memory tells me that using a good knife is critical and less dangerous.
If you like to cook or are interested in knives,
You might be thinking that you need a good knife.
Chisaki Hamono’s kitchen knives are perfect for your kitchen.
These knives are a pleasure to use.
Well-made, sharp and nicely balanced
Your vegetables will have never been diced so perfectly.
You will be feeling good about yourself and you will enjoy cooking a lot more.
Check out our sets on Amazon.
