The great challenge of cooking to derive deep satisfaction from the mundane.
-Thomas Keller
Today we had off due to President's Day, so I spent my time sharpening my knives. This is something that I do on a weekly basis and it can be quite time consuming. In fact I spent nearly an hour and a half sharpening. The reason why I felt this was important was because I have heard Keller's statement twice. The first time I actually saw it in his book, The French Laundry. For those of you who don't know, that is one of his cookbooks that highlights the majority of the recipes from his restaurant The French Laundry in Napa Valley. The second time I heard it was from my Fish Chef, Viverito. He talked about how he found scaling fish one of the most relaxing things he could do.
When I sharpen my knives I usually do it alone. While there are plenty of distractions around I have never found it difficult to focus. I wet my stone and start. I could work for hours and not even feel tired. It is something so mundane and tedious that it allows my mind to wander but become refreshed at the same time.
The funny thing is that I really don't look forward to sharpening each week. I see it as a chore that requires attention. But for some reason, every time I begin sharpening I just feel relaxed. I have begun to sharpen knives for other students for money. I do have quite a decent repuation when it comes to knife skills. If you saw my walking around with short sleeves you would notice how my left arm is hairless. I have talked about this briefly before in my short on Signs of a Chef , which you can find below:
When I sharpen my knives I usually do it alone. While there are plenty of distractions around I have never found it difficult to focus. I wet my stone and start. I could work for hours and not even feel tired. It is something so mundane and tedious that it allows my mind to wander but become refreshed at the same time.
The funny thing is that I really don't look forward to sharpening each week. I see it as a chore that requires attention. But for some reason, every time I begin sharpening I just feel relaxed. I have begun to sharpen knives for other students for money. I do have quite a decent repuation when it comes to knife skills. If you saw my walking around with short sleeves you would notice how my left arm is hairless. I have talked about this briefly before in my short on Signs of a Chef , which you can find below:
Signs of a chef.
After working with chefs frequently it becomes clear who is a chef. Distinguishing marks such as burns, scars and food related tattoos can be seen scattered across their body. It really is interesting. The kitchen has always been a dangerous place. In medieval times chefs would die young from fires in the kitchen and inhaling the toxic fumes all day.
I worked with a girl, a person I considered to be one of my best teachers, who always wore a coband wrap around her wrist. She was hiding a bad burn scar that look quite repulsive. Its these marks that allow anyone to quickly identify a chef.
For those of you who don't know, I suffered a very bad cut where I cleaved off about one third of my finger tip. It bled forever and took about 3 weeks to heal. I never found the piece that I chopped off and even if I had the nurse told me they wouldn't have been able to attach it. Now my finger looks almost normal. If you look really carefully you can tell which finger I cut.
Another mark that I have acquired is the bald patch on my left arm. Why? About every five days I sharpen my knives. Cutting potatoes, fabricating meat and using my knife nearly daily causes it to wear down quite fast. I never let it get completely dull but it can get a rough edge sometime. One of the real reasons I sharpen my knives so often is so that my precision cuts, such as the ones in my profile picture, can only be done with sharp tools. I take great pride in my cuts because its something I'm quite good at. Back to sharpening, there are many different ways to determine the sharpness of a blade. My personal favorite is to try to shave the hairs off my arm. If I can run my chef knife across my skin and it acts like a straight razor I know its sharp.
Each chef has something that gives them away. No one is perfect and we all have our quirks. Next time you see someone you think might be in the industry take a look. Look for food tattoos, cuts, burns and even bald arms.
After working with chefs frequently it becomes clear who is a chef. Distinguishing marks such as burns, scars and food related tattoos can be seen scattered across their body. It really is interesting. The kitchen has always been a dangerous place. In medieval times chefs would die young from fires in the kitchen and inhaling the toxic fumes all day.
I worked with a girl, a person I considered to be one of my best teachers, who always wore a coband wrap around her wrist. She was hiding a bad burn scar that look quite repulsive. Its these marks that allow anyone to quickly identify a chef.
For those of you who don't know, I suffered a very bad cut where I cleaved off about one third of my finger tip. It bled forever and took about 3 weeks to heal. I never found the piece that I chopped off and even if I had the nurse told me they wouldn't have been able to attach it. Now my finger looks almost normal. If you look really carefully you can tell which finger I cut.
Another mark that I have acquired is the bald patch on my left arm. Why? About every five days I sharpen my knives. Cutting potatoes, fabricating meat and using my knife nearly daily causes it to wear down quite fast. I never let it get completely dull but it can get a rough edge sometime. One of the real reasons I sharpen my knives so often is so that my precision cuts, such as the ones in my profile picture, can only be done with sharp tools. I take great pride in my cuts because its something I'm quite good at. Back to sharpening, there are many different ways to determine the sharpness of a blade. My personal favorite is to try to shave the hairs off my arm. If I can run my chef knife across my skin and it acts like a straight razor I know its sharp.
Each chef has something that gives them away. No one is perfect and we all have our quirks. Next time you see someone you think might be in the industry take a look. Look for food tattoos, cuts, burns and even bald arms.
But back to sharpening, I guess the best way to explain what happens is that I enter a zen state. I think one of my favorite parts of sharpening is that other people will watch. It's not like I am doing anything fancy. There are no flourishes and it isn't a show but people feel compelled to watch me for 5-10 strokes of my knife.