Common mistakes ruining your best knives
<p>Have you ever tried cutting a pumpkin with a bread and butter knife? You'd be advised not to. The result the majority of the time is a knife stuck in the flesh of the pumpkin. </p>
<p>Incorrectly using a knife for the wrong task is one of the most common ways to ruin it, said Shannon Fryer, operations manager at House of Knives in Mt Eden.</p>
<p>"A paring knife should be used for trimming, topping and tailing, not for opening a packet of bacon."</p>
<p>If you're investing in a knife set, Fryer recommended starting with four basic knives, A cook's knife, the most common knife for kitchen use, cuts anything from herbs to pumpkins and should be the main knife in your set. A paring knife is for the smaller items; a carving knife is ideal for hot and cold meats (not for heavy vegetables) and a pastry knife should be used for breads, doughs and sponges. </p>
<p>Dishwashers are another enemy of knives. "Companies will claim that their knives are dishwasher safe, but in reality, they're not going to last as long if they're always put in the dishwasher," Fryer said.</p>
<p>The detergents can be abrasive and the movement of the dishwasher can give the blade chips. The best solution is to wash your knife in warm soapy water and dry with a soft cloth before putting it in storage straight away.</p>
<p>"I once left one of my Japanese knives out on the bench to dry overnight and in the morning it had rusted,” Fryer said. "Japanese knives are more vulnerable however, a German knife is a lot stronger at resisting corrosion."</p>
<p>Owner of House of Knives John Fryer says New Zealanders often store their knives in the cutlery drawer.</p>
<p>This is a big no-no as the blades will bang together and chip. Only store knives in drawers if the knives have a blade guard or if the draw has a liner (a plastic insert with cuts in it to hold the knives still).</p>
<p>"There's no one correct method to store knives but the goal is the same - to protect the edges and afford a degree of safety to those around," he said.</p>
<p><em>Written by Bea Taylor. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz.</span></strong></a></em></p>
