About that food prep ...

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Matus
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About that food prep ...

#1

Post by Matus »

I keep reading over and over about the food prep done with folding knives, even some YT channels put it up. Not that there would be something wrong about it, but I am just surprised how often it is mentioned.

I am someone who's primary knife-hobby is centred about Japanese (or Japanese-style) hand made kitchen knives - mainly because I am the cook at home. I have a pretty diverse selection of them (though not a collection) and I select a knife depending on the cutting task. I also make kitchen knives as a hobby, so I have invested a lot of though to their design and construction (what cemented my interested in Japanese kitchen knives)

I have myself - on a rare occasion - used a pocket knife in some kind of food prep, but only out of necessity, not out of choice (I have eevn reground one knife to make it a decent apple slicer). Pocket knife are just not great for that. Not only are even the largest ones usually too small to use comfortably, the profile and especially the grind rarely makes sense with food. And should the things get a little more messy, then one is up to a full cleaning job of all the internals. So even if we travel somewhere to where I know/expect to be doing some cooking, I take 1 or 2 kitchen knives with me.

I can absolutely understand the joy of making a quick breakfast or slice a stake with one's favourite pocket knife, but when I see people portioning a large piece of meat or dicing onions with a pocket knife while having actual kitchen knives at arm's length - I can not help but wonder why would they use a pocket knife.

... this post is just a well mannered, polite provocation ;)
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Nate
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Re: About that food prep ...

#2

Post by Nate »

For me it really only applies to times when I’m doing some sort of food prep outside of the house (unless I just want to use a new folder in the kitchen for fun). In recent years the most frequent scenarios were cutting up food for my kids or using a pocket knife with lunch at work, but I’ve worked from home for over a year now and the kids are mostly self-sufficient with food now...

That mostly leaves stuff like camping, picnics, and minor food prep when we’re at the pool, etc.
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Evil D
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Re: About that food prep ...

#3

Post by Evil D »

I'm not sure anyone is actually advocating for pocket knives to be legitimate food prep tools. Nobody is saying hey let's use our Military as a dedicated kitchen tool. The point of food prep is that it's a very common easily accessible and fairly even test that anybody can do with any knife and the results should be fairly the same...for example if we both slice tomatoes with a Military, our results should be pretty much the same. Food prep is an easy way to judge how well a knife slices and since we all have food at some point it's something anyone can easily do. Food prep is also something that almost everyone has done, even people who are not knife enthusiasts, so using it as an easily relatable cutting test makes it simple for people to understand. If I say "this knife can't slice a tomato worth a crap", even your grandma will understand. It's just a simple real world test.

One that used to be used quite a lot to measure how well a blade could slice is to cut an apple in half and see if the blade cuts all the way through or if the apple starts to crack apart before it's sliced.
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archangel
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Re: About that food prep ...

#4

Post by archangel »

Food manipulation with a folder, only on the road. At home, in the kitchen, only fixed blades. Dedicated kitchen knives, or to test any new Spydie. That's my philosophy.
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ladybug93
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Re: About that food prep ...

#5

Post by ladybug93 »

i don't use my pocket knife for food unless i'm out with the family and something needs to be cut and whatever plastic or cheap steak knives are around aren't going to get the job done. it's not something i intentionally plan on doing. since it's a possibility though, i like my knives to be able to handle the task.
i also mostly carry serrated edges because they work better in cutting people free of things in an emergency. hopefully i won't ever need that, but if i do, i don't want my edge slipping off of a seatbelt when seconds matter.

it's the same mentality. if i only carried a knife for what i absolutely need to cut every day, i might not carry one at all. instead, i prioritize the worst case scenario (without going full chicken little alarmist) and then think about the less important tasks. if my knife will cut a seatbelt and still cut my kids pizza, it will likely cut anything else i need to cut. that's probably what you'll find me carrying. oh, and a sak in my bag in case i need a saw to build a cabin in the woods. ;)
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Re: About that food prep ...

#6

Post by kobold »

IMHO it is better if you familiarize yourself with a new knife. Learning how it will perform in the field, the gained knowledge will help pick a knife to be used away from home.
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Woodpuppy
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Re: About that food prep ...

#7

Post by Woodpuppy »

Nate nailed it for me above. It the tool I have on me. I have begun taking a decent santoku with me when I travel with the family to a place I don’t think will have good knives, like rentals or timeshares, or hotel suites. But never camping and etc. I always have a folder with me though, and our travel food bag always has an opinel. Folders are safer for travel where everything is jumbled and rushed (yes travel is a hot mess for us with 4 kids - don’t judge!). If we’re headed to visit my mom, I just take sharpening tools!

Besides, sometimes it’s fun to challenge yourself. I did a one knife challenge nov 2019 on the Bushcraft board using a Mora Kansbol. Worked like a champ, but boy was I glad to go back to my favorite santoku in the kitchen!
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CalRob
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Re: About that food prep ...

#8

Post by CalRob »

My chaparral is a great knife for making fancy decorative food. I made an apple swan on easter lol.

Even my spydiechef can't replace my worst chef's knife in the kitchen though.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#9

Post by skeeg11 »

90% of my kitchen work is done with a paring knife and 10" Boye Chefs. If fishing is good, then a good fillet is handy. Don't forget a good hardwood checkered end grain block to work on.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#10

Post by JRinFL »

I almost never cut food with a folder, to the point that I cannot remember the last time I did it. My wife used to use an Opinel to cut fruit in her lunches at work. I recommend kitchen knives for kitchen work! :)
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Re: About that food prep ...

#11

Post by standy99 »

Test mules in food prep. Have boned more legs of lamb with a mule the last few years than with a butchers knife that I have several of.
Being to Japan with work a few times I have the Japanese kitchen knives but it’s just more fun using something smaller and fun.
Just had 2 months overseas with work and a maxamet native 5 was a saviour in hotel quarantine in Hawaii ( couldn’t have bruised myself with the hotel knife that was probably sharpened when it was new 10 years or more ago )

But a junction see’s more food prep than anything like folders.....
Im a vegetarian as technically cows are made of grass and water.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#12

Post by kobold »

Rabbit vs PM2 Maxamet
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Re: About that food prep ...

#13

Post by bearfacedkiller »

I have nice kitchen knives as many of us do. Of course I use them when in my own kitchen. I spend a lot of time in the outdoors so I do a good bit of food prep outside. I also use it on my lunch break at work fairly often. I also have a young child who sometimes needs his food cut up when we are out and about.

I am also baffled by folks who regularly use folders in their own kitchen. I also don’t understand how you could call yourself a knife geek if you haven’t experienced premium Japanese kitchen cutlery. I have a 8” Gyuto that is ground noticeably thinner than an opinel. It is a pleasure to use for sure.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#14

Post by James Y »

I typically do not use folding knives to cut food, and almost never in the kitchen.

However, in the past, I have used the large blade (around 2.5”) of a standard-sized SAK Spartan to cut up countless fruits when out and about. It was the only knife I carried for 12 years from the mid-1980s until the late 1990s. I never had problems cutting what I needed to, even very large apples. I simply rotated the apple as I cut it; it didn’t need to push straight through in a straight line. I also pinched the ricasso while cutting produce with it to lessen or prevent juice from getting into the pivot area.

Nowadays, I rarely use my Spydies to cut food. Occasionally I’ve used my FFG E4, FFG D4, Military, P4 LWT, and PM2 over the years, just to see how they cut certain foods (fruits and certain vegetables). But at home, that is a very small percentage of the time. The vast majority of my food cutting at home is with my Victorinox kitchen knives.

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Re: About that food prep ...

#15

Post by Fireman »

I use my DLC Millie occasionally for food prep but wish it was LC200N at those times. Wishing for a Carribeanized Millie.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#16

Post by M Sea »

I have been using the Spydie Chef to fillet snapper. A longer fillet knife works better but the Chef is no slouch! I forgot my fillet knife a few nights ago but had and enjoyed using the Chef so just kept using it.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#17

Post by M Sea »

Fireman wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 10:30 am
I use my DLC Millie occasionally for food prep but wish it was LC200N at those times. Wishing for a Carribeanized Millie.
Oh yes! That would be a dream.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#18

Post by RustyIron »

Matus wrote:
Sat Apr 10, 2021 4:38 am

I can absolutely understand the joy of making a quick breakfast or slice a stake with one's favourite pocket knife, but when I see people portioning a large piece of meat or dicing onions with a pocket knife while having actual kitchen knives at arm's length - I can not help but wonder why would they use a pocket knife.
You are 100% correct.

I'lll admit to occasionally using a pocket knife, but only for my own personal amusement on simple tasks. If the cut is critical and requires precision, then I'll just reach over and grab the proper tool for the job.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#19

Post by Eliteone2383 »

I dont use a folding knife for hardly any food prep even when camping or elk hunting. I will however use one to cut up my food at camp if no better choice is available or to cup up food for my son when in the car. Like you said there's no real cause for it.
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Re: About that food prep ...

#20

Post by MFlovejp »

In the kitchen I use kitchen knives. In the field I use fixed or folding outdoor knives. I can’t carry a chef’s knife on a hunting trip, yet I still have sausage and cheese to cut and peanut butter to spread as well as (hopefully) some critters to clean. I usually bring an onion on a moose or caribou trip to cook up the liver the night of a successful hunt. A big folder handles all of those tasks in addition to fire prep, cutting flagging, para cord, pack webbing, whatever else I might need.
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