The Way Kitchens Work by Ed Sobey

Author:Ed Sobey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2012-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

How Knives Work

It sounds so simple, but do you know how knives cut? There are two different forces at work. First, a knife transfers and focuses your downward force into the small, sharp edge of its blade, which is able to break through that tough carrot. The blade squeezes and separates the carrot while the rest of the knife acts as a wedge. The sharper the knife is, the smaller the area into which your force is focused, and the easier it is to push and cut through.

Patent no. 114,388

Second, the edge of a knife is covered with many tiny serrations or burrs. As you pull and push the knife, these serrations tear the food, like a wood saw tears the fiber of a pine plank. A sharp blade has more tiny serrations than a dull blade—another reason to keep those knives sharp.

Some knives also have larger serrations. For instance, serrated vegetable and bread knives have notched blades designed to break through the outer, tougher surface without smushing the softer interior. Knives for other cutting tasks have different cross-sectional shapes, or “grinds.” A hollow grind, where the blade has a convex shape on both sides that tapers down to a very thin, sharp edge, is used for the general kitchen knife.

Before forks were invented in the 10th century, knives and spoons were the principle utensils for eating.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.