I’ve learned something revolutionary this week about the use of knives in the kitchen. My experience started a couple of years ago by questioning a couple culinary experts at a cooking demonstration in Bloomingdales, and at a restaurant supply store in Chelsea Market, both in Manhattan.
I heard about a revolutionary new material for making kitchen knives, ceramics. Kyocera had perfected a way to take ceramics and forge it into knife blade that is harder and sharper than most metal knives.
The problem with metal knives, no matter how sharp, is that the edge of an extra sharp edge is malleable and can be bent over and dulled slightly in normal use. Ceramics are very hard and very brittle and cannot be bent. The hardness of ceramics is akin to Cubic Zirconium, which puts it right in-between the best stainless steel and diamonds. That means the Kyocera blades are very sharp and don’t wear down very easily.
They say the edge stays sharp 10 times longer than a metal blade, but you have to send it back to Kyocera to resharpen – paying only a shipping charge.
Here’s what I learned: Sharpness makes a difference, but not in every use.
I tried my new Kyocera chef’s knife on a variety of food items and found out that knife sharpness doesn’t necessarily make it easier to cut stuff. Many kitchen pros seem to agree that the knives are great for limited use – you need metal knives too.
Celery, potatoes, tomatoes, green onions and boneless meats that require straight cuts, cut remarkably easily. I was able to cut some 1/16 inch thin slices on an over-ripe tomato and a potato with no problem. I sharpened my Henckles Professional chef’s knife and tried with the same tomato and was only able to manage about 1/8 inch slices.
I tried cutting the fat off a T-Bone steak and found the ceramic less than wonderful, but again, I wouldn’t normally use a chef’s knife for that task.
The other two items that underperformed were crusty French bread and baby romaine lettuce. The bread cuts much better with a scalloped, or granton edge, which is more like sawing than cutting. The lettuce cuts better with a rolling motion of my Henckles, which isn’t cutting either – it’s chopping, sort of.
I must say though that I don’t think any serious kitchen technologist will be disappointed by adding a Kyocera ceramic knife to their collection of cooking tools. Be careful – don’t cut yourself.
Bruce McFarland is an independent computer consultant serving the SCV and may be reached for comment or question at 661-297-1999 or by e-mail at BruceMag@Newsbyte.com .