http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/dining/grab-a-sharp-knife-for-better-flavor.html 2014-09-23 22:53:08 Grab a Sharp Knife for Better Flavor Sharp knives make food taste and look better. === A good sharp knife is a cook’s best friend. It will help you to work with precision, and quickly. A dull knife conspires against you and slows you down. And here is another reason for keeping that knife sharp: It makes your food taste better (and look better, too). Fresh herbs will release more of their aromatic oils beneath a knife’s sharp blade. A tomato slice or wedge, instead of looking trod upon, will retain its luscious juices with elegance. Carefully hand-cut onions are easier to brown because they stay drier than onions that have been bludgeoned into slices. (A blunt instrument smashes cells, which causes moisture to accumulate, whereas a sharp blade glides through with ease.) Steak tartare has superior texture and flavor if you use a sharp knife instead of a meat grinder. Instead of being sadly hacksawed, a roasted bird or loin of pork is a delight to carve. A good knife doesn’t have to be expensive (and an expensive knife is useless if it isn’t sharp). You really need only a few knives anyway: a paring knife, an all-purpose vegetable knife, a long so-called chef’s knife. A proper serrated bread knife helps enormously, and not just for bread. And though it is not a knife per se, a sharp swivel-type vegetable peeler is essential. The knife I find most useful is a vegetable knife, with a blade about 2 inches wide and 7 to 8 inches long. I prefer a square-edged Japanese-style, but a European style with a pointed end is fine too. This type of knife does everything: slice, dice, chop, mince. Keeping knives sharp should be a part of your process. There are electric and manual home sharpeners, which work well enough, though it never hurts to have them sharpened professionally occasionally, or learn to use a whetstone. On a daily basis, a few strokes on a chef’s steel will help keep the edge. I remember And if you are attuned to how the knife is performing, your cooking is bound to become more focused and mindful. That always improves the way food tastes, too.