Maintain Your Kitchen Equipment with a Honing Steel
January 1, 2018Every chef knows that a sharp blade is essential kitchen equipment.
Being able to slice through ingredients with ease means faster food prep, less strain on the hands and wrists, and a safer kitchen. When a knife is not honed, the extra pressure exerted on the knife, combined with the reduced control the user has over it, increases the chances of cutting fingers instead of food. This is why adding a honing steel to your kitchen equipment is just as important as having a good set of knives.
The honing steel, while being a handy piece of kitchen equipment, has a misleading alias. It is also called a sharpening steel. Contrary to what many believe, however, it doesn’t actually sharpen the blade. A honing steel is an essential kitchen equipment item that is made of a ridged rod of steel. As a blade is pulled across the rod, the ridges move the tiny dents and irregularities formed during regular knife use back into position. This way, the sharp, cutting edge of the blade is aligned for perfect action.
Knowing how to use this useful piece of kitchen equipment properly is as essential as owning one. So, without further ado, here are our tips for honing a knife.
- In one hand, hold the honing steel so that its steel tip is pointing down on a wood surface, such as a cutting board.
- With your other hand, hold the knife so that the part of the blade closest to the handle touches the honing steel at a 20-25 degree angle.
- Maintaining this angle, pull the blade gently upward and toward you. The whole length of the blade should graze the honing steel. Repeat about ten times on each side of the blade.
Knives should be honed daily to benefit both your kitchen staff and your restaurant’s budget. By removing imperfections in the edges of your knives on a regular basis, you can make them last longer. Therefore, your honing steel is an important piece of kitchen equipment that maintains the condition of your knives.
Proper knife maintenance doesn’t stop with your own kitchen equipment, though. Once every year, it is recommended that you send your knives to a professional for a true sharpening. Never mind extending the life of your kitchen equipment. The feeling of cutting through vegetables with a perfectly sharpened, perfectly honed knife is satisfaction enough!
Kitchen Equipment: Choosing the Right Cutting Board
Every kitchen, from a food truck to a large restaurant, needs cutting boards. From vegetables to bread to meat and fish, your chefs and cooks have to chop things every day. Have you put a lot of thought into this important piece of kitchen equipment? Like many other...
Catering to Generation Z
As time marches on, we continue to have new generations arising behind the ones we’ve already named. Most recently everyone has been focused on Millennials, whose tech-savvy and focus on experiences over things have shifted the face of every industry. Now, there’s a...
4 Ways to Keep Your Restaurant Employees Engaged
You can have everything you need to run an amazing restaurant – a great menu, incredible chef, the best location, perfect pricing, and top-of-the-line kitchen equipment. But even with all of that, you won’t succeed if your employees are disengaged and unprofessional....
Kitchen Fun : Food and the Oscars
Hollywood’s biggest night was February 24th, 2019, and was it ever a show. There were stars, glitz, glamour, and amazing outfits everywhere. There were also cameras catching every moment, from the red carpet to the after-parties. What happened at the show and after...
4 Keys to Successful Commercial Kitchen Design
If you’re opening a new restaurant or renovating your existing kitchen, you probably already have some ideas about how it should look. However, it’s important to look beyond your own ideas and understand the keys to good design in general. This will help you...
Bring Together Your Back and Front of House
Does your restaurant feel like a simmering battle between the back of house (BOH) and front of house (FOH)? Or do both units get along famously? If your restaurant is like many, you find yourself somewhere in the middle. Rarely do you have an all-out war, but...
Commercial Kitchen Fun: Cooking With Mustard
One of the things that make owning a restaurant so fun is the ability to be creative with your menu. With the help of your chef and cooks, you can come up with some really fun dishes to serve. To get your imagination going, we’re going to share some fun dishes that...
Drive Traffic to Your Restaurant From Instagram
You have a lot of restaurant equipment that you need to make your location run smoothly. You might think about your point-of-sale system, refrigeration units, cooking equipment, and more. But what about Instagram? That’s right, a social media platform can be one of...
Handling Theft in Your Convenience Store
Running a convenience store is challenging to say the least. You need to staff it, but not with too many people. Then again, too few and you have a lot of problems – including theft. There are three groups that can be responsible for product and money loss in your...
Kitchen Equipment Spotlight: How Clean is Your Coffee Pot?
If you were going to rank kitchen equipment based on how much work it does, the humble coffee pot has to be near the top. In almost every restaurant, people order coffee with their meal or dessert. The problem is that because the coffee pot is working so hard, it...
Should You Add a Food Truck to Your Restaurant?
If your restaurant is doing well, you might be thinking about opening a second location. After all, that’s usually the next step when it’s time to expand, right? Before you jump in, though, consider another option. Maybe having a food truck would be a better choice....
Kitchen Equipment Spotlight: How to Maintain a Commercial Freezer
Your commercial freezer can be a lifeline for your restaurant. Safe food storage is vital, and a high-quality freezer is essential kitchen equipment. However, a freezer is only as good as the maintenance that goes into it. Without proper care, your freezer will become...
Take Advantage of Your Customer’s Technology
Some restaurant owners hate seeing customers snapping photos of food – it means that the food isn’t eaten at its best, and sometimes it’s a sign of a table that’s going to be slow to turn over. Then there are other owners and managers who see an opportunity. The truth...
How to Reduce Turnover at Your Restaurant
Having the right employees can make or break your restaurant. You can have the best food and kitchen supplies, but tension in the back of the house can cause delays, poor morale, and even the loss of key staff. You can have a beautiful dining room, but surly wait...
Should Your Commercial Kitchen Consider Catering?
As a business owner, it’s important to always be looking for new ways to grow your business. There are a lot of ways to do this, and one of the most common for many restaurants is catering. Of course, catering changes how your commercial kitchen runs a lot of the...