Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine's
How to Make a Healthy Snack
McBites = Modern McNuggets?
Classic Valentine Dishes
How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean
Chocolate Beers for Valentine's
How Do You Sharpen a Vegetable Peeler?
Douglas Ford, sous-chef of LA’s Lucques, sharpens his vegetable peeler every day to keep it in tiptop shape. Most of us sharpen ours … never. Douglas demonstrates a great technique for sharpening in this CHOW Tip!
cordwainer - I enjoyed & appreciated your articulate rant. This is the stuff I only think about, but you took the time to write it down and, perhaps, educate a few people or at least give them something to think about.
Thanks!
I won't be trying the knife method as shown. [Chef, know thyself!] I have a grooved "steel" and I don't have a ceramic "honing item", but I do have a Japanese whet stone. Can I run the peeler like I'm peeling it and expect good results? The peeler is OXO GoodGrips. After thirteen years, I thought "Maybe this could be sharper." It still works pretty well and I don't want to ruin it.
I was wondering all week how long my new veggie peeler would last... this video is a huge help.
Great tip, something I never thought of before. Tried it with an OXO peeler that I was eyeing at replacing, and the thing is sharper than it was new. Used an oval diamond steel instead of the paring knife, which looked like it was asking for trouble.
Just last night I wondered if there were a way to sharpen one of my vegetable peelers, in particular. Why? I wasn't thinking about saving resources, dumping one less thing in a landfill, conserving the gas to drive to the vegetable peeler store...although those are all positive motives, I agree.
I want to save this peeler because I love this peeler! It's about the most comfortable in my hand...+READ
Just last night I wondered if there were a way to sharpen one of my vegetable peelers, in particular. Why? I wasn't thinking about saving resources, dumping one less thing in a landfill, conserving the gas to drive to the vegetable peeler store...although those are all positive motives, I agree.
I want to save this peeler because I love this peeler! It's about the most comfortable in my hand I've ever used, when sharp it's sharp--fabulous, so easy to clean, and I can do decorative peels with it as well as prep peeling. So I'm glad to know how to do this.-COLLAPSE
I've worked in restaurant and catering kitchens for years and I never let my digits look shabby. It takes a few seconds to spiff them up. Besides, this sous chef KNEW he was on camera. Poor form.
You guys obviously never worked in a kitchen. Dirty fingernails happen, it's a part of the job. You can wash your hands but not all the grime will come off totally. Especially after you're done cleaning a box of beets.
Yes his hands could use a better scrubbing, but it's unrealistic to expect them to be spotless.
Kid needs to clean under those nails before touching any more food.
cordwainer:
I'm with you... and that's why I'm still using knives, casseroles, pots & pans that I've owned for 30 and 40 years. It's not being frugal, it's being smart. Buy good tools, learn how to care for them. I don't know any carpenters who use hammers from the 99 cent stores.
Tonicart, all but smooth steels remove metal. Even my Chorium oxide loaded leather strop I use to realign my edges takes off some metal as it puts a mirror finish on my edges. Groove steels are the worst and turn you edge into microserrations that will certainly feel sharp and cut through a tomato but it is a poor quality egde.
After reading this I sharpened my peeler on my ceramic steel. As...+READ
Tonicart, all but smooth steels remove metal. Even my Chorium oxide loaded leather strop I use to realign my edges takes off some metal as it puts a mirror finish on my edges. Groove steels are the worst and turn you edge into microserrations that will certainly feel sharp and cut through a tomato but it is a poor quality egde.
After reading this I sharpened my peeler on my ceramic steel. As expected a nice shinny new edge was formed. It is improtant to deburr on the back side or it will never really be a sharp as it should after sharpening. Same techique you would use when sharpening your knife. It did a fine job on a butternut squash-COLLAPSE
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the correct term for the steel rod that accompanies many knife sets is "Honing steel". It in fact does not sharpen a blade, but merely realigns it and despite your best efforts, it will never get sharper, just a bit straighter.
Now, I know this video is very much an advertisement, but the principles are true regardless. I have a Shun set myself and must say they are...+READ
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the correct term for the steel rod that accompanies many knife sets is "Honing steel". It in fact does not sharpen a blade, but merely realigns it and despite your best efforts, it will never get sharper, just a bit straighter.
Now, I know this video is very much an advertisement, but the principles are true regardless. I have a Shun set myself and must say they are the finest knives I've ever had the pleasure of using ;-) http://www.altonbrown.com/shun/shun_flv_sm.html-COLLAPSE
At least I'm not "mental"! Go get a real life. You do rant, don't you?
[First, as an apology to the other posters who will be subjected to this, as a computer consultant, I offer this advice: If you are able to view other CHOW videos, but not this one, it is most likely because you need to update your Flash Player. Checking the code on this page and others, it appears that CHOW normally retroactively supports Flash 9...but this particular video seems to be Flash 10...+READ
[First, as an apology to the other posters who will be subjected to this, as a computer consultant, I offer this advice: If you are able to view other CHOW videos, but not this one, it is most likely because you need to update your Flash Player. Checking the code on this page and others, it appears that CHOW normally retroactively supports Flash 9...but this particular video seems to be Flash 10 only. The videos are served by cbs.com, which owns CHOW; I'm guessing they forgot to put the video in Flash 9. However, Flash 10 has been out for a while, and has been recently updated, so everyone should be on that version anyway. Go to adobe.com, install the latest Flash Player, empty your web cache and try again.)
@ghc630 re: your comment
1) Um, are you terminally lazy? We're talking about a process that takes all of about 30 seconds.
2) Have you ever heard of the concept of conserving natural resources? Or the idea of reducing the amount of trash we generate? Or keeping your tools in good condition so they last?
3) Did you ever notice that some peelers are not so cheap? For people with arthritis, for example, Good Grips are a life saver, but they are about 10 times the price of a flimsy metal peeler. The grip is not going to wear out probably ever, so why wouldn't you just sharpen it every now and then and keep it, oh, maybe for years? I've had mine for 10 years now, and it works great.
And I spend maybe 15 minutes a year keeping it nicely sharpened.
Oh, gosh, wait, now that I think of it, you're right: "all that work", as you said, is exhausting. I get tired just thinking of it.
It's SO much easier to throw it away, get in your SUV, drive to the store (only 15 minutes away!), walk to the kitchen section, find a peeler, stand in line at the checkout counter, get back in your SUV, drive home, and wash the new peeler (at least I HOPE you wash something that has been hanging unwrapped on a store shelf before using it).. No more than 45 minutes, tops. And it was so cheap, after all. Well, plus the price of the gas to drive to the store, but still, that's not much for 7 or 8 miles, since the SUV probably gets at least 15 mpg. So, about $1.50 added to the peeler price, but, hey, it's still cheap!
And when the new peeler gets dull - which, if you use it regularly, and considering it's a cheap peeler, may be in just a few months (assuming the cheapest peeler on the shelf was really all that sharp to begin with, considering they have to be stamped out super fast by the millions for the Chinese manufacturer to make any profit at all) - you're absolutely correct. It's MUCH easier to do all that again. And again. And again.
Yes indeed, instead of going through all the work of sharpening my peeler, wasting an entire 15 minutes per year that I could be doing something fun - I could spend a couple of hours each year driving and sitting in traffic, another hour walking around the store and standing in line, and an extra $10 bucks or so on gas (actually, in my case, since I drive a small, fuel-efficient car, an extra $2.50 maybe). But, hey, they're so cheap - so why would I sharpen a cheap peeler and go 'thru' all that work?
If you really think you should just buy a new peeler whenever yours gets dull, then no wonder our landfills are full. Is that your attitude toward everything? Do you just throw away any item you own that needs a little attention and buy a new one? If your flashlight batteries die, do you throw the flashlight away and buy a new one because you don't want to go through all the work of spending less than a minute unscrewing the end and removing the old batteries and putting in new ones and screwing the end back on again? If one of your shoelaces breaks, do you go buy a new pair of sneakers because, hey, they're only 10 bucks, so why go 'thru' all the work of taking the old lace out and spending at least a minute threading a new lace through the grommets?
I apologize for the rant. I really do. But I'm just so tired of idiots who ask stupid questions, who don't think through things logically, who post asinine comments like that.
I'm sick to death of morons who have the attitude that there's something wrong with people who are responsible, who don't waste money, who take care of the things they own, who drive their cars for 15 or 20 years instead of buying a new one every 4 or 5, who oil their tools and put them away when they're done instead of losing them all the time or letting them rust, who cook instead of eating fast food or freezer dinners, who have a budget and stick to it, who save money for the future, who care about the environment.
I've had it with those who are unable to see that people who are organized and thrifty don't go through "all that work." They actually work less. They're not always trying to find something they need because they have no idea where they put it. They're not out buying something new all the time because they neglected or lost the one they had. They're not chronically late because they forgot to send a check on time, and always paying late fees, or scrounging for cash at the last minute, or only paying the minimums on their credit cards and costing themselves thousands of unnecessary dollars in interest.
Again, I apologize, since the rest of the contributors to this discussion have had something to contribute, and shouldn't have to be subjected to my frustration. And I apologize even more because this is a food-related site, not an op-ed magazine or a newspaper, and it's probably not really appropriate for me to go off like this.
It's just that, some days, it's enough to make you weep.-COLLAPSE
Gee, if you find a great peeler, why would you go thru all that work when they're so cheap?
Agree with cordwainer and use a steel. I use a ceramic steel and just run the peeler up and down the steel as if I'm peeling the steel. Run it in both directions to get both edges of the peeler.
I'm just not able to view this video for some reason. I can view other CHOW videos, but not this one. I don't even see a white space where the video should go. I've been using Mozilla Firefox, but I found that I'm able to see this video when I use Internet Explorer. Go figure!
Um, lots of people sharpen their vegetable peeler, potato peeler, whatever you care to call it. However, they use a sharpening steel, something most cooks have already, certainly anyone who uses kitchen knives regularly.
You only need to sharpen one side of a peeler: the side that is placed against the vegetable, of course, the cutting side - the tops of the blades. (There are many knives, by...+READ
Um, lots of people sharpen their vegetable peeler, potato peeler, whatever you care to call it. However, they use a sharpening steel, something most cooks have already, certainly anyone who uses kitchen knives regularly.
You only need to sharpen one side of a peeler: the side that is placed against the vegetable, of course, the cutting side - the tops of the blades. (There are many knives, by the way, that are only sharpened on one side of the blade, and this applies to most peelers as well.).
Run the sharpening steel back and forth across the top of the blades in a slightly circular motion - you'll see shiny metal appear, and it won't take long before the entire length of the blades is sharpened. The first time you do this it will take longer since your peeler will be at its dullest. Afterwards, assuming you do this fairly regularly, you'll have it sharp very quickly. But be sure to test it on a real vegetable, and not your finger!
The advantages:
1) Paring knives are not made for the purpose of sharpening blades. Sharpening steels are.
2) You can't slip and cut yourself badly with a sharpening steel, because it's a long, cylindrical tool with no sharp edges and a handle made of a non-slip material and designed for gripping firmly with your whole hand.
It's more than a little scary that this video shows a procedure guaranteed to draw blood at some point, no matter how careful you may try to be. A small, slick paring knife pressing against a small, slick blade - especially in midair, as demonstrated - is a spectacularly bad idea from a safety standpoint. And even a dull knife can inflict a sufficiently deep cut to send you to the emergency room if it strikes your skin hard enough.
The moral of this posting? Observe kitchen safety rules! Use the right tool for the job! And if you like to sharpen your knives, even if you currently have some other tool for that purpose, keep a sharpening steel on hand as well. You won't regret it.-COLLAPSE
Clean those nails son! Damn, same thing happened when Bourdain was in Chicago at the high end seafood joint, famous chef was sporting the plague under his thumbnail.
Hi CindyJ,
If you're only seeing white space, and no player, you may need to refresh the page, or give it more time to load. Sometimes the player is the last thing to load, and depending on your bandwidth, it may take a moment to appear. If it's possible that you have an ad blocker, I've written up a thread about that too: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/651450
Good luck! Meredith of CHOW
I'm not able to find the video for this. What am I doing wrong?