An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro

An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro
by Chad Ward

An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro
List Price: $34.95
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Author: Chad Ward
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-06-01
ISBN: 0061188484
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
Product features:

Book Reviews of An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro

Book Review: Sharp Book
Summary: 5 Stars

Excellent book, made especially useful because it names names. The only quibble I have, and it's not the author's fault, is that because of his rating Messermeister knives so highly I went out and bought one, a 10 inch chef's knife. I am quite disappointed in the edge, but due to good sharpening instructions in the book, I will fix that.
Using an idea presented in the book on using a stack of quarters to set the height of the knife spine on a sharpening stone for any desired edge angle, I even made myself an Excel spreadsheet that, when I enter the desired edge angle and blade width, will automatically tell me how many quarters and dimes are needed for that angle.

Summary of An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro

Why are most of us so woefully uninformed about our kitchen knives? We are intimidated by our knives when they are sharp, annoyed by them when they are dull, and quietly ashamed that we don't know how to use them with any competence. For a species that has been using knives for nearly as long as we have been walking upright, that's a serious problem. An Edge in the Kitchen is the solution, an intelligent and delightful debunking of the mysteries of kitchen knives once and for all. If you can stack blocks, you can cut restaurant-quality diced vegetables. If you can fold a paper airplane, you can sharpen your knives better than many professionals.

Veteran cook Chad Ward provides an in-depth guide to the most important tool in the kitchen, including how to choose the best kitchen knives in your price range, practical tutorials on knife skills, a step-by-step section on sharpening, and more--all illustrated with beautiful photographs throughout. Along the way you will discover what a cow sword is, and why you might want one; why chefs are abandoning their heavy knives in droves; and why the Pinch and the Claw, strange as they may sound, are in fact the best way to make precision vegetable cuts with speed and style.

An Edge in the Kitchen is the one and only guide to the most important tool in the kitchen.

Reference Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Reference Books
The Wine Club: A Month-by-Month Guide to Learning About Wine with Friends ImageThe Wine Club: A Month-by-Month Guide to Learning About Wine with Friends
by Maureen Christian Petrosky
Meredith Books; Published: 2005-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $17.95
Putting Food by ImagePutting Food by
by Ruth Hertzberg
E P Dutton; Published: 1984-05; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $4.98
Frog Commissary Cookbook ImageFrog Commissary Cookbook
by Steve Poses, Anne Clark, Becky Roller, Frog Commissary Cookbook
Doubleday; Published: 1985-09; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $19.95
Weber's Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling (Sunset Books) ImageWeber's Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling (Sunset Books)
by Jamie Purviance
Oxmoor House; Published: 2009-03-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.63
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Way to Cook ImageThe Way to Cook
by Julia Child
Knopf; Published: 1989-09-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $38.00
Price in other shops: $65.00
The Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd Edition ImageThe Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd Edition
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $39.68
Price in other shops: $65.00
New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies ImageNew Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies
by Najmieh Batmanglij
Mage Publishers; Published: 1992-12-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $28.95
Price in other shops: $44.95
Food Lover's Companion, The (Barron's Cooking Guide) 3rd Edition ImageFood Lover's Companion, The (Barron's Cooking Guide) 3rd Edition
by Sharon Tyler Herbst
Barron's Educational Series; Published: 2001-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $174.80
The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book ImageThe Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book
by Carla Emery
Sasquatch Books; Published: 1994-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $72.50
The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition ImageThe New Best Recipe: All-New Edition
by Cook's Illustrated Magazine
America's Test Kitchen; Published: 2004-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.47
Price in other shops: $35.00
Similar Books and other products
Kyocera 9-Inch Ceramic Steel Sharpener ImageKyocera 9-Inch Ceramic Steel Sharpener
Kyocera; Kyocera; Kitchen
Best price: $22.46
Price in other shops: $24.95
Knives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes. ImageKnives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes.
by Sur La Table, Sarah Jay
Andrews McMeel Publishing; Published: 2008-10-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops: $25.00
In the Hands of a Chef: The Professional Chef's Guide to Essential Kitchen Tools (Culinary Institute of America) ImageIn the Hands of a Chef: The Professional Chef's Guide to Essential Kitchen Tools (Culinary Institute of America)
by The Culinary Institute of America (CIA)
Wiley; Published: 2007-12-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.80
Price in other shops: $24.95
Diamond Machining Technology  CS2 12-Inch Ceramic Steel ImageDiamond Machining Technology CS2 12-Inch Ceramic Steel
DMT; Tools
Best price: $36.99
Price in other shops: $44.00
The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening ImageThe Razor Edge Book of Sharpening
by John Juranitch
Razor Edge Systems, Inc.; Published: 2000-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.95
Minosharp Sharpening Guides 2-Piece Set ImageMinosharp Sharpening Guides 2-Piece Set
Sointu USA, Inc (Global); Global; Kitchen
Price in other shops: $12.00
Complete Guide to Sharpening ImageComplete Guide to Sharpening
by Leonard Lee
Taunton Press; Published: 1996-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.64
Price in other shops: $22.95
Mastering Knife Skills: Cutting-Edge Tips, Tricks & Techniques Used by Professional Chefs ImageMastering Knife Skills: Cutting-Edge Tips, Tricks & Techniques Used by Professional Chefs
Release date: 2007-12-03; DVD
Best price: $13.49
Price in other shops: $14.95
Mastering Knife Skills: The Essential Guide to the Most Important Tools in Your Kitchen (with DVD) ImageMastering Knife Skills: The Essential Guide to the Most Important Tools in Your Kitchen (with DVD)
by Norman Weinstein
Stewart, Tabori & Chang; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.69
Price in other shops: $35.00
Japanese Kitchen Knives: Essential Techniques and Recipes ImageJapanese Kitchen Knives: Essential Techniques and Recipes
by Hiromitsu Nozaki, Yasuo Konishi
Kodansha International; Published: 2009-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.04
Price in other shops: $29.95