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Having worked with gas only and induction only kitchens before, I can say I prefer the latter, due to precision, speed, and cost. Gas is far more intuitive although I see few other benefits. The induction plancha I worked on was a POS though, far too fragile and never heated evenly.

Depends on what and how The tougher the fish, the finer the slice is my general inclination But there are many variables including curing and aging of fish, the method of serving, the cut, and the context The most important basics are slicing against as many grains as possible, and doing so...

Not a bad price for the besters, the kings I have seen a fair bit cheaper though, might have to grab a 4k

here is something in progress that worked out spectacularly the other day at a dinner party Herring roe, mango curry 800g herring roe One mango 30g ground coriander seed 50g roast powdered turmeric root 1 tbsp lime juice 1 onion 3 tbsp mustard seed 2 scotch bonnet 5 cloves garlic...

I have strained my arms and wrists before after sharpening dawn till dusk over my collection and those of plenty of friends and colleagues Nowadays I stick to doing a couple of my own quite regularly (5 minutes on each in the morning) due to having far more manageable hours and less of a...

Am about 2/3 through the 1k side of an unknown brand stone from Kataba; works fantastically with a little pressure to 'confirm' or tidy up a bevel after the coarse stuff, or it is used more gently to finish co-workers stainless knives I burned through a green brick of joy (need another to be...

When making my own curries, I tend toward starting with some of these combos Pulses & greens (think Daal aloo) Fish & fruit (herring roe + mango) Red meat & rich veggies (lamb rump + tomatoes) Poultry & cream (pheasant + coconut cream, almonds) As for aromatics/spices I usually start with...

I've seen chefs in London's chinatown use coarse looking stones, but one dude caught my eye by using some sort of hand held stone, keeping the knife in a clamp of sorts. I usually get my brick sized pieces of soft stone from the supermarkets there, but have never seen one of these handheld...

I've seen a lot of chefs aim for 30% food cost and 1/3 of that as wastage overall, but at the last place we had strict limits on wastage so a lot of stuff went into stocks, staff food, or the chiller. So wastage as a proportion of total ingredients in the door worked out about 4/5% of food in...

I struggle to see how effectively this could be enforced; they struggle enough trying to prevent far more restricted things being imported. On a personal note; I've always picked up my knives from the post office anyways in order to pay VAT.

Having sharpened up a few of these, my advice would be to go to 2k or so and leave a nice polish and microbevel, as the latter seems to help when the user is holding and utilising it as one would a hammer. I have a theory that a flat polished face contributes to edge stability somehow...

I managed to defeat a long standing enemy in a vg10 parer that had never quite taken or held an edge, especially compared to others in the same steel. I thinned it for an age to no avail, but in the end a deeper edge and microbevel on diamond, and a quick strop; and it was singing.

Great wee cleavers, I found putting quite a tight edge and wide microbevel (with a little thinning) produced something able to cope quite well with cuts across the spectrum. Enjoy!

I treat my gyutos as the middle ground; the super hard edge would likely chip during the prep I use them for. Honyaki for me suits itself to something like an usuba or kiritsuke, being super thin and having next to no hard board contact. Very tempted to grab a sukenari one having used it at work...

Others rarely borrow knifes at home (most of the friends are also chefs) although when the misses comes in I offer the global 8" that otherwise never gets used (but always has a tight edge and nice microbevel on). On the few occasions that non chef friends come in, they usually get that or the...

Depends on steel and style; a cleaver in 1141 goes up to 2k, whereas an usuba in shiro1 goes usually to 10k, or further if I feel I can tell the difference. I've seen far too many cooks ruin a nice stone (and edge) by trying to sharp a steel beyond what it can hold or they can achieve

Word of advice; bring your whites and sharps, just incase you can trial straight away. I managed to get my last job largely by being ready to work on the day.

On the regular, broad beans, peas, and canapes Past lengthy prep includes Jerusalem artichokes, round croutons, tomato string Two things that are fun but also pains in the arse are pheasant butchery, and handcut tartare (particularly if the cut is shite)

Lots of Italians, French and Polish at my last place, where it was not uncommon to hear lines like 'putain kurwa dio' during preptimes. As for labels; Bata letice (butter lettuce) Chix feet (fat) See best (sea bass)

I have a stainless cleaver that gets by far the most use, from chopping veggies for stock, filleting fish, and herbs, as well as being irreplacable on the line That and a wee parer for little stuff The gyutos get far more use at home; where style and fun come first