Best knife for Potatoes??
- Thread starter Jeff
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If you think I'm in the "jam the knifes edge into the board" camp. Rewatch my video. It's subtle, but, all my cuts have some "slicing" motion to them. In my potato video, those potatoes ended up as mashed. So accuracy wasn't important. Just similarish thickness.
If you're not referring to me, meh. Whatever. Relax.
If you're not referring to me, meh. Whatever. Relax.
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
This guy's technique is "wrong" and totally "improper". Not rocking or anything. Don't cut like him. Seriously, it's very very bad. And his knife isnt even the proper shape.
I don't think it's being defensive... there was no content to your post other than being critical of other people's vids, so I mentioned that you could have done it another way. But now that we know what you think is proper, we can actually answer. I think you'll find that most people here favor push/pull cuts over the more classical French(?) guillotine and glide technique. Seems to work better with the thin edges and flatter profiles that are popular on this forum. The really thin edges can cut into the board a little bit, especially if you're using a softer cutting board, and that can make it awkward to travel while doing the guillotine motion. With hard steel, it's also good I suppose to avoid lateral stress on the edge, vs the vertical impact stress. And guillotining isn't as important if you have a flat profile. Also, we aren't typically using mega-chonk western knives that are tiring to lift over and over. Probably there are other reasons, and maybe some of the above reasons aren’t really that big a deal, but for some reason a lot of people seem to adopt a push/pull technique when they switch to fancy Japanese inspired knives.
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I thought @ian made a thoughtful and valid point. Admittedly, I hadn't watched some of the other videos posted. Now that you've posted that video, I will say I don't cut that way. I used to rock cut more but not so much any more. I don't find my push cutting any less proper than rocking.
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Okay, I watched everyone's videos in the thread and don't see any issues. Yeah, some of them were more demo style like I did but everyone ended up with nicely cut spuds regardless.
As @M1k3 would say...
Agreed that proper technique will help the edge last longer, but I believe the purpose of the videos was emphasize release capabilities (even with an edge requiring a touch-up.
In those instances I was more observing the release from the side of the blade.
(Yes I realize the two are related but IMHO it does little good if every piece of potato sticks to the side of your laser. )
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Thank you for all the responses and especially the videos.
Perhaps a moment of silence for all the potatoes that gave their lives in the making of those videos.
Perhaps a moment of silence for all the potatoes that gave their lives in the making of those videos.
The proper way to cut IMO is the same as the proper way to do anything else in the kitchen. Whichever way gets you consistently good results the fastest. Time is money. And then once you get to that step you realize that the proper way to sharpen the knife to maximize speed is to have the knife set as thin as possible behind the edge without sustaining excessive damage from regular use. But you can't tell someone else what is proper for them. I tell my cooks that I want consistent results more than I care about consistent process. Two cooks might not dice a potato the same way with the same size or shape of knife or the same cutting style or technique. I don't care as long as their way produces potatoes that meets the standard in a reasonable time with minimal waste then who cares? But that's in a restaurant. I don't really know what the proper way to cut a potato on a video for a knife geek forum is. Probably whichever way someone wants to share.
If I do a pull cut, I have a harder time getting even potato slices. I have better control on a push cut and I was trying to make them all the same size so they would cook evenly. The knife I use is thin for Henckels 4star knife. It has rough sides from many years ago mishaps which seems to keep the potatoes from sticking. When I hit the really large slices then they stick more than the smaller slices. My potato was pretty large in the middle.
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If you're no push cutter, the distal taper is crucial, whether you use forward slicing 'guillotine and glide' or pulling with basically the tip, like @stringer. I want the tip area thin and flat, and the front fat curved for food release, not only with potatoes. You may however use a long petty or short slicer as well. It won't have the same fat curve as a chef's but being narrow, there's little surface where the produce may stick so food release shouldn't be such an issue.
Here is pull cutting diced potatoes. I shared it somewhere else but not in this thread I don't think. If you're doing thin slices of large potatoes then pull cutting is more awkward. I don't do that very often. But when I was doing it for large banquets we used a Hobart slicing attachment. So easy.
Akifusa AS 180mm Gyuto:
Jville
I used to work in a Mexican restaurant
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The reason people aren’t doing it like that guy is because they don’t need to. People get into these higher end knives because they have greater capabilities. That guy is doing something very basic with a very basic knife. It is as if he is talking to someone with no experience. You can chop potatoes, even a case. You can also push cut or do other techniques. You can put a little bit of swing into your chop. It depends on the knife profile, what type of edge you have on it, and also your preferences. Also a chopping technique tends to produce better release, meanwhile your video teacher is over there prying off potatoes piece by piece. Also you can chop without crushing the edge into the board. People can use the right amount of force that it is somewhat tapping the board. And even if they have to sharpen it sooner by chopping if it gets the job done quicker one could easily argue that’s more of a goal. And they can sharpen when they need to. It’s funny that you fancy that video as “superior” technique.
I just saw a random Chinese video of someone wrapping a rubberband parallel to the edge of their cleaver before chopping potatoes and all of them popping right off. Might need to buy a nakiri again to try this out.
Kippington
A small green parrot
How did this end up in shop talk? 
Knivperson
Senior Member
Damn, that cleaver video made me realize I need a cleaver...!
Low tech genius
Same, saw a vid where he manually suctioned the first potato slice onto the side of the cleaver, and then that functioned like the rubber band you're describing.
+1 for Takeda. potato killer
You sure never used a Nakiri…
Proper… just the guy’s face was spelling rock chop already. Which is an ok technique against what is truly improper. Especially useful to make dull clunkers work sort of ok.
This one didn't do too badly. The three slices on the right stuck, so they had to sit in the corner.
Smaller potatoes… there’ll always be one to get at you.
Loved your cutting potatoes vid BTW. Legendary comparison. Would you care, if you still have the knives, to leave a choil shot?
Loved your cutting potatoes vid BTW. Legendary comparison. Would you care, if you still have the knives, to leave a choil shot?
Thanks brother. I probably have most, although some the choils won't show the geometry - in one case there's a pseudo bolster forged in that masks it. I'll say they run the gamut from very thin (Yoshi) to workhorse (Bidinger). There isn't a unifying theme from the choils.
If you can remember which you want to see, I can try to get a shot tomorrow when the light's better.
If you can remember which you want to see, I can try to get a shot tomorrow when the light's better.
I'm not sure I can just name them from seeing them, but I'll look at the vid again and let you know. Thanks!
Ok, your first post, second video. Not the Yoshi - had a couple, not surprised.
In the second one you have three knives to start and I didn't see no bolster. First one sucks like crazy, second one is near perfect, third one is pretty good. Would like to know what knives they are and see the choil. I think all three can be quite interesting to see the grind in comparison with the video.
In the second one you have three knives to start and I didn't see no bolster. First one sucks like crazy, second one is near perfect, third one is pretty good. Would like to know what knives they are and see the choil. I think all three can be quite interesting to see the grind in comparison with the video.
Can you link the video, sorry I have a few and I forget which is which 
