Scooping/Scraping with your Knife

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Konig9402

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Do you do it?

I've seen a number of videos on YouTube of nice knives in W2, B2, AS being scraped laterally against the cutting board to scoop up chopped vegetables. Just how risky is it to do this without chipping the blade? I use my beater Chinese caidao/cleaver to do this all the time and it's a huge convenience, but I have always babied my knives in Hitachi steels.
 
I don't, even with beaters. I've gotten in the habit of just flipping the knife and using the spine to move/scoop ingredients. What gets practiced is what gets done when you're in a hurry and while I imagine some of my nice knives would hold up fine I'd rather not find out the hard way I overestimated them.
 
I do it all the time. I think cutting board makes a difference. (I use a soft plastic)

I do with GYUTOS thinned to zero-bevel blades, Honyaki, PM Steel. never damaged a blade yet. And ive microchipped many blades, but always through use. (Not scraping)

I think the anti scraping idea is really with singlebevels. Or if the blade has embedded(stuck) in the cutting board.

People say it degrades edge life ... maybe but I don’t Care much about the sharpness of the edge degrading. It’s 5 seconds to get the blade back to a perfect edge.
 
I too flip and scrape with spine. Then I scoop in an angle that the bevel doesn't touch the board.
 
I regularly scoop, scrape blade on the cutting board with everything from TF denka and Takada to Raquin and Kato, they’re just tools (not precious artworks)—I usually don’t treat knives any differently based on steel, aside from wiping if carbon.
 
I have a scraper that I keep next to the board and use to scoop and scrape with as I have the luxury of space and time.
It also gives me almost the area of a cleaver so can move larger amounts straight from board to pan without dropping bits
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I don’t think scraping is likely to damage a knife but the sound has become a bit like nails on a chalkboard for me!
 
Not that I'm worried about my knife edge but a plastic Matfer scraper is much more efficient, especially when working with proteins (fat, fish slime) and herbs. At home I might use my nakiri to scoop.
 
I slide the cut product to the side of the board with the edge side if the knife and transfer it from there to the stove with a dough cutter/bench scraper.
 
Probably a bad habit, but I both scoop and scrape with all my knives. I do try and be keep the edge off the board when doing so, but I've never seen it result in chipping or microchipping, so I'm not overly concerned about it.
 
Honestly, I don't get why scooping up cut ingredients with the blade side of knife is considered a 'bad habit.' For me, if a knife's edge is so delicate, that scraping along a cutting board would harm it—then it's not a knife worth buying. TF denkas, Heiji, Raquin et al, are all fine being constantly used to scrape up ingredients, designed for robust kitchen usage—as mentioned, they're just utilitarian tools, not objects to be babied.

Flipping the knife to use spine side feels counter-intuitive, especially when rushed; thickness of spine inefficient for picking up small cut pieces.

Nothing against a scooper/srcaper tool, but simply don't have extra counter space to keep one handy—I'll probably never buy one for this reason.
 
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I cant the spine of the knife toward the ingredient at say a 30 degree angle or so and then scrape to the side, then flip the edge to the ingredient and scoop.

I don't scrape with the edge flat on the board at 90 degrees.
 
If it's a small amount ill definitely use my knife. I usually angle my knife so that im not dragging the edge across the board, but sliding it (sorta like sharpening) to reduce wear on the cutting edge. If it's a bigger project I'll use a bowl scraper instead for efficiency's sake.
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
Minced garlic must be a *****! :D
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It’s worth it for the control you get. You’ll never get even cooking of the garlic pieces if you don’t place them intentionally in the plan, avoiding any hot spots while ensuring maximum symmetry. Idk how you all cook any other way.
 
ian said:
It’s worth it for the control you get. You’ll never get even cooking of the garlic pieces if you don’t place them intentionally in the plan, avoiding any hot spots while ensuring maximum symmetry. Idk how you all cook any other way.
Click to expand...

I'd like to see your solution to toasting seeds... Marking all sides so you can turn them the right way again if they start jumping?
 
ian said:
It’s worth it for the control you get. You’ll never get even cooking of the garlic pieces if you don’t place them intentionally in the plan, avoiding any hot spots while ensuring maximum symmetry. Idk how you all cook any other way.
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ian said:
I usually just catch them mid jump with chopsticks and put them back down on the correct side.
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You're like the Dhali Llama of food transfer. Thank you wise one.
 
ian said:
I usually just catch them mid jump with chopsticks and put them back down on the correct side.
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You ever watched the old Zatoichi samurai movie? The scene where the blind swordsman eating a bowl of food, nonchalantly uses his chopsticks to grab a pesky fly buzzing about. You possess similar skills.
 
ian said:
You can also then use the knife to stir.
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You wouldn't need to use your knife for stirring if you knew how to start the stove gently rocking front-to-back and side-to-side.

Actually you need to also know how to stop it from doing that. DAMHIKT.
 
I am only a home cook but have been scooping and scraping with the blade of my double bevel knives for ages. Personally I don't think it dulls the edge as much as it is said, and if it does it only gives me an excuse to sharpen. Of course I think that may be different in a professional environment where the knives get far more constant use.
With my single bevels which I only use for fish, there are less occasions to scoop/scrape, although I will sometimes make a Tataki (Namero) with Fresh sardine or Aji.
 
I use all methods, edge, spine, hand, scrapper, front end of cai dao. Sometimes I scoop, sometimes I scrap. I do tend to be more careful at which angle and force I use when using the edge tho.
 
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