Sharpen those knives!
I know this isn’t exactly a recipe, but I haven’t really been doing much cooking lately. My excuse? I just moved to another country and neither my kitchen equipment nor my cookbooks have arrived yet, nor have I managed to figure out where to shop for fresh organic produce.
So in the absence of a new recipe, I wanted to rave about Northwestern Cutlery in Chicago. I must confess that although I have both a sharpening stone and a diamond steel, I rarely use either one, mostly because I have never learned how to use them properly. In addition, sadly, there was no place to get knives professionally sharpened in Pittsburgh. As a result, my knives have been getting more dull and dangerous every year. In my short sojourn in Chicago I finally had a chance to remedy their edges.
I called around. Sur la Table was having a sale–get two knives for free and then each one after was about a dollar I think. But they said they used an electric sharpener and you had to leave the knives for 24 hours. Then I called Northwestern Cutlery–they have real (enormous) sharpening stones, and they’ll sharpen your knives why you wait, for not much more than Sur la Table. I coerced Derek into driving me downtown. It took the white-aproned guy about five minutes and he did a fabulous job. If I had time I would have gotten himto show me how to use my steel properly…next time. Also Northwestern Cutlery has a parking lot, which is convenient since it can be hard to park in the Fulton market district during the day. Finally, they’re around the corner from Sushi Wabi, so go get your knives sharpened then have an early healthy dinner of delicious avocado and shiitake rolls, and maybe some grilled asparagus with a miso sauce.
I have some time, but anyone know where to get knives sharpened in Montreal?
The captious vegetarian 