It is important to understand the significance of the chef's knife. In fact, one of the secrets that professionals use to create amazing meals at home and on the job is the use of the chef's knife.

Professional chefs know that correct preparation of ingredients helps in the eye appeal of the final presentation of the dish. More importantly, items that are cut consistently will cook consistently. That way, every piece of carrot has the same texture in the soup. If they're cut to different sizes, the larger one will be hard and crunchy, and the smaller piece soft and mushy.

Practicing correct skills with your kitchen knives will also save money by allowing you to buy larger items and break them into usable pieces. When you prepare fresh ingredients correctly, there is less waste and fresh ingredients improve your cooking by increasing the nutrients in your diet by using more wholesome foods.

One of the most common items that needs to be cut in household cooking is an onion. Every time you make a cut into an onion, it releases sulfur-based gas. When that gas comes in contact with the water in your eye, it turns into sulfuric acid and burns. So, not only does the onion need to be cut into consistent pieces, it is certainly more pleasant if you can do it with as few knife strokes as possible.

Wrong Way to Cut an Onion

The common rocking of the knife against the cutting board, the "mezzaluna" motion is just another way to chop things inconsistently.

Right Way to Cut an Onion

The correct way to dice an onion is to first cut the onion in half from root end to blossom end, giving you a flat surface to work from, avoiding a rolling onion and sharp knife. Since the root end of the onion holds it together, the next step is to cut the blossom end from the onion and remove the skin.

The natural curve of the onion layers will help you in cutting the item into consistent pieces if you first make horizontal cuts in the onion that travel parallel to your cutting board. Now, make vertical cuts in the onion with the tip of your knife, but not all the way back to the root end.

You should now have a "checkerboard" type slices in the onion, but it should stay together because you haven't cut back to the root end. A tip/fulcrum method will now cut the onion into consistent diced pieces if you now cut across the previous two cuts.

Try it at home! You're going to love the time and tears that it saves you as well as having the ability to have consistent sized pieces of onion. So, one of the most important kitchen skills is having knife skills. The correct use of a chef's knife will help you save money, use better foods, improve your confidence, and save time spent in the kitchen.

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur and educator. Since 2007, he has been the creator and host of the "Cooking Coarse" video series, which is known for its straight-forward and entertaining approach to cooking instruction. Chef Todd's simple philosophy - burn your recipes and learn how to really cook - has helped many home cooks and professionals alike finally achieve success in the kitchen.
For more details on Cooking by Method and how you can cook better everyday at home, Click Here to get his FREE monthly ezine Burn Your Recipes - filled with great cooking advice, guidance ideas and support.

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Virtually everyone who works with ceramic knives quickly becomes attached with them and comments about how the extremely sharp cutting edge makes thin slicing, dicing and other chores a breeze. These knives are said to hold their edge 10 to 15 times longer than any steel knives.

Ceramic knives are molded from an extremely hard ceramic substance which makes it possible for them to hold their cutting edge much longer and allows them to cut thin slices much better than traditional knives. However any knife regardless of the material it is made from will eventually need sharpening. With traditional steel knives there are many sharpening systems that have proved their worth over time. With a little experience almost anyone can produce a sharp edge on a steel blade.

However ceramic knives have always been difficult to sharpen. The extreme hardness of the material requires diamond grind stones to cut and polish the material of their blades. Users would normally send the knives back to the factory for resharpening or simply put the knife aside and purchase another. Because the blades hold their edge so much longer than any other knife and the purchase price of these knives in many cases is now very reasonable it is felt that purchasing a replacement is a good value.

Many ceramic knife owners however have long searched for a more convenient solution than sending the knives off to the factory for sharpening. Also as with any good tool many users just did not want to part with a favorite knife. To answer this need one manufacturer, Kyocera, has designed an electric knife sharpener specifically for Kyocera ceramic knives.

Do not become confused by the term ceramic knife sharpener. Most sharpeners with this designation are actually sharpeners that use some form of ceramic material, either wheels, rods or other shapes to sharpen steel knife blades. Because ceramic is so much harder than steel these ceramic sharpening devices are able to very aggressively remove material and when properly used do a very good job of sharpening steel blades.

However ceramic material will not sharpen ceramic knife blades. A substance harder than ceramic must be used and the only substance harder that is suitable for sharpening is a diamond coated grinding wheel. This has long been a case of a an exotic material used to create a superior knife. However because of that materials hardness it has not been possible to sharpen these blades at home or at work.

With the Kyocera Electric Diamond Knife Sharpener, it would seem that many ceramic knives including models not produced by this company can now be satisfactorily resharpend

While designed for the Kyocera line of knives it is also advertised by some as able to sharpen other brands. This device is designed to sharpen the 35-degree style cutting edge and also has the ability to remove some small knicks. However the manufacturer does note that the sharpener is not recommended for some its own knife models such as these: KT-075-HIP-D, KT-200-HIP-D, KC-25N WH, FK-125N WH or BK.PS-180 BK.

The unit is powered by 4 AA batteries and usable by both left and right handed people. The included knife guide and slot help to ensure a proper edge. The sharpener should not be used for steel knives however. The unit is easily cleaned and a replacement grinding stone is available.

Several owners have left comments on their experience with this model. One owner was concerned that perhaps because the unit was battery powered it would not be aggressive enough to do a good job. However he said he found that the unit did a very respectable job and even removed several knicks fro his blades.

A second owner reports of doubts when first using it but quickly discovered that it did a very nice job on her Kyocera knives. Unfortunately their is scarce owner comment about sharpeners designed for ceramic knives. On the positive side however, Kyocera is a well respected name in the ceramic knife industry and it is doubtful that they would release a product carrying their name if they thought it would not do as advertised.

In conclusion if you use ceramic knives a great deal and you would like to avoid the trouble of sending your knives back for factory resharpening this could be just the tool you need. One caution seems necessary. Any cutting tool is only useful when its cutting edge is in perfect condition. If you allow your knives to become completely dull they will need more effort to resharpen. It is always wiser to do a little maintenance from time to time to keep them sharp.

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