hey guys let's be honest kitchen maintenance is a real pain in the nads
but it's one of the most important steps in the creation of great food so every
once in a while take an hour out of a lazy Sunday and give your tools a little
trip to the spa because if we take good care of our utensils they'll take good
care of us let's get down to basics .. shouldn't of winked just
then that was weird
all right so let's start with what I definitely get asked about the most often
cast iron if you don't wash it promptly after cooking and don't apply a
thin film of oil all over before putting it away or if you do everything right
and you just have very very bad luck you could end up with something like this
rust, discoloration, chips, seasoning, or weird smell are all indications that it
might be time to re season your cast iron we're gonna start by giving this
guy a thorough scrub in soap and hot water but instead of reaching for the
usual sponge action we're going to use a steel wool this is going to get rid of
any rust or weaknesses in the seasoning think of it like a cleansing fire we
must first burn everything down in order to start anew that sounds a little bit
supervillain monologuey- how about gotta clear out your closet before you
can fit in all of your new clothes that doesn't work quite as well but anyway we
scrub this down to the point that you can start to see the raw steel peeking
through and now we're going to coat it with a generous but even layer of
vegetable oil making sure that every square inch of every surface is coated
yes that includes the back sides and the handle and whatever other features your
cast iron has that mine does not so now we're going to place this guy directly
on the oven rack in a 375-degree fahrenheit oven for one hour with a
rimmed baking sheet underneath to catch any errant drippings the seasoning
didn't come out perfectly evenly so I'm gonna hit it with another layer of olive
oil and throw it back in the oven until it gets a nice even Sheen upon which any
unlubricated egg would be happy to be cooked... what? the point is it's nice and
reasoned and ready to cook on again but how are we going to cook with this one
of the most dangerous things you can have in the kitchen a dull knife the
standard can this cut through a sheet of paper without pressing too hard test is
being failed miserably and before you know it life turns into an infomercial
you've tried everything why can't your knife just be sharp why can't life just
be easier when it's hard stop throwing money away or something and get yourself
a knife sharpener like this one if you want the easy and quick way to freshen
up your edge press down firmly I like to do 10 passes through the core side 10
passes through the fine and as you can see it makes a market difference in the
sharpness of the knife but it's still not as sharp as it could be the fact is
that these quick sharpeners are good for touch-ups every now and again but
they're not going to get your knife as sharp as a whetstone look for a
two-sided stone like this one that has a grit of one thousand
and six thousand for the optimal home sharpening experience wet stones are
called wet stones because well you got to get them wet soak for ten minutes
completely submerged in water or until bubbles have stopped coming out of the
stone then place on a non-slip surface a towel or paper towel works fine and then
we're trying to hit an angle between 17 to 20 degrees a good tip for finding
that angle is to start at 90 degrees divide that in half to get 45 and in
half again to get 22 just a couple degrees lower than that and you've got
17 to 20 starting from the bottom of the knife and working towards the tip we are
sliding it diagonally across the stone so the entire blade gets exposed to the
sharpening goodness let's turn on the audio for a sec for all you ASMR heads
out there hmm that is a delicious noise now you're
probably gonna want to clean up all the gray stuff that accumulates on the stone
but no no no that actually assists in the sharpening process so resist the
urge to clean off your stone in fact the only thing we're going to do is
occasionally re-wet the stone with water from a very fancy glass anyway after
about 10 or so passes on each side of the knife I've now flipped the stone
over to the 1,000 or fine grit side this is going to refine our now very sharp
edge by removing any burrs or rough patches left behind by the less refined
side of the stone then after a thorough cleaning to get rid of all the metal
shavings you can see this knife is ready for business but we are not done yet it
is time to talk about honing rods most folks think that these are knife
sharpeners in and of themselves but they are not they are rods designed to hone
your edge or straighten it back out as the edge of your knife becomes
microscopically bent after each use simply run the length of your knife down
the length of the Steel as though you're trying to slice off a piece trying to
maintain an angle of 15 degrees and making about ten total passes that's
five on each side of the knife you'll find yourself with a well honed blade
this is how you maintain your knife's edge between sharpening --zz sharpen
once twice a year own once to twice a week depending on how often you cook
next up how to maintain stainless steel a good stainless steel pan is super
expensive and it's discouraging to see this crap build up on your once pristine
cooking surface you only need one addition to your kitchen to get rid of
this junk and that is bar keeper's friend or an equivalent like bonhomie I
like to wear gloves because this stuff can be pretty rough on you
hands you're basically making a paste out of it by wetting your pen and
sprinkling it on generously you'll notice that I'm rubbing in circles
because this stuff is basically like sandpaper and it's going to leave lots
and lots of little scratches in the grain of your steel so you want to wash
in the direction of the grain of your steel which in a pan is in circles it's
gonna take some elbow grease but once you've got it all off wash it with soap
and water and boom you've got yourself some beautifully refreshed stainless
steel ready and willing to be messed up all over again the next time you want to
sear a steak these guys are so pretty I might go easy on them for the time being
now last but not least is the subject of wood do you respect wood not by the
looks of this countertop you don't that's why I like to keep a spray bottle
of this stuff around a mixture of 1 to 1 water to plain white vinegar which makes
an excellent cleanser for wood surfaces I know I've got a whole wood table here
but if you've got a wooden cutting board these tips are for you I'm sure you've
run into this problem my board is all dried out and scarred up well this is a
job for food grade mineral oil available on the cheap online and in stores once
you've cleaned your work surface simply apply a liberal amount of mineral oil to
the affected area and beyond rubbing deep into the grain of the wood
and letting dry overnight this is good for regular maintenance and keeping your
board from drying out but if you want to really pull out all the stops every few
months hit your board with some boos block
board cream which is really just a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax and
with repeated applications will seal and waterproof your board beautifying and
protecting it from your constant misuse and mistreatment so hopefully that's
taught you a few things that are going to help you grow closer to your kitchen
utensils and various objects now since kitchen maintenance isn't really
livestreamable and since we jumped back in time and did tacos last week on
the livestream we're going to do salads next week and then the week after we're
back on regular basic schedule as I'm saying that I realize it doesn't make
much sense point is we're making salads next week and the week after it's back
to business as usual thank you guys for watching now go clean or maintain something