I just saw a sharpening steel for 120 euros in an online store! I noticed it has a name in Japanese. I thought it was a person's name, and I imagined a long tradition of samurai and sharp katanas, capable of cutting the throat of a sumo wrestler with a single movement.
But not. It is a knife brand that makes its expensive products mainly in China. So no samurais, no katanas, no sumo. It still caught my attention that the modest tool can be more expensive than the knives whose edge helps to sharpen.
And that is perhaps the most important thing to know about the sharpening steel. Its function is not to grind your knives. There are other tools for that. Its function is to give a final touch to the edge, a rearrangement of the steel molecules, so that we cut better.
The difference between sharpening and using the sharpening steel is the same as between going to the hairdresser and combing your hair. We go to the hairdresser from time to time, but we style our hair every day. And the better the hairdresser, the prettier we will be after combing our hair.
I hope, then, that your knives are well sharpened and that you give them a sharpening touch before preparing this week's menu, which includes, as usual, three servings of legumes, two of fish,
Baked preparations
Preparations with sofrito
Fire preparations
