About 3 years or so ago I was introduced to Brod & Taylor with their unbelievably amazing Folding Bread Proofer. Whether you want to proof bread dough at an even temperature, temper chocolate flawlessly or make your own cultured yogurt, this bread proofer is truly incredible! Plus when you’re not using it, it folds up rather compact which if you’re like me, you hate having clutter on the counters. This stores perfectly in one of my kitchen cabinets off to the side. For the past 3 years I’ve been using mine on an at least weekly basis if not more whether it’s for bread or my own yogurt. Seriously.. YOGURT!
However today I want to talk with you about one of their other amazing products that seriously blew every single expectation I had out of the water. Whether you’re 5-star chef, a home chef or just someone who rocks at cutting bread and making canned ravioli we all need one thing in the kitchen… sharp knives. Nothing is worse than getting that fresh loaf of bread, that perfect tomato, that gorgeous seared steak and you go to slice into it and what happens? Nothing… either you end up mangling it into something similar to a horror film or you smush/crush/tear it. And why does this happen? Easy… your knives are beyond dull.
This happens to EVERYONE – it’s normal however what most people do is ignore it. And folks let me tell you… being cut on a dull knife is horrific. You can do more damage with that than say a super sharp knife. Knives, when you cut say into bread should just cut through it like butter. Steaks pretty much just melt against the blade and tomatoes – perfect slices every time. No smushing, no tearing, and definitely no cuts on you.
Now one thing that I honestly struggle with in the kitchen is sharpening my knives with the honing rod and the ceramic stone. I can do it but it’s pretty much an all day process if I have to do a set of knives. And since the number one rule in the kitchen about knives is to ensure they are kept safe AND kept sharp. And that’s where this AMAZING Brod & Taylor Professional Knife sharpener comes into play!
I’ve had a few knife sharpeners in my life and honestly they all were HORRIBLE! I actually ended up ruining a knife on one. So for years I would sharpen my knives the classic chef way – honing rod and stone. But like I said it took forever. When the great folks from Brod & Taylor offered to send me one of these to test out I was skeptical only because every other one I tried from various companies were pretty awful HOWEVER given my love in their folding bread proofer and the quality of that design I agreed.
The day it arrived was honestly perfect. I was struggling trying to slice tomatoes for a shoot. I tried so hard to get luscious, clean-lined cuts but since my knives were so dull all I was doing was mangling them. Seriously my tomatoes looked like they were part of a murder scene! I opened up the box and saw this device that frankly, was beautiful. From a design aspect it’s honestly perfect. It’s weighted so when you do sharpen and hone your knifes it stays put. And what I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is the fact that their instructions are SIMPLE and EASY TO FOLLOW! Seriously! However as I read it only would take a few times to sharpen and a few times to hone it my skepticism crept back in. Really? That’s it? I mean when I would hone and sharpen the chef way it would take forever and they never really got chef-sharp.
So I cleaned out the knife I was using and, with Mr. Fantabulous standing there with me, I followed the instructions. Now the first time through (3-4 times to sharpen and 4 times to hone) my knife was considerably sharper however it didn’t pass the ‘paper’ test. The paper test is where you hold a piece of paper and if you can take the knife and just slice the paper with the edge of blade, then it’s sharp enough. However my knife was sooooooooooo bad and dull that I gave it another pass through. Okay seriously… what I then had, after I cleaned up my knife, was a knife that was ninja-sharp.
Like honestly people I was blown away! This look under a minute to sharpen and was as sharp as, if not sharper, than they were brand new. But did it pass the paper test? This paper pretty much split in two when I sliced it. That knife went through the paper like a hot knife through butter. What was funny is Mr. Fantabulous grabbed the rest of my knives and we “fought” over who was going to sharpen the next knife. Honestly it was fun and easy!
From an engineering standpoint this simplistic piece of kitchen must-have equipment is stellar! It has three different sharpening techniques – coarse sharpening (only for very dull or nicked knives), honing, and polishing. This sharpener was invented and engineered in Austria by a master knife maker. It’s comprised of precision-ground ultra-hard tungsten carbide sharpening surfaces on patented spring-action bars. Plus what I love about it is that it actually sharpens serrated knives! That’s huge for me. Another great feature is you control the angle from 12 degrees for a super-sharp fillet knife to 20 degrees for a rugged chopping blade.
Do I recommend this? ABSOLUTELY!
Who needs this? EVERYONE that has a kitchen and a knife!
Now’s the time when you want to start thinking about holiday gifts for your favorite foodie. This is one of those items that is a kitchen necessity! Any foodie in your life will love this. However honestly, this is one of those items that YOU deserve and need! Trust me! Once you use a truly sharp knife say when you’re breaking down a chicken or even just slicing tomatoes you’ll thank me for recommending this item.
This post is being sponsored by Brod & Taylor featuring their incredible Professional Knife Sharpener. All opinions of this ABSOLUTELY AMAZING sharpener are mine.
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