How To Use An Instant Pot
Food preparation takes time. It also takes an understanding of how to perfectly prepare different dishes and foods for the ideal meal. Cooking with an Instant Pot is like cooking with any other type of pressure cooker. So, if you are trying to Google, "how to use or how to cook with a pressure cooker", then you have come to the right page.
Cooking with an Instant Pot does not take long to learn and master. It only requires patience and a willingness to adjust settings for your own needs. There are many different ways to use an Instant Pot, and some of them requires experimentation with your recipes.
What is an Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is almost whatever you need it to be. The Instant Pot is a pressure cooker, multi-use appliance that allows steam to do the cooking for you. The pot is safe and easy to use for anyone who loves rich food full of flavor to use.
Who needs an Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is ideal to use for all sorts of occasions. It is more than for the busy adult rushing to work or try to give the kids a healthy meal. The Instant Pot is perfect for creating family meals, college dorm food, or preparing for the chili cookout. They can keep food warm for buffet lines, and as your entire family comes and goes to their daily activities.
How to use Instant Pot?
Using an Instant Pot is an easy thing to do. There is little variation between models on the steps for operation. There will be buttons for different temperature settings, and in some cases, buttons for the type of foods you are cooking.
The main differences between Instant Pots extend to certain functions within the newer models, including buttons not previously included, such as the egg or cake buttons. Here are some steps on how to use an Instant Pot:
Step 1: Planning your cooking
Set up your Instant Pot where you plan to use it. Most Instant Pots come with very similar accessories and might look slightly different depending on the model. If you are cooking a food item that has a button such as rice, you can use it to ensure your rice comes out the perfect softness and texture. Follow the Instant Pot instructions provided to balance the ratio of water to rice for the lightest rice you can imagine.
If your Instant Pot does not have a convenient button for cooking your food item and it is the first time you are using the pot, you will need to watch it to prevent accidentally burning your food and to make sure you reach the right consistency. Instant Pot instructions are available online with different recipes and cooking times.
Step 2: Cook Time, Temperature and pressure Settings
The cooking time and temperature depend on the type of food you are cooking and how you want it to turn out. You can follow the buttons and see how food turns out, but that is not very accurate. The most common buttons for an Instant Pot are:
- Manual or Pressure Cook
The manual or pressure button is the one you will use for most of your cooking. Recipes online well often have this as the main setting for your Instant Pot. You use the pressure cook button with the "+" or "-" to help set the time your meal will cook. You cannot exceed two hundred forty minutes for cooking.
- Slow Cook
The slow cook button is a pre-programmed setting to let your food cook for up to four hours. The "+" and "-"can help you to adjust the cooking time as not all foods require four hours to cook. On newer models of the Instant Pot, you can adjust the temperature setting between low, normal, and high with a range of one hundred ninety degrees up to two hundred ten.
- Pressure Level
The pressure level button will help you switch between low and high-pressure cooking. You use the buttons one right after the other. Start with The Pressure cook button to indicate what you want to do with the Instant Pot then select the pressure level button to switch the level of pressure you want your food to cook with.
- Keep Warm/Cancel
The keep-warm button gives your food a low simmer after it is cooked. The setting is ideal for a family gets together or when you need to keep your potluck food hot while everyone gets something. Keeping the food warm will display a timer to start counting for the amount of time you want your food to be in this setting. You can also use it to cancel any settings already programmed into your pot.
- Yogurt
The yogurt button helps you to pasteurize milk and cook it into yogurt. The settings are adjustable depending on the settings you select, such as using the normal button to make yogurt and the more or fewer settings to pasteurize milk or make fermented glutinous rice. Making yogurt adjusts the temperature of the Instant Pot to a range of one hundred six degrees Fahrenheit to one hundred thirteen degrees Fahrenheit.
- Sauté
The sauté button will help you to brown your meat and other foods. The sauté button does not require you to close the lid, or you can use a glass lid to monitor how your food is cooking. It is a good way to prepare sautéed meat or veggies before starting the slow cooking process in the same pot. The sauté mode runs for up to thirty minutes before you have to change settings or cancel.
- Delay Start/Timer
The delay start button is perfect for preparing a meal before you leave for work. The meal will automatically turn on when you set the timer for the right time to start. You can set the delayed start for up to twenty-four hours in advance.
- Rice
The rice button pressure cooks at a low setting without you needing to set anything. The Instant Pot should automatically adjust to the amount of water and rice you add to the pot so you will not need to change the "+" and "-"settings. You can cook rice using the manual setting, which can be better for making some types of meals.
- Soup/Broth
The soup/broth button is perfect for making something for those cold winter days. The ingredients will simmer in a normal setting than warm for the length of time you want. The soup will cook anywhere from twenty minutes if set on high pressure to forty minutes on high or low pressure.
- Meat/Stew
To cook meat properly, you will need more time. Selecting the meat button will automatically cook the food for at least twenty minutes, and you can adjust the settings for more as needed.
- Bean/Chili
The beans and chili button is set to cook at least twenty-five minutes. You will be cooking on a normal default setting at least twenty-five minutes, depending upon the pressure setting.
- Poultry
Cooking chicken or other birds means using the poultry button. The button sets the perimeters for cooking, and you can adjust the settings for cooking with a normal default starting at five minutes with a high-pressure setting. The amount of poultry you add and how you cut it up will help you to determine the settings and time you should adjust to.
- Multigrain
The multigrain setting will help you to cook up wild rice and beans at a higher pressure setting. Selecting the multigrain button and adjusting will give you adequate time to soak the rice and beans through high-pressure settings. The least about of time you should be cooking multigrain is at twenty minutes in a high-pressure setting. Forty-five minutes will give your multigrain a good warm water bath with a sixty-minute pressure cooking setting.
- Porridge
Cooking large amounts of porridge is made a lot easier in an Instant Pot, You can set the porridge button to a low-temperature setting and adjust for a sow, fully cooked meal that requires at least fifteen minutes of cooking time on a high-pressure setting.
- Steam
Steaming foods requires the use of a steam mode and additional tools like a steam basket or rack. The basket or steam rack will keep the food out of the bottom of the Instant Pot where it can burn. It will also ensure the food cooks uniformly with pressure monitoring. If you are steaming vegetables, it is more likely you will overcook them if you do not monitor them.
Setting Interpretation
The settings for the Instant Pot are preset to the type of food, though you can do generic settings with specific cooking times. Though one of the best settings is the warm button, which ensures you can keep the meal you prepare warm for hours as you need. Just remember to stir occasionally, so your food doesn't burn or get hot spots.
The models might vary, but the buttons you will push will indicate the level of pressure, time, and temperature you are cooking at with the tight security lid locked in place. Regardless of your setting, you should keep the lid secure during cooking for safety reasons. Pressure cooking food is an excellent way to prepare all kinds of dishes at whichever temperature will cook it the best, but steam can still burn you if you are not careful.
An Instant Pot will pressure cook your food with temperatures up to two-hundred-fifty degrees Fahrenheit for some types of food. That is hotter than boiling water, which only reaches two-hundred twelve degrees Fahrenheit. Watching the temperature is important with the stovetop cooker, but an Instant Pot regulates the temperature with built-in sensors.
The built-in sensors allow you to be able to mix up your favorite stews or rice dishes and let them simmer for as long as you choose. They also work well for sautéing foods before you pressure cook them. Newer models often come with additional cooking setting such as egg and bake buttons.
Instant Pot Smart Wifi
The Instant Pot Smart Wifi contains many of the features that you might expect with each of the other models. However, it outdoes each of these by adding in smart technology and much more. This should mean that you’ll be able to do much more with it than many others.
Perhaps the largest draw of this is the Wifi connectivity that it has. This should mean that you’ll be able to set and control your settings from anywhere. It also means that you should be able to monitor your dish when it’s cooking.
This can be done from anywhere, so you shouldn’t have to be tied to the house if a particular dish takes several hours to cook. The Instant Pot app is also included with this, which offers over 750 recipes to try out. This could be an attractive thing for quite a significant number of people.
There’s also a variety of pre-programmed settings that you can use. These should be accessed with one touch, which should mean that they’re easy to start using.
What foods cook best in an Instant Pot?
Any meal you prepare where you want moisture is a good meal for a pressure cooker. The ones that require steaming also turn out well. The Instant Pot produces a wet heat to help keep the foods from drying out as they cook. Having a fair amount of moisture will ensure your stew meat does not become tough or for your rice to dry out.
The best way to use an Instant Pot is for braising, steaming, or boiling your meals. Picking foods or meals that complement these cooking styles will help your food turn out the best. These meals can be loaded with vegetables, savory meats, and seafood. You can also add beans and rice to the mixtures for quick and easy side dishes.
How to Clean Instant Pot
How to Clean Instant Pot is not a hard thing to do. The main thing you are not to do is immerse it in water as it can damage the pot. The Instant Pot comes with cooking baskets and a pot that comes out of the cooker. These you can hand wash carefully or even put in the dishwasher for some models.
You can hand wash the pot without leaving in water. Using soap and warm water will help to remove cooked-on foods without damaging the instant pot. Do not immerse in water.
Final Thoughts
Cooking With an Instant Pot requires time to understand how to set and time each food item for your tastes. They are a terrific asset to have in the kitchen and will make your life a lot easier to fine-tune for perfectly cooked foods. Whether you are cooking for a family or preparing for the office party potluck, they will make your food come out right.
5 Simple And Easy Creole Mustard Substitutes You Should Know About
Every once in awhile, I encounter an ingredient that I didn’t know about before. In a recent case, that’s Creole mustard. I may have cooked numerous recipes that made me familiar with all sorts of ingredients, but I never really heard of Creole mustard until I decided to make this New Orleans-style sauce.
Since I don’t really let my lack of knowledge interfere with my cooking, I did a little research and I found out what Creole mustard is. Unfortunately, it was an ingredient that I had no access to. But that didn’t stop me from making my New Orleans-style sauce.
I ended up doing a bunch of research and after a couple of hours, I learned about 5 different Creole mustard substitutes that I’m going to share with you below. Read on and let’s start cooking!
5 Simple And Easy Creole Mustard Substitutes
What Is Creole Mustard
Before we get into my short list of Creole mustard substitutes, let me first give you a brief introduction on what Creole mustard is. After all, it’s always a good thing to know what you’re about to put in your food.
Creole mustard is basically a spicy version of mustard that originated from the southern east regions of the United States. It originally came from Louisiana and it was inspired by German, African, French, and Spanish flavors.
Creole mustard has this grainy consistency that distinguishes it from other kinds of mustard. It has become so because of the excess mustard seeds that come with it. It also comes with a rather spicy taste unlike other mustard varieties.
It is an ingredient that is often used for sauces, dips, sandwiches, salad dressings, glaze, and marinades.
5 Creole Mustard Substitutes You Should Know About
If you happen to need a batch of Creole mustard, but don’t have any at your disposal, you can rest easy knowing that you can always create Creole mustard from scratch or you can easily buy an alternative from your local supermarket.
Here are 5 simple alternatives that you can use in place of Creole mustard that you can either buy or make at home.
Simple Homemade Creole Mustard
This is probably the most basic Creole mustard recipe in this list. If you don’t have a lot of time to spare, and you prefer to work with very little ingredients, this recipe is definitely the one for you.
You can easily make a batch of homemade Creole mustard from a handful of simple ingredients. To create a homemade batch of Creole mustard, all you will need is 6 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, half a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce, and a spicy element such as hot sauce or tabasco sauce.
To make your Creole mustard, simply mix all of these ingredients together. Make sure that you have thoroughly mixed these ingredients in order to get an even flavor with every scoop.
This recipe will help you create an authentic tasting Creole mustard that you can use for sauces, dips, dressings, marinades, and more.
Grainy Creole Mustard Recipe
If you wish to create a more authentic-feeling homemade Creole mustard that comes with the consistency of the real thing, all you will need is a cup of toasted and ground mustard seeds, a cup of dry white wine, a clove of peeled and minced garlic, a teaspoon of celery seeds, a teaspoon of allspice, half a teaspoon of salt, a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves, an eighth of a teaspoon of nutmeg, two tablespoons of tarragon vinegar, and two tablespoons of malt vinegar.
To make this recipe, you will need to whisk the white wine, celery seeds, garlic, salt, allspice, nutmeg, and ground cloves together. Once thoroughly mixed, you will have to bring it to a boil and steep it by removing it from heat just when it comes to a boil and setting it aside without a cover for 2 full hours.
The next thing you need to do is pop the mustard seeds by placing them in a skillet over medium heat. Once the seeds pop, remove your skillet from the heat and cover it with a paper towel for up to 10 minutes.
After letting the mustard seeds cool, you should then proceed to grind it up until you end up with a coarse set of grinds. Once the mustard seeds are all coarsely ground, you should then add it to a bowl followed by the malt vinegar and tarragon vinegar. Start creating a paste by thoroughly mixing these three ingredients together in a large bowl, and then set it aside.
The next thing you should do is reheat your wine mixture in a saucepan over high heat at bringing it to a boil. After reheating the wine mix, strain it through a cheesecloth as you transfer it to the bowl that contains your mustard paste. Whisk all of these ingredients together until everything is completely combined.
Store this mix in a jar or two and keep it in a dry place away from heat for 3 whole weeks before using it in your recipes.
Whole Grain Mustard
If you prefer to have a Creole mustard alternative that is extra grainy, then you should probably go with this whole grain mustard recipe instead of the other ones included in this list.
Whole grain mustard is basically a variety of mustard that comes with mustard seeds that have been ground to for a rich paste. Since this variety of mustard still comes with whole mustard seeds, it possesses a coarse texture and a very thick consistency that distinguish it from other mustard varieties.
If you ask me, this is probably the best kind of mustard to use for dressings or to pair with sandwiches and cheese plates since it is made with wine and brown or black mustard seeds instead of vinegar and yellow mustard seeds.
To make a batch of whole grain mustard, all you will need is a quarter cup of brown mustard seeds, a quarter cup of yellow mustard seeds, half a cup of dry white wine, half a cup of white wine vinegar, half a teaspoon of kosher salt, and a teaspoon of light brown sugar.
Once you have gathered all of these ingredients, simply mix them all in a bowl, cover the bowl up, and set it aside at room temperature for up to two days before use.
Dijon Mustard
Dijon mustard is often used as the base for making homemade Creole mustard, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not as good of an alternative on its own.
Dijon mustard has this smooth consistency that makes it ideal to use as a base for several kinds of sauces and dips. Unlike other varieties of mustard, Dijon mustard packs a lot of heat and comes with a rather pungent flavor.
Dijon mustard can be used as an alternative for Creole mustard on its own because it is made with hot brown and black mustard seeds that give it a strong and sharp flavor. It’s the kind of mustard that is ideal for vinaigrettes and mayonnaise mixtures.
Hot Mustard
Hot mustard is often associated with Chinese cuisine. It packs a really hot flavor because of its ground black and brown mustard seed content.
This kind of mustard is made with seeds that don't undergo the usual process for suppression of heat. When hot mustard is made, the mustard seeds it contains are not mixed in acid, hot water, or wine. The absence of such heat suppressors ultimately brings out the heat packed within the brown and black mustard seeds.
You can easily buy hot mustard from your local supermarket or you can make a batch yourself at home. Do take note that store-bought hot mustards usually pack in less heat than homemade ones because they are less potent.
If you wish to create a truly potent batch of hot mustard at home, all you will need is a quarter cup of dry mustard powder, a quarter cup of cold water, and an eighth of a teaspoon of salad oil.
Once you have all of these ingredients prepared, all you have to do is mix them all in a bowl, whereas you place the mustard powder in the bowl first, followed by the cold water, and then the salad oil. After thoroughly mixing these ingredients, simply cover the mixture for one hour before use.
How To Properly Store Your Mustard
Now that you know very well about the different Creole mustard substitutes you can buy or make at home, I figured it’s probably best to let you know how to properly store your mustard to make it have a long shelf life.
Store bought mustard, whether it is opened or unopened, can last for up to two years when stored in the fridge. Homemade mustard, on the other hand, can only last for a year, regardless of being opened or not.
To make your stash of mustard attain a lengthy shelf life, all you have to do is store it in a clean and airtight container, avoiding using dirty utensils for scooping, and avoid placing it in a moist and hot place.
How To Tell If Your Mustard Is Bad
If you happen to have a bottle or a jar of mustard that has been stored away for a year or so, and you want to figure out whether it’s still good to eat, all you need to do is rely on your senses.
The first things you should look out for are discolorations and mold build-ups. If you find any signs of these two, you ought to throw that batch of mustard away.
Another thing that you can try is sniffing out bad odors. If any foul odor is present, there’s a pretty big chance that your mustard is already spoiled.
The Bottomline
Creole mustard is one variety of mustard that you can easily replicate at home. If you need to get a hold of Creole mustard, but can’t, remember the 5 different alternatives that can easily take its place.
Keep in mind that the next best thing to Creole mustard is whole grain mustard, hot mustard, and Dijon mustard. You can also try adding in a couple of ingredients such as whole mustard seeds, wine, and Worcestershire sauce to Dijon mustard to attain a more authentic tasting Creole mustard alternative.
If you have any questions about this article, please leave a comment in the box below. Also feel free to share this article with your family and friends. Thank you and happy cooking!
How To Cook The Famous Ronzoni Lasagna Recipe
Of all the types of pasta in the world, my true favorite is the lasagna. Unlike most kinds of pasta, lasagna is a very hearty dish that you can fill will all sorts of ingredients such as meat, vegetables, and cheeses.
What I love most about lasagna is that it’s very easy to make for parties. Unlike regular spaghetti that would require you to perform all kinds of culinary tasks such as continuous stirring and sifting, lasagna recipes only require you to prep and wait. You really don’t have to do anything in the cooking process.
Want to try making your own lasagna at home? If it’s your first time making lasagna, I suggest you go get a box of no-boil Ronzoni lasagna for easier cooking. Don’t worry if you don’t have any clue as to how you can cook it, because in this article I will provide you with all the instructions you need in order to cook the Ronzoni lasagna recipe.
Are you ready? Let’s get started!
How To Clean Toaster Ovens The Right Way
Cleaning up kitchen appliances is an essential part of keeping healthy because of the simple fact that those things are responsible for preparing and cooking our food. One of the most hard working kitchen appliances in most kitchens today is the good old toaster oven.
A lot of people all over the world rely on toasters to get perfectly toasted bread, waffles, pizzas, and all sorts of food on a daily basis. Even as you read this article, I’m sure that somewhere in the world there’s a toaster oven being used right now.
Something that’s used that frequently should obviously be kept sanitary. If you have seen your toaster oven and you felt like it needs some cleaning but you have no idea how to properly do so, then you are in the right place.
In this article, I will be telling you all about how to clean toaster ovens and what you will need to do so. Are you ready? Let’s get started!
A Quick And Simple Guide On How To Make Baked Potato Toaster Oven
Ah potatoes! What a great ingredient to work with in the kitchen. You can make a lot of things with a decent spud, from mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, fried spuds, fries, and my personal favorite, baked potatoes.
Just writing this article about potatoes is literally making my mouth water. Can you just imagine snacking on a perfectly cooked potato as you sit at home and be a couch potato yourself?
There’s really nothing quite like this comfort food ingredient if you ask me, that’s why I decided to create this simple guide on bake potato toaster oven.
This quick and easy guide will take you through all you need to know to make a fine piece or batch of baked potatoes using only a couple of ingredients and a toaster oven. Read on to find out how!
Convection Oven VS. Toaster Oven: What You Need To Know
Don’t you just love looking for new additions to the kitchen? I remember the first time I bought my first microwave. Even though it’s just a simple kitchen appliance, there’s just something about getting new stuff for your kitchen that makes you want to cook more and stay longer in the kitchen.
Ever since I bought my first microwave, I have found the need to add more appliances to my kitchen so that I would have more options to cook with. The time came when I wanted something that can do more than what your average microwave can. Because of so, I opted to look for a new appliance that I can actually cook food with.
In my attempt to look for another useful appliance for my kitchen, I have found that the two of the best options to go with is either a convection oven or a toaster. I didn’t really know the difference between the two back then, but after a little bit of research, I figured out what both are for.
If you too would like to get a new appliance for your kitchen, but can’t decide whether you should get a convection oven or a toaster oven, I encourage you to read on. This short article will contain all the things you need to know about convection oven vs. toaster oven.
Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will have gained enough information to make a sound decision on which type of kitchen appliance you should get.
Benihana Garlic Butter: How To Make It
Garlic and butter are two of the most used ingredients around the world. Both of these ingredients possess great flavors that lots of dishes cannot do without. But have you ever wondered what would happen if you mix these two together?
The people at Benihana, a well-known Japanese restaurant has done a remarkable job at infusing these ingredients. One can’t simply deny the tasteful flavors of Benihana Garlic Butter dishes. Their garlic butter can help turn any dish into a savory meal that anyone can certainly enjoy.
If you’d like to learn how to make Benihana garlic butter, I encourage you to read on because this article contains a simple how to guide that will take you through the step by step process of how to make it at home.
What Kind of Pans do Chefs Use? All You Need to Know
Some of us may be into cooking and might even be pursuing a career in the chef’s world. It might be interesting to know, what kind of pots and pans do chefs use?
Based on some online research, most chefs have their own personal favorite kitchen equipment, even pots, and pans. Some stick to the traditional tools for cooking, while some are more adventurous when it comes to trying new innovations.
Inside a simple and average home, people, including myself can be contented with the basic pots and pans and cook everything in the same pot or pan, and choose what to use by size, depending on the quantity of food we’re preparing.
Sometimes just a simple frying pan, a small pot and a big pot do the job for all our cooking needs. Well, prepare to be amazed and discover more kinds of pots and pans.
Having said that, let me cite what pans do chefs use and maybe include some modern ones too, also what we use them for.
The Complete Guide On How To Sharpen A Bread Knife
Sharpening a knife is no simple culinary feat. To effectively sharpen a knife, you must be well-aware of the appropriate sharpening technique to avoid damaging your knife. Moreover, the technique is one thing and the type of knife you are sharpening is another.
When it comes to sharpening serrated knives, I guess you’d have to put a little more effort since it would require you to carefully apply the proper sharpening technique to get each tooth sharpened.
One type of serrated knife that should be kept sharp at all times is the bread knife. If you’d like to learn how to sharpen a bread knife, you have come to the right place. Read on and figure out in our simple guide below, and by the end of this article, you will have what it takes always to keep your serrated knives sharp.
What Makes A Knife Dull?
Before we get into the how-tos of sharpening a bread knife, let us first discuss what can actually make any knife go dull.
To understand how a knife can get dull, you must first know what knives are made of. The most common material used for making knives is steel. You can consider the steel that comes with knives as a form of metal that has layers.
When subjected to contact with certain types of materials such as wood and plastic, the edge of the steel blade connected to the knife gets dull. Once the knife has undergone sharpening, its inner layers will be brought to the surface and the whole knife will be ready again for cutting.
Another thing that can make your knife unreliable when it comes to cutting and slicing is the misalignment. When the blade of your knife is misaligned, having a sharp edge is irrelevant since you won’t be able to cut through food properly.
When a knife’s blade I misaligned, that’s where honing comes in. Honing is a completely different method with a significantly different effect on the knife as opposed to sharpening.
Honing VS. Sharpening
If you have any clue about the maintenance tools for knives, you must have noticed the whetstone and the honing rod.
A whetstone is what chefs often used to sharpen a knife. Constantly grinding the knife’s edge on the whetstone peels back the dulled layers and brings out a new and sharpened layer. The whetstone is an effective knife sharpening tool. I recommend using it on your knives for sharpening at least twice a year.
The honing steel, on the other hand is the tool of choice when is comes to aligning the blade of the knife. Honing steel are often mistaken for being a knife sharpener because it is frequently used by chefs before using a knife.
What the honing steel does is that it gently corrects the edge without shaving off plenty of the metal’s layer. Once properly done, the knife’s blade will be in its proper placement and will be very capable of easily cutting through food.
How to Tell If Your Knife Is Sharp
To avoid over sharpening your knife, you must know how to find out if your knife is still sharp.
One technique I have always found reliable when determining the sharpness of my knife is the tomato test.If your knife can easily cut through a tomato’s tough skin, it’s probably sharp enough to use on other foods as well.
Another test you can try is the paper test. Try holding up a sheet of paper with one hand and cutting it with a knife using your other hand. If the knife effortlessly cuts through the paper, chances are it’s sharp enough to seamless cut through all sorts of food.
How To Keep Your Knife Sharp
Unfortunately, there is no way to keep your knife completely sharp at all times. Maybe the only thing that can keep it’s edge sharp is not using it at all.
But in a practical sense, you can always keep your knife’s sharp edge for a longer time if you refrain from using it on certain materials, especially wood and plastic.
Another thing that can dull your knives is the storage space. If your knives are always banging with other types of steel, there’s a large chance of your knives getting dulled. To avoid this, you may have to get an appropriate means of storage such as a knife block.
The last thing you can do to keep your knife sharp at all times is constant honing. You may think that you should keep on sharpening your knives before you use them, but that’s actually wrong.
Sharpening should be kept to a minimum. Twice every year should be enough. As for honing, it’s best to keep honing your knife before using them to keep their blades aligned. Completely aligned blades can also help prolong the sharpness of a knife’s edge.
What You Will Need
To achieve the best results when it comes to sharpening a bread knife, you only need to prepare one thing:
A Ceramic Sharpening Rod
To effectively sharpen a bread knife, or any kind of serrated knife for that matter, you will only need a ceramic sharpening rod.
If you don’t have a ceramic sharpening rod, I suggest picking up one from your local supermarket.
When choosing a ceramic sharpening rod, you would have to consider the size of the serration in your knife’s blade. The ideal ceramic sharpening rod should have a diameter that matches your knife’s serration.
An 8-millimeter rod is often the best choice for most bread knives. But if that size isn’t available, you can also look for ceramic sharpening rods with diameters up to 13 millimeters.
Instructions You Should Follow
Once you have prepared the materials you need for sharpening your bread knife, the next thing you should do is carefully follow these simple steps.
- Step 1: Clean Your Knife
The first thing you need to do when sharpening your bread knife is to make sure that your knife is completely clean. Having bread crumbs or other things stuck to your knife will only lead to ineffective sharpening.
Try to clean your knife by washing it with a scrub pad and running it under water. Also, pat or wipe your knife dry with a clean cloth before you proceed to sharpen.
- Step 2: Clean Your Ceramic Sharpening Rod
Before you proceed to sharpen your bread knife, you should also clean your ceramic sharpening rod before hand.
When being used for sharpening, the ceramic sharpening rod can accumulate small steel particles and can become all clogged up. When this happens, it wouldn’t be a hundred percent effective when sharpening a knife.
Simply clean your ceramic sharpening rod by wiping it with a dish sponge and some soap and rinsing it with water.
Also, remember to keep your ceramic sharpening rod dry before you use it on your knife for the best result.
- Step 3: Identify The Side To Be Sharpened
The next thing you should do is determine which side of your knife’s blade should be put against the honing steel.
The side you should sharpen is commonly found on the knife’s right side when you are holding the handle of the knife. Simply look for the side where the serration have been set and use that side to grind against the honing steel.
- Step 4: Use The Ceramic Sharpening Rod
Once you know which side of your knife should be sharpened, the next step you should take is sharpening with the ceramic rod.
The best way to sharpen a bread knife is by laying it on a flat surface with the side you should sharpen facing up. After doing so, simply run your ceramic rod through each serration while you're holding it at a slanted angle.
Continue to run the ceramic sharpening rod through each serration in its full length for best results.
- Step 5: Rinse Your Knife
After sharpening your knife, the last step you should take is getting rid of the shredded layers of steel. You can easily do this by rinsing your knife and wiping it clean with a dry piece of cloth. You can also try cleaning it with some dish soap if you like.
A Quick Recap
Sharpening a bread knife can end up completely wrong when the wrong tool is used. Remember that the ideal tool for sharpening serrated knives is a nice ceramic sharpening rod. Also take note that you don’t need to sharpen your knives often, a good sharpening session or two each year will do you just fine.
If you have any questions about this article, please do not hesitate to ask me and leave your feedback in the comment box below. I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can, thank you!
What Is Food Grade Aluminum and Some Facts That You Need to Know
When buying a cookware, you will probably notice different types of metals used. Some cookware is made of stainless steel, cast iron, copper, and aluminum. Aluminum is one of the most popular metals for pans and pots. However, when it comes to safety, some people are skeptical about using it. There are numerous reasons why people avoid using it. In here, you will know what “food grade aluminum” means and other facts about aluminum.
