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While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 7/29/09 at Exit 51.

Sharp

We have accumulated an odd assortment of knives here in our kitchen.  Some were wedding gifts.  Others were random purchases.  We’ve even inherited a couple that are probably almost as old as I am.  My grandfather was a meat cutter and every so often some of his A&P work knives would find their way home with him.    After he passed away, two of those work horses found their way to our house.  Funny how that happens.

I wouldn’t say that I have any one favorite knife.  They are all good for different things.  The 10 inch chef’s knife is the only thing I’ll use to cut up sweet potatoes.  But the paring knife is the best tool I have for finely dicing shallots.   Knowing how important it is to take care of your tools, I decided that it was time to have them properly sharpened.  Sure, we have a home sharpener but it’s just not the same.  Somehow, I even managed to knock a chip or two into (or out of) the blade of the 10 incher.  My home sharpener isn’t going to fix that.  No, a professional was definitely in order.

Do you know how hard it is to find someone who sharpens knives?  Even more, do you know how hard it is to find someone who sharpens knives while you wait?  I scoured the internet and there were plenty of service providers but they all involved me sending my knives to them.  I don’t know about you but I tend to use my knives almost daily so shipping them off to Arizona to be sharpened wasn’t really an option.

The topic of knife sharpening comes up fairly regularly on the Washington Post’s Home Chat.  They often recommend Stronsider’s Hardware, which is a lot closer than Arizona.  But when I called to ask about sharpening services, I was told that it takes two to three days to get the knives back.  So in addition to being without a knife, I’d have to make two round trips from Baltimore to Silver Spring.  There had to be a better solution.

And there was - Frank’s Cutlery Service.  Located in a small shop in Baltimore,  Frank does his thing for many restaurants in the area.  He’s got boxes for his commercial customers stacked by his grinding wheel.  Of the dozens of boxes, the one that caught my eye was labeled Andy Nelson.  Yeah, that Andy Nelson.  So I figured that if the folks I trust for my pulled pork bbq trust their knives to Mr. Frank, then I was in pretty good hands.

Depending on where you are, he might be a little out of the way over in Hamilton.  And his shop hours are only Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and it’s advisable to call before you head over just to make sure he’s there.  But seeing him transform my beaten up knives back into precision cutting tools was worth it.  His grinding wheel alone was impressive.  I didn’t ask but it must have been at least two feet in diameter and two inches thick.  Of solid stone.

Best of all, I got to see a skilled craftsman in action.  It was the best $14 dollars I could have spent.

Frank’s Cutlery Service

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• Flashback Friday – Confucius Says

I’m talking to all the guys in the room for this one.

I know there have been -and still are- times when you decide to go all out and make yourself something relatively good to eat. You break out the dusty knife set your parents bought for your new apartment and tie on your mental apron,  ready to get started.

The problem arises when you open your pantry to gather the right ingredients only to find that you’re missing a few things here and there like peanut butter but no jelly, or cereal but no milk. Fret not, good sir, for there are ways you can skirt around a missing ingredient or two simply by substituting it with something that plays a similar role.

Here are some examples:

- Can’t seem to find a slab of bacon in the fridge box?1

I hear a lot from people who want to get into cooking, but don’t know where to start. In general, the question is a very broad one, and one I put a lot of thought into considering the goal of this whole operation is to help people cook more.

Over time I’ve come up with a few key concepts to keep in mind when getting into cooking. The more I consider these tips, however, the more they influence my own practices. So while they are intended to help people fall in love with cooking, they might help others rekindle the flame.

Here they are:

When jumping into any preparation, keeping it simple will go a very long way.
- You buy less ingredients, spend less money, and are left with fewer specialty ingredients that sit in your pantry for ages.
- The process is easier: less prepping, chopping, cooking, and clean up.
- Less room for error. A botched effort can leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

For more tips and some recipes check out the blog.

Follow Joshua Stokes on Twitter: twitter.com/GrillaChef