dsm Dish - December 27, 2024

Cooking 101: Sharpen your knife skills

By Haley Scarpino

The new year is a good time to sharpen your skills, especially in the kitchen. And, really, there’s never a wrong time to sharpen your knife skills.

Whether you have a deluxe set from Germany or Japan or a few trusty old favorites from a yard sale, the most important point is safety. A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one, so keep the following tips in mind:

Test the edge. The best way to test if a knife is sharp is to slice a tomato. A sharp knife will easily slice through the tomato skin. If it can't, it's dull.

Enlist a professional sharpener. If your knife is dull, take it to a pro. The best place to go is Kitchen Collage in the East Village or Edgetech in Valley Junction. I like to get my knives sharpened before I'm going out of town because it usually takes a few days.

Use a wooden cutting board. The best cutting boards are wood, because they’re easy to clean and don't damage or dull knives as quickly. Wood is the perfect complement for a stainless steel knife blade because it’s relatively soft and prevents the blade from chipping or breaking. Wood is also self-healing; the cuts it endures naturally close back up (unlike plastic), making it more sanitary and resilient than other materials. A good, well-maintained wooden cutting board will last a lifetime.

Wash gently. Wash your knives by hand after each use, dry them immediately and place them back in their safe spot, like a knife block or magnetic knife holder (not loose in a drawer). When you toss your knife into a sink full of dishes, your knife can get bent or damaged — and when you reach into that sink, your poor fingers can get damaged, too. And never put your knife in the dishwasher; the high-pressure jets can knock your knife around, causing nicks or breakage.

Hold on tight. When you’re holding a knife, pinch the heel of the blade between your thumb and forefinger and wrap your fingers around the handle. This is the safest way to hold your knife, giving you the most control over the blade.

Shop around. When you’re ready to buy a new knife, keep in mind that it’s a personal decision and can be a big investment, so you want to get it right. To purchase a chef's knife, go to a store and hold the knives in your hand. See what feels the most comfortable. I like heavy German knives like Wüsthof or Mercer. Other people prefer a lighter Japanese-style knife. There is no right or wrong answer; it's what feels right in your hand.

If you’re just getting started, you really only need three knives: a chef's knife, a paring knife and a serrated knife. You can do almost anything with those three. Kitchen Collage is my favorite place to buy knives in Des Moines. They’re incredibly knowledgeable and will let you hold and try different knives so you make the right choice.

If you follow the tips above, your knives — and fingers — will last a long time.

Quick Bites

Scenic Route Bakery opened 10 years ago on Dec. 29, after Ames native Katy Nelson (pictured) returned from culinary stints in Chicago and Seattle to kick-start the East Village shop with her father, Mark Nelson. “I could have chosen anything and Dad would have been three steps behind me cheering my every decision,” Katy wrote on Facebook. The shop is closed for the holidays but will reopen Thursday, Jan. 2.

New Year's Eve is coming right up. If you still need plans, check out the Des Moines Register's roundup of nearly nearly two dozen options.

Blu Thai Food & Sushi will close at the end of Tuesday, according to the Des Moines Register. It moved in 2020 to its current location at 13th and Locust streets from its previous home in a little yellow building 15 blocks east, in the East Village.

Hot Off the Presses opened earlier this month at 5962 Ashworth Road. The business that started as a food truck specializes in panini and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Kitchen Amor, a new coffee shop, opened earlier this month in a sunny, plant-filled space at 520 S.W. Ninth St.

Hello, Marjorie, the cocktail bar at 717 Locust St., recently hosted its first cocktail class for 24 guests. Sound like fun? Round up your friends and email hey@dmdoesthings.com.

Events

Saturday: Sarah Pratt, the Iowa State Fair’s butter sculptor, shares a few tips during a butter sculpting workshop during a whole day of Iowa Statehood Day activities at the State Historical Museum of Iowa. Heads up: Reservations for the workshop are required, and participants should be at least 8 years old.

Tuesday: Flora, the new restaurant at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, hosts a plant-forward dinner on New Year’s Eve. Reservations are available for two seatings, at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 15: Chef Katie Van Dyke, a 2012 alumna of the Iowa Culinary Institute, returns to her alma mater to lead a five-course dinner paired with five wines. Since she graduated from DMACC, she’s worked as a chef both here in Des Moines and Napa Valley.

Jan. 18: Crème and Crafted Food Services are partnering for a very Iowan pop-up event. From noon to midnight, diners can order a pint of chef Jacob Schroeder’s chili and two of Sammy Mila’s milk bread cinnamon rolls to enjoy at Crème or take home. Online orders open Jan. 1.

Thursdays in February, March and April: The Iowa Culinary Institute at Des Moines Area Community College hosts gourmet dinners inspired by the cuisines of Greece, Morocco, Trinidad and Tobago. Online reservations are open now.

A flavorful history: 5 local legends

Editor’s note: Even as we lean into the new year, we also look back. Local food writer Jim Duncan wrote the following story almost 10 years ago, in January 2015. At the time, the five culinary legends he featured were more than 50 years old. Today, four of the five are still going strong.

Graziano Bros. Italian Foods

Calabrese immigrants Frank and Louis Graziano opened a grocery business in 1912 on South Union Street in an area that eventually became known as Little Italy. By extending credit to all in need during the Great Depression, they endeared themselves to a generation of south siders. As their family grew, they expanded the business in 1948 into a wholesale distribution company. That boosted the reputation of their Italian sausage, both link and ground.

Although their sausage is nationally famous, only a few of its fans realize the store, housed in the original building, is still operating and stocking the city's best inventory of all things Italian, from exotic dried mushrooms to rare white balsamic vinegars and wines. And the company remains family-owned; third-generation descendant Frances Graziano now runs the business.

The Champagne Cake at the Bake Shoppe

Dave Stark opened The Bake Shoppe in 2003, determined to bring the past into its future. Stark grew up working in the family business, Barbara's Bake Shop, from the mid-1960s until 1990.

After retiring and doing some traveling, he returned to the baking business. Barbara's specialized in scratch-made goods, especially "champagne cake," a light, not-too-sweet cake made with sherry and rum but no bubbly. It was the sine qua non of Des Moines' finest weddings for decades. Others tried imitating it but, Stark suspects, without going through the hard work of making the cake's copper kettle-brewed custard from scratch. “We do so much volume I can afford the time it takes," he says. "I make batches for 25 cakes at a time.”

The pizza oven at Chuck’s Restaurant

Chuck and Elizabeth Bisignano opened Chuck's bar in Highland Park in 1956, and daughter Linda began working there a few years later. The place expanded into a restaurant, adding a considerable art collection as the Bisignanos continued to charm the city with their special hospitality. That included feeding thousands for free each Thanksgiving.

After Linda's death in 2013, Emily Andersen bought the restaurant intending to keep things as they are, especially Chuck's original Blodgett pizza oven. It produces the town's best example of tavern-style pies — thin-crusted and crisp enough to remain parallel to the bar top even when loaded.

B&B Grocery, Meat & Deli

Established in 1922 by brothers Archie and John Brooks, B&B is the heart and soul of Sevastapol, a proud town founded during the Civil War and annexed by Des Moines in the 1920s.

Historic newspapers going back to the end of World War I cover B&B's walls like mustard covers the deli's famous "Killer" sandwiches. A fourth generation of the Brooks family works here now, butchering whole carcasses of pork and beef, making hundreds of sandwiches daily and operating a virtual community center. The deli also has served as a longtime political hangout frequented by south side Democrats.

The lunch counter at George the Chili King

When George Karaidos Jr. opened this landmark diner in 1952, it was the new store in the family business. His father, who emigrated from Greece at 15, had opened a similar restaurant downtown in 1920, and after winning a newspaper chili competition, he renamed it George the Chili King. In 1947 Karaidos' brother, Jim, opened a new store at Harding Road (now Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway) and Euclid Avenue. George Jr.'s diner survived, with little changing over the years. The classic diner counter is one of the last of its kind in Des Moines. So is the carhop service, which bustles on classic car nights. And so, of course, is the secrecy of the famous chili recipe.

Update: George Karaidos Jr. died in October 2019, and the diner closed a short time later. A crane removed its well-known sign in March 2024. Watch the video from the Business Record.