In Spain, as throughout the world, it is increasingly common to search cooking tricks to help us improve in the culinary field to bring out the best in oneself and have it reflected in the result.
In this sense, one of the many useful tips comes from Las Peñas, a restaurant in Ampuero, Cantabriawhich stands out on social networks for uploading practical cooking content for any amateur. Thus, on his Instagram profile, @restobarlaspenhas, with more than 214,000 followers, one of his chefs has taught an unusual but effective trick: use the bread knife to cut other foods without breaking.
Cut from fruits to meat
In the video, the chef begins cutting a tomato with a bread knife so as not to lose the juice when using a flat-edged knife and crushing the fruit. The key is to use a knife that has a serrated blade, allowing you to make a smooth and firm cut, without the need to apply pressure and thus achieve excellent results. perfect tomato slices and with all the flavor.
On the other hand, cut hard-shelled fruits such as melon or pineapple can be tricky, as they require more force to break through the crust. However, the serrated cut of the bread knife makes this job much easier, as it embeds itself into the surface of the fruit, allowing you to make cuts without any risk.
Another food that recommends cut with a bread knife is the puff pastrysince they are such thin overlapping layers that they can easily crumble when you press to cut them. However, by doing it with a serrated knife, you can cut through the layers without disassembling anything, being able to fully enjoy any recipe made with puff pastry.
The bread knife is also ideal for hard rind cheeses. Cutting a ripe or semi-ripened cheese with a flat-edged knife can lead to applying too much pressure, which breaks the food. By using a knife with a serrated edge, the cut is made with less effort and the pieces are uniform. This is useful when do cheese boardssince aesthetically it looks much better.
Lastly, the Las Peñas chef also recommends using a bread knife to easily separate the membranes that cover the ribs of pork. With this trick, the meat is not torn and a cleaner cut is achieved.
How to avoid cross contamination
To take this technique to the next level and avoid cross-contamination issues, it is also recommended in the video have different bread knives for each type of food. For example, you should have a knife exclusively for fruits and vegetablesanother for raw meats, and another for cheeses. Thus, we prevent food remains, especially raw meats, from coming into contact with other products, reducing the risk of bacteria transmission.
In addition, maintaining this separation is also useful in the case of cheeses or fruits with strong flavors, which can impregnate their aromas with other ingredients. Therefore, even so, they must clean and dry utensils perfectly that are used in the kitchen.