ArcaMax

My father was an engineer; a smart and precise man who had his weekend rituals. About once a month, I’d find my father at the kitchen table on a weekend afternoon sharpening the kitchen knives.

He’d have a sharpening stone in front of him set on a spread of newspaper print. He had a little can of oil that looked like a miniature version of the oil can used to loosen up the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, and he’d have an assortment of knives. From paring knife to carving knife, he’d sharpen them all. It took him probably an hour to do six knives.

He’d squirt a strip of oil across the stone. He’d spread that oil out in a thin layer and begin methodically sweeping the blade of the knife along the stone. Back and forth. Back and forth. Top tip to bottom edge where the blade meets the handle. That motion would sharpen both sides of the blade. The idea was to keep the knife at the perfect angle so the edge got sharpened without scraping away too much of the blade. My father was a whiz at it. A regular wizard of knives.

When I asked him why he sharpened the knives so often he came back with an answer. He told me, “A sharp knife is a safe knife.”

That seemed counter-intuitive. Sharp knives cut more easily than dull knives. Right? Sharp knives seem dangerous.

Not really...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Burger Sauce

When I was temporarily living in Nashville, I discovered that every burger joint had their take on a “special sauce” for their burgers. It was sort of like the Big Mac sauce but with way more personality. Those burger sauce recipes are spreading like wildfire. I wanted to make my own smash burgers at home, so I did research to put together my version of the “secret sauce”.

Servings: There is enough for more than two burgers but I’ll let you decide how many this serves. Depends on how much you put on your burger. You can double or triple the recipe for a gang of people.

Ingredients:

½ cup of mayo. People in the South use Dukes. You choose.
2 Tbl of ketchup. This makes it a nice pink color
1 tsp of fresh horseradish. You want the fresh stuff that is chilled. Not horseradish sauce that you’d find with the ketchup.
1 tsp of Worcestershire. To me, this is the secret ingredient
A quick squeeze of sriracha (optional)
½ tsp of paprika
1 small shallot minced or grated. I grate it so it’s smoother
Season with grated sea salt to taste.

Instructions:

Throw the ingredients in a small bowl and mix it with a spoon. And Voila!

These days when I serve burgers I want a piece of crispy lettuce covering my whole burger so I get the crunch. The technique in Nashville is to put this sauce on the bottom side of the bun. Lettuce on top of that and then the burger up above. Burger can have a tomato slice and even cheese if you choose.

BIG YUM!