Knife work

Last year I was looking for a knife that I could use for cooking on camping trips: something fairly small that would nonetheless tackle most jobs without too much difficulty. By chance I found this paring knife from the Swiss company Kuhn Rikon. It’s compact, inexpensive and comes with a useful blade guard. It’s also available in a range of bright colours (great when  it goes astray amidst the clutter of the tent).
I’d had it a while before I realised it was just the job for slashing dough before baking. I don’t really get on with the traditional baker’s lame, and mostly use a kitchen knife for making cuts on anything but baguettes and related loaves.

It’s cheap enough that I can keep one just for baking, and the blade is just the right length and profile for making cuts in dough. Unlike the knives some manufacturers supply, the Kuhn Rikon is razor-sharp straight off the shelf, while the guard protects the blade in storage, as well as fingers fumbling around in drawers. The blade apparently has a non-stick coating, although I can’t say I’ve noticed it. Nonetheless, all my friends are getting one for Christmas. Whether they like it or not.