Knife Skills Refinement...

If it is one thing I continuously say to our cooks is that they must always keep working on their knife skills. One must have as sharp a knife skill as their knives. The knives must be sharp in order to achieve such a skill, but it also takes patience, commitment, dedication, perseverance, vision and a keen eye for sharpness and precision. If they are not sharp, you can not reach that level of perfection in your cuts. A cook's sharp knife skills says something loud and clear and very important about a craftsman in a professional kitchen. It says they are serious and not messing around. It shows the level of quality in an establishment and in a chefs expectations. There is one such cuisinier in our kitchen that has great knife skills and sets the bar very high for others to strive towards...that cook is Andy. He rocks the knife. Time after time, he shows up to play hardball and follows through every time. He takes it seriously, just like everyone should. Some do not know, some do not have the eye yet, some do not have the ability to and some, unfortunately, do not have the drive to and discipline to push themselves to do it. As with anything in life...commit to it completely. Be dedicated to excellence. Refine, refine, refine! Strive towards perfection, even knowing that it is impossible to achieve in this lifetime. I catch myself at times and hate it when I use the term "perfect". It is not possible in this sense as it can always be better. It is never perfect. I hate it when that term is used as it is naive to believe that it is. A ripe peach on the tree can be and is perfect. A marriage of ingredients can be and is sometimes perfect. Man simply is not. Man's functions and fruits of his labor are not...they can always be better. Don't stop that persistence towards bettering yourself and your craft. Push yourself always as Andy does. Set the example. Set the bar...