A sharp knife keeps you safe and productive in the kitchen. If you don't have a coffee mug handy, dry newspaper is a great for honing the edge.
This is an old tip among sushi chefs, and Sushi Secret explains how it works:
Place a sheet of dry newspaper (all black and white ink) flat. Lay the blade of your knife flat on the newsprint and gently glide the blade across the paper, keeping blade flat the entire time. Do this a few times and repeat the same number of times on the other side of the knife. If knife is one sided carbon steel, it is not necessary to repeat on both sides evenly. Run knife under water and wipe clean to remove debris before use.
As we've discussed before, honing and sharpening aren't the same processes. The rough surface of the newspaper is just enough of an abrasive to do the trick, but you'll still likely need to sharpen it down the line.
In the Kitchen with a Southern Sushi Chef | Sushi Secrets with Maris Baggett
Photo by Toshihiro Gamo.