Throughout the history of cooking, there has been one essential tool in the hand of every chef the knife. Without it, we couldnt cut through meat or vegetables to get them down to the right size for cooking and eating. I suppose we could just gnaw on a whole, roasted chook or a huge head of cauliflower, but that would look kind of .. weird. No, we definitely need knives in our kitchens!
Ive been a little bit on the cheap side of things when it comes to knives. I will admit that the three big cooks knives that I have, I bought from Kmart. I do have 2 Scanpan colored knives (green santoku and pink paring), however, and use at least one of them at least once per day. Ive never owned a real official cooks knife before, that is until Kitchenware Direct, my go-to online shop for kitchenware supplies in Australia, offered to send me one to review. And not just any knife; a world-renowned Global brand 20cm cooks knife. I was ecstatic!
This Global knife looks so professional in fact, this exact knife is the one used in the MasterChef Australia kitchen. Its lighter than it looks, feels good in my hand and glides effortlessly through meat and veggies. I chose to slice through a watermelon for my review post, as during the summer our family basically survives on watermelon. Slicing through whole watermelons is often a tricky, and dangerous, task with our cheap Kmart knives and I always tell the kids, who are at the ready to grab fresh, juicy slices of watermelon, to stand far back! With my new cooks knife, however, cutting through a whole watermelon is just about as easy as cutting through fresh apple pie.
There is no way on Earth I could be more happy with my new cooks knife. Its sharper than any knife Ive used and basically slices my vegetable-cutting time in half (no pun intended, really!). I also love the fact that the knife is entirely stainless steel, which means that its easy to clean (although the knife is not dishwasher friendly) and more hygienic than knives with wooden handles.
Note that it is not recommended that this particular knife be sharpened with regular/traditional knife sharpeners; youll need a ceramic sharpener/stone or a water stone. I dont have either of these, but if I want to keep my knife sharp, Id better invest in one soon.
Okay, so Ive told you how much I love this knife, but this review post wouldnt be complete without a recipe. I could make a bunch of things with sliced watermelon, but Ive chosen my familys favorite summertime milkshake to share with you.
You might not imagine that watermelon and milk would be a perfect combination, but I can assure you, it is. Its a match made in heaven and the perfect way to cool down on a hot summer day. Not only does it taste lovely, it also looks lovely with its light pink color and a layer of bubbly froth!
This is so easy to prepare, but you will need to start the recipe about an hour or two before you want to enjoy it. Youll need to cut watermelon into cubes (3 cups of watermelon cubes & remove any black seeds), place them in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper and freeze them for 1-2 hours. If you want to have a thin consistency milkshake, freeze for about an hour. If you want a thicker consistency, freeze for about two hours. I usually freeze them for about 1.5 hours, for somewhere in between!
When your watermelon cubes are ready, place them in a blender along with 1 cup of very cold milk (whole or skim is fine, whatever your preference is, but I havent tried this with rice or nut milk yet so cant advise on how that would taste) and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (although I usually use vanilla bean paste). If your watermelon isnt ripe/not very sweet, add up to 2 tablespoons of sugar. If your watermelon is nice and sweet, you can skip the sugar (I usually dont add sugar unless I really need to). Then, turn on your blender until the milkshake is completely smooth. The white seeds should break up and you shouldnt be able to see any pieces of seeds at all.
Just a side note. I dont have a blender, so I use an immersion/stick/hand blender which works just as well.
How gorgeous and delicious does that look! We love these milkshakes so much and couldnt imagine summer without them! Now the preparation for this recipe is made heaps easier with my new Global cooks knife. And yes, Im constantly making excuses to slice food now, just so I can use my knife!
A big thank you to Brad from Kitchenware Direct for sending me the 20cm Global cooks knife!
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