com (free but cost to get rid of adds and connect a domain name to it)
org (free but cost for domain name and hosting in order to set it up)
There are many more options out there, but most are have fees.
What kinds of things can you as a Toastmaster or Club can blog or post about:
A recent speech contest (with photos)
A member getting an education award (with photos)
Club meeting minutes
The transcript of a speech (accompanied by an embedded Youtube video)
Member testimonials
Musings on Toastmasters
Advertising an open house
Explaining how a meeting runs or meeting roles
Results of an officer election
Instructional or informational information on Pathways
Member bios and why they joined Toastmasters
Ideas for Speeches
Topics you have heard other Toastmasters cover
Writing about mentoring, being a mentor or a mentee
Advertising a club meeting
About the company or location your meeting is hosted in
Toastmaster challenges or success
Write about a recent interesting meeting or a meeting that had some challenges, be careful with names and how you describe though as feelings can be hurt
The best things you have learned from being evaluated
How you have seen other grow and learn from being in Toastmasters
Leadership lessons learned
Lists of Toastmasters resources
Lists of things that help Toastmasters
Lists in general, top 10 lists are always good posts and best of
The Sky is the limit in terms of what can be written about on a blog
This past January one of the sessions I ran was “In the Kitchen Time Savers”, and I had a slide about compound butters. Interestingly enough, most of the questions I got at the tail end of the session were asking about the butters, I had innkeepers tracking me down after the session to ask about them and innkeepers are still emailing me, the one this morning actually is the one that prompted me to write this up.
What I have been asked about primarily is some suggestions and any tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years. So here goes……
Realistically almost anything can be made into a compound butter, aside from the usual types, you can add finely chopped smoked bacon or diced smoked salmon, lobster butter is also quite lovely, especially on top of a nice omelet or poached egg, also quite good on savory waffles as well. Smoked salmon and dill butter on a sweet potato pancake or waffle is a tasty combination. Method, soften the butter, throw into a mixer, whip, add ingredients, roll into logs, refrigerate and serve.
Using a hot knife to cut the logs is suggested (running under hot water or having a bain marie filled with hot water if you are going to cut a bunch makes it much easier to cut) be sure to wipe the blade down to remove any water first. There are cheese and butter cutters with waffle cuts that can make some fun patterns as well when cutting.
The sky and your imagination are all that hold you back. The one rule of thumb is if something tastes good with butter on it (the exception being a steak, I have tried making a compound butter with it, and it’s “interesting”) it’s generally going to taste good as a compound butter mix.
When in doubt, try micro batches. I prefer using my KitchenAid Mixer to make compounds, but if experimenting, I would use a regular small bowl and spatula to test and just do a tablespoon at a time.
Use unsalted butter to start, add Kosher Salt to taste, I prefer Diamond brand Kosher salt as other Koshers tend to be saltier and textured differently. Even with fruit butter, a pinch of salt brings the flavors out. Using iodized salt in compound butter is just gross, sorry, but it is.
While you can use plastic wrap to make the butter logs, I prefer parchment paper as it makes a more even roll, wrap well in plastic wrap after to ward off refrigerator or freezer odors.
You can set the compound butter in a large square or oval dish and use a butter curler to make individual curls as well, just be sure that any compound butters you are using with a butter curler are smooth, chunky butters like nut or chopped fruit will not curl well. I have also cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, like hearts and stars and reused the leftover butter bits for something else.
Compound butters can be cut from the log and served on a plate as an accompaniment, put in small ramekins to serve or placed directly on your entree or side, they are so versatile and I always found it fun to watch a guest in a dining room ohh and ahh over a lovely roasted pepper compound butter strategically placed on top of their stuffed sole melting slowly down over it. Where oh where was Instagram 20+ years ago?
Toasting any spices in a cast iron past before use (cool down before adding to the butter mix) brings out most flavors.
Fresh Herbs are always the way to go when making compound butters, dried herbs, even if rehydrated, never have the same flavor and the color is not a poppy as well.
I also recommend using fresh garlic and ginger, while powdered does work as well, you will get a better flavor from using fresh ingredients. If you are using a recipe, even one you have developed, taste the garlic or ginger first before adding, I suggest this about most herbs as well. One head of garlic can have a hugely different flavor from another head, that one tablespoon of chopped garlic per one pound of butter may be perfect one time, but overwhelm or underwhelm the next.
If using alcohol or liquors for the compound butters, burning off the alcohol in advance is best, let cool before adding to the mix.
If putting citrus in butters, don’t just use the juice, cut out the supremes (the segments) and chop up and use as well. Tip; using canned mandarin oranges (drain well first) makes excellent citrus butters.
For using other fruits and nuts in butter, puree or finely chop in a food processor before adding them to the whipped butter.
I try to keep most compound butters less then a week, the shelf life will vary depending on the ingredients, if you are making large batches, I’d suggest freezing them (very well wrapped to negate odors) for less than two months. Optimally a month is best. I have kept compound butters In the freezer longer with no ill effects, but again it depends on the ingredients used.
Making homemade butter is always a treat to use as a compound. Because compound butters usually don’t keep for long, the normal shelf life of homemade butter (2-3 weeks) generally doesn’t come into play. I personally love Kate’s Homemade Butter, which I think is one of the best butters out there, I prefer it above even Plugra. Please use a good butter, even if a little more expensive, the flavor makes a difference and guests notice, good ingredients are so important. It’s like cooking with cheap wine, your sauce will taste a million times better if you buy that $13.00 bottle of 19 Crimes Red Blend and use half and drink half vs the $6 cooking wine. It doesn’t have to break the bank just up the game a little.
Keep in mind when making compounds you want to think of the end results and what you intend to do with them, are they to compliment a dish you make frequently? Is it to go on every table daily to accompany muffins that may change flavor daily or scones? Experimenting is fun, but think about when you batch compound butters, is this something you are going to end up with a lot extra of, and even if frozen will it languish in the freezer until you have to throw it out to make room for something else?
These are some of my favorites I’ve made over the years:
Sweet Butters
• Dried Blueberry and Lavender Butter
• Honey Grand Marnier Butter (also good with Toasted Walnuts or Pecans)
• Toasted Pecan and Maple Butter
• Orange Honey Butter
• Ginger and Grapefruit Butter
• Chocolate and Black Pepper Butter
• Dark Chocolate and Toasted Hazelnut Butter
• Blackberry and Sage Butter
• Mango and Ginger Butter (Mango puree works the best for this).
• Dried Cherry and Bourbon Butter
• Strawberry and Toasted Walnut Butter
• Raspberry and Chocolate Mint Butter
• Banana and Cumin Butter (with a touch of honey)
• Cinnamon Maple Butter
• Blueberry and Cardamom Butter
Sweet or Savory
• Reduced Balsamic Butter (or you can cheat and use something like Blaze’s Reduced Balsamic)
• Chocolate Balsamic Butter
• Mexican Chocolate and Chili Butter
• Honey Sriracha Butter
• Red Wine or Port Butter (always reduce the wine or port to a ¼ of its original for the best flavor, I like using Port better as it has a somewhat sweeter final taste, also yummy with some dark cocoa power dashed in)
• Blood Orange and Ginger Butter
• Macha Tea and Ginger Butter
• Roasted Apricot and Thyme Butter
• Pink Peppercorn and Grapefruit Butter
• Roasted (or Grilled) Pear and Agave Butter (Puree the pears in advance or chop very finely)
• Blueberry and Thyme Butter
• Roasted Peach and Mint Butter
• Poppyseed and Lemon Butter
• Fig and Honey Butter
Savory Butters
• Garlic and (any herb) Butter
• Lime and Cilantro Butter
• Honey Mustard and Dill Butter
• Roasted Cerignola Olive and Rosemary Butter
• Chipotle and Smoked Paprika Butter
• Jalapeno, Lime and Cilantro butter
• Lemon and Dill Butter
• Chive and Whole Grain Mustard Butter
• Caramelized Onion or Shallot Butter with Cracked Peppercorns (Peppercorn Melange/Mixed Peppercorns are good in this)
• Gooseberry and Ponzu Butter
• Grilled Eggplant and Basil Butter
• Caper and Tarragon Butter
• Roasted Pepper Butter (Red bells will give you a different flavor and color then yellows and oranges)
• Soy Sauce and Lime Butter (I like Citrus Ponzu, Lime and Ginger Butter as well)
• Smoked Tomato and Garlic Butter
• Roasted garlic (and any herb) Butter
• Black Garlic and Rosemary Butter
• Toasted Sesame and Lime Butter
• Kalamata and garlic butter (I like roasting the olives first as it gives an additional dimension to the flavor.
I could go on as there are hundreds, nay thousands of combinations out there, use your imagination and have fun!
While Facebook is being overwhelmed with fake Facebook profiles, Linkedin is also on the rise. I get, on average, out of the blue about 3-4 Linkedin requests per week, out of those, at least one or two a week are fakes, up from last year when it was about once a month. The Linkedin fakes are a little harder to spot right off the bat, they are on Linkedin, so I would guess the average education level of the spammer/scammers might be a little higher and the copies of messages I have gotten from friends and clients are definitely a lot more sophisticated then the Facebook messages you might get having connected with some “one” on that platform. And I’ve been getting quite a few reports from friends and clients that they are getting lots of odd connection requests.
A question I frequently get from people when I’ve messaged, emailed them or in some case called (especially if it’s a large group of connections that has been hit), is how do you know it’s a fake?
Step one, eyeball the full profile. Generic photo (red flag), the fact they don’t have a banner image in the back is negligible unless they are Linkedin power users or in marketing, many regular Linkedin profile do not add an image. generic text in the bio (red flag), but he has over 500 connections…….
Step two, look for mutual connections and wait ohhhh, we have a mutual connection….. (sometimes more)
Step Three, look at what they list as experience. Do the companies they list have a Linkedin page for the business (in this case it’s a tech business, so if not, red flag). Google the business listed, in quotes, so in this case “Inhouse design” WordPress web design and “Clean Mate Designing” Websites or Website design. Hmm in this no case no search results for either, tad suspicious no for a web development company? The Third one is a real company, but had live chat on their website, so followed through and asked if he had ever worked there. Not that they recall. I also Google the name and location of the fake profile and in this case got absolutely nothing online, anywhere, no websites, no social media channels, Nada. Sometimes you might get a name hit, but its an appropriated name, so John Doe from Missouri in Healthcare is actually John Doe from Missouri but the real person is a Granite Distributor.
Step Four (in case you were still in doubt when vetting a Linkedin request a this point), Education? “Maybe” I’ve seen schools listed that don’t even actually exist. He (or she) has over 500 connections, but not a single one of them has endorsed them for a skill, that’s a huge red flag.
And finally Step Five, reverse search their profile picture, occasionally they are a dead giveaway, I’ve had connection requests from people with Susan Boyle’s photo, Prince Harry and Michelle Pfeiffer, it does seem like most of the fake profiles set up information with Tech information in the bios, but not all. The Susan Boyle one stood out because it said she was a local realtor. Some are posing as Job Headhunters (especially if you list on your profile you are job seeking.)
In this particular case, I tracked the image down to a free stock photo site, sometimes you have to dig a little, but generally they pop right up in search.
I very much recommend, similar to locking down your friends list on Facebook (even to friends) because once they are connected then they have access, locking down your Linkedin connections, unless you are scrupulous about making sure connection requests are real people, even then unless you are heavily using Linkedin daily, and using it connect with others and facilitate connections, locking it down is a good idea. This is how these people get access, they connect with someone in business and then boom they have access as a connection to see who that person is connected to, and then start sending out connection requests because they know appear as a second degree connection. The same thing happens with Facebook, Billy Joe and Linda Sue are friend/connections so they must be ok.
As I mentioned the messaging is more sophisticated then the Facebook direct messages, frequently offering a special deal or job offers. They are looking to get personal information from you by getting a job application filled out usually with your social security number, or its an investment or buyin scheme requiring you to pay money and get XXXX which never comes through.
Please report/block these profiles and if you are sure it’s a fake, message anyone you know that is connected to them, most people are not aware the connection is fraudulent and may never have received a direct message from the fake account, they are purely being used as a way to leverage more connection requests. When in doubt, ask your connection if they really know them.
Locking down your connections:
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And while you are in there, I’d recommend besides locking down connections, go through all your back end settings, especially Account -then- Partners and services -then- Permitted Services and disable any application access that you are not 100% sure is safe. If your Linkedin account is or has been or will be hacked, it’s almost 100% of the time through application access you have granted to your account.
I hope this was helpful, and if you get a Linkedin request that your not totally sure of, please let me know and I’d be happy to take a look.
At a recent innkeeping conference I did a session for innkeepers on protecting themselves and their businesses in terms of computer related things, both online and offline.
Several people asked me if I could share the checklist I had made up and I thought it might make a helpful blog post.
Online Security Checklist Immediate Action: (estimated time to review all-under 2 hours)
Switch Browser to Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox if using Internet Explorer. (1 minute to find, 10 minutes or less to install).
Login to all social media accounts and enable two factor authentications. (10 minutes or less).
Review Important Passwords, change if simple or using things commonly known or easily guessed. (10 minutes or less).
Who is your domain name through? Do you have access? When does it expire? Is the credit card up to date? (10 minutes or less).
Who hosts your website? Is there emergency contact information for it? Is there a website backup, where is it stored and how can it be restored? (10 minutes or less).
Do you have an antivirus program? Is it up to date? (10 minutes or less).
Do you have a malware program? Is it up to date? (10 minutes or less).
Enable program(s) or check to see last time updated, file backups (10 minutes or less).
Check router to see if it needs to be updated/patched, call your cable company if in doubt (10 minutes or less).
Purchase a safe (ETL Verified fire at least 2 hour rated) and other external digital backups (external hard drive and thumb/zip drives) keep offsite with a copy in the safe.
Review and initiate all weekly and monthly To-Dos .
Weekly Security To-Dos: (Under 10 minutes)
Check to make sure antivirus and malware programs are running and up to date.
Make sure computer/tablet/mobile phone operating systems are up to date and patched.
Check to make sure files are being backed-up.
Monthly Security To-Dos: (Under 20 minutes)
Check/Review Installed Browser Plugins (Called Extensions in Safari), disable and delete any you are not 100% sure of. You can always reinstall them later if needed.
Make Sure Internet Browser Is Up to Date.
Check/Review Social Media Channels to see which applications have access to the accounts, disable and delete any you are not 100% sure of. You can always reenable them later if needed.
Review passwords to primary accounts, change and/or rotate.
Make sure computer/tablet/mobile phone operating systems are up to date and patched.
Some quick tips for innkeepers doing DIY photos for websites and social media channels.
Experiment with height and creating different levels. Use a cutting board or other type of portable surface (cake stands, glasses, trays), etc. Adding some texture, like kitchen towels, napkins and kitchen utensils helps break things up and create visual differences between the focus of the photo (the food) and it’s surroundings.
Use Negative Space, have spots in the photo where there is “nothing” makes for better photos. When taking closeup shots, add a little space for background or if it’s on china, for the plate to be a part of the picture, ie half a plate, a corner of the plate.
Use a Tripod For the best photos. If using a smart phone, most full-size tripods or mini tripods now come with, or can be ordered with, smart phone mounts, you just clip your phone right into the mount and shoot away!
Take a ton of photos, don’t take one or two, don’t take a dozen, take several dozen from various angles including straight down. What looks good on a smart phone may not good on a computer when you see it in large resolution. The more photos you take, the more of a chance you will get a couple of “keepers”.
The food is the center point of the photo. Props are nice, but they should complement, not overwhelm the food. Taking photos on white plates is best. A colorful prop can be beautiful, but it can easily be the highlight of the picture and grab attention away from the food it’s supposed to be highlighting,
Garnish is key. Any ingredient can be a garnish and a prop as well, a simple omelet can get “spruced up” by a little chopped parsley or some crumbled cheese and cracked pepper. Simple low prep garnishes are great for food photos. Chopped chives hold up well, as does chopped parsley without browning, crumbled/shredded cheese, chopped or whole nuts, sunflower seeds, ground pepper, chia or poppy seeds, coarse or colored sea salt, chocolate shavings or cocoa powder, coconut flakes, chili flakes, pink peppercorns, dried and fresh berries and fruit. Raid your spice cabinet!
Do your photo editing on a computer, as mentioned prior, a photo may look great on a smartphone, it will look completely different on a big computer and you will be likely to see imperfections and things you won’t notice on a small screen.
Build or buy a lightbox, there are a lot of inexpensive ones on the market and they are quite easy to make as well.
Tips for When Just Doing Food Photos (not photos to serve to guests, best when testing out a new recipe, what better way to utilize it when trying it out, use it to play with some photography shots!)
Use the freshest ingredients, imperfections, even small ones, show up on camera. When specifically doing food “just” for food photos, a leaf of mint “must” be perfect, even small blemishes on fruit show up when in closeups, so heavily eyeball everything.
Don’t cook it all the way, meat, vegetables and fruit all keep cooking (called carryover cooking) when removed from heat. To keep everything look plump and moist, take it out prior to it just being done to shoot it.
Aerosol olive oil sprays, as well as spray bottles with room temperate water can liven up dishes and make them glisten in photos, a spray of fine misted water over fresh herbs and fruit gives it that “just picked” look.
Pro-Photographers Food Styling Tip: Capturing steam on camera is always difficult, placing cotton balls (tampons actually work the best) soaked in hot water behind a coffee or tea cup while snapping photos can give you some nice effects.
Free photo editors – lets you edit all your photos online, from one easy place.
Last January, my how time flies! I wrote a blog about how video is hot (and it’s still getting hotter) and live streaming:Ideas for Bed and Breakfasts using Video and Live Streaming, which I would encourage B&Bs to review, because video is here to stay and will continue to advance and perhaps dominate marketing in the years to come.
I wanted to follow this up with the checklist I had made up that might help B&Bs prepare a little bit if they were going to do video to promote their B&B, or they wanted to play around with Live Streaming Video.
Checklist for doing a Live Streaming Event:
Check Lighting. Try to avoid windows with bright sun streaming in. Turn on room lights and check for glare on camera.
Tripods in place if needed.
Preview movement for “in camera” objects, pre-video walkthrough or still photos.
Sound Checks with pre-recording.
Mute phones and cell phones if possible.
Turn off radio and/or TV.
Cue cards if needed for talking points.
If doing a recipe demonstration, have your mise en place done in advance.
If having people participate, get photo/video permissions, in writing if possible.
Check your appearance and anyone else’s in the video in advance.
Test your internet connection and speed.
Video in Facebook is muted by default, so make the opening reflect your topic or reflect a brand.
Share on as many channels as you can..
Be cognizant that many people may be watching on smartphones, so filming with your smartphone in the vertical position is suggested.
Time Yourself, Videos should be one to two minutes long at the most. If you are posting the videos to Youtube, keep in mind that Youtube Creator will let you edit videos as well as stitch them together.
Have you done some recent videos or live streaming events at your Bed and Breakfast that you would like to share? Please do in the comments, as I am always looking for example to show to other B&Bs!
Knives have come a long way since I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1992, plus there are a lot more brands out there that were not available than. Ask any professional chef or anyone else that loves cooking, whether for pleasure or for a profession, you will get a completely different answer as to the best knives, the best brands and their favorite type of knives. So this article aims to be more informational than opinion, so that the reader can choose their own with more direction.
I personally have always had (and still have) primarily Wüsthof and Henckels (J.A. Henckels) knives, and Dexter (Dexter Russell) for the ones I can badly abuse. My original knives that I used while cooking professionally, I still have almost all of them (several many inches shorter due to years of sharpening-photo above of many of them) with the exception of a boning knife that met a sad end when my husband snapped the tip off (he has since replaced it for me, such a sweet guy). A good knife lasts for a very very long time with TLC, and it’s something to keep in mind when shopping for knives, because you might go into some sticker shock looking at good quality ones, “Just HOW much is that paring knife????”. A good knife will last you decades, and can be kept in the family for many generations. I still have a Wüsthof utility (paring) knife that my Grandfather bought back in the 1920’s before he immigrated from Norway to America, and it’s still a great knife, and it still holds an edge.
Knives are a matter of preference. A lot like a car, there are certain things you want to look for when knife shopping. I would suggest adding to your knife collection slowly. Sets are great, but either you outlay a huge amount of money for a good set, of which you will realistically only use half of the knives a lot, and the others rarely, if at all, or you buy an inexpensive set and you get what you pay for, OR you can think about what you actually need, and invest in them slowly, which is what I would recommend.
Knife Storage:
Storing your knives properly is very important, if you must keep knives in a drawer, I would suggest either getting a custom rack insert for the drawer, or buying plastic knife guards for your knives.
Wood block storage is also very popular for knives; the two things I would caution users about is: don’t, under any circumstances, put your knives away wet, while wood doesn’t hold bacteria as well as plastic, if you do get any type of food contaminant or other particles in the holes you can have problems. When placing knives into the block and removing them, make sure you sheathe and unsheathe the knives with the blunt edge of the top of the knife coming into contact with the knife slot, and not the sharp side. This will help maintain sharpness.
My personal favorite for knife storage is a wall mounted magnetic strip, you can see all your knives at a glance and the risk of them dulling while coming into contact with something else is minimized. The magnets are strong, so be careful when placing your knifes on the rack, as improper placement can also cause some damage.
Some basic rules for knives:
Always dry your knives after use.
Never put them in the sink if dirty, or in a sink filled with water. (while this is common sense, I’ve lost count of the number of B&Bs (and sadly restaurant kitchens as well) I’ve visited that have been guilty of doing this.) While it’s not only extremely unsafe, you risk causing damage to your knives.
After sharpening a knife, rinse well before use. I prefer washing it and than drying it, but don’t go directly from sharpening to cutting, at least wipe it down if nothing else.
Keep your knives sharp! A dull knife will cause more damage and rip the skin if you cut yourself, vs a clean cut from a sharp knife which will heal faster and cleanly.
Never put your good knives in the dishwasher! The wash cycle in a dishwasher vibrates silverware against your knives and contributes to dulling. It can cause delamination of some types of handles, and cause rivets to come off or loosen contributing to unsafe knives, plus most dishwashing liquids, detergents or pods contain caustics ingredients which can damage and pit your knives.
(Look at the above stock photo, look at the knife on the far right side, a rivet is missing and the handle is cracked, leading to an unsafe knife, as the partial detachment from the tang could result in the knife coming apart during use. The crack can also harbor food particles and bacteria.) You should never do this to your knives, even good quality ones can break a knife tip doing this.
Things to look for when knife buying:
The Tang: I really recommend buying full tang knives. Over many years, using other’s knives or “house” knives (what many professional kitchens have for cooks in addition to their own), I’ve found that knives with partial tangs have a short shelf life, they break and they are dangerous when the adhesive that connects the knife tang with the handle comes apart, especially if it’s being used at the time. I’ve seen many stitches as a result of injury’s caused by partial tang knives literally disintegrating while being used. I recommend meandering over to Lansky Sharpeners, who has a very good overview of knife tangs.
The Grip: the grip is a preference, what is it made of? Plastic, rubber, steel, in some cases cork and other materials. Make sure when you buy a knife, especially a Chef’s knife that you will use for chopping, the handle fits well in your hand and is comfortable, I was never a big fan of Victorinox knives (and they are great knives) because I have smaller sized hands, and the handles never felt very comfortable to me, again it’s a personal preference. Wood grips on knives tend to not hold up well under long term use. When knife shopping you may find a better price online for the knife you want and buy it there, but I’d suggest handling them first so you can see what it feels like in your hand and the balance.
Ever sharp knives: to own or not to own. I admit we have several in my house, I rarely use them but my husband does. If you want low maintenance knives, then yes these are the knives for you, but they are not “really” forever sharp. They do dull with repeated use, and you can’t re-sharpen them easily, sometimes not at all.
Riveting and Joins: When buying knives look for the joins and rivets, and see if the handle moves at all when you push the blade sideways. Good quality knives will have zero give, but many generic knives out there, while they look nice, are quite flimsy and not made for heavy duty use.
What are they made of?
Carbon Steel: this the traditional material used the most for the past few hundred years. It can hold an extremely sharp edge, but it does discolor easily. It will discolor some foods, like onions and citrus, as well as you can actually smell what seems like a chemical odor coming from it, and may leave a metallic taste. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use Carbon Steel with these, but it does mean that the acidity in onions and citrus can cause pitting of the blade, if you do use them, wipe the blade down every few minutes in between uses. I find if you are cutting a lot of meat or filleting fish, a carbon steel knife, I personally find, will do a better job as it’s holds an edge the best. Rubbing the blade down with a paste made from water and baking soda when you first get it (and repeat for the first few weeks) helps protect the knife and build up a good patina. Carbon steel knives will change color with use.
High Carbon Stain Free Steel: This is a relatively new alloy that combines the best features of Carbon Steel and new modern alloy metals (Chromium-Molybdenum Steel). Most modern higher end knives are made of this and it’s suggested for professional use.
Stainless Steel: this will not rust or corrode, but is a very poor choice for knives, it’s brittle and it is difficult to keep a very sharp edge on a stainless steel knife.
Ceramic Cutlery: This is a newer process made with modern age ceramics, often zirconium dioxide. Ceramic knives are substantially harder than steel knives, they will not corrode and work well for slicing vegetables, meat (boneless), fruits and bread. The downsides to ceramic, is it’s just like a plate, if it gets dropped, it can shatter or chip. Ceramic knives are not recommended for use with hard to cut items, like bones or frozen foods. While ceramic holds an edge a lot longer than carbon steel, once the edge degrades it needs a professional to re-sharpen it.
Damascus Steel: This is not “true” Damascus, that art has been lost for a long long time, these knives are basically laminated pieces of steel together, and quality can vary a huge amount depending on the maker. If you have a magnetic knife strip that can display your knives where your guests can see them, you will have the oh and ah factor, as they can be quite beautiful, but most of these knives will not outperform a regular good quality knife.
Honorable Mentions (great for knifes that can take some abuse, inexpensive and good for general purpose knives)
Dexter Russell http://www.dexterrussellcutlery.com/
Additional Knives:
MAC https://www.macknife.com/ (While reputedly a great knife brand, Thomas Keller and Charlie Trotter apparently love the line, the quality does seem to be there and it shows well in use.) I can’t say with certainty that this knife line will hold up well under long term use. I’ve test driven several of these, but unlike any of the above knife brands that I have used over the course of many many years, this one is a newer addition to the traditional brands. If you do decide to buy one of these, I would suggest the MTH-80 Professional over the TH-80 Chef Knives. The MTH-80 while the more expensive, is the better knife.
If anyone has any interest, I can do a follow up post on this with a suggested list of what to buy (or at least start out with) if you are just buying a bed and breakfast and need to stock the kitchen with equipment.
We do have over 400 posts on our old blog, ranging from hospitality management, to recipes, to social media for innkeepers and more. Don't forget to check it out in our archives at https://chefforfeng.wordpress.com.
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At a recent innkeeping conference I did a session for innkeepers on protecting themselves and their businesses in terms of computer related things, both online and offline.
