Matthias Merges, back in Charlie Trotter’s days.
In one of Homaro Cantu’s autobiographical pieces on Facebook, he talks about watching Matthias Merges break down fish at Charlie Trotter’s, which he basically likens to a religious experience. Now the preacher gets the pulpit himself, in a Sun-Times piece in which Merges, now owner of Yusho, explains what he learns from his knives as he works:
As a chef in a high-pressure kitchen where precision is necessary, you can train your ear to hear the knife cutting through a product. I can hear a dull knife crushing through chives rather than silently slicing through each green bundle.
It’s a fascinating piece and includes a video and photo gallery on proper knife care. [Sun-Times]
