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It’s time to upgrade your old knife block.
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Erin Cavoto
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Tag: Knives & Cutlery
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The Internet Is Obsessed with This $50 Heart-Shaped Knife Block Set from Walmart
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We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.There are a number of tools that your kitchen absolutely can’t do without. Sure, there’s some variation from person to person, but there are some that are simply inarguable — everyone needs a skillet and saucepan, for example. We even have a whole series dedicated to such items, and above all, practicality is the number one quality we look for. But even though function is important, it’s hard to resist a kitchen tool that hits the spot aesthetically. A little frill never hurt anybody, right?
That’s why we jump on it if we see an item that marries style and function, and apparently, so does TikTok. Just last week, a user posted a now-viral video of themselves gazing longingly at an item on a shelf in Walmart, even adding a filter to make it look like they had hearts in their eyes. We totally understand why: After all, who wouldn’t fall in love with a heart-shaped knife block set? The $49 offering is from pop culture icon Paris Hilton’s kitchen line, and it’s selling fast at Walmart (probably due to the video amassing over a million views). Here’s why you should grab it before it’s gone.
What is the Paris Hilton 10-Piece Heart-Shaped Stainless Steel Knife Block Set?
We’ve seen a ton of celebrities venture into the home and kitchen space in recent years — Drew Barrymore and Selena Gomez, just to name a couple — and Hilton’s Be An Icon collection is right up there with the best of them, according to the vastly positive reviews across all of the items. A baby pink fry pan, tea kettle, and more are included, and they’re all just as glam as one would expect from the fashionista (without the hefty price tag!).
But the knife set that the internet currently can’t get over is undoubtedly one of the best. It checks all of the boxes: It’s pink, the block is heart-shaped, and you’ll have every knife you could ever need. Seriously: There’s a chef’s knife, santoku knife, paring knife, utility knife, four steak knives, and kitchen shears — all of which are made with high-carbon, golden stainless steel. The handles, which are a glittery pink with gold detailing — are sleek and comfortable. Of course, as stunning as they are, the major showstopper is the bamboo block, which has a secure slot for each piece.
What Walmart Reviewers are Saying
You’ll be “sliving,” as Hilton would put it, once you add this knife block set to your setup. Life’s too short to own dull kitchenware, and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner — so do yourself a favor and gift it to yourself or a loved one before it sells out!
Buy: Paris Hilton 10-Piece Heart-Shaped Stainless Steel Knife Block Set, $49
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Morgan Pryor
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How To Spatchcock a Turkey (An Easier, Simpler Way!)
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We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
While some might believe that the whole Thanksgiving meal centers around the picture-perfect carving of a whole roasted turkey at the table, we’ve found that it can be tricky to cook a bird with such out-of-proportion dimensions and a very thick breast evenly. There’s an easy technique of preparing the turkey, however, that gives you more control over the cooking process and cooks the turkey a lot faster too: spatchcocking.
This technique is borrowed from a method often used for chickens, but we’ve taken it one step further by spatchcocking in a traditional Latin American way. Here’s a new way to spatchcock your bird for faster, better cooking this Thanksgiving.
An Easier Method for Spatchcocking Turkey — the Latin American Way!
In the traditional technique of spatchcocking, the backbone is cut out of the whole bird. The result is a wide butterflied bird where the breast is in the center with a leg on either side. This allows the bird to cook more evenly and more quickly.
A few years ago, however, I learned an alternative way of spatchcocking that I liked even better. In Argentina and other parts of Latin America, the backbone is kept intact. Instead, the cook pulls the legs away from the body, and uses scissors to cut through the thin ribcage on either side of the breast. The breast is pushed up and away from the legs.
The result here is a long butterflied bird with the breast and wings sitting away from the legs. It’s definitely odd-looking, a bit like a frog, but it also cooks more quickly (only about 1 1/12 hours for a 15-pound turkey on a grill) and evenly than a bird that is not butterflied.
In this tutorial we show you how to spatchcock a bird in this way, but we also go one extra step of completely removing the legs from the rest of the turkey’s body.
Why Try Our Spatchcock Method?
Here’s why I like the Latin American way of spatchcocking for turkey, as opposed to the more traditional “flattened butterfly” method.
Our Spatchcocking Tips for Success
If you plan to try this technique with your Thanksgiving turkey, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Keep in the mind that this style of spatchcocking means that the thick breast is not flattened out very much so in my testing, I found that the legs actually cooked faster than the breast. To deal with this, I start cooking the breast first and then add in the legs a bit later so that the white and dark meats were done at approximately the same time.
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Christine Gallary
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I Tested 10 Chef’s Knives That Are $25 or Less — This One Was Amazing
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We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
As a former professional chef and a long-time equipment tester, I have an arsenal of kitchen knives of all kinds, brands, and price points. And I have to admit: I’m partial to ones that cost upwards of $100. So, when I tested chef’s knives that sell for $25 or less, my main concern was that I wasn’t going to like any of them. Turns out, I liked three of them — and would even go as far as to say I loved one of them.
I rounded up a sampling of 10 inexpensive knives from popular and reputable manufacturers, and put them to the test: slicing ripe tomatoes, chopping onion, mincing garlic, fileting steak, and more! Here are the ones I liked best.
Do you have an inexpensive chef’s knife that you love? Tell us about it in the comments below.
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Sharon Franke
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To Carve Pumpkins Safely, You Only Need These Two Tools
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We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
While those inexpensive pumpkin carving kits you see at the grocery store may seem appealing (they promise everything you need — and when is the last time a plastic saw ever hurt anyone?), they’re actually not your best bet.
“I don’t use them,” says expert pumpkin carver Hugh McMahon, who heads a team that makes 300 jack-o’-lanterns a season (including portraits of Michael Jackson and Albert Einstein!). Not only do those chintzy orange knives break too easily, but they’ll also never give you very detailed results. They’re not always the sharpest, and you know what they say about using dull knives (they’re more dangerous than sharp ones!).
Instead, McMahon says there are only two tools you need to carve a pumpkin safely.
The Only 2 Tools You Need for Pumpkin Carving
1. A Serrated Vegetable Knife
The best tool for cutting the eyes, mouth, and nose out of your jack-o’-lantern is something that’s probably already sitting in your kitchen: “I use a fruit and vegetable knife with a serrated edge,” says McMahon, who notes that his chosen knife is eight inches long. “You want one with a thin blade so you can turn it easily, which will give you a more precise shape.”
Just as when you’re cutting fruits and veggies to eat, a sharper knife is a safer knife. “You want to saw through the pumpkin with it,” says McMahon, explaining that the motion should be a slow back and forth — not a pushing one. This way, the knife has a better grip on the pumpkin and makes easier cuts, which means you’re less likely to have an accident. We like Victorinox Swiss Classic Paring Knife, which you’ll get plenty of use out of the rest of the year to slice through everything from tender tomatoes to hearty root veggies.
You know how those plastic pumpkin-carving kits always come with a scooper meant for scraping out the seeds? McMahon has a much better suggestion: “I go to the 99-cent store and get a soup ladle — and then I break off the handle,” he says. It’s deeper than those kit scoopers and it can hold a lot more pumpkin guts at once. Note: You don’t have to break the handle off; doing so just makes it easier to really get in there.
Bonus tip: McMahon actually likes to cut a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin (instead of the top, as is more traditional) and scoop from there. “Then you can hide the electric cord to a light, and it keeps the shape of the pumpkin better,” he says. Our editors love GIR’s inexpensive silicone ladle for soup season, and it’s sturdy enough to make scooping out all those delicious pumpkin seeds (and the corresponding pulp) a breeze.
You really don’t need any extra tools, but if you’re looking to create a super-intricate design this year, there are two other instruments that will come in handy for your carved creations.
The best way to take your carving skills up a notch is to invest in an X-ACTO knife (you can buy one at any art supply store) for detail work. McMahon says he uses these artist’s knives when he wants to cut into — but not all the way through — the pumpkin’s skin.
A word of warning, though: It is much easier to accidentally poke yourself with an X-ACTO knife than with a paring knife, so you’ll want to be extra careful. That said, a sharp paring knife could also be used.
Wire-end modeling tools are meant for sculptors — and you are kind of sculpting a jack-o’-lantern when you carve it. Most at-home carvers probably won’t need the level of precision that this tool gives you, but McMahon says he scrapes it against pumpkin skin to smooth it after he’s cut into it with an X-ACTO knife.
A note on safety: No matter which tools you’re using to make your jack-o’-lantern, you’ll want to clear off a large workspace and keep all of the instruments you’re using in one place, so you know where they are at all times. “What you don’t want is to be blindsided by a sharp point when grabbing something,” says McMahon. Because the only thing you should be cutting is your pumpkin.
What do you use to carve pumpkins?
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Robin Hilmantel
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