Bar Supplies: Knives

Series Summary

Bartenders have a rough but oh so important job. Not only do they have to deal with speedy demands of costumers, they also have to make sure that people's good times don't go too far. Let's face it- its not easy to tell someone they have had too much to drink. One unruly customer can destroy everybody's good time. A good bartender also adds to the atmosphere of a place. If a costumer receives terrible drinks or awful service, the bar's reputation will suffer, and so will the bartender's tips! Part of being a good bartender is having the right supplies in your bar. In this free video series our expert will show you the bar supplies you'll need to meet all your bartending needs. You will learn how to pick out and use bar knives, bar mats and bar towels. You will also learn how to use bar jiggers, shakers, garnish trays and pour spouts. Get tips on using a wine tool and strainers. If you are a bartender or bar owner, let our expert show you everything you need to know about basic bar supplies.

Video Transcript

"Today in this segment of bar tools I'm going to discuss the Bar Knife. Now, it is imperative to have a knife behind every bar for a variety of reasons. The first and most obvious is going to be cutting and preparing your garnishes, other that that, zesting your fruit, in order, for certain drinks and pretty much just all around you're going to find reasons behind the bar where a knife's going to come in handy. Now, I'm not going to insult your intelligence and explain a knife deeper than that because there really isn't much to it, but I am going to show you how to correctly cut a lime or a lemon for bar use. So you're going to take your lime, we have our cutting board already set up. Always remember to have your bar towel underneath to prevent slippage. You're going to take your knife and you're going to just cut off the ends, like so, making sure that you have nothing but the flesh of the fruit showing on both sides. At that point you're going to cut it in half, just like that, and then what you want to do is you want to make a slight maceration, it's a great word, right into the lime, like that. Finally you just cut down about three to four slices per lime and that is how you correctly cut bar fruit with a knife. So you have a nice little indent to be able to place that on the side of a glass."