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Food For Thought: The Many Knives Of Nancy Leson

Nancy leson
The cleaver belonged to Nancy's husband Mac's mother. It's stamped "patented1886" and probably that old. The serrated Henckels was her $1 thrift shop score.

Who could possibly get all huffy about steak knives?  Nancy Leson's sister Sherry, that's who. 

When Nance told me how honked off Sherry was about them, I had to call her in Philadelphia for confirmation.  Sherry turned out to be a woman of strong—though strange—convictions.

"I say, if you present me with a steak that cannot be cut with a butter knife, do not give it to me.  I don't even own a steak knife,” she said. 

I suggested to Nancy that her sister had probably never come in second in a sales contest..

I don't really have strong feelings about steak knives.  DeGroot and I have been very happy with ours and always share it without squabbling.

I've never spent much money on knives but I was recently seduced by a Kickstarter campaign for the Cook Sharp Misen (for “miseen place”). It looks like a terrific deal for my $65 contribution and I'm looking forward to getting mine sometime this March.  I'll file a full report when I do.

"The difference between the $5 steak and the $20 steak is the steak knife." -- My Mom

Dick Stein joined KNKX in January 1992. He retired in 2020 after three decades on air. During his storied radio career, he hosted the morning jazz show, co-hosted and produced "Food for Thought" with Nancy Leson and wrote and directed the Jimmy Jazzoid live radio musical comedies and 100 episodes of Jazz Kitchen.