I’ve been in people’s kitchens before that make me believe they probably don’t eat a lot of vegetables.
Watching some people cut vegetables is painful because it takes them forever and the cut usually looks like crap. This happens when they’re a) using the wrong knife, b) using the wrong cutting board or c) not holding the food right while cutting/or cutting it wrong. No wonder people don’t like eating vegetables, it takes for-flippin’-ever to cut them!
I believe that if you know *how* to cut veggies and fruits, you’ll eat them more.
I’ve worked in commercial kitchens where I don’t have time to be slow. So it pays to learn these tricks because you’ll be in and out of the kitchen in no time. It’s also kinda nice to practice those skills and try to get the perfect cut, if you have the time, that is. I learned my knife skills through a culinary class at a community college with a renowned culinary program. I would recommend this to anyone out there who wants to learn more about culinary basics; you’d be amazed at how much you probably don’t know about food!
I use an 8″ Chef’s Knife for almost everything I cut on a large bamboo, wood or plastic cutting board. For Pete’s sake, try not to use a glass cutting board with little steak knives (that’s the worst). (By the way, if you’re one of those people I’m talking about, I’m judging you at all, but I’d like to suggest a few things for you to try.)
Here’s a good one
Then a more specific one about some great cuts to learn
I did some searching for an illustrated knife skill tutorial out there for those of you who would like to know the basics. I found a video that did a good job, with only a few things I semi-disagreed with. She mentions that for a decent 8″ Chef’s Knife you need to spend at least $100. Well, to get a *great* Chef’s Knife, yeah, probably even more than that. I saw a knife in Vienna for about $940.
However, you may be broke like me. So I bought one at Ross for $7.99 and it does the job. Obviously, if you have the cash, get a good one, but don’t let the price hold you back from a getting a Chef’s Knife. FYI, I use the 2nd cutting motion, the Slice for almost everything I do. The Draw looks like it would take longer than the Slice, but whatever floats your boat. Oh! And she even says the dorky thing I always tell people! “A sharp knife is a safe knife!” …I’m fo’ real though. Dull knives will hurt you.
And always remember: Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.
Superb post however , I was wondering if you could write a
litte more on this topic? I’d be very grateful if
you could elaborate a little bit more. Bless you!
"If you chop the celery in slow motion, you will not want to chop the celery very often." (Cheryl Mendelson) Once we rented a house that didn't have a chef's knife in the kitchen and it was painful to make salad.