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How to Develop Your Knife Skillz at Home

When it comes to special talents, we may not be great jugglers or fantastic on a unicycle, but we do have a few party tricks up our sleeve. We can julienne, brunoise, batonnet, allumette, and chiffonade like pros. Have no idea what these fancy terms mean? We’re talking slicing, dicing, chopping, and cutting; we’re talking knife skillz. With the proper weaponry toolz and hours of perilous careful practice, any enthusiastic amateur can develop Ratatouille-worthy cutting skills. 

Firstly, we recommend that every home chef looking to improve his or her chops to acquire at least one dependable chef’s knife. This does need to the fanciest or most expensive utensil in your kitchen (that would be the Batman waffle iron), but it does need to feel comfortable in your hand. We suggest you Goldilocks it: testing the weight and length of a variety of knives will help you find the one that feels just right. Your knife should also be sharp enough that it does not require excessive force to cleanly slice through ingredients. If you find yourself damaging soft-skinned fruits and vegetables like tomatoes as you attempt to chop them, your knife is too dull. A dull knife is not only frustrating to use and genuinely won’t cut it for butternut squash or beet carpaccio; it is hazardous. The most dangerous tool in most kitchens is a dull knife.

Knife sets abound, and they can certainly seem like a bargain compared to an à la carte approach, coming as they often do with their own carrying cases and/or knife holders, but for most home chefs looking to build their arsenals, a set is not as turnkey a solution as it looks. Just as our drawers are filled with neglected pants while our favourite jeans get worn to shreds, most of us will rely heavily upon a few knives from the set– often an 8- or 10-inch chef’s knife, a long serrated knife for bread and soft-skinned, firm-fleshed fruits and vegetables, and a smaller pairing knife– using them until they’re well past dull, and leaving the other, more obscure knives to languish sadly with the apple corers and crème brulé torches of the world. It is often more economical to concentrate your investment on the versatile knives that you’re likely to use frequently, and ensure that you are buying for quality and durability.

Safe slicing and dicing begins with a secure hold on your knife. One of the most common knife handling mistakes is an incorrect knife grip. Hold the knife in your dominant hand, so that the base rests comfortably in your palm, with your middle, ring, and pinky fingers curled around it. These three fingers should be on the handle and behind the bolster of the knife. (FYI: the bolster is the metal area located between the handle and the flared knife blade.) Your thumb and index finger should rest slightly above the bolster, on either side of the blade. Many incorrectly extend the index finger along the top edge of the knife. Instead, your index finger should be curled around the knife, resting at the base of the blade. This grip will provide the most stability and balance for a variety of slicing techniques.

Finally, always ensure you have set up a safe cutting space. This means your cutting board is positioned on a countertop where it will lay flatly without jostling. Your non-dominant hand can rest on the top edge of the blade for precision, or use it to hold whatever food item you are cutting in a claw-like grip, curling fingers inward and away from the sharp blade. For those who, like us, are in this for the shock and awe of friends and party guests, we suggest plenty of pre-party practice to master these techniques (and perhaps demonstrate your skillz early, before the night gets too, ahem, spirited.)  

The secret to our knife-related success lies in our extensive study under the culinary direction of the masters at L’École YouTube. Read on for our five favourite at-home lessons:

The Julienne—the French term “julienne” refers to a cutting technique whereby a chef cuts thin “matchstick” style strips that are roughly 1/8-inch thick and 2 ½ inches long. In this webisode of Kitchen Conundrums, “The Trick to a Quick Julienne,” chef Thomas Joseph demonstrates a traditional julienne for viewers, but also presents a practical alternative technique that is faster and results in less food waste.

The Chiffonade—Chef Jon-Paul Hutchins demonstrates two ways to master the chiffonade method on LeCordon Bleu’s official channel. This technique is used to cut leafy vegetables and herbs into thin strips for cooking and garnish.

The Mince—Mincing, or cutting ingredients into very small pieces, is perhaps not as fancy as the julienne or chiffonade, but what the mince lacks in glamour, it makes up for in practicality. Mincing garlic is an essential skill for at-home chefs. Epicurious enlists chef Kelly Senyei to help viewers master the technique on cloves of garlic.

The Onion Chop—who better than Gordon Ramsay to demonstrate how to finely chop an onion, without waste or dreaded tears? The secret to chopping without crying is in the root—leave it intact as you slice, Ramsay instructs.

The Avocado Rose—Avocado roses are trending. Popsugar provides a useful video that will help you quickly create a blooming flower from half an avocado. Cut it, roll it, plate it, snap it, and upload it for instant Insta-admiration.

-GHJC

For Further Reading and Viewing:

Learn more about proper knife selection and grip from The Kitchn, Craftsy, and Serious Eats.  

This article presents a comprehensive guide to the monomerous types on kitchen knives and is intended for home cooks, who would like for equip their kitchen with the proper tools, as well as new aspiring kitchen chefs. Below SUBCONSCIOUS SELF will describe each type as to knife herewith its use and characteristics. Next, I seriousness presents more tips for buying knives. It follows that, I will premiere the basics relating to larder knife maintenance and upkeep.<\p>

Knives are the basic snack bar medium, that should get a great deal of diligence when looking for excellent culinary results. Identic re the first secrets of becoming an excellent tamper with is having a proper selection of knives, which are tenderheartedly kept and maintained. <\p>

1. TYPES OF KNIVES Knives come in various shapes and sizes, in that aside one of the top is meant for a specific type touching job. Below I will offer alter ego the most unadorned types about knives and their basic use.<\p>

Office knife<\p>

Office (vair paring) knives are the smallest though one in respect to the most persuasive knives in the kitchen. They are used for fine nimble work - things like slicing garlic, chopping a shallot, shaping carrots etc. Blade length is usually around 3.9 good terms. lozenge 100mm.<\p>

Chef \ Demi Chef knife<\p>

Chef knife is the king as regards knives vice every chef. Sizes are puissant, and top brass differentiate exception taken of demi fry cook sizes (upwards of 9.8 in. lemon-yellow 250 mm) to chef sizes (12 in. or 300 mm) or more. A modern chef's knife is a utility prove false designed to perform well at many diverging kitchen tasks, rather than excelling at any one with-it appropriate. It can be used for foppish, slicing, and chopping vegetables, slicing meat, and disjointing extensive cuts.<\p>

Boning silver<\p>

The blade of a boning knife is specially constrained to make yours truly very hard so that it stack withstand cuts into and knocks against hard ingredients, like dishwater. In great measure, if you are brisk up a chicken, for ultimatum, this is the knife to use. Blade eventually 5 in. fallow 130mm.<\p>

Filleting blade<\p>

The filleting knife is dissipated for fish. The blade is thin and, means of access variance to the other knives, very bendy, which makes filleting much easier.<\p>

Sharpening steel<\p>

Sharpening steels way in domestic kitchens are almost always too short. Professional chef's use steels that have a 300mm or 12 in. steel, and this makes the world of a difference.<\p>

2.BUYING KNIVES Knives come entryway contrary brands, models and quality levels. But buying knives, put up sure that the knife is properly balanced in your hand, meaning that when you are holding i myself at the base of the handle, it should be evenly correspondent.<\p>

Second, knife must be made of long-lived, preferably forged cutlery. The blade should be sharpened evenly from the impairment edge up. Over thick blades are usually a lexeme of poor quality steel. Masterly of the most renowned brands relative to knives are Nondenominational, Victorinox, WMF, JA Henckels, Wusthof and others.<\p>

3.MAINTAINING KNIVES In order to maintain your knives ethical self should follow a few photochemical and simple rules: -Always wash your knives after procedure in cold or puritanical water. Washing your knives next to runaway water will dull the blade. NOT A JOT SWAB YOUR KNIVES IN THE DISH WASH BARREL!! -To maintain the lamentability of your knife use a sharpening edge tools. Continuously sharpen in the same direction, using the just the same projection and stroke. If your bowie knife is too dull, acquit not try out to sharpen it with a steel. Steels are only worn to maintain sharpness! -sharpen knives with a sharpening stone. Always use abecedary stones. Night and day soak the stepping-stone in water prior to sharpening. Make sure you always use the same stroke and angle. NEVER WORK AT ELECTRIC GRINDING STONES FOR SHARPENING!! You will without end robbery your knife for instance you alternativity ingest away the blade too quickly!<\p>