Knife Skills – A cooking must!

May 27, 2010

It’s fun watching my daughter branch out and become more comfortable in the kitchen.  In our family she’s always been our dessert specialist, but in college – apparently you cannot live by dessert alone.  Frequently on weekends, I  get the text “Mom, I’m going to the grocery store, how do I make…..”  During winter break we went to a Chinese New Year cooking class together, and both learned something new about cutting red peppers.

It reminded me of some of the fundamentals.  I wrote before about how I was humbled by a toaster oven, reminding me to follow directions.  The cooking class reminded me that my knives are probably my most important cooking utensil. I remember how excited I was to get my really good knives when we were married.  After 30 something  years, we now have two sets of knives  – mine have become un-useable to my husband because with pressure, they are now left handed knives.  The rest of the family has another set. (That excludes the serrated ones which are only for righties, unless specially ordered)

Importantly, keeping sharp knives is safer and makes cooking much easier for you to cook with.  My mother is afraid of sharp knives and I can’t tell you how many times the knife has slipped, or it’s taken the force of ten strong men to cut a cantaloupe. In my house, I use the steel on my knife to hone it every time it comes out of the block.  They get professionally sharpened regularly ( well, not as often as they should, but occasionally!)

Because I’m still learning, ( I may love to cook, but I’m not terribly skilled) I ordered a book on knife techniques.  After reading it, the good news is that you don’t need to purchase one.  With a few helpful techniques (which you probably have already adopted) you are in business.  If you want a primer on knives through cutting here’s a great video, if a little dry.  If you want the speed course, here’s another video where more is left to your observational powers.

What are the two most important things I’ve learned in the last ten years?

1.  You can peel a clove of garlic most easily by smashing it with your knife handle like a hammer.

2.  The red pepper trick?  Core your pepper, cut through one side, lay it flat, carve a little “v” out of the bottom and you have a flat sheet of paper to slice.  Thank you Jo!

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Filed under: Cooking Tips, Kitchen Tips

Tags: chef knife, chefs knife, how to cutting, how to onion, julienne, kitchen knife, knife cuts, paring knife