All too often I see friends and family cutting with the smallest dullest knife they can find. Because a small knife is easier to control, and a dull knife means it is harder to cut yourself, right? Wrong! Don’t worry I once thought this too and I learned quickly after trying to cut sweet potatoes with a dull paring knife. There is a reason if every chef could only choose one knife to work with it would be a chef’s knife (typically 6-8 inches) and contrary to uneducated belief a sharper knife is a safer knife. If a knife can easily pass through root vegetables in one chop with less force, then this is much safer than the alternative. You now know you need a sharp chef’s knife to work with but there are so many options and how do you get it sharp? Any knife can be a sharp one given the right tools so don’t consider this when making a purchasing decision. Instead, you want to look at what metals are used and what style is most comfortable to you. The metals and thickness of them will determine how long a knife will last and how long it will hold an edge. A knife like the Wüsthof Classic Wide Chef Knife ($200) will last forever because of the hard metal used. Consequently, this hard metal can be harder to sharpen. A knife like the Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef’s Knife ($40) will strike a nice balance between durability and ease of sharpening at a budget-friendly price. Now you have a quality chef’s knife but what do you need to sharpen it? There are devices that cost upwards of $500 but for a home chef that is cooking 4-7 a week then a simple hand sharpener will cut it, no pun intended. Use the sharpener once a month to keep the blade sharp and use a honing rod before each use to keep the edge straight. Also, pair your knife with a nice cutting board to get the most out of your knife.
Now to put your nice new sharp chef’s knife to work. Knife skills can be determined much by the cuisine you are cooking but there are a few simple skills that will take you a long way. First, to hold the knife you want to pinch the metal right in front of the grip with your index finger and thumb. The rest of your handle will rest on the grip. With your off-hand use a claw grip to hold whatever you are cutting. This will prevent you from cutting the tips of your fingers. To chop you want the blade to move in a rocking motion from tip to tail. To chop small items like garlic you can hold the tip of the blade on the board and just move the rear of the blade. To dice is to cut into equal pieces so several cuts are needed. For example, to dice an onion you want to cut the onion down the middle through the root and stem. Remove the top layers and lay on the flat side. Next, make several horizontal cuts along with the onion toward the stem but don’t cut all the way through the end you want this to stay intact for now. Next, make a transverse cut through the middle of the onion. This will ensure all pieces are the same size. Finally, make vertical slices and you now have little bits of onion perfect for cooking. To slice is simple. To slice a tomato simply lay the tomato on its side and make even slices through it. Congratulations, you now have a nice new sharp knife and know how to use it with some basic knife skills. Remember practice makes perfect so try French onion soup to hone your onion dicing skills.
A Home Cook's Tour 