If you want to cook delicious meals, you’ll need to know how to use all your equipment properly, especially your knives. There are many reasons why you should use a sharp knife in the kitchen, but sharp knives can be dangerous if you handle them incorrectly. To handle your kitchen knives correctly, read below and discover the four basic knife skills you should learn.
1. Slice
To cut meat, vegetables, fruit, and more into smaller pieces, you must learn to slice. First, hold the handle of your knife firmly in your dominant hand. Then, place the blade of the knife against the item you want to slice. Before you press down, place your knuckles on your other hand against the side of the blade and make sure to keep your fingers out of the way. Then, press down firmly to slice.
2. Dice
The second of the four basic knife skills you should learn is dicing. You’ll usually use this technique to chop vegetables, such as onions or tomatoes, into small cubes. If you want to dice an onion or another vegetable, the first thing you need to do is slice it in half. Then, place the flat side down on the cutting board and turn the onion toward you. Then, you’ll make a few even, vertical cuts on the onion before turning the side of the onion with the cuts toward your hand with the knife. Finally, you’ll use your knife to slice the rest of the onion into small cubes.
3. Mince
Mincing is a very simple skill that you’ll use to chop vegetables and herbs into very tiny pieces. For herbs, you’ll want to hold all the stems and leaves together. Then, using your other hand, you’ll chop the herbs into small pieces. Then you’ll continue to chop the pieces into smaller pieces until they become very small and fine.
4. Chiffonade
If you want to garnish a dish, you can use the chiffonade cut. Usually, you’ll use this type of cut on herbs, such as basil or sage. Before you begin to chiffonade, you need to take the leaves of the herb, place them together, and roll them into a tight, cigar-like shape. Then, holding the herbs together with one hand, use your other hand to make very thin slices. When you finish this process, you’ll end up with beautiful, ribbon-like herbs that you can use to garnish your dishes.
