Cutting & Chopping
A word about being safe in the kitchen. I’m listing a few common areas that you will be faced with daily.
Slicing your finger – The way to avoid slicing or cutting your finger is to incorporate what we call “the claw” grip or the 3 finger. Claw grip first. Pretend you were asked to be a big cat like in the Broadway show “Cats’ – and show us your claws. Go on do it…I’ll wait.
Okay. Good. Most likely you held your hand out in front and made a claw. Fingers curl under right? Okay now do that same thing but instead of hand out in front, put it down onto your cutting board. See how your fingers curl under your hand? That’s the way in which to never cut your finger. Grip the food, like an orange or apple and practice this hand hold.
If that doesn’t feel comfortable another way to cut, and one that I use, is the “3 finger and a thumb” method. Holding the item down with your middle finger in front and the fingers to either side behind it, allowing the knife blade to ride against your middle finger, allowing your thumb to push the food item forward into the cutting plane (see picture). You see how I’m holding the food in and pushing it forward like a mini saw. This is good for smaller foods like celery and carrots which we use a lot.
Chef Knife Use
Cutting – Slice forward and rock back on your knife blade. Try it slowly at first. The knife blade is flat to the cutting board and pushing forward through the food item. At the end of the slice, lift you hand towards the ceiling leaving your knife tip on the cutting board, push the food forward under your knife blade ( or move your knife over the food item) and back down and forward through the food (there is a video of this on my website). Try this slowly at first as it takes some practice but when you do it, you will get faster. When you get faster it will reduce your prep time. You cut going forward and draw the blade back in the air and then down and slice forward again. Try it slowly at first but when you do it a lot, you will be quite quick.