Knife Skills Knife anatomy Types of knives How

Knife Skills

Knife anatomy

Types of knives

How to use the knife

Hammer Grip • Used for Cleavers and Choppers • Think of how you naturally grip the handle of a blunt knife to cut through something big and tough, like a pumpkin, and the hammer grip is the automatic grip the hand adopts on the handle. • The grip is strong, but without so much control.

Pinch Grip • Used for Chef's Knife • A delicate grip that yields massive control, not the one you'll use for brute force jobs, but ideal for precise chopping.

Pointed Finger Grip • Used for yanagibas (Used by Sashimi chefs) • By placing the forefinger on the spine of the knife the blade is locked into place and becomes a natural extension of the arm. • The blade must be sharp enough and the grip offers absolute precision from the knife.

Dagger Grip • Commonly used by hunters, butchers and fisherman • This is a strong knife grip used to break down carcasses when you need to exert extra pressure. • The grip is similar to the hammer except the blade tip faces in the opposite direction pointing out of the bottom of your grip.

Toward the Thumb Grip • For use with narrow blades and small handle eg French tourne • Using all four fingers wrapped around the handle, the free thumb is used for pushing the ingredient onto it which requires extra skill to cut fast and accurately without ever hitting the fleshy part of the thumb.

Claw grip • • • Fingers kept curled inwards Gripping food with fingertips The side of the knife blade rests against the first knuckle of the guiding hand

Use Knife maintenance Use it Wash it Dry it Store it

Knife Maintenance DON'T LEAVE YOUR KNIVES IN THE KITCHEN SINK. DON'T STORE YOUR KNIVES IN THE UTENSIL DRAWER. ALWAYS WASH YOUR KNIVES BY HAND. SHARPEN THE BLADE. ALWAYS CUT ON CUTTING BOARDS. DON'T LEAVE YOUR KNIVES TO DRY IN THE DISH RACK.

Different vegetable cuts

Vegetable cuts Julienne Chiffonade Jardinière Brunoise Macedoine Paysanne

Cut Julienne Cutting of vegetables into thin strips (3 - 4 cm long) These can be used as a garnish or steamed, fried or sautéed as a main vegetable.

Step 1 Step 4 How to cut Julienne Step 2 Step 3 • Step 1 • Select and peel your vegetables according to the recipe that you are going to prepare. • Step 4 • Stack these up again like a stack of cards as high as you feel safe with to slice. Even the edges as that assures an even result. Then slice them in 4 mm / 1/8 th of an inch slices to make long matchsticks. • Step 2 • Sit the vegetable upright on the cut edge and cut the rounded edges off. The vegetable should now have right angled corners and straight sides.

Cut Chiffonade Slicing of lettuce and leaf vegetables in very fine strips

Step 1 How to cut Chiffonade Step 2 Step 3 • Step 1 • Select your vegetable according to your needs. For things like basil or spinach, gather them into a neat stack then slice lengthwise to make long strips approx 1 mm or roll the stack up and slice them the same width. Rolling them can make it easier, but too big a roll will be harder. • Step 2 • Its fine to roll up herbs such as basil, but not ideal for lettuce or anything you will serve raw as it may bruise them and the final result won't be as crisp. As cabbage and lettuce leaves are already in layers, its easier to cut them into wedges and then take smaller portions of that wedge, gently pressing them flat to slice the same way without rolling to maintain crispness.

Cut Jardinière Cutting of vegetables into batons (3 mm x 18 mm)

Step 1 How to cut Jardinière Step 2 Step 3 • Step 1 • Cut in the same manner as Julienne but with the following sizes. . • Step 2 • The first cut is making the vegetable into 10 or 12 cm length portion slices. Then cut these into long sticks 5 mm to 10 mm wide much like a larger Julienne

Cut Brunoise Cutting of vegetables into very small dice

How to cut Brunoise Step 1 Step 2 This is a fine dice of 4 mm even cubes. Prepare a stack of julienne cut vegetables. Brunoise is precisely the same method as Julienne, but with an extra final stage. Step 3 Group the julienne into a neat stack and cut the sticks into small cubes every 4 mm to make small cubes. This is used for fine diced vegetables such as onion, mushrooms etc. The desired result is 4 x 4 mm cubes

Cut Macedoine Cutting of vegetables into dice (0. 5 cm x 0. 5 cm).

How to cut Macedoine Step 1 Prepare some Jardinière cut vegetables. Macédoine is actually a larger Brunoise but the same method. In this case instead of making Julienne thin sticks, you are making them into larger sticks as per the Jardinière. Step 2 From this stage, instead of making them into 2, 3 or 4 cm batons, proceed as cutting the sticks into 1 cm portions. The desired result is 1 x 1 cm cubes.

Cut Paysanne Cutting of vegetables into thin slices of 1 cm diameter or side according to shape.

How to cut Macedoine Step 1 • Prepare some Jardinière cut vegetables. Then, instead of being in batons or cubes like the Macedoine, cut the vegetables into thin slices. This is an easier cut as its the least formal of the group. Step 2 • Its mostly used for a mirepoix (a base group of flavoursome vegetables such as onion, carrot and celery, or onion, celery and capsicum etc) used in stocks, soups, sauces and casseroles.

Other cutting techniques

Peeling Dicing Chopping Grating

Peeling • Peel is a knife/ blade technique used to pull or strip off the natural external covering or protection of something, like the skin of fruits and vegetables. • The technique is completed correctly when the minimal amount of meat of the fruit is removed with the skin.

Chopping • To cut foods into squares which do not have to be perfectly equal, but should approximate the same size in order to cook evenly. • A chopping board and a chopping knife is usually used to complete this technique.

Dicing • Dicing is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into small blocks or dice. • Aesthetic reasons or to create uniformly sized pieces to ensure even cooking. • Dicing allows for distribution of flavour and texture throughout the dish. • Quicker cooking time.

Grating • The process of transforming solid, firm food items into small pieces by rubbing the item against a grating equipment. • A grater is a hand held metal device that contains numerous raised slots of varying sizes that cut food items into small pieces as the food is being rubbed across the surface of the grater. • A food processor can also be used to grate foods and it may be preferred for food items that are difficult to grate on a manual grater.