After choosing the right knife for you, it is also important to learn how to use it correctly, reminding you to operate it safely while reducing the burden of long-term use.
1. Learn to hold the knife correctly. Hold a kitchen knife as if you were going to shake hands with the handle. When you pick up a kitchen knife, your index finger should be on the outside of the blade, on the flat side, and your other three fingers should be choked up to the top of the handle, just at the blade. It should be parallel to your body. This is called the pinch grip, and it's the proper way to hold a kitchen knife, offering optimum control and accuracy with your cuts. Because your fingers are closer to the blade, you can control it better and keep it going where you want it to go.
- When you're holding the knife, keep the tip and the blade pointed down at all times to be on the safe side. Kitchen knives should be kept extremely sharp, so be careful around them.
2. Learn to chop properly. While there are a few different styles of chopping food, there are a few basic guidelines that beginners can learn to follow easily. Learning to keep your guiding fingers safely tucked away and make safe cuts is absolutely essentially to kitchen safety.
- In the tip-fulcrum method of chopping, the tip of your knife will never really leave the cutting board. You'll use the tip as a fulcrum, to raise the blunt end of the blade up and down, firmly pushing the knife downward into the food you're chopping.
- In the wrist-fulcrum method, the black side of the blade, near where you're gripping, will never leave the cutting board, and the point will go up and down from the back pivot point, to cut through the food. This is commonly used when slicing onions or other vegetables.
- Never slap your knife onto the cutting board through a vegetable. There's no reason to do this, it's dangerous, and you'll dull the blade.
3. Learn to guide the food properly. Hold the knife in your dominant hand and make your other hand into a claw, fingers curled inward. Place your claw on top of the food you're chopping. Place the flat side of the blade against the knuckles of your claw, with your knuckles tucked under and out of the way. Guide the food under the knife with your claw hand and pivot the blade with your cutting hand.
- Many chefs like to make a show of being able to do this very quickly. It looks dangerous and seems fancy. While it is the "proper" method of chopping, having your guide fingers so close to the knife makes many cooks nervous. It is safer than having your fingers out and exposed, but it takes some practice to get used to. Do what feels comfortable and go slow until you get more experienced.
4. Learn to top and tail. Trying to cut oblong or rounded produce can be dangerous, which is why it's common practice to create a flat working surface from which to chop, dice, or make whatever cut you need to make on your vegetables and fruits. "Topping and tailing" refers to the practice of cutting off the bottom and top ends, which are sometimes somewhat dried out or thin, of produce, to create a flat surface to work from.
- Potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and other rounded fruits and vegetables all should be topped and tailed before you get started. Hold the vegetable firmly on its side, and slice the ends off, then discard them. It's usually then common to cut a tomato, say, in half from flat side to flat side, then chop or dice up each half individually.
