Tips and Tricks

SOME BASICS
One thing I have noticed about those who love to cook in their homes is that they hate cutting vegetables. Getting onion vapors in our eyes that cause us to cry is so uncomfortable. Scraping, picking out and cleaning up all those little seeds in bell peppers becomes annoying. We all strive not only to make our food taste good but also look good. Most people just want to cut down on the time it takes to prepare ingredients that go into a meal. If we learn some basics about knife skills, we will be able to buy the freshest ingredients and prepare them ourselves and still have that extra time for enjoying a meal with friends and family.

8" Chef's Knife and Sharpening Steel

If you have been cutting vegetables with a poorly made steak knife, or some version of, you have probably become frustrated by the amount of time it takes as well as the results. Your frustration may have even led you to buy bags of expensive pre-cut vegetables. The larger, all purpose knives (called Chef’s knives) aren’t just for the Iron Chef’s on T.V. or the Toque wearing chefs in your favorite restaurant. Understandably those big sharp knives can seem intimidating, but using a chef’s knife in your home kitchen will make a world of difference for you! The most obvious fear is that you will cut yourself, but actually it is much safer to use a sharp knife than a dull one as long as you follow some simple and safe techniques.

Choosing the knife for you:
Always use a knife that feels comfortable in your hand

There are three sizes to consider when searching for a basic vegetable prep knife: 6” ,8” or 10” Chef Knife

Look for weight and length first- if the knife is too heavy or too long that you feel uncomfortable and fearful when using it then try another size. I have a small hand so I feel comfortable using a 6” knife for most of my basic vegetable cutting, saving the 8” for when I have larger things to cut such as melons or large eggplant.
If holding a heavier 10” chefs knife feels intimidating then try a smaller size, an 8” perhaps, but try them all, you may be surprised by what you actually feel comfortable using.

Make sure your knife is sharp:
A brand new knife is always sharp, but how do we keep it that way?
Buy a sharpening steel and hone your knife before or after each use.
(A sharpening steel is used to help keep a fine edge on a knife. Honing the knife on a steel is not the same as sharpening it. When you hone the knife you are helping to maintain the sharp edge but eventually that edge will wear down and it needs to be re-sharpened and reshaped professionally.)

Bring your knife in for sharpening once or twice a year, depending on how much you use it. After using your knife for awhile you will be able to tell when honing alone isn’t keeping your knife at its sharpest.

Next we will look at some basic knife cuts that make cutting vegetables more enjoyable and more efficient.