Knife UnitTips from Chef Ross

Knife Sharpening

When sharpening a knife against a three-sided whetstone, go from the coarsest to the finest surface.

Knife Sharpening

Honing a knife against a steel straightens the blade between sharpening.

Gripping a Knife The most common grip: Hold the handle with three fingers while gripping the blade between the thumb and index finger.

Grip Variation

Grip the handle with four fingers and place the thumb on

the front of the handle.

Gripping a Rigid Boning KnifeGrip the handle in a fist with four fingers and thumb. This grip allows you to use the knife tip to cut around joints and separate flesh from bone when boning meat and poultry.

Knife Control Grip the item being cut with three fingertips and your thumb, keeping your fingertips curled back. Hold the knife in the other hand. Lift the heel of the knife’s while keeping the knife’s tip on the cutting board.

Knife Control Using the second joint of your index finger as a guide, cut a slice using a smooth, even downward stoke.

Knife Control

• Adjust the position of the guiding finger after each slice to produce slices of equal size.

• After a few cuts, slide your fingertips down the length of the item and continue slicing.

• For this slicing technique, the knife’s tip act as the fulcrum.

Knife ControlUsing the second joint of your index finger as a guide, lift the knife’s tip and slice by drawing the knife slightly back toward you and down through the item, cutting the item to the desired thickness

• The motion of the knife should come almost entirely from the wrist, not the elbow.

• Allow the weight of the knife to do most of the work; very little downward pressure needs to by applied to the knife. For this slicing technique, your wrist should

Slicing Wash and destem the leaves as necessary. Stack several leaves on top of each other and roll them tightly like a cigar.

Slicing Make fine slices across the leaves while holding the leaf

roll tightly.

SlicingPeel the item (if desired) and place it on a cutting board. Make even slices perpendicular to the item being cut.

SlicingPlace the peeled item on a cutting board.

Slicing

• Holding the knife at a 45-degree angle, make the first cut.

• Roll the item a half turn, keeping the knife at the same angle, and make another cut.

• The result is a wedge-shaped piece with two angled sides.

• SlicingPlace the peeled item on a cutting board. Holding the knife at a 45-degree angle, make the first cut.

Slicing

• Roll the item a half turn, keeping the knife at the same angle, and make another cut.

• The result is a wedge-shaped piece with two angled sides.

• Slicing Slice the item into long slices of the desired thickness.

• Cut the slices into strips of the desired width.

• Slicing Cut the strips at an angle to produce diamond

shapes.

• Horizontal Slicing With your hand opened and your hand arched

upward, hold the item to be cut firmly in the center of your palm.

• Horizontal Slicing

Hold the knife parallel to the table, slice a pocket to the desired depth, or cut through the item completely.

• Chopping Hold the item being chopped with your other hand. It may not be necessary to use your finger as a guide because uniformity is not crucial.

• Chopping Parsley and Similar FoodsWash the parsley in cold water; drain well. Remove the parsley sprigs from the stems.

• Chopping Parsley and Similar Foods Grip the knife in one hand.

With the other hand spread flat, hold the knife’s tip on the cutting board.

Chopping Parsley

• Keeping the knife’s tip on the board, chop the parsley sprigs by rocking the curved blade of the knife up and down while moving the knife back and forth over the parsley.

• Chopping Parsley and Similar Foods Place the chopped parsley in a kitchen towel or a double layer of cheesecloth.

Chopping Parsley

• Rinse it under cold water and squeeze out as much water as possible.

• The chopped parsley should be dry and fluffy.

• Chopping Garlic Break the head of the garlic into individual cloves with

your hands.

Chopping Garlic

• Lightly crush the cloves using the flat edge of a chef’s knife or a mallet.

• They will break open and the peel can be separated easily from the garlic flesh

• Chopping GarlicWith a flat hand, hold the knife’s tip on the cutting board.

Chopping Garlic

• Using a rocking motion, chop the garlic cloves to the desired size.

• Garlic is usually chopped very fine.

• Cutting Sticks and DicingJulienne - (ju-lee-en) a stick-shaped item with dimensions of 1/8 inch 2 inches (3 mm 5 cm).

When used with potatoes, this cut is sometimes referred to as an Allumette (al-yoo-MEHT).

• A fine julienne has dimensions of 1/16 inch 1/16 inch 2 inches (1.5 mm 5 cm).

• Cutting Sticks and DicingBatonnet - (BAH-toh-nay) a stick-shaped item with dimensions of 1/4 inch 2 inches (6 mm 6 mm 5 cm).

• Cutting Sticks and DicingBrunoise - (btoo-nwaz) a cube-shaped item with dimensions of 1/8 inch 1/8 inch 1/8 inch (3 mm 3mm 3mm).

1/16-inch (1.5mm) cube is referred to as a fine Brunoise.

• Cutting Sticks and DicingSmall dice - a cube-shaped item with dimensions of 1/4 inch 1/4 inch 1/4 inch (6 mm 6 mm 6 mm).

• Cutting Sticks and DicingMedium dice - a cube-shaped item with dimensions of 1/2 inch 1/2 inch 1/2 inch (1.2 cm 1.2 cm 1.2 cm).

• Cutting Sticks and DicingLarge dice - a cube-shaped item with dimensions of 3/4 inch 3/4 inch 3/4 inch (2 cm 2 cm 2 cm).

• Cutting Sticks and DicingPaysanne - (pahy-sahn) a flat, square, round or triangular item with dimensions of 1/2 inch 1/2 inch 1/8inch (1.2 cm 1.2 cm 3 mm).

• Cutting Julienne and Batonnet Peel the item (if desired) and square off the

sides.

Cutting

• Trim the item so that the slices cut from it will be the proper length.

• Cut even slices of the desired thickness, 1/8 inch (3 mm) for julienne or 1/4 inch (6 mm) for Batonnet.

• Cutting Julienne and BatonnetStack the slices and cut them evenly into sticks (also referred to as “planks”) that are the same thickness as the slices.

• Cutting Brunoise and Small, Medium, and Large DiceBatonnet and julienne sticks and the large, medium, small and Brunoise dices cut from them.

• Cutting PaysanneCutting Paysanne from a 1/2-inch 1/2-inch (6-mm 6-mm) stick.

• Dicing an Onion

Using a paring knife, remove the stem end.

Onion

• Trim the root end but leave it nearly in tact (this helps prevent the onion from falling apart while dicing).

• Peel away the outer skin; be careful not to remove and waste too much onion.

• Dicing an Onion Cut the onion in half through the stem root. Place the cut side down on the cutting board.

• Dicing an OnionCut parallel slices of the desired thickness vertically through the onion from the root toward the stem without cutting completely through the root end

• Dicing an OnionMake a single horizontal cut on a small onion or two horizontal cuts on a large onion through the width of the large onion, again without cutting through the root end.

• Dicing an OnionTurn the onion and cut slices perpendicular to the other slices to produce diced onion.

• Mincing Shallots

Peel and dice the shallots, following the procedure for peeling and dicing an onion.

• Mincing ShallotsWith a flat hand, hold the knife’s tip on the cutting board.

Using a rocking motion, mince the shallots with the heel of the knife.

• TournerCut the item being “turned” into pieces 2 inches (5 cm) 3/4 to one inch (2 to 2.5 cm).

Tourne’

• Each piece should have flat ends. (Potatoes, turnips and beets may be cut into as many as six or eight pieces; carrots can simply be cut into 2-inch lengths.)

• Peeling is optional because in most cases the item’s entire surface area is trimmed

• TournerHolding the item between the thumb and forefinger, use a tourne knife or a paring knife to cut seven curved sides on the item, creating a flat-ended, football-shaped product.