Food for Thought: Knife Basics

We all love to cook. The act of taking the beauty of something raw and making it into something declicous. It's with in us all and our passion for it is hidden because we lack the confidence. So to get you into cooking, ill teach you some of the basics.

It hurts to get cut by a knife, I know. I've done it time and time again. But just to warn you, when you play with knives, you're going to get cut. I'm here to tell you some tips to avoid that.

Always have a sharp knife. Yes, I know, doesn't that raise the risk of cutting yourself? Yes it does, but in a way it's better. If you were to accidently cut youre finger with a dull knife, it hurts more cause it tears, which may cause scaring. With a sharp knife, the cut is clean and doesn't hurt as much. It will also heal much faster. Also, you're food will come out much more nice. It's all about the food by the way. Also you're knife should be of good quality and blanced. But if i went into knives, this post would be way to long.

When holding the knife,your back 3 fingers should be at the handle of the knife and your thumb and index finger should be at the base of the blade. This will give you more control rather than just gripping the whole handle entirely.

The proper way to hold the food while cutting is using what we call "The Claw." Or as I like to call it "Bear ready to kill." Haha. Ok. So when you hold it you want to keep all fingers tucked inside so the blade will never have the chance to cut off those nice new nails you got. And also the thumb should be behind all the fingers like in the shown picture. The blade should slide gently on the knuckles of your fingers. And be sure not to raise the blade above the knuckles or youd have yourself quite a mess. Start off slow, and you should be able to get the hang of it. Then you can be a chopping master.

Last, you should be organized. Be sure to have a wet towel underneth your cutting bored so it doesn't slide all over the place. And also, your bored should be clean without a lot of food parts everywhere. This will cause you to cut in differnt angles causing blood spill potential. Also keep your area dry and be sure never to cut chicken then veggies on the same bored. Yea, gross.

There are many other tips I can give you, but it would be better if I were there to show you hands on. So if you ever need help cutting some food, I can be there with a knife in my hand standing behind you. Scary? Well at least we will make good food.

Pictures from-
www.macadaan.com/
www.knifeforums.com/