(cheerful piano music)
- Hi there, today we're
going to talk about
one of the most important skills that you
can bring to your kitchen.
That's how to use a knife
correctly in the kitchen.
And how using a sharp knife,
as opposed to a dull knife,
can keep you from hurting yourself.
Two special knives that
you can use in the kitchen
would be, an eight inch chef's knife.
And a four inch paring
knife that you can use
for more delicate cuts.
We're going to show you how to use,
cut, and care for your kitchen knives,
and how buying whole chickens,
whole fruits and vegetables in your store
can save you some money.
Before I get started,
let me wash my hands.
And once your hands are
dry, it keeps you from
having the knives slip in your hand.
I'm also going to show you how to
properly hold a knife.
So you want to take your thumb,
and your index finger,
and grip it on the blade,
but not too firm.
But comfortably.
Then, wrapping the rest
of your hand around it
like so.
What you also want to not do is hold it
for the back handle.
It doesn't give you as much grip
and control over the knife.
Alright?
And the same thing with the pairing knife.
If you want to, you can
hold it the same way,
and grip it the same.
Alright.
A dull knife gives you more
of a annoying feel to it where you can't
really use it.
So that's why people get hurt a lot when
they're using dull knives, because they
have to use much more force.
But if you use a sharper knife,
you can cut through much easily.
Today we're going to show
you how to cut a few things.
We're going to show you
how to cut a tomato.
We're going to show you
how to cut an onion.
Right now we'll just
start off with the tomato.
We took it out right here and we're going
to use the paring knife.
Then we're going to cut it down.
We'll do a small chop,
so what you want to do
is you just want to slice it.
I'll get a sharper, sharper blade.
For a chop.
This what you would use in like, stews and
soups and vegetables and stocks.
You really want to try
and keep your fingers
away from the knife.
Tucked under, so you don't cut yourself.
I'll do it right here
with this one right here.
So you really want to have it where
your fingers are underneath and not
closer to the blade, where
you just guide your fingers
where you want your knife to go.
And you don't hurt yourself like that.
So that's...
The tomato.
What I also like to do is I used to like
to use two cutting boards.
One for vegetables, one for meats.
So you don't really cross contaminate
and get raw juices,
if you're not cooking it properly.
With the onion, we'll cut it in half.
So we'll have a flat cutting surface.
And then we'll cut the ends off.
And then we'll peel off the skin.
What you really want to do
sometimes when you're cutting,
and cooking, is you want to
have a bowl for your scraps,
if you want to use it for composting,
if you want to use it
for your stocks as well.
Then we'll do a rough chop.
What I'll do is I'll just
cut the onion in half,
but keeping it together.
And depending on how
big you want your cut,
that's how far you would go.
This will be again, a rough cut,
or a chop.
And the size that you want it will be
a medium size.
We can also do a mince.
A mince is a smaller cut.
Used in some recipes sometimes,
you'd see a mince on
ginger, a mince on garlic,
or a mince on onion.
What you would do, is
you would slice it first.
(knife knocks against the cutting board)
Keeping it all together,
and then start your mince.
A very fine mince.
What you want to do when you're cutting,
is you really want to
keep the tip of the knife
on the board.
Not letting it leave the board.
A lot of times people just take it
and they go up and down, up and down.
But a safer cut with
just a rocking motion...
Like so.
If you ever want to prevent
the crying in the kitchen,
what you can do is you can
leave it out for a little while,
your onions can be left out.
If you want to soak them in
a little bit of milk as well,
it doesn't take away from the flavor,
but what it does do, is
keep you from crying.
So, ladies, gentlemen,
no crying in the kitchen.
(knife scrapes again the cutting board)
We'll go with that here.
Again, clean as you go,
wiping down your board, just in case
you don't want the flavors to mix.
What we will do right now, upon request is
I'll show you how to cut a bell pepper.
I have a nice way of doing it.
What I do is I cut the four corners off.
Like so.
Cut the edge off, and again,
the cuts are the same.
The mince would be the same.
If you want to do a chop
you would just cut it,
and then chop it.
Again, the rocking motion so the knife
doesn't leave the board.
(crunching sound of knife
slicing bell pepper)
For your paring knife,
for more delicate cuts,
if you wanted to just take the meat
out of your pepper,
You can use it for that as well.
And then we'll do more delicate,
we'll do a smaller cut,
almost like a brunoise,
which is a quarter inch by a
quarter inch by a quarter inch.
(sound of knife slicing bell pepper)
We're going to go again with the mince.
Again, keeping your fingers as a guide.
And then...
(sound of knife cutting the pepper)
Alright, and with the mince, you just want
to control it since it is
a mince, it really doesn't
matter, what the cut is because
what you really want to do is,
if you cut everything evenly,
and at the same size,
you won't have issues
as far as...
One thing being cooked, one
thing being under-cooked.
So a mince really gets it nice and on top.
And right now, with the rocking motion,
it just gives you more power,
and a more steady hand to mince.
And you don't have to worry
about cutting yourself
when you're mincing.
A lot of the times in the kitchen, people
cut themselves because they're so excited
about the cut that
they forget that their fingers are there.
And, before I forget,
underneath my cutting board,
the reason why it's
stayed so still is because
there's a damp rag underneath.
You can use a towel, but as you see here,
if you use a towel, it doesn't
give you a steady surface.
So what you want to do is you just want to
take a damp paper towel, and put it
underneath your board, and it gives you a
sturdy working surface and
it doesn't go anywhere.
Let's talk for a few seconds
about sharpening your knives.
You can go to some kitchen
stores and they can
sharpen your knives for a
small fee or even for free.
And you should do that
at least once a year.
But you can do it at home as well.
You can go to the store and get a few
knife sharpening kits.
You can either use your steel,
or you can use a knife sharpener,
and what you want to
do is you just want to
run your blade on it a few times.
(sound of blade scraping
against sharpener)
Making sure to make sure it's even.
What you want to do is
you want to feel it.
And before you use your knife again,
please make sure you wash it so you get
all the steel off of it.
Aright, so,
let's rinse it off.
And let's wipe it down.
Because using a sharp
knife in your kitchen
can really prevent you
from cutting yourself
or slipping, because like I said before,
dull knives are one of the most dangerous
knives in the kitchen.
'Cause you have to use much more force,
and that's how it slips, and that's how
you have accidents.
So, that's one way of
sharpening your knives, so
make sure you want to do that.
And also with your steel.
The steel can be difficult,
but if you want to do it, just do it slow.
Keep it away from yourself.
And what you want to do
is you want to angle it,
45 degree angle, and come down all the way
to the tip.
Make sure you go back and forth, so...
The blades stays even.
And then once you get good,
(sound of blade scraping
against the steel)
you can go a little bit faster.
(sound of blade scraping
against the steel)
And those are two ways that
you can sharpen your knives
at home.
(cheerful piano music)
