Hello, Jack Middleton, the Empowered Vegan
here.
And in this video I'm going to show you how
to properly hold a knife, and I'm going to
give you some tips so that you never cut yourself
again.
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In this video we're going to go over some
really basic knife fundamentals that are going
to set you up for success in your chopping
world.
One of the first things that I teach my students
how to do when they're learning how to cook
is how to hold a knife properly.
It sounds simple, but I would say 99% of the
people that I work with aren't doing it right.
So, let's make a video about it.
So, when it comes to holding a knife properly,
it's really simple.
Most people you'll find end up holding knives
like this.
Or they might actually hold it like this.
What you really want to do to make sure that
you have a firm grip on the knife is you want
to hike your hand up the blade, and you actually
want to have your thumb pinching on one side,
your forefinger pinching on the other, and
you want to have this finger actually over
top of the back or top of the blade.
That way when you're chopping something you've
got a firm solid grip.
The knife's not going to slip anywhere.
Even if it catches on something hard on the
cutting board, you're in a solid state.
So, that's pretty simple and that's really
all you need to know about this hand when
it comes to using a knife.
This hand is actually a bit more of the issue,
because this is the hand that always gets
cut.
So, what do you do with this hand to make
sure that you're able to chop fast without
cutting yourself.
What you want to make sure if is that you've
got this hand in the right position.
So, the chef term for this hand position is
called eagle's claw.
And this is something everybody learns in
chef school or typically at their first job
and it's how to hold this hand correctly.
Now, when you have your hand like this, your
finger tips are tucked back.
Your pinky and your thumb are also tucked
behind your first three fingers and that way
the blade can come right up against those
knuckles without having any danger of cutting
those finger tips off.
So, the main thing that you want to keep in
mind is that you always want to have first
knuckles forward.
Pinky and thumb tucked back.
As long as you can remember those two simple
things, then you're setting yourself up for
success.
Now this shape is going to change depending
on what kind of veggie you have your hand
on.
So, if you're on something small like a clove
of garlic, it might look like that, or if
it's on something bigger, like a potato, you
might have it more spread out.
But you're always going to keep that same
structure no matter what you're cutting.
This might feel a little bit awkward at first.
I know that it did for me.
And it really is just a matter of building
up the muscle memory.
So, every time you go to cut something, I
encourage you take your knife hand and choke
up on the knife.
So, you can even say to yourself okay, choke
up on the blade and then first knuckles forward,
thumb and pinkie back and then you can start.
And if you queued those three things every
time you cut and you make sure that you take
your time and you go slowly at the beginning,
what's going to happen is that over time you're
going to get really fast, because you'll be
able to chop without looking, because you
know that every time you make a cut, you're
fingertips and your thumb and your pinky are
tucked safely behind and there's no risk of
them getting cut.
But, it's really important that when you start
this off that you start very slowly.
So take your time with it and the speed will
come naturally.
Those really are the core foundations to making
sure that you have a solid base so that you
can chop anything with ease and with great
speed.
One of the key elements to becoming a faster
meal prepper is becoming good with a knife.
And that's what these knife skill videos are
going to be geared directly towards.
I hope you found this video helpful and I
will see you in the next one.
