Proper knife skills not only make cooking
and food preparation easier and safer, but
it can give you a lot more confidence in the
kitchen. Today I’m going to show you two
basic cutting techniques using the classic
Chef’s knife.
The chef's knife is the most useful knife in the kitchen
and one that you will use for basic knife skills
For more tips on choosing a knife check out our video
Before starting, make sure that your cutting board is stable and not moving around while you chop
An unstable cutting board can be  dangerous and you can cut yourself
Put a damp cloth underneath the cutting board to secure it in place
Next make sure that the foods your using are not rolling around on the cutting board
It might be easy to control small things like herbs, but larger items like 
onions, apples even carrots can roll around on the cutting board making it dangerous
So to make it easier to cut this carrot, what I want to do is cut one side off just a small piece
So that it has a flat end and you can see now it's not rolling around on the cutting board which is going to make it a lot safer to cut
The first cutting technique I'm going to show you is the cross chop
I'm going to start by using the pinch grip to hold the knife 
and then with the other hand place it right on top of the knife keeping the tip of the knife down we're going to rock back and forth
Using your other hand as more of a guide you don't want apply any weight
and cross over your ingredients like I'm doing here with the parsley
And you can start off slow and then slowly speed up and chop over your ingredients
What's great about this cutting technique is that it's very safe
You're keeping your fingers out of the way its on top of the knife
So this is a great cutting technique for any sort of rough chops perfect for herbs like this
The other cutting technique I'm going to show you is the rock chop
We're going to use a similar pinch grip to hold the knife and 
making sure again keep the tip of the knife down on the cutting board and we're going to rock
with that knife hand. Now with the other hand, what we want to do is hold the ingredient
we're going to use our fingertips to face the knife and then slowly curl them in
And with that loose thumb we're going to tuck it in underneath
Your control hand should resemble a claw, much like this 
And with this claw grip we can actually slowly push the ingredient into the cutting motion of the knife
Now you want to make sure as you lift the knife that it rests up against your knuckles
and never lifts higher that way you can avoid cutting yourself
and so you're going to slowly move it into the knife, and that's it. Perfect
Now the only way you're going to get better  is by practicing those cutting techniques
So make sure that your cutting board and ingredients are stable 
and that your fingers and especially that thumb is tucked away from the blade 
or you may lost, I'm not joking, seriously
By following these simple steps it's going to give you a lot more confidence in the kitchen and make cooking and food preparation a lot safer
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