Hi, Folks!  I am Dan Levato and I am the Chef de Cuisine over here at the Dining Commons.  I am going to show you a  little bit about knife safety today.
As you can see we have a number of different knives displayed so that you can see that there are different knives for different jobs.
This is what is called a steel. This will help you hone the edge of the blade.  It is not a sharpener as some people call it but it will help bring the edge  back to the knife.
This is a paring knife.  This is a knife that is used for trimming meats. This is a serrated knife.
It is used for cutting breads.
This is a santoku.  This is used for cutting vegetables.  It is more of an Asian style knife.  I like to use those alot.
This is your very common 7-8 inch Chef's knife.  This is probably going to be your workhorse.
This is the knife that you are probably going to use more often than not.
And if you have bigger items, like a watermelon or something that you will need some extra heft to get through you are going to use a knife like this.
Remember that there is a tool for every job.
You are not going to be cutting watermelon with a knife like this.
And you are not going to be cutting baby carrots with a knife like this.
So just remember there is a tool for every job.
One of the things is that it is always best to have a sharp knife.
If you feel like your knife is not sharp enough, talk to one of the chefs and they will sharpen the knife for you.
They might show you how to use the steel, but you should probably leave that to the professionals until you are very comfortable with the knife.
Remember this skill is something that you can utilize for the rest of your life.
Unless you plan on getting really rich and having your own personal chef.
But some of us don't have that opportunity or some of us just really like cooking.
So this is what I am going to use to cut this potato.
Like I said, the 8 inch Chef's knife is a very standard size and good weight.
When you pick it up and you are going to cut things, you want to make sure you aren't holding it like this.
You are not going to hold it like this.
And you certainly don't want to hold it like this.  That is the absolute wrong thing to do.
Your hand should always be behind on the knife comfortably but you want to be able to use your knife
kind of like this and pivot with it.
It is easy to pick it up like this.
Just between your thumb and forefinger or index finger and be able to utilize it like this.  You will have alot more luck with it.
And if you do things like this when you are cutting, you are going to wear out your tendon in your arm.
Holding our knife properly like so, we are going to take the item that we are going to cut
and, what we always want to do.  I should have told you this before
See how I have this gloved hand right here.  Think like Michael Jackson.  Always have to have the gloved hand.
There is a knife in your hand, there is a glove on your hand.  They go hand and hand... get it.
So I have my cut glove underneath. And I have my regular latex glove over that so it doesn't get grungy.
You don't want that coming into contact with your food. These can be washed.
Obviously your gloves are disposable.
So.  Cut glove on hand.  Knife in hand.  Properly holding knife.
What you want to do is take whatever you cutting and make sure it is in a comfortable position.
Move the item around you.  Not you around the item. ok?
I use the 3 finger claw technique.  I am going to put my 3 fingers there
That is going to hold it steady.
and tuck my pinky and my thumb behind that.
I am going to make sure that it isn't going to wobble around on me.
For something like a potato sometimes it is easier to just knick a little bit off the back
and now my potato is not going to go anywhere.  So that can just be a little scrap.
And now say I want to cut this in half. Go down like this.
You are just going to go easy through it and use the knife tip as your pivot point.
You are then going to bring the heal of the knife down.
That is where the weight of the knife is and it is going to be able to cut it so you aren't utilizing a ton of arm strength.
Then you can move your items around a little bit.
See what I am doing is placing my knife tip on the front of the board there
and bringing it down. I kind of like to think about it like it is almost like a pivot motion.  Just like this.
So when you are chopping things you are going to be making this motion.
Notice how the top of the knife is not leaving the board.  That is going to allow you to have control over what you are cutting.
It is going to allow you to make nice even cuts.
And you are not going to be bringing it up and over your hand.
So when you get close to your fingers like this, see how I am utilizing the part of my front knuckle there to help
guide me and push the knife.  And I will move my fingers back and kind of stay like that.
So again.  The knife should not be going above your knuckles.
Unless you are cutting something larger and then you will have it pivoted and then move it down like this.
You will put your hand on the back of the knife with your thumb way back.
So you are not going to hurt yourself at all.
So we have just made some nice little diced potatoes.
There are obvious various techniques that you can use.
You can cut it thinner.
You can cut it again and make the little batonnets.  If you want to trim something
If you are going for smaller cuts, but again, it is always the same of technique whatever you are doing.
Whether it is a larger cut or a smaller one, you are going to be making use of the knife with the tip down.
And notice when I wipe things off the blade, I am swiping away from myself.
I am not going into the blade like that because that is how you hurt yourself.
And again, if you are doing this at home, you are probably not going to have a cut glove at home.
It's not a bad idea,
