Comments on: Introduction to Knife Skills: Holding the Knife Properly.

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Pittsburgh Knife Skills Class Update

Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Pittsburgh Knife Skills Class Update — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:21:36 +0000

[...] I hope everyone has read about how to hold your knife properly. I plan on having a post on using the knife properly up in the next week. Once everyone has read that, we should be ready for some hands-on practice. The first Pittsburgh Knife Skills class will be held at my house (contact me if you don’t know where it is, but I’m not going to post my address on the internet) on Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 2:30 PM. The cost will be $10 per person and will include a demonstration of proper technique, one-on-one tutorial, and a meal created from the vegetables we cut. Recipes that we cook will be posted on the blog. [...]

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Knife Skills Table of Contents

Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Knife Skills Table of Contents — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 22:35:44 +0000

[...] How to Hold Your Knife Properly: Let’s face it, used incorrectly, the knife can be a dangerous piece of equipment. Holding it in the proper manner is the first step toward using it as a valuable culinary tool. [...]

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Maintaining Your Knives

Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Maintaining Your Knives — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:47:18 +0000

[...] To use the steel correctly, grasp it in your guide hand and hold your knife in your dominant hand. Next, find the appropriate angle between your blade and the steel, about 20 degrees. The snooty-snoo guy at the knife counter in the upscale kitchen store will advise you that the exact angle desired is 22.5 degrees; but, in all reality, as long as you’re in the right ballpark, you’ll be doing your knife more good than harm. His guideline can be helpful, though, especially since his angle might be even easier to find than the ballpark figure: hold it at a 45 degree angle, and then cut the angle in half. You’ll be right where you want to be. Starting with the heel of the blade (the end closer to the handle), turn your wrist so that you scrape the blade evenly across the steel in one fluid motion. Repeat for the other side of the blade. Get each side of the blade 4-6 times, but not more than that: over-honing your blade will dull it prematurely. Most new steels have a shield at the top of the handle to protect you from accidentally slashing your thumb while honing the blade. Make sure you keep your thumb behind this shield, because if you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to give yourself a healthy laceration. If your steel happens to be an older model without a shield, make sure you watch where your hand is and make certain that it’s well out of harm’s way. [...]

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Making Perfect Knife Cuts

Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Making Perfect Knife Cuts — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 20:46:38 +0000

[...] The first cut you should always make is the most important. Using the proper knife grip, Slice one edge off and set it to the side. [...]

By: kari

kari — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 11:47:52 +0000

am thankful for knife skills lessons, because I’ve gotten VERY LAZY and HASTY with my knife over the summer and have chopped my pointer and thumb guide finger-nails off several times! pros and cons: didn’t cut the tip of my pointer and thumb fingers off, but had to search through the food to find the nail before I could serve it to others.