Knife Skills Table of Contents

Step-By-Step Guide to Using Your Knife Like a Pro
I was looking through all of the knife skills information I’ve posted on Corduroy Orange and realized that, though I have a fairly comprehensive set of instructions, the order in which I posted the various bits and pieces isn’t necessarily the most logical in terms of walking someone who wants to learn the secrets of making excellent knife cuts through the process of learning how from beginning to end. Even if you look at the “How to Use Your Knife Like a Pro” category page, everything is listed sequentially by when I posted. Today, I aim to rectify that situation by providing a table of contents based on the logical order in which a serious knife skills student would want to read the posts:

How to Use Your Knife Like A Pro

A Step-by-Step Guide by Jesse Sharrard
© 2006 Corduroy Orange

  1. Introduction: Why it’s better to have good knife skills than a good food processor.
  2. Buying Knives: What you should look for when buying cutlery, including choosing a knife to fit your hand, deciding how many different knives you need, and what styles they should be.
  3. 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.
  4. Basic Technique 1: Learn the names of the different sizes of cuts and how to make them, then practice by cutting potatoes: lots and lots of potatoes.
  5. A Great Way to Use the Potatoes: Here’s a great recipe for using up the piles of potatoes you’ll be cutting.
  6. Peeling Garlic: It doesn’t have to be a time-consuming process. Following this simple technique will help you get it done more quickly than you thought possible.
  7. Basic Technique 2: One of the few exceptions to the basic technique involves cutting onions. They’re round, concentrical, and require a couple of special tricks to be cut into even pieces. Better yet, using proper technique will help you get the job done without setting your eyes on fire.
  8. Maintaining Your Blade: Over time, your blade will grow dull. Here’s what you need to know to make sure that it constantly stays sharp.
  9. Pitting an Avocado: Many knife skills guides give bad advice on how to do this. Here’s a safer way.
  10. Intermediate Knife Cuts: Carrots are a fairly hard vegetable, and it doesn’t help much that they’re round. Here’s a time-saving technique that will help you make quick work of your carrots.
  11. Advanced Knife Skills: Once you’re feeling comfortable with your blade, you’re ready to tackle this technique of separating the meat of the pepper from its seed core in a single cut.
  12. Defining Cooking Methods: You can cut anything you want, but if you don’t know how to cook it, it’s not going to do you much good. Surprisingly, there are only twelve different ways to cook something. Becoming familiar with the options available to you will make you more efficient in the kitchen.

2 Responses to “Knife Skills Table of Contents”

  1. Knife Skills » Almost Blue Says:

    [...] Bookmark Corduroy Orange if you have any interest at all in cooking or food.  It’s like an encyclopedia of great cooking/kitchen tips.  Just do it.  For example, check out his knife skills section.  Some of these things I knew - but there’s a wealth of information that I wasn’t even aware of.  I’ve been holding my knives all wrong! [...]

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