Setting up a cutting station
Setting up for veggie cuts: All the tools should be ready for the job at hand. First, you need a secured cutting wood board (wood is best for the knife). The board is secured by rubber “feet” or by placing a slightly damp towel or a “sticky” mat under the board. The goal is to have a cutting board that does not move. Second, a metal bowl for your discards, and extra metal bowls to put your cut food into. Third, a bench scrapper to pick up all the cut food, as you should not use your knife for this action because it dulls the blade. Fourth, a damp rag to wipe up after yourself, and generally to keep the station and your knife clean of debris. Finally, the fifth item is your knife.
Setting up for meat cuts: Use a plastic cutting board that you have set aside as a meat board, it will be easier to keep it very clean and will not soak up any meat juice. Add the bowls, bench scrapper, a rag and appropriate knife or kitchen shears depending upon what you are doing. If you are going to flaten meat with a meat pounder also include some plastic wrap or bag for that technique. Once done wash everything very well and put in the dishwasher if you have one. Do not rinse and reuse the towel, it should be rinsed, hung to dry and then it goes in the wash.
Honing + Sharpening your knife
I am in no way an expert with knives, but I do have some Wusthof knives, and the technique shown above is the way I hone all my knives. I hone my knife more frequently than people think. For stainless steel, which is a softer blade, I tend to hone every 2-4 uses; for carbon steel I hone after every use (I have only one carbon steel knife and I treat it very carefully, it also is very sharp).
Actual whetstone sharpening, shown below, should happen every year or two depending upon use. Because I have the option, I take my knives to a professional to sharpen every so often.
After I am done with my prepping, I wash and dry my knives by hand and put them up in the knife rack in the drawer. They should not go in the dishwasher.
Cutting Techniques
Angled bias: I use this cut usually with asparagus, sometimes with celery or carrots, it just adds a variation of how something looks but has no real effect on cooking. The cut is an angled slice.
Chiffonade: Always use this technique for basil, and any other tender herb. Stack the leaves together, role them up like a cigar and then cut slightly on the diagonal, and very thin in a smooth rocking motion.
Dice: Probably the second most common veggie cut. The video shows the proper way to dice an onion. This is a ~1/4” cube (aiming for even sides) in size.
Matchsticked/Julienne: Used with carrots, and hard veggies. When I use julienne I am referencing the cut shown in the video. When I use matchsticked I mean a finer cutting often done via a mandolin tool.
Mince: This cut is a finer dice. Used often with garlic and ginger but also for the hearty parsley when making tabouli, and woody herbs like rosemary, oregano, and thyme.
Oblique/Roll/Roasting Cut: Generally this is a carrot cut, or any other roundish and hard veggie like a parsnip. I call this a roasting cut because I always use it when I cook a roast. This cut allows the heat and steam to work its magic on the meat by not blocking the circulation in my slow cooker.
Slice: This is the most common veggie cut. To slice a cucumber will result in cucumber rounds, slicing always results in flat pieces of food. To slice thin would be slices at 1/8” thick, or less. To do this consistently I use a mandolin rather than a knife because it saves time.
Smash: Usually used for garlic cloves although I have seen someone use it for minced ginger as well. I rarely see Chefs use a garlic press, they tend to just smash it with their knife and then chop the mash a bit.
Supreme: This is a citrus techniques to remove the outer skin to access the inner meat of the gruit (used especially in oranges and grapefruit).
Tips + Tricks
I am right handed, most of the injuries occur on my left hand. In fact my left pointer has only half the nail attached to the quick from multiple slices I have chopped off. It is my left hand that guides all the cutting and thus, the non-dominant hand is the critical component of controlling your knife.
The Chefs always say to “claw” the non-dominant hand and they mean to curl your fingers so your thumb and pinky are always at the back of where you are cutting, the other three fingers are curled so the knife is flat agains your knuckle and not your fingernail.
Even dull knives can cut.
Serrated bread knives are used for many kitchen activities. I use them to cut tomatoes. Others use them to deal with smoothing cakes. They are also great on cutting sandwich creations that you do not want to smash.
