Handling a Chef's Knife

Edible Exercises

Using a bench scraper and flour, practice the rolling technique as demonstrated in Topic 6. Practice making fine, straight cuts in the flour and focus on keeping the fingertips of your guide hand curled safely under. Also, ensure that the bench scraper never leaves contact with the cutting board. Do this for about 5-10 minutes.

Still using the bench scraper, shift your focus to your guide knuckle and the contact that it makes with the bench scraper. Slowly drag your fingertips through the flour not changing your guide hand position at all. Your focus should be on maintaining the connection between your guide knuckle and the bench scraper at all times. Do this for about 5-10 minutes.

Next, moving to your chef’s knife, try gripping the knife a couple of different ways to find which demonstrated method is most comfortable for you.

Once you feel confident with the bench scraper, then try using the chef’s knife to achieve the same cuts in the flour. Focus on your guide hand fingertips to ensure that they remain safely tucked under. You should maintain contact between the knife and your guide knuckle without your knife ever leaving the cutting board.

Next, practice these newly learned skills on a whole bunch of celery – one rib at a time. Start off very slowly, observing the techniques demonstrated throughout this lesson.

Learn how to hone your knife. Start slow with the techniques demonstrated in this lesson. This is a habit you need to form, as regular honing is essential to maintaining a sharp edge.

Practice Recipes