Knives & Knife skills (preventing accidents & Proper Holding Techniques)

1. Knives & Knife skills (preventing accidents & Proper Holding Techniques) • See pages 322-324 and 358-360 • 3 basic types of knives for common use

2. Chef • Chef-Also called a French knife. It’s large, triangular blade is ideal for slicing, chopping, and dicing. Usually the longest knife in the kitchen. Most common sizes are 8-10” long

3. Paring • Paring- usually 2 ½ - 4” in length. The most often used knife in the household kitchen. It is ideal for peeling and coring fruits and vegetables, cutting small objects, slicing, and other hand task.

4. Serrated/Bread • Serrated/bread- has serrated or saw-tooth blade for slicing breads or foods that have a tough skin you don’t want to crush (tomatoes). You use a sawing motion when cutting.

5. Santoku Knife • Smaller than traditional chef knife 6-8” • Point curves down • Has grooves along blade to help release foods from blades • Harder steel

6. Other cutting tools • Garlic Press- minces garlic easily • Microplane- very fine • Grater- medium shreds

7. Peeler- removes outer peel, can be used to shave foods • Zester- used on citrus fruits to get oil rich skin • Mandoline- upright slicing tool

8. 3 methods for holding a knife http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsaQ01Qe_BE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y-3kczNL78

9. Helpful Sayings and Knife Holding Tips • Index Finger and thumb should be gripping the blade where the blade and handle meet • Remaining 3 fingers should be gripping the handle • If you feel the steel, your grip is real • Touch the blade and you have it made

10. Parts and features of knives

11. Knife Safety • Blades-Sharp blades are safer because it takes less pressure to cut compared to dull blades • Storing- Keep in divided drawer, knife block, or knife rack so you can pick them up by the handle • Cleaning- do NOT soak in soapy water that hides view, store behind faucet in labs until ready to wash, wipe blades dry away from you • Transporting- carry knives tip down, blades towards the back • Communication is KEY in food safety with knife…..”knife coming through”, “sharp knife”, “behind with knife”

12. Sharpening Knives at Home • Use a sharpening stone (whetstone) (made of silicone carbide, or hard stone such as quartz or diamond) to actually sharpen • Use a steel to keep the blade straight and smooth out any irregularities (truing) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdTCJxv6uw&feature=related

13. Cutting Terms • Chop- to cut food into small irregular pieces • Mince- chop finely • Dice-cutting food into small, square pieces (cube) • Slice- cut food into large, thin pieces • Peel- remove the outer skin • Julienne-culinary knife cut in which the food is cut into long thin strips, similar to a matchstick