Knife Unit

Tips from Chef Ross

Knife Sharpening

When sharpening a knife against a three-sided

whetstone, go from the coarsest to the finest
surface.

Knife Sharpening

Honing a knife against a steel straightens the

blade between sharpening.

Gripping a Knife
The most common grip: Hold the handle with three fingers
while gripping the blade between the thumb and index finger.

Grip Variation
Grip the handle with four fingers and place the thumb on
the front of the handle.

Gripping a Rigid Boning Knife

Grip the handle in a fist with four fingers and
thumb. This grip allows you to use the knife tip to
cut around joints and separate flesh from bone
when boning meat and poultry.

Knife Control
Grip the item being cut with three fingertips and your
thumb, keeping your fingertips curled back.
Hold the knife in the other hand.
Lift the heel of the knifes while keeping the knifes tip
on the cutting board.

Knife Control Using the second joint of your

index finger as a guide, cut a slice using a
smooth, even downward stoke.

Knife Control
Adjust the position of the guiding finger
after each slice to produce slices of equal
size.
After a few cuts, slide your fingertips down
the length of the item and continue slicing.
For this slicing technique, the knifes tip
act as the fulcrum.

Knife Control
Using the second joint of your index finger as a guide, lift
the knifes tip and slice by drawing the knife slightly back
toward you and down through the item, cutting the item
to the desired thickness

 The motion of the knife should come almost entirely from

the wrist, not the elbow.
Allow the weight of the knife to do most of the work; very
little downward pressure needs to by applied to the knife.
For this slicing technique, your wrist should

Slicing
Wash and destem the leaves as necessary. Stack
several leaves on top of each other and roll them tightly
like a cigar.

Slicing
Make fine slices across the leaves while holding the leaf
roll tightly.

Slicing
Peel the item (if desired) and place it on a cutting board.
Make even slices perpendicular to the item being cut.

Slicing
Place the peeled item on a cutting board.

Slicing
Holding the knife at a 45-degree angle,
make the first cut.
Roll the item a half turn, keeping the knife
at the same angle, and make another cut.
The result is a wedge-shaped piece with
two angled sides.

 Slicing
Place the peeled item on a cutting board. Holding the knife
at a 45-degree angle, make the first cut.

Slicing
Roll the item a half turn, keeping the knife
at the same angle, and make another cut.
The result is a wedge-shaped piece with
two angled sides.

 Slicing
Slice the item into long slices of the desired thickness.
Cut the slices into strips of the desired width.

 Slicing
Cut the strips at an angle to produce diamond
shapes.

 Horizontal Slicing
With your hand opened and your hand arched
upward, hold the item to be cut firmly in the
center of your palm.

 Horizontal Slicing
Hold the knife parallel to the table, slice a pocket
to the desired depth, or cut through the item
completely.

 Chopping
Hold the item being chopped with your other hand.
It may not be necessary to use your finger as a
guide because uniformity is not crucial.

 Chopping Parsley and Similar Foods

Wash the parsley in cold water; drain well.
Remove the parsley sprigs from the stems.

 Chopping Parsley and Similar Foods

Grip the knife in one hand.
With the other hand spread flat, hold the knifes tip on the
cutting board.

Chopping Parsley
Keeping the knifes tip on the board, chop
the parsley sprigs by rocking the curved
blade of the knife up and down while
moving the knife back and forth over the
parsley.

 Chopping Parsley and Similar Foods

Place the chopped parsley in a kitchen towel or
a double layer of cheesecloth.

Chopping Parsley
Rinse it under cold water and squeeze out
as much water as possible.
The chopped parsley should be dry and
fluffy.

 Chopping Garlic
Break the head of the garlic into individual cloves with
your hands.

Chopping Garlic
Lightly crush the cloves using the flat edge
of a chefs knife or a mallet.
They will break open and the peel can be
separated easily from the garlic flesh

 Chopping Garlic
With a flat hand, hold the knifes tip on the
cutting board.

Chopping Garlic
Using a rocking motion, chop the garlic
cloves to the desired size.
Garlic is usually chopped very fine.

 Cutting Sticks and Dicing

Julienne - (ju-lee-en) a stick-shaped item with
dimensions of 1/8 inch 2 inches (3 mm 5 cm).
When used with potatoes, this cut is sometimes
referred to as an Allumette (al-yoo-MEHT).

 A fine julienne has dimensions of 1/16 inch 1/16 inch

2 inches (1.5 mm 5 cm).

 Cutting Sticks and Dicing

Batonnet - (BAH-toh-nay) a stick-shaped item with
dimensions of 1/4 inch 2 inches (6 mm 6 mm 5 cm).

 Cutting Sticks and Dicing

Brunoise - (btoo-nwaz) a cube-shaped item with dimensions
of 1/8 inch 1/8 inch 1/8 inch (3 mm 3mm 3mm).

1/16-inch (1.5mm) cube is referred to as a

fine Brunoise.

 Cutting Sticks and Dicing

Small dice - a cube-shaped item with dimensions of 1/4
inch 1/4 inch 1/4 inch (6 mm 6 mm 6 mm).

 Cutting Sticks and Dicing

Medium dice - a cube-shaped item with dimensions of
1/2 inch 1/2 inch 1/2 inch (1.2 cm 1.2 cm 1.2 cm).

 Cutting Sticks and Dicing

Large dice - a cube-shaped item with dimensions of 3/4
inch 3/4 inch 3/4 inch (2 cm 2 cm 2 cm).

 Cutting Sticks and Dicing

Paysanne - (pahy-sahn) a flat, square, round or
triangular item with dimensions of 1/2 inch 1/2 inch
1/8inch (1.2 cm 1.2 cm 3 mm).

 Cutting Julienne and Batonnet

Peel the item (if desired) and square off the
sides.

Cutting
Trim the item so that the slices cut from it
will be the proper length.
Cut even slices of the desired thickness,
1/8 inch (3 mm) for julienne or 1/4 inch (6
mm) for Batonnet.

 Cutting Julienne and Batonnet

Stack the slices and cut them evenly into
sticks (also referred to as planks) that
are the same thickness as the slices.

 Cutting Brunoise and Small, Medium, and Large Dice

Batonnet and julienne sticks and the large, medium,
small and Brunoise dices cut from them.

 Cutting Paysanne
Cutting Paysanne from a 1/2-inch 1/2inch (6-mm 6-mm) stick.

 Dicing an Onion
Using a paring knife, remove the stem end.

Onion
Trim the root end but leave it nearly in tact
(this helps prevent the onion from falling
apart while dicing).
Peel away the outer skin; be careful not to
remove and waste too much onion.

 Dicing an Onion
Cut the onion in half through the stem root.
Place the cut side down on the cutting board.

 Dicing an Onion
Cut parallel slices of the desired thickness
vertically through the onion from the root toward
the stem without cutting completely through the
root end

 Dicing an Onion
Make a single horizontal cut on a small
onion or two horizontal cuts on a large
onion through the width of the large onion,
again without cutting through the root end.

 Dicing an Onion
Turn the onion and cut slices perpendicular to
the other slices to produce diced onion.

 Mincing Shallots
Peel and dice the shallots, following the
procedure for peeling and dicing an onion.

 Mincing Shallots
With a flat hand, hold the knifes tip on the cutting board.
Using a rocking motion, mince the shallots with the heel
of the knife.

 Tourner
Cut the item being turned into pieces 2 inches
(5 cm) 3/4 to one inch (2 to 2.5 cm).

Tourne
Each piece should have flat ends.
(Potatoes, turnips and beets may be cut
into as many as six or eight pieces; carrots
can simply be cut into 2-inch lengths.)
Peeling is optional because in most cases
the items entire surface area is trimmed

 Tourner
Holding the item between the thumb and
forefinger, use a tourne knife or a paring knife to
cut seven curved sides on the item, creating a
flat-ended, football-shaped product.