How To Use A Chef's Knife

Did you know, one of the key factors that will determine how much you actually enjoy cooking in the kitchen is whether you have the right equipment to hand and, more specifically, whether you have the right knives for each task, and the skill to use each knife correctly?

I know I’ve always struggled with home cooking, and I really believe that it comes down to no one ever showing me the basics.

Today, we’re going to look at the chef’s knife. It’s the most versatile knife in the kitchen, and it’s the one that I reach out for on 60% of my kitchen tasks.

Today, you’ll learn how to hold a chef’s knife correctly (which makes such a difference when it comes to accuracy and speed of cutting), and how to grip a food item so you don’t cut yourself with your knife.

Once I had learned these 2 tactics, I was amazed how quickly and accurately I could prepare foods!

How To Hold A Chef’s Knife

Most people without any knife skills training will hold a chef’s knife by wrapping all fingers and thumb around the handle. This is wrong, and will give you very poor control when cutting.

Instead, use your thumb and forefinger to ‘pinch’ the base of the actual blade itself where it meets the handle. Now wrap just the remaining 3 fingers around the handle.

This grip allows you so much more control of the blade, and will allow you to cut precisely and be as exacting as you want.

How To Hold A Food Item Ready To Be Cut

In professional kitchens, the non-cutting hand tends to be called the ‘guiding hand’, as it’s this hand’s job to hold food down so it doesn’t slide around on the cutting board.

It also, however, means that it’s this guiding hand that is most at danger from painfully sliced fingers. You need to keep those fingertips tucked away safely when you cut and slice!

You do this by learning to use the ‘claw grip’ whenever you holding food to cut with a knife.

Hold your food item by gripping with your fingernails and keeping your fingers curled inwards.

You’ll know if you’ve got this right when you can rest the side of your chef’s knife blade onto the first knuckle of your guiding hand, and it is perpendicular to the cutting board (which is the correct position for the knife to be in before you start cutting).

A variation of this is where the first knuckle on your guiding hand rests flat onto the food item, and the fingers curled inwards as before. Now, the knife blade rests against the second knuckle, and not the first.

Either of these grips are perfect to use as they both involve your curling your fingers in and keeping them safely away from the blade edge.

Trying cutting various food items now using the above tips – you’ll find you cut more easily, precisely and safely!

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