Basic Knife Skills

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In the time needed to get out your food processor, assemble it, take it apart again and wash it, you can often slice, mince or chop food faster with a chef's knife. A chef's knife can help you make fast work of serving healthy fresh fruits and vegetables.

A chef's knife (also called a French knife) has a broad, tapered shape and a fine sharp edge. Its blade ranges in length from 6 to 12 inches and measures at least 1-1/2 inches at the widest point. It is designed so it rocks on a cutting board as it cuts food.

How to Hold a Chef's Knife

Note the manner in which the NON-KNIFE and KNIFE hand are held in the photo.

For the NON-KNIFE hand:

The fingers are curled under to protect the fingertips.

The thumb and little finger behind the other fingers.

The side of the blade (but not the edge) rests against the middle knuckles Best dishwash safe sushi knife of your NON-KNIFE hand. This helps you keep the knife from coming down on your fingers. It also helps you measure the size of the cuts, moving your hand backward on the food after each cut in preparation for the next cut.

Cuts are made downward with a rocking motion from the tip to the end of the blade. The knife is not sawed back and forth through foods.

For the KNIFE hand:

View how the thumb and first finger grip the blade just beyond the handle. This helps make the knife an extension of your arm and gives you better control and precision in cutting.

When finely chopping or mincing some foods, such as small bunches of herbs or garlic, the handle may be held in one hand while the other hand rests on top of the blade.

The tip of the blade is kept in contact with the cutting board. The blade is rocked up and down until the food is chopped to the desired size.

To prevent vegetables and fruits from slipping on your cutting board, cut them in half before slicing or chopping further. This helps anchor them firmly on your cutting board and helps protect against cutting yourself.

What Size of Chef's Knife Do You Need?

What size should you get? "For chopping herbs, small fruits and vegetables, etc., I would recommend an 8-inch French knife for most people," advises Chef Judy Doherty, Food & Health Communications, Inc. (www.foodandhealth.com). "It is easy to handle and maneuver."

For cutting large foods like a watermelon or cantaloupe, Doherty prefers a 10-inch serrated chef's knife. "It is much safer—the reason being that you can hold it safely at the handle and the tip. Using a knife that Butcher knife is too small is dangerous if you are trying to cut something large because the knife can slip and go through your hand," warns Doherty.

Some points to consider when purchasing a chef's knife include:

Does it feel comfortable when you hold it in your hand?

Can you easily manage it when you go through the motions of slicing and chopping?

Does the blade feel solid, not lightweight and flimsy?

Caring for a Chef's Knife

To help prolong the life of your chef's knife:

Many knife companies recommend you avoid washing your knife in the dishwasher. You may damage the blade. Also, wooden handles may not hold up well when washed in a dishwasher. Always dry the knife before storage.

Follow the manufacturer's directions for sharpening your knife. A sharp knife not only cuts better but is safer than a dull knife. There's a tendency to use too much force with a dull knife, lose control and cut yourself.

Avoid cutting on hard surfaces that dull the edge of your knife, such as glass cutting boards. Softer cutting boards, such as polyethylene plastic cutting boards, are much easier on knives.

Store your knives in some type of knife block or other storage system that keeps the blades separate. Do not throw them together in a drawer where they can bump against each other and possibly damage or dull the blades.

More Tips on Using a Chef's Knife

"Always make sure the cutting board is secured to the counter with a wet cloth or paper towel—it is dangerous to have a cutting board that moves around while you are trying to cut," cautions Doherty.

If you've never used this type of knife before, Doherty recommends "It is helpful to practice using a French knife on a cucumber that has been cut in half lengthwise—it is stable and easy to cut."

Whether you are a novice cook or know your way around the kitchen, honing your knife skills is not only important for keeping you safe but will make your recipes that much better. Ingredients that are cut uniformly cook at the same rate and result in a dish that is cooked properly throughout. Since each piece of food is cut in the same fashion, the finished dish will have a nice presentation.

This tutorial will cover the correct way to hold a chef's knife as well as how to grip the food with your other hand to avoid cutting yourself.

Proper Chef's Knife Grip—Outer View

This photo shows the appropriate way to grip a blade. Note how the index finger is wrapped fully around the blade. The index finger and thumb should be opposite each other on either side of the blade while the remaining three fingers are sort of loosely curled around the handle.

You should be gripping the knife mainly with the thumb and forefinger. If you find that you're tightly clutching the entire handle of the knife, just relax and loosen your hold. With practice, you'll get used to this grip, and soon any other grip will feel unnatural to you.

Secure the Food With the Guiding Hand

Now that ​your knife hand knows what to do, you need to make sure your other hand does as well. Your non-knife hand is called your "guiding hand," and its job is to hold the food to keep it from sliding around on the cutting board. This puts that hand in a uniquely dangerous position. With the knife blade Best fillet knife for the money quickly moving up and down, you need to keep those fingertips tucked safely away, while still being able to firmly hold the food.

The grip shown here is called the "claw grip"—by keeping the fingers curled inward and gripping the food with the fingernails, the fingers stay out of harm's way. The side of the knife blade should rest against the first knuckle of the guiding hand, helping keep the blade perpendicular to the cutting board.

Alternate Claw Grip

In this modified version of the claw grip, the first knuckle of the guiding hand rests flat on the ingredient, with the fingers again curled inward safely. This time, the knife rests against the second knuckle rather than the first.

Both of these claw grips is acceptable, so use whichever one you feel comfortable with. You may want to start off with chopping an onion to practice getting comfortable with how to use a chef's knife.