1.2.1 Knife Skills & Knife Safety

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●Today’s Lesson 1.2.1

○Knife Skills

○Knife Safety

Vocabulary

●Grip - how you hold a knife

There are four steps to using kitchen
knives properly:

-Learn to hold the knife correctly

-Learn to chop properly

-Learn to guide the food properly

-Learn to eventually increase
speed and efficiency

Poll

On a scale of 1-5, how comfortable are you with kitchen knives?

(1- Extremely uncomfortable and 5- Extremely comfortable)

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

• 5

Heel
Cutting Edge/Belly

The first third part of
the blade. It is used for
fine-slicing vegetables
to get a precise cut.

The section of the blade
closest to the handle. It is
the strongest part and
the optimum area to use
for shearing through
tough ingredients.

Can be held for better
stability when finely
chopping nuts or herbs
or for adding strength
while slicing hard
ingredients like
butternut squash.

Thick piece of metal
between the handle
and blade, which adds
weight and
counterbalance

Part of the blade that
extends into the
handle. This part is not
always visible but adds
strength and balance
to the knife.

As vital as the blade
and can be made from
plastic, wood, or metal.
The handle should
always be comfortable
to hold.

Also called the
pommel. This is the
very back end of the
handle where you may
see the end of the tang
exposed.

Fasten the two sides
together and hold the
blade in place by the
tang

The part that works
hardest when you are
chopping and slicing.
This area should be
sharpened regularly.

Word Cloud

What does the bolster do?

1
Handle Grip

3
The Claw

2
Blade Grip

4
Mincing Method

Hand Positioning

Handle Grip

Your hand is completely behind the bolster, on
the handle itself.

Generally used by beginning cooks or cooks
with exceptionally small hands.

It is comfortable but offers only limited
control when doing precision knife work.

Blade Grip

Thumb & forefinger should rest in front of the
bolster (the area where the metal flares out to
meet the handle) directly on the blade

Preferred grip for more experienced cooks

Offers better control and balance

Fill in the Blank

What type of grip is this?

The Claw

Place ingredient in a stable position,
preferably with a flat-cut surface against the
cutting board.

Guide the knife blade against the food with
your free hand.

Protect your fingertips by curling them
inwards, using your knuckles to guide your
knife.

Open Ended

What is the purpose of positioning your guiding hand in a claw?

Mincing Method

A fine mince requires the use of your free
hand.

Place the tip of your knife on the cutting
board, and hold it in place with your free
hand.

Rock the blade up and down to reduce the
food to a fine mince.

Tip Fulcrum Method - Demo Video

What are two tips you hear in this video that you would like to remember in a year?

Type in the chat while you watch! :)

Fill in the Blank

What size did the chef make the herbs?

Paring Knife

●Great tool for any food requiring attention to
detail

●Used in carving fruits and vegetables

●The average paring knife blade is about 3 1/2
inches long.

Chef’s Knife

●Most important knife

●Usually an 8−10 inch knife, and it is the go-to tool for
more than 90 percent of daily kitchen tasks, including
most slicing and dicing of fruits, vegetables, meats, and
fish.

●Should not be used to butcher or carve poultry, or to
remove the skin of large vegetables such as butternut
squash

Types of Knives

Types of Knives

Serrated Knife

●Commonly associated with slicing bread

●Average blade length of six inches

●Useful for foods with waxy surfaces, such as tomatoes,
pineapples, watermelons, citrus, and peppers

●Also great for cutting cake layers.

●The jagged edge can grip and penetrate slippery
exteriors

Cleaver Knife

●Mainly used in the butchery section of the kitchen

●Has a thick blade and is super sharp

●Can cut through bones and thicker parts of meat easily,
making them ideal for butchering

●Cleavers are typically used in Asian cooking for fast and
precise cutting.

Multiple Choice

Review Question: When done with a knife, place it in the sink so it's safely out of the way.

• True

• False

Match

Match the knife with its name.

Chef's Knife

Pairing Knife

Serrated Knife

Cleaver Knife

• Chef's Knife

• Pairing Knife

• Serrated Knife

• Cleaver Knife

Knife Maintenance

Cleaning

●Clean with dish soap and warm water after use.

●Wipe down immediately with a clean towel to
remove food bits from the blade.

●Wash individually.

●Do not toss in the bottom of a sink to prevent from
getting cut fishing around in the water for it.

●Don't put in the dishwasher, especially if the handle
is wood

Honing

●Honing involves removing nicks, burrs, and
dings in the blade to recalibrate the angle of
the edge.

●This needs to be done with a knife steel, at a
20 degree angle on a regular basis.

Honing Rod

Knife Maintenance

●A dull knife is a dangerous knife.

●Kitchen knives can be sharpened on a whetstone, at
an angle between 20 and 23 degrees.

●Always sharpen in the same direction using even
pressure and long even strokes.

●If your knives are dull, the risk of glancing off of
slippery vegetables and into your hand is much
higher.

●Dull knives are still sharp enough to cut your finger,
which makes them a lot more dangerous.

●Always use a sharpener specifically designed for the
material your blades are made from.

Sharpening

Whetstone

Knife Sharpener

Multiple Choice

If your blade appears dull, what should you do?

• Use more muscle

• Ignore it

• Sharpen it

• Keep slicing

Knife Maintenance

Cutting Boards

●Use wood or plastic
cutting boards to
protect your knives and
your counter.

●Chopping onto a slate
or granite countertop
will damage your knives
and the counter.

Match

Match the knife with its description.

• Knife used in a Butcher shop; very sharp, used to cut through meat and bone

  
  

• Knife used for small cutting jobs; can be used in the air, also off the cutting board, to remove skins of fruits and veggies

• Knife with Jagged edge, used for cutting softer food like loaf of Italian bread or tomato

  
  

• All-Purpose knife, usually 8-10 inches, for most chopping jobs in the kitchen;  the tip-fulcrum method is typically used

Cleaver

Paring Knife

Serrated Knife

Chef's Knife

• Cleaver

• Paring Knife

• Serrated Knife

• Chef's Knife

Next Lesson:

Lesson 1.2.2

Cutting Terms

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