Knife Skills

[Jade]

How are your knife skills? I consider mine to be below average, as I usually end up with slightly uneven dices whenever I dice onions or other vegetables, which is negligible in home cooking, of course, but I sometimes wish I had better knife skills to be able to produce more restaurant quality meals at home.

How about you guys, do you think knife skills are that important for home cooking, and do you have any tips on how to get better at it?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I don't think they are hugely important in a home kitchen. Time is not as important and unevenly chopped veg is really not that much of a problem. We are not all running Michelin starred restaurants where unevenly sliced veg will cook unevenly and more importantly that unevenness is problem. At home it really it not that critical. I don't even have a timer - I cook by what things look like and the 'roughly' approach.

I think a sharp knife (and the ability to avoid additional protein ending up in or on the dish <needing smilie of a severed finger</> ) and preparation is much more important personally.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

Having worked in a kitchen for a short while, I did get some practice on my knife skills. I agree with Satvav though. Those knife skills are not all that important in the home kitchen. You are probably not chopping forty pounds of veggies in one go. A good quality knife that is kept sharp will help you out and is safer on the fingers.

Spoiler alert: Where I worked and a lot of other restaurants buy five pound bags of mechanically diced vegetables which keeps them uniform. Other devices like tomato slicers ensure an even thickness of the slices. There are a number of tools in the restaurant kitchen that are helpful but impractical in the household.

 

[Chris_A]

I think knife skills are only important if you want to impress someone, if you solely cook at home and not professionally. While my knife skills are without doubt below average, I don`t mind that at all, since I take a load of time in preparing my meals and cutting an onion, for example, really fast is not very important to me.

 

[firelily99]

What's more important than knife skills is having sharp knives. My knife skills are good mainly because I use knives for wood carving. Still, the most skilled wielder of a knife will be a hack if their knives are dull.