Skills
Everything With One Knife
How to cut an onion, and four other cuts that cover most recipes.
You need one 8 inch knife. Not a set. Here is how to use it without cutting yourself and without taking twenty minutes to chop an onion.
Hold it correctly
Pinch the blade between your thumb and the side of your index finger, right where the blade meets the handle. Wrap the other three fingers around the handle. Most people grip the handle like a hammer, which gives you no control.
Your other hand curls into a claw. Fingertips tucked under, knuckles forward. The flat of the blade rides against your knuckles, and your knuckles guide the cut. This is not a style choice, it is the reason experienced cooks do not cut themselves while looking away.
A sharp knife is a safe knife
A dull knife slides off a tomato skin and into your hand. A sharp knife bites where you put it.
A $10 pull-through sharpener is fine for the kind of knife you own. Run it through five times whenever cutting starts to feel like work, which for a cheap knife is about once a month.
Never put a knife in the dishwasher. It dulls the edge and warps the handle. Wash it by hand and dry it immediately.
Cutting an onion
- Cut it in half through the root, the hairy end. Peel each half.
- Lay a half flat side down. The root end holds it together, so leave it attached.
- Make cuts toward the root, about a quarter inch apart, without cutting through the root.
- Turn 90 degrees and slice across. Diced onion falls off the board.
That is the whole thing. It takes 40 seconds once you have done it ten times, and it is the single most repeated task in cooking.
Four other cuts that cover almost everything
Rough chop: irregular pieces about a half inch. Used for anything going in a soup, a stew, or a blender. Precision does not matter here and pretending it does is what makes people quit.
Slice: flat pieces of even thickness. Even thickness matters more than thin. Uneven slices cook unevenly, and that is what makes a stir fry come out with some pieces raw and some mushy.
Half moons: slice a round vegetable lengthwise, lay it flat, slice across. Zucchini, cucumber, carrots.
Smashing garlic: lay the flat of the blade on the clove, hit it with the heel of your hand. The peel comes off on its own. Then mince. Smashed garlic is more fragrant than sliced garlic because you are breaking more cells.
Cutting board rules
Put a damp paper towel under the board. It stops it from sliding, which is the other main way people get hurt.
Cut a thin slice off any round vegetable to make a flat side, then set it on that flat side. Never cut a round thing while it is rolling.
What you can skip
You do not need to learn a brunoise or a julienne. Nothing on this site requires either. Even, roughly equal pieces cook evenly, and that is the only reason knife cuts exist.