How to professionally cut food. Technique for cutting vegetables. Master class How to learn how to work with a knife
Before we start mercilessly chopping onions, we will learn how to properly hold tools (knives and products).
Well, we take all the chef's knives together and look at the pictures! This is just an option from a series when it is easier to show than to describe. If suddenly you don’t understand something, I’ll give a video at the bottom of the post.
1. Correct knife grip ("Chef's grip")
Squeeze the blade as in the picture with your thumb and bent index finger. Thumb lies on the side, along the handle of the knife, and the index one, as it were, wraps around the handle from above
Grasp the handle of the knife with the remaining three fingers.
Do not grip the blade and handle too hard, otherwise you will not be able to use the knife for a long time. Hold it not relaxed, but firmly enough - confidently.
This grip is correct for most knives (see vegetable knife grip option below).
2. Incorrect knife grip
The most common mistakes to avoid:
Do not put your thumb or index finger on the butt of the knife!!!
Don't hold the knife like a sword!!!
3. Option to capture a vegetable knife (Paring knife)
For some types of cutting, we need to use a short-bladed fruit and vegetable knife, which should be held as follows:
4. How to hold your fingers correctly
So, one hand is occupied with a knife, now let's deal with the second hand, which holds our products.
Fingertips should always be bent inward.
The second phalanges of the index and middle fingers are almost perpendicular. The blade of the knife is pressed against the folds of the fingers and slides along them when cutting.
The thumb should be laid back, otherwise you will get carried away and cut off your nail for one or two. He, as it were, grabs a vegetable or fruit and pushes it towards the knife.
In no case do we stick out the little finger!
5. What part of the knife should be cut?
When cutting food, we can use different parts of the knife blade. From left to right:
1. Part of the blade at the point. This is the sharpest and narrowest part of the knife. Used for delicate slicing or cutting into small pieces.
2. The central part is used in most cases.
3. The heel is used for laborious cutting when more force needs to be applied.
6. Basic cutting methods
1. Cutting. The easiest way is when the blade moves from top to bottom.
2. Slicing, the first way
Hold the knife at an acute angle. The tip of the knife does not come off the board.
Move the knife down and forward a little, cutting through the carrot (or any other vegetable)
We end the movement when cutting edge falls on the board.
For the next movement, raise the heel and pull back (toward yourself), while the tip of the knife again rests on the board.
3. Slicing, the second way
Hold the knife at a 45 degree angle. Part of the knife at the point is located on the cucumber. And in this place the side surface of the blade rests against our bent fingers (see paragraph 4). The tip of the knife does NOT rest against the board.
Cut the product in a downward and forward motion.
One of the first skills a chef learns is how to properly cut products quickly and beautifully. Agree that this is very important in cooking. Surely you would like to learn this and make your life a little easier.
We present you 10 ways to easily and quickly cut your favorite products. Try it, it's fun and not difficult at all!
How to quickly cut food
1. Cherry tomatoes
Place equally sized tomatoes between two flat plates, then slide a sharp knife between them. You can also cut grapes this way!
2. Kiwi
Cut off the top of the kiwi with a knife and eat the fruit with a spoon.
3. Avocado
Cut an avocado in half and eat it like a kiwi with a spoon.
4. Mandarin
Whoever came up with this method deserves a culinary award.
5. Pomegranate
Cut off the top and bottom of the pomegranate. Make cuts on the sides. Then break the pomegranate apart.
6. Watermelon
To eat watermelon and not splash, cut off the corners from a piece.
7. Cake
In order for the cake not to become stale, cut out the central part in it. And then connect the resulting parts together.
8. Mango
With a slight movement of the hand...
9. Bow
How to cut an onion correctly, you can see in the photo. And from us the following life hack: in order not to cry when cutting onions, chew mint gum in the process.
It's amazing how many terms there are in cooking. We continue our rubric about incomprehensible words that chefs and culinary experts like to use in their speech.
AT last time We spoke . Today we will talk about shredding.
Shredding - cut into small and rather narrow pieces. Most often, mushrooms and vegetables are chopped - cabbage, cucumbers.
Shredding is a culinary term explanatory dictionaries is listed as cutting food into narrow small petals, pieces, strips or chips.
It may seem that chopping is the same as simply slicing food. But this term is used in cooking in relation to vegetables, fresh herbs, fruits, roots and mushrooms. But all other products - meat, fish, cheese - are cut, not chopped.
There are many options for cutting vegetables: cubes, slices, rings, half rings. And the term "chopping" makes it clear, without further ado, exactly how to cut cabbage or mushrooms.
The most ancient and well-known chopping technique involves the use of a knife, which makes fairly quick and sharp movements. Who has not admired the quickness of the work of a cook deftly performing such a procedure? It's complicated. But if you master this method, you can chop vegetables in a couple of minutes.
To shred correctly and quickly, you need to know the intricacies of this process. Any vegetable is placed on the board and held tightly by hand.
Knife shredding technology
The most important thing in this type of shredding is to observe the correct technology. To do this, in addition to the products themselves, you need to take care of the presence of a large cutting board and a "chef's knife" (this is a rather long and wide knife with a very sharp blade). Any vegetable, for example cabbage, is placed on the board, and is grasped in such a way that the fingers of the hand are bent. In this case, the fingertips should be bent, and in the process of chopping, the blade of the knife should, as it were, slide along the second phalanx of the brush holding the product, sideways butt.
After that, without taking the hand and the tip of the knife off the board, they begin to cut off a thin layer of vegetable, while pressing the knife until its blade touches the board. You need to raise the handle of the knife so that its tip remains on the board, and then just move the back of the blade slightly over the product and cut a thin layer again.
Due to such constant reciprocating movements of the knife, all vegetables can be chopped. It is clear that at first it is not immediately possible to chop products like experienced chefs, but as experience develops, shredding will become a fairly quick and easy process.
Here is another description of the shredding technique, in more detail. Correct movements when cutting fruits look graceful and save the cook's hands from cuts. The cut vegetable or fruit must be held with four fingers so that the middle phalanges are perpendicular to the surface on which the fruit lies. Fingertips need to be tucked in to hide them from the knife. The thumb serves as a support.
In the process of cutting, the knife moves parallel and almost close to the middle phalanges of the fingers. This allows you to secure the cutting process, because the chef has full control over the movements of the knife. It is recommended not to chop, but to cut the products, making reciprocating movements (so that the brush describes an ellipse in the air).
For chopping, you need to choose the right vegetables. Not every head of cabbage can be beautifully chopped. For example, it is considered that sauerkraut It only tastes good if it's chopped properly.
Choose small heads, do not wash them, but only remove the top leaves. First, the head of cabbage is cut along the stalk into 2 parts. Then each part is cut across the veins of the leaves into slices so that the chips are 6-8 centimeters long. And already these shares are cut into shavings (strips). They should be narrow in width - no more than 3 millimeters, but not less than 1 millimeter.
Shredding is best done with a special knife with a wide and very sharp blade on a special board - a shredder.
Shredding technique
Safe working technique with a chef's knife
Miscellaneous techniques quick shredder vegetables
Secrets of a virtuoso shredder
Shredding, that is, cutting food into small cubes with straws and chips, is a real art that you can learn if you wish. Over time, you will be able to shred quickly, masterfully and beautifully if you use these recommendations.
What determines the quality of shredding
Knowledge, experience and inspiration are the basis of culinary excellence, but to achieve excellent result sometimes you need to take care of additional conditions. If you want to learn how to shred, choose sharp knife with the correct geometry of the blade, not disturbed by unprofessional sharpening. It is good if the tip of the knife is sharp enough, the blade is wide, and there is a special ledge under the handle, which the chefs call the “heel”.
For shredding, you will need a large and even cutting board (preferably wooden), a little effort and patience, and most importantly, a desire to master this simple wisdom. It is best to chop while standing, because in a seated position, the range of motion decreases and the quality of the cut deteriorates.
little secrets
Secret 1. The product should be held not with the fingertips, but with the whole hand - while the first phalanges of the fingers should be bent. This position of the hand provides comfortable cutting and protects against injury.
Secret 2. It is recommended to hold the knife in the following way: place your thumb along the handle, and wrap your index finger around the handle of the knife from above. It will be inconvenient only at the very beginning, and when the hand gets used to such a position, you will cut any food at different angles without much effort.
Secret 3. The knife does not come off the board. This is the main subtlety of the correct shredding. You should raise and lower the handle of the knife, leaving its tip on the surface of the board, and move the blade imperceptibly along the product. In this case, the knife should slowly slide along the second phalanx of the hand, becoming, as it were, an extension of the hand, and over time this feeling will become familiar. Two methods of shredding are usually used: from oneself or towards oneself, it all depends on which direction the cutting edge of the blade is turned. At the same time, the "heel" of the knife makes a barely noticeable vertical circular motion.
Secret 4. The hand should be relaxed. You should not strain your muscles so as not to cut yourself - it is better to focus on the speed of movements.
Shredding technique for different products
When cutting onions you should not bring the cuts to the end - leave at least 1 mm in reserve so that the round bulb does not move around the board.
If you want to make it as easy as possible cabbage shredding process, cut the head of cabbage not along the stalk, but across, using for shredding upper part head of cabbage with the thinnest leaves. It is best to chop cabbage into narrow strips no more than 3 mm wide.
Before shredding carrots it should be cut lengthwise into thin plates, and then, putting the plates together, chop them into thin straws. For processing greens, you can use knives with round blades - in this case, you can chop directly in the bowl.
An experienced culinary specialist always adheres to a certain style of slicing fruits for different dishes, often it depends on personal aesthetic preferences. Cut into strips potatoes, carrots, celery root, beets, onion, cabbage in heads. Such cuts are used for side dishes for meat dishes, borscht, pickles, as well as for deep-fried vegetables. Potatoes and various root vegetables are cut first into thin slices, and then into strips. The thickness may vary depending on the type of dish. Onions and cabbage are chopped first across with a knife, and then with straws.
Another common way of cutting vegetables and fruits, which is used for a similar set of dishes, as well as for vegetable broths, is sticks. So it is most convenient to cut potatoes, carrots and celery. Potatoes cut into cubes are most often used for frying.
Cut into cubes carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, white cabbage and greens. This type of cutting is preferred for preparing various soups, cabbage soup, okroshka, as well as garnishes or as a decoration for hot and cold dishes.
Both raw and boiled vegetables very easy to slice. One professional trick is hidden in this method: in order for the circles to be “of the same caliber”, you need to select vegetables by size. At the same time, potatoes and various root crops must first be cut off thin layer, then give the fruit the shape of a cylinder and only then cut into circles.
The type of cutting into rings and half rings is perfect for onions and leeks. Such slicing of onions is typical for various salads or as a fry for fried potatoes, meat and vegetables.
Horseradish and potatoes are cut into shavings, especially for garnishing meat dishes. In addition to these most common ways of cutting vegetables, there are others, such as chopping, slices, wedges and checkers.
Remember that you only need to cut on a dry cutting board that has a smooth bottom. The same applies to the table on which you cook. Otherwise, the board may slip and you will get a nasty injury.
***
Manufacturers kitchen utensils produce many useful gadgets for shredding products - special hatchets for cabbage, electric vegetable cutters, food processors, electric graters, vegetable choppers, mechanical and electric shredders. Despite the diversity household appliances, manual shredding more valued than any other work of authorship.
The modern assortment of plastic vegetable cutters for chopping is large and varied, the device of which is quite simple and has much in common with a conventional grater. Removable knives are inserted into them in a plastic form, with which vegetables and fruits are chopped with sticks, straws, plastics and even simple figurines. Some of these devices often come with a container in which chopped vegetables accumulate.
A much more modernized and improved shredder is a food processor, with the help of which products are shredded unusually quickly, while acquiring a wide variety of shapes of figured cutting.
Included in most food processors a special shredding disc is supplied. You just need to put a vegetable in a special compartment and press a button. In a few moments, it will be ready to cook.
Based on materials from kitchenmag.ru. www.edimdoma.ru
I have no doubt that after watching this post you will learn how to chop different products quickly, beautifully and correctly!
We learned exactly what knives are and what they are intended for. And now, before you start mercilessly chopping onions (remember Julia Child from the movie "Julie and Julia"?), We will learn how to properly hold the tools. Do not worry, we will also reach the bulbs very soon, you will still be crying.
Well, we take all the chef's knives together and look at the pictures! This is just an option from a series when it is easier to show than to describe. If suddenly you don’t understand something, I’ll give a video at the bottom of the post.
1. Correct knife grip ("Chef's grip")
Squeeze the blade as in the picture with your thumb and bent index finger. The thumb lies on the side, along the handle of the knife, and the index finger, as it were, wraps around the handle from above.
Grasp the handle of the knife with the remaining three fingers.
Do not grip the blade and handle too hard, otherwise you will not be able to use the knife for a long time. Hold it not relaxed, but firmly enough - confidently.
This grip is correct for most knives (see vegetable knife grip option below).
2. Incorrect knife grip
The most common mistakes to avoid:
Do not put your thumb or index finger on the butt of the knife!!!
Don't hold the knife like a sword!!!
3. Option to capture a vegetable knife (Paring knife)
For some types of cutting, we need to use a short-bladed fruit and vegetable knife, which should be held as follows:
4. How to hold your fingers correctly
So, one hand is occupied with a knife, now let's deal with the second hand, which holds our products.
Fingertips should always be bent inward.
The second phalanges of the index and middle fingers are almost perpendicular. The blade of the knife is pressed against the folds of the fingers and slides along them when cutting.
The thumb should be laid back, otherwise you will get carried away and cut off your nail for one or two. He, as it were, grabs a vegetable or fruit and pushes it towards the knife.
In no case do we stick out the little finger!
5. What part of the knife should be cut?
When cutting food, we can use different parts of the knife blade. From left to right:
1. Part of the blade at the point. This is the sharpest and narrowest part of the knife. Used for delicate slicing or cutting into small pieces.
2. The central part is used in most cases.
3. The heel is used for laborious cutting when more force needs to be applied.
6. Basic cutting methods
1. Cutting. The easiest way is when the blade moves from top to bottom. This is exactly the way Julia Child uses when cutting onions, which I will now show you in a video from her show "The French Chef". I cut out an excerpt from the "Your Own French Onion Soup" series. As a bonus, I left the part where Julia shows how to edit a knife with the help of a musat. Who does not know English - do not despair, just watch the video carefully, everything is shown very clearly!
2. Slicing, the first way
Hold the knife at an acute angle. The tip of the knife does not come off the board.
Move the knife down and forward a little, cutting through the carrot (or any other vegetable)
We finish the movement when the cutting edge falls on the board.
For the next movement, raise the heel and pull back (toward yourself), while the tip of the knife again rests on the board.
3. Slicing, the second way
Hold the knife at a 45 degree angle. Part of the knife at the point is located on the cucumber. And in this place the side surface of the blade rests against our bent fingers (see paragraph 4). The tip of the knife does NOT rest against the board.
Cut the product in a downward and forward motion.
Here in this video you can clearly see the cutting into slices according to the First and Second methods
Information taken from books:
- Knife Skills Illustrated: A User's Manual by Peter Hertzmann. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.; illustrated edition edition (7 Sep 2007)
- Essentials of professional cooking/Wayne Gisslen. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
- Video Julia Child show"The French Chef"
Before you start cooking, you probably check if all the products are in stock, if there are the right frying pan and a saucepan, have skewers or foil been forgotten ... But it is no less important to know the technology of the process. How and what to hold a chef's knife, how to properly cut vegetables into cubes or strips - all these subtleties of culinary skills will help you cook the dish faster and make it tastier.
Squeeze the handle of the knife, as close as possible to the blade, large and bent index fingers, the remaining three fingers wrap around the handle of the knife. Don't grip the knife too tightly or you'll tire quickly, but don't hold it too loosely either.
The thumb of the second hand is laid back - it seems to embrace a vegetable or fruit and pushes it towards the knife. The remaining fingers should be bent inward: the second phalanxes of the index and middle are located almost perpendicularly, the little finger is by no means protruding. The blade of the knife is pressed against the folds of the fingers and slides slightly when cutting along them.
The easiest way to cut is when the blade moves from top to bottom. And you can do this in several ways. Hold the knife at a sharp angle, the tip of the blade should rest against cutting board, slice the vegetable with the center of the blade. Start moving the knife down and slightly forward, cutting through the cucumber to the end. When the blade is fully on the board, lift it up and return the knife to its original position.
Hold the knife, slightly lifting it, at an acute angle, the blade lies on the board to the middle and is located in the middle part on the carrot. Start moving the knife down and slightly forward without completely lifting the knife from the board.
The blade at the point is the sharpest and narrowest part. It is usually used for delicate cutting, such as mushrooms or very ripe tomatoes, very thin slices.
The central part of the knife is used in most cases - for cutting hard and soft vegetables, greens.
The heel is the part of the blade opposite the point. It is usually used for laborious culinary work where maximum effort is required, such as chopping the white part of a leek or chopping nuts. The load force can be increased by pressing the butt of the blade with the palm of the other hand. This is the most effective method make sharp, rough cuts.
Cubes: small, medium, large.
This is the most common cutting method. Small are considered with a side of 2 mm to 1 cm, medium - from 1 to 2 cm, large - over 2 cm. The smaller the cubes are needed, the better the knife should be sharpened. And it is better to use a special vegetable knife - it is easy to determine by small size and the narrow sharp blade of the blade.
Often used when cutting vegetables for preparing dishes of a uniform consistency (sauces, soup-puree) or those that require very fast frying.
If the recipe says “grind”, this means that the product must be chopped almost into porridge.
Medium cubes are indispensable when cutting vegetables (and other related products - meat, poultry, fish), when preparing the filling, especially for pies.
large cubes are required in dishes whose recipe involves baking in the oven or stewing, for example, roasts or stews.
1. Cut the peeled onion lengthwise into two halves so that the knife goes through both ends - the “butt” and the “tail”, and not through the middle. Lay the half with the cut side down on the board and with the tip of the blade make deep parallel cuts along the length.
2. Turn the knife horizontally and cut the onion in half from left to right. If it is large, 2-3 transverse incisions can be made.
3. Cut the onion with the middle of the knife blade into cubes. The smaller you make the intervals between the cuts, the smaller the cubes will turn out.
If the recipe says "chopped" - this means that the product must be cut into very thin long straws. Most often, white cabbage is cooked this way, but it happens that ordinary onions or leeks are also used. For such cutting, both an ordinary knife and a hatchet (chopped) or a special mandolin grater can be used. If the straw is too long, it must be cut across into 2-3 parts.
thin straw cut into strips 3-5 cm long, 2-3 mm wide and thick. Most often, it is used for various dishes of cabbage or pickled sauerkraut, as well as the preparation of vegetable fillings for pies or caviar.
thick straw cut into 4-6 cm long, 5-6 mm wide and thick. You simply cannot do without it if you decide to treat your loved ones with soups that traditionally languish on fire for a long time, for example, borscht or cabbage soup. Thick straws of carrots - required component for cooking classic pilaf.
1. Cut off the top of the pepper along with the stalk.
2. Cut the pepper lengthwise into slices: the thinner you need the straws, the more slices you can have.
3. Cut the slices lengthwise into strips.
1. Peel the carrots and cut with a sharp knife across, but slightly obliquely into plates, no more than 3 mm thick.
2. Lay the cut plates one on top of the other and cut into strips of the required thickness.
One of the most convenient ways onion slices. It is used if you are going to stew a dish for a long time and is just perfect for cooking pilaf.
1. Cut the peeled onion lengthwise into two halves so that the knife goes through both ends - the “butt” and the “tail”, and not through the middle.
2. Lay the half with the cut side on the board and, with the tip of the blade, cut lengthwise into slices with a thickness of 3-4 mm, moving clockwise.
Circles: thin and thick
This method is applicable to any vegetables that are round on the cut, but not disassembled into layers. It can be cucumbers, carrots, daikon, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, etc., but in no case onions or leeks. As a rule, vegetables are cut in this way for salads or dishes that are baked in layers, such as lasagna or Parmentier potatoes. The thickness of the circle can vary from 1 mm to 1.5 cm. If you want to get very thin circles, it is better to use a special mandolin grater or a very sharp thin knife for cutting vegetables.
Cut the leeks into rings.
If you are preparing a salad or an appetizer, then perfect option- thin rings, 1 to 4 mm thick. For dishes baked in layers, e.g. vegetable stew, or cooked in batter, thick rings are usually used, the thickness of which varies from 5 mm to 2 cm.
1. Peel off the top layer of the leek.
2. With a sharp vegetable knife, cut across, but slightly obliquely, into rings of the desired width.
We cut the onion in half rings.
This method of cutting is especially good for stewing - poultry, meat, fish.
1. Cut the peeled onion lengthwise into two halves so that the knife goes through both ends - the “butt” and the “tail”, and not through the middle.
2. Lay the half with the cut side on the board and cut along the half-rings with a width of 5 mm - 2 cm with the tip of the blade.
Cut carrots into chunks
Such cutting requires a well-sharpened chef's knife and accuracy, since all culinary flaws and irregularities will be especially noticeable. Thin sticks, 5 x 2 x 1 cm in size, are indispensable in quick frying dishes, especially Asian cuisine in a wok. Thick, 6 × 3 x 2 cm in size, are often used when canning or baking dishes in the oven.
1.Clean the carrots.
2. Cut with a sharp knife in half lengthwise, then a few more times - the width of the bars depends on what size you want to get them - thin or thick.
Slices: small, medium, large
Slices is a term that is understood quite widely in cooking. It can be cut diagonally, along or across.
small slices with a piece thickness of 1 to 4 mm are often used to prepare dishes that require cooking according to the recipe, followed by mashing. medium slices, ranging in size from 5 mm to 1.5 cm go to salads, soups or vegetable stews.
big chunks exceeding 5 cm are simply irreplaceable when baking, especially meat dishes- it can be a leg of lamb or a pork knuckle. Or when it comes to self vegetable dish, say, from cabbage or pumpkin, which can be baked, fried, cooked in breadcrumbs or batter.
1. Cut each mushroom in half lengthwise or crosswise.
2. Divide each half into thin strips, 1 to 4 mm wide.
Curly cutting