Basic Knife Skills

Not necessarily. While you can certainly spend hundreds of dollars on a custom carbon steel knife, you can also find great options for under thirty dollars. It’s important to find a knife that fits your lifestyle and feels comfortable in your hand. As long as you keep the blade straight and sharp, it will do the job.

Yes, as long as you’re washing it thoroughly with hot, soapy water, a wooden cutting board is safe to use with all types of foods. A plastic or silicone cutting board for is also a safe choice, plus, you can toss them in the dishwasher. Just avoid glass cutting boards; they may make a statement in your kitchen, but they’ll ruin your knives.

If you want your ingredients to cook evenly and in line with your recipe, you should. I always like to measure the first few pieces I chop. It’s amazing how easily you overestimate what a quarter-inch looks like! Set those pieces at the front of your cutting board so you have a visual as you chop the rest.

Practice, practice, practice. Moving from the shoulder, and not just from the wrist, can also help release tension that slows you down. Instead of speed, focus on accuracy. The speed will come.

A boning knife can be helpful if you’re breaking down chicken or other proteins and could use a curved, flexible blade. If you purchase a lot of fish and like to fillet them yourself, a thin-bladed fillet knife could come in handy. I also think a pair of sharp, sturdy kitchen shears is always a useful addition.