Basic 'knife skills' for normals (not chefs)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- The new Adam Ragusea chef's knife is for sale! www.adamraguse...
My old video about "knife skills," specifically the claw grip and why I think it's unnecessary for normals: • You don't need knife s...
J Kenji Lopez Alt every once in a while mentions how he and a friend mathematically modeled onion chopping. The gist of it is to do the same "orbital" method you used in this video, but instead of aiming the knife towards the center of the circle, you aim for a point that is slightly below the surface of the table (specifically the golden ratio relative to the radius of the onion or ~1.6x). At least according to Kenji, this gets you the most mathematically evenly sized pieces of onion.
That's very interesting. Do you, by any chance, know where this mathematical model has been posted?
I refuse to care so deeply about onion slicing! 😂
@@notDemiurgo Watch a random Kenji video, he's gonna reference it, and you'll know from there.
Radial cutting will leave you pieces shaped like orange slices; too thin in the middle, making your central pieces far too small.
But practically speaking, this doesn't matter.
can you post a vid he mentions it in?
Adam: be safe with knives.
Also Adam: waves kitchen knife around like he's in a wizard duel.
exactly what i thought
strong marco pierre white influence
lol! I had the same thought!
I hope someone makes a short edit with magic sparks shooting out of the knife.
I love Severed Survival :)
You know, a year ago, I would have thought: Adam is right. Who needs to use actual knife technique at home? But then I remembered: I'm a musician. I know how to learn complicated physical things. So, instead of going slower with less technique, I did what I do every time I have to practice something hard. I WENT SLOWER USING PROPER TECHNIQUE.
Now, fast forward a year. I love you and your channel, but DUDE!! If you went as slow with proper technique for a year as you've gone the last year using scary technique, you would be FLYING by now. You were much faster than me one year ago. I am much faster AND safer than you now.
So, this is my friendly push-back. You actually freely acknowledge that you have to slow down or you'll surely hurt yourself. Just one year with starting slow on claw grip, etc., I am totally facile with it.
And you don't have to believe me. Because unlike public-domain information on chef techniques, there is a TON OF RESEARCH on how to imprint musical skills. And it all boils down to this: You never have to practice fast. You should not ever practice fast. Because it doesn't make you better. Only practicing slow makes you better. Imprinting trumpet, piano, bass...or knife skills depends on you going slow enough that you imprint PERFECT TECHNIQUE. If you try to play fast before you imprint the physical memory, you don't imprint anything except imperfection. And likewise, by approaching knife technique exactly the way I'd practice any instrumental technique--I didn't waste any time perfecting it. Nor did I practice going fast. I purposely did it slow, and never sped up.
Until one day, mindlessly, I threw an onion on the cutting board, and without even catching myself, I blazed through it like Jacques Pepin. I stood there, stunned, wondering if that had just actually happened. But it did. I had perfected great knife technique just like I perfected playing Donna Lee. I held my tempo down, even when I wanted to speed up, and repeated, repeated, repeated, repeated--never speeding up. And then, one day, without thinking about it, wham. I flew.
Want a challenge from a viewer? Well here it is. You're not going to be one bit slower than you are right now using claw grip, so try it for a year. And then, be amazed that one year later you can blaze through an onion while barely looking down and you will know exactly how big the dice is, because it doesn't depend on your eyes. You've cemented technique, and tricked your brain into acing it.
WIth love, my brother. You are right about so many things, but I think you've deluded yourself on this. Technique always matters.
As someone a year into piano lessons, I really like this analogy to learning an instrument and imprinting proper technique. I think you're probably right. And if you cook very frequently that makes sense. But lots and lots of people don't cook every day and may not be willing to slow down even more to make sure they're practicing the correct technique. If you're just talking about Adam getting faster, then yeah. Definitely. I see you're point and might start doing like you said myself. But just like people may not want to put in the work to practice an instrument, they may not care to put in the work on knife skills. And it's good for them to know how to stay safe.
Agreed
listen to this man
I agree. I have felt this way since I saw Adam's first video about knife skills.
I think his assertion that claw grip is some impossible technique that 'normal people' can't master without spending countless hours practicing in culinary school a bit perplexing. When I learned the claw grip a few years ago, I just got my practice in when I was making my dinner at home. At first it was slow, and now years later I'm getting complemented by my pro-cook friends on my skills and speed. Its only a few minutes an evening, but those minutes add up over the years, and it's worth it to protect your fingers and save time.
Yeah, seeing this in my feed was kinda confusing. This feels like a re-hash of the first video to sell knives.
The pro chefs aren’t doing the claw to be faster, they’re doing it to be safer. You can use proper techniques slowly if you’re not in a hurry. But purposely choosing to go slow simply because you don’t feel like learning the safer technique is kinda throwing me.
The only thing I remembered from my brief work at a restaurant 20+ years ago was the "claw grip". It made sense then and I've always used it. Glad I did. Now I'm losing my vision and practice cutting with my eyes closed sometimes for the future. Very useful technique.
Incredibly fascinating!
Incredibly useful technique FOR THE HOME COOK TOO. I'm saddened Adam can't check his ego and just recommend home cooks take 30 minutes to develop a proper grip. smh
Yup. Claw grip is a knife skill worth the effort to learn. It is safer this way
Yo bro, I learned the claw grip, by cutting with my eyes closed. Dangerous at first, indeed, but after some practice, it helps a lot.
@@ianhooper4273 I am a home cook and it makes 0 differences whatever grips I use, and besides those who swear by god that claw grips are the “bible” for cutting, you need to have your priority rechecked. Sure, that grip works when you are cooking as a job, but for an ordinary home cook like me, I can cut just as fast with no grip even and still come out safe. I only have 2 slight cuts to the finger yearly
Adam is the only TH-camr that proudly teaches you to be lazy and wrong about everything. Such aspirational content.
Nat's What I Reckon is on my list too...TH-camrs teaching us skills to not be lazy in ways lazy people can handle lol.
Agree. He should stick to talking about the history of food and culture, something he’s quite good at.
@@nicks8026it’s only wrong if you’re becoming a professional chef. If you are everybody else then what he says isn’t wrong, just not maximum efficiency
@@nicks8026you're kind of missing the point. And I'm saying this as a long-time, ex-pro line cook.
If you tell people that in order to cook they need to emulate pro chefs then you will inherently discourage people who either are (or feel that they are) incapable of learning all of this technical info and dextrous skill.
If someone like Adam wants to target that demographic then they'll have to revise their approach. Part of that is "dumbing down" the more technical aspects.
A beginner actually jumping into cooking for themselves while doing so in a slightly "less technically safe (but still pretty safe all told)" way, is better than someone feeling overwhelmed by the learning curve and deciding to just give up before they even start.
Once you’ve cut with a sharp knife, anything less sharp will never feel the same…
Adam had said he doesn’t watch many other cooking youtubers, so I doubt be watched that video. Especially since Weissman is basically the opposite of Adam’s channel.
@@jdavis37378 Knowing Adam's style, I think he wouldn't last 2 minutes in a Joshua Weissman video if he tried.
@@jdavis37378 Isn't that the video where he talks about the claw the end all be all technique, so basically the opposite of this? If it isn't that one, pls link the one you were thinking of.
@@jdavis37378 why do you watch every video every week if you hate Adam THIS much? You been commenting on every video by Adam at the date of release, so are you just a troll or a no life who watches people he hates and spreads hate even though he could just not watch a channel if he doesn't like the videos. So...What is it Juan, What are you, Juan?
@@jdavis37378 But this video is very anti claw technique and that video is very pro claw technique. Seems more like a call out if anything. Do you go call out Josh for using the camera in the cupboard thing when Alton Brown did similar things 20 years ago?
Adam you completely overlooked one very important knife tip: secure your cutting board! It takes zero effort, and it makes everything safer while also reducing aggravation. If your cutting board doesn't have any rubber feet, you can buy some adhesive ones for super cheap. I personally like using non-slip drawer liner. I buy them in rolls and then cut out rectangles to match the area of my boards.
Edit: I should also note a heavier cutting board also makes a huge difference. Even in this video, I noticed your cutting board sliding around despite the rubber strips on the sides. That's because your board is so thin that there's not enough weight to hold it in place.
Great tip. I'll add that if someone doesn't wish to purchase rubber feet or drawer liners they can also take a damp rag/towel and place it flat under the cutting board. The average person will already have a rag lying around and it works to the same effect. Later when you're done cutting you already have a wet rag to wipe up anything that may have spilled off the board!
A damp hand towel under your cutting board also does a wonderful job from keeping your cutting board from sliding around
@@DevanMistVlogs of course! I almost forgot about the towel trick. My only fear with that method is with end grain cutting boards. I'd imagine if you leave the damp towel under it for too long then you run the risk of splitting or warping.
I use a piece of that grippy stuff sold as drawer liner under my cutting board, keeps even a light board from sliding around and then I don't have to wonder if I remembered to put that damp towel in the wash or if I'll have a moldy mess and a warpy board in the morning if I don't do all my dishes immediately (which I usually don't). I also keep circles of that stuff around for opening jars and a couple pieces to keep cheap tablecloths from sliding off my table.
My sister gave my mom about a dozen nice plaid dish rags that are much too thick to wash dishes with - you can't get into the nooks and crannies of the dishes. They came to live on the countertop as they were too bulky to fit in the drawer. I suddenly found myself grabbing one, dry, for under the cutting board and I use them as "reusable paper towels" - messes I want to wipe up without messing up my hand towel and aren't messy enough to need to be disposed of. I'll be buying myself a set also.
I still practice the claw grip as a means to avoid cutting my fingers, even though I left kitchen work years ago. It doesn't feel that unnatural after some practice. My commitment to it was cemented by actually cutting the tip of my index finger off after getting slightly distracted by something or other.
I understand why Adam doesn't bother but I feel the same as you. I've never worked in a kitchen environment but I do cook every day and have been using the claw grip since day 1. Nowadays holding food any other way feels unnatural to me lol.
Yeah I don't get his aversion to the claw grip. What if he slips? Or gets distracted? Or just makes a mistake? I know he goes slow to avoid those types of things but there's still a nonzero chance. I'll take the slightly uncomfortable grip (that's not even uncomfortable once you get used to it) given that it GUARANTEES I won't cut my finger off in any situation.
@@MackeyD3 Well obviously if you go too fast you'll cut yourself no matter what. My point is... why not go slow AND use the claw grip??
@@MackeyD3 Then you were very clearly doing it wrong.
I have been taught to do the claw grip like a cat paw in home eco at school and every time I saw Adam cutting stuffs without clawing up his fingers + speed up clip just makes me feels anxious. Without making my fingers like cat paw, it just feel unnatural for me to cut stuffs.
I just realized that I learned the claw grip in high school, had a subject called "Hauswirtschaft" housekeeping, it was 4h per week and we learned all kinds of skills there, like cooking, baking, cleaning, washing clothes etc. and we would prepare our meals once per week ourselves. It's a mandatory thing here in Switzerland (and I suppose in other places too).
It was a subject in Germany, however a lack of teachers and also neccesary room and equipment made it much rarer.
Which is honestly quite an issue since its a very important skill, and most often things like taxes and insurances were also included. And bear claw tends to be one of the very first things you learn almost anywhere, both because you can cut safer , but especially (something i noticed myself) : Its easier to slice thin
Many US schools used to have this class but it was called Home Economics and also covered things like sewing. It's still a thing at a lot of schools but optional.
In USA, it was called "home economics", there was 1/4 of a school year spent in a kitchen classroom (mom had already taught me more about cooking than the school had time for, but they TRIED), and another 1/4 of the year in a sewing classroom (I made a book bag).
Other two quarters, one was spent in the "metal shop" (I made a sheet metal dust pan and a scoop), the last quarter was spent in the "wood shop" (I made a large candle holder, turned on the wood lathe from butternut wood- still have it!).
Of course its switzerland.
From what my parents yave told me, chile used to have a mandatory subject called "civic formation" that was under the same scope as what you describe, sadly, my experience with school was wildly different, and as of now, kids are only taught about science, numbers and the like
The most adam ragusea thing i have ever seen is stirring soup with a knife so he doesnt have to get another utensil dirty. I love it
my mum always taught me the claw grip to cut food when I was little, so it is very much second nature. I'm still not the fastest at it but I prefer the safety of it
I understand completely the things you point out about knife skills and the claw method, but I actually use the claw method not for speed (I also do a "walking chop"), but because, as you said, it helps to stabilise the knife, the food and it makes virtually impossible to cut yourself, especially if you go slow. If you are a person who are super uncomfortable with a knife and get anxious using it, the claw method can help you overcome that! Just don't focus on speed, the home cook doesn't need it.
I'm a professional cook of nearly 30 years, and I alternate between clawing and extending, and it does not matter... it's about feel at the moment. Generally though... to teach someone basic knife skills, the claw is just common sense and a good foundation on which to learn.
These knife skill videos have run their course and can now be scraped into the stock pot. What's absolutely true is (in professional cooking or at home) pay attention to your hands... I'd much rather mentor a cook to be careful and do a good job than to hurt themselves!
@@edjones1318 this guy teaches you the worst way possible. Why would you believe some TH-camr about cooking skills when you can literally learn it from professionals who have done it over several years. It's like learning martial arts from a TH-camr who hasn't been in MMA classes rather than learning from a world champion
@@fightsmack3140 How did you manage to miss the entire point of the video?
@@gothicfan52 there are alternatives and there are simply wrong ways, palm grip is simply the wrong way. Pro chefs chop so fast because they feel safe with the claw grip, Adam is showing the wrong way which is neither safe nor fast.
@@Nanorisk Pro chefs chop fast because they have years of practice. The claw grip doesn't make them fast, it makes going fast safer. They go fast because they have to chop a million of whatever per night and that need doesn't exist in your house. He's not giving advice for chopping quickly which makes me think you didn't actually watch the video where he explicitly states what I just typed. Slowing down and keeping your fingers away from the knife while you cut is a perfectly valid safety measure.
I love how he goes "normal human" and "normal person" and stuff when referring to the knife techniques, it's like implying that pro chefs are abnormal beings out and beyond any sort of human comprehension
If you've ever watched a professional chef break down a chicken, large side of beef, or 60lb fish, it's a thing of magic.
Technically normal generally means near to the average or median of a group / largest subset of the group. So in this sense any professional is inherently not normal because they have elevated their skills enough to be part of am exclusive subset from the largest subset.
(Doctors, engineers, pro athletes, and pro chefs have all improved some aspect of themselves enough to be distinct from normal people in the context of their field.)
Chefs are abnormal beings, they're not beyond comprehension. Where do you get this stuff from?
I was married to a chef. He was, indeed, beyond human comprehension. 🥰
Any professional manual worker is beyond human compreension... Outsiders look at them like superhuman, they see themselves as way below average... Speaking from experience.
I think the clawgrip is worthwhile to learn for several reasons:
• Not all time is equal. It's true you generally have time to spare in a home kitchen, but sometimes ingredients that you haven't prepared needs to be added quickly.
• Safer. While I agree that not using it can be pretty safe too, using the claw is never less safe (except possibly if you forget the thumb).
• It isn't that difficult! Yes, it takes a long time to master but it doesn't take long at all before you get over the initial discomfort and it becomes very usefull. When I made the switch it took two days before I couldn't go back and I generally learn those things very slowly. One of the best investments of time I've ever done in the kitchen.
• As a bonus, it also helps with helping you hold the blade perfectly perpendicular to the cutting surface. And also, it's pretty fun.
I learnt it mostly for precision and control. Couldn't imagine cutting with an open palm anyway.
No, it's definitely safer than flat handed.
I was "walking" (chopping slow) a year or two ago and nearly sliced off my thumb while chopping an onion. It was due to a minor distraction in the kitchen (I was high strung trying to get a meal prepped and asked someone for an ingredient, I thing) and because I had a flat hand. Frankly, I think Adam is delivering a load of horse hucky in this video.
Claw is not difficult and can still be done slowly. the claw has nothing to do with speed and everything to do with safety. You can quickly chop both clawed and flat, it's just ludicrously dangerous to do it flat.
100%!!! Also.. If you're gonna have a sharp knife I think is important.. To avoid accidents
Forgetting the thumb is exactly how I cut the tip of my thumb off. I haven't touched a chef's knife since. I almost never cook and this totally put me off. Adam's approach makes me think that maybe I should just do as he's describing and it won't be so bad.
Even as a home cook, I think the claw grip is super easy to learn and the most safe - once you understand it. Took me years to learn that fingers should not be parallel to the blade, but be in a curled state like a triangle. With mit right hand and side of the blade I push mildly against my last knuckle of my middle and surrounding fingers. That way my fingertips on the left hand are always out of the way and more importantly the knife cannot slip off of round stuff or wabble, because I am literally guiding the side of the blade with some left hand knuckles all the time. Also - my knuckle never leaves the side of the blade, knuckle and knife are a unit while I cut. This is what made the claw grip way less awkward to me. I converted to this after a horrendous cut to my left thumb with a new and insanely sharp Japanese knife while trying a horizontal cut to an onion (which I've never done again - I don't care for uneven onion pieces).
Is still go slow, that's the most important part. Over time however it started to feel more and more natural and easy, at this point I am regularly stopping myself from becoming too speedy. Not doing the same mistake again - saving 20 seconds max a night is not worth another awful cut.
"I will think of a snappy reply to you and never post it" is the most relatable thing you've ever said.
From my anecdotal experience cutting peppers in a home kitchen environment:
I prefer cutting peppers flesh side up because a knife that is only slightly dull will start slipping on pepper skin (and other similar surfaces). I expect that most people at home are not keeping their knives perfectly sharp, so it is likely better to tell others to take it slow with a skin-side down pepper even if the shape is slightly unstable. You can further mitigate the risk by cutting perpendicular to the rotational axis. There's no real linear grain structure to a pepper, so you're not forced to cut pole-to-pole as with other veggies.
I use a pulling motion to cut skin things. Small paring knife, place tip on board, pull through the pepper. Super fast and my hand stays out of the way. Let's me pierce the skin from the side so there's no risk of sliding.
As a former commercial chef, you are exactly correct. Even in professional kitchens, the knives are not always the sharpest they can be. Always cut peppers skin-side down, that's my opinion. I have personally seen it been used by the majority of coworkers, and for similar reasoning.
@@MajorJakas as a professional cook myself, I also agree with this. You get used to sharpening knives at work regularly, but its never as sharp as you want it to be depending on your work place's knife quality. But you start to understand that things like bell pepper skins and other rinds will dull knives quickly so you find ways like cutting them skin side down to hopefully prevent some of that dulling so you can keep cutting quickly and efficiently.
3:49
the natural adam ragusea intimidation technique observed in the wild by scientists over generations, perfectly documented in this knife video
I'm not certain that I would call myself a super fan, I'm just a guy that likes to learn things. Adam does a very good job simplifying complex things into a much easier to understand context. Thank you for everything you do Adam.
I'm always glad to see when you emphasize how different the home kitchen is, and normalizing "not pro" moves
So important that we can be slow and don't have to always aspire to professional way to do things
I do understand for ppl who can't afford the time
But I think there are many of us who could afford to just take cooking a little more slowly and focus on the very act of cooking instead of it just as a means to an end
It can be therapeutic
Honestly I think the claw grip is not hard to learn and once you learn it’s just easier and gives a good foundation
Look, it's fine to cook at your own pace, but learning "the claw" isn't some mystical move that only pro chefs do. It's just basic knife safety. Learning the basics of dicing and julienning properly isn't hard, and when you learn it correctly, you will naturally develop a faster rhythm with it. Meanwhile, if you go to Adam's previous knife skills video, you'll see that he hasn't gotten any faster. He advocates for easy and comfortable mediocrity instead of improving and becoming passionate about something you do everyday.
Yo Adam, the inedible top part of the peeled onion is called the foreskin.
It always sting when I cut off the foreskin
@@ATN2024 They say it's healthier if you cut it off, but really the risk of infection is really not very likely in our times of modern sanitation and advanced medicine.
I just wish you covered sweet potatoes - especially big ones are honestly the most terrifying thing I cut (into fries usually) because they can take a scary amount of pressure + tend to "follow the grain" so it can LITERALLY go sideways fast.
Yeah, same with rutabaga - it's almost like chopping firewood :)
“I am not a chef”
*proceeds to advertise a chef knife*
Me: “gonna have to convince me a lot harder man…”
Yeah. Because the name of a knife is very literal. It's really too bad I'm not bread because a "Bread Knife" would be really useful sometimes.
@@Paxtez Boner came to mind when I read the comment.
As a trained chef, this is a great video on basic skills (I use the orbital method at full speed I just do it backwards for safety-as a righty, I do the orbital cuts left to right away from my hand)
My opinion on peppers is to cut skin down; I'll take the tiny bit of wobble in exchange for better purchase for the knife and I've been known to recommend/require newbies to use a serrated knife especially for tomatoes (used to work in a camp kitchen and had the terrifying job of putting knives in the hands of teenagers). Better to wash two knives with ten fingers than to wash one knife with nine fingers.
Thanks again Adam, I always really enjoy your videos and am waiting expectantly for a 10 inch chefs knife, a nikiri, or a Chinese vegetable cleaver with your face on it (I've never felt comfortable with 8 inch chef knives)
I love you refusal to engage with home professionalism! Far to many youtube cooks make preparing food seem unnecessarily difficult and complex. I very much enjoy your attitude of- it might be 'wrong' but it works for me so who cares!
This is why I love this channel. I follow several great cooking channels, but so many of them focus on these chef or high culinary skills, techniques, and even recipes. This channel consistently puts out videos that resonate with home cooks, with ingredients and techniques. This and many other reasons are why I think this channel is fantastic! Keep doing what you do Adam!
@SILVIA CAMORA Not on a damn Cooking channel...
There is nothing chef-y or high culinary about keeping your fingers out of a path of a knife. Noone says you have to do it fast.
A note on frenching onions: if you’re looking for the slices where you cut the root off for little strips of onion, start by cutting the root off, THEN do your concentric cuts. Then, you can turn the onion halfway through so you stay with the “safe half” for the rest of the cuts (does that make any sense?). I’m a chef and I do it at work every day
It is also good to note that the pinch technique is really only conducive if the knife is well-kept and sharp. If you're trying to cut a lot with a dull knife, the back of the blade can bite into the side of your finger and hurt after a while (unless the grip was made in a way that mitigates that). This doesn't mean that the pinch grip isn't good, it's just that keeping your knives sharp should also go hand-in-hand with improving your technique.
having watched most of your videos i have to say that you are the segue king! Iv never seen another youtuber work so perfectly into an endorsement etc like you do!
I still stand by "walk, don't run" thanks Adam!
Why? Enough practice of the right way ( claw grip) will make it natural. It's not safe, it's slow, and it's wrong. But hey, "you do you"
@@jamescassar5348 I only cook once, maybe twice/week. By the time I got good at it, I'd be a very old man.
@@Lilhawke how do you cook twice a week only? I work as a chef full time and at home I still cook twice a day sometimes 🤣 maybe some days less as I do meal prep at home like I do at work. But then again I cook for the family not just myself.
For the carrot style bit I simply start with the tip of the knife on the tip of the carrot (pressing down while using the pointy end to concentrate the effort, much more stable than if you start slicing with the entirety of the edge) while my second hand holds from the opposite end. Then I slide the knife across the carrot towards where my hand is and I open and widen my grip as the knife comes to then arrive to something similar to your claw grip. I find it goes quite fast and is quite safe.
I love your videos even if watching you cut things gives me a bloody heart attack. I’ve never understood why folks find claw unnatural or difficult (beyond the first couple of times cutting), but “walking” with the claw is even more effective to me than “walking” alone. It feels like a 20 minute lesson (I learned it after watching the Good Eats episode on knives) that takes an hour to be good enough to be safer than the methods shown here even at a pretty brisk chop. This is especially a godsend when I’ve got kids or guests being distracting since the claw feels much less prone to, “Timmy quit biting tommy, OW SHIT”.
Yeah, that's how I feel too. I get where he's coming from, but it seems a little exaggerated. Most of the "professional" knife techniques take very minimal amounts of effort to learn to a functional level. I don't really see a good reason not to learn them.
How do you cut the tip or ends of something? Like a small garlic clove. That seems physically impossible to hold with the claw. Or are you just throwing out half of every garlic clove
Just one example, cutting bell peppers (diced?) like he did in the vid. Ideally, I guess, you don't want your slices to move around when you dice them. You probably want to press them together + against the board. The claw grip offers way less grip than a natural grip, everything moves around. Even worse that you need to actually move your hand, the claw grip getting progressively worse and more unsteady everytime it moves back. Tried to force myself to use it for years and it just seems like a good way to get a cramp, unsteady food potentially making the knife slip, etc. Like Adam, I also can't remember if I've ever cut myself a single time in 15 years, so it's not like I have the biggest incentive to use an unnatural grip. It seems like it's almost like being forced to write right-handed, it's natural for 90% of people, good for them, but it's a traumatic experience for the other 10%. Personally, I have tiny hands too, so maybe that's why I feel like I need to spread my hand grip instead of using a tiny ineffective claw grip. Who knows haha
@@TumblinWeeds if you don't exaggerate the claw as much as Adam does you can get 90% of a clove of garlic sliced, and what's left is the root end that gets discarded anyway.
@@TumblinWeeds If you're trying to chop it finely, leaving a bigger piece at the end isn't a big deal, you'll make multiple passes over it anyway. I guess you're thinking about slicing it thinly or something? Just straighten your fingers out as needed towards the end (don't extend beyond vertical so that your tips stay safe). But that also means you need to be somewhat more careful, so make sure to slow down and only lift the knife as much as is necessary.
Of course the easiest way to cut something is when it has a flat bottom so that it sits firmly on the board - in that case, you can let go of it towards the end and just freehand the last few cuts. That way you can get down to the last millimeter.
That final "boil it!" feels like as nostalgic as a warm summer after your final Friday class
The cutting forward while moving down is the traditional Japanese method. It actually works for many fast, professional chefs. The rocking motion variation is a western technique that is optimized for the super curved French chef knives.
Thank you so much. I’ve never been able to do the claw grip. You made me realize I don’t need to practice for hours. Just go slow.
Every Thanksgiving, my dad would tell us to start with a good, sharp knife, then EVERYTIME you use it (and more often if you are cutting a lot), hit it a few times with the steel. This is one thing that I do. I found a good, sharp knife, and I hit it with the steel EVERYTIME.
I borrowed a friend's high-end knife, and it was dull, so I tried to hit it with the steel, but I couldn't get an edge on it. I even tried to put an edge on it with a stone but couldn't do it. I concluded that this high-end knife was made of really good material, and the only way to get it sharp was to have it professionally sharpened. Whereas my cheaper, but good knife stays sharp with just a few seconds of care EVERYTIME I use it.
This is why I appreciate that Adam didn't go with a high-end material for his knife. It's for non-chefs, so the value just isn't there. In my opinion at least.
I love my fancy Japanese knives, they keep an edge for a really long time but they are an absolute pain in my ass to sharpen. It’s not hard, it just takes so long. You really need 3 different grits and a strop to get them properly sharp again. But then it lasts for like a year with me just cooking at home.
One thing I would add when chopping an onion is when you get close to the root end you can flip it so that the freshly cut side rests on the board and chop up the top and sides. It's especially useful for very slippery onions and/or if you want to reduce waste.
I learned the claw grip from my dad, but he is a cook, so yea. I don't always use it, but when I'm cutting something, more slippery I think I tend to use the claw hook, just like most techniques are a matter of practice as far as I know.
I also do the horizontal slices on the onion.
I also do use the "clamp grip".
For tomatoes, I've heard that a serrated knife works well, and I did try it a bit (I don't have always a lot of opportunities to test that tip), and as far as I can tell you do have to move the knife more because it is serrated, but it grabs the food much better, and it doesn't destroy the tomato. Part of the reason was also from another cook that indicated that the acidity of the tomato eventually eats out at the edge of the blade, probably a thing that doesn't matter much at home but in a kitchen makes perfect sense that you would want to not use up your knifes as fast.
I've seen rocking with the other hand on top of the knife to help the rocking motion, never heard a reason for it, but I could see how it helps.
Even with all that, I do agree that going slow is the most important and critical advice, and yea sharp knife, do not use dull knifes they will slide off something that you are cutting, and it will definitely cut you.
I used to get really frustrated when I was beginning to learn the claw grip, it took me several months to get comfortable with it. It is a very frustrating, unnatural movement for the arm. But when you learn, the feeling of speed is borderline addictive.
I can't get over the wonderful safety information about knives while simultaneously also watching Adam jiggle his blade around in the kitchen as he chats to us half with his voice and half with his hands.
There's a much better way to julienne carrots that's much simpler and takes less time. Instead of cutting the carrot in half, shave a cheek off the side. As little as you can to create a flat surface. Then rotate 90 degrees so the flat side you just cut is on the bottom and do it again. Repeat with the remaining two sides and you have a nice cuboid shape that's easy to cut into an even fine dice.
As a home cook, I then take those cheeks I shaved off and approximate the same size dice on them so as not to waste food.
If I'm unsure about a cut usually I like to saw back and forth with barely any pressure just to get an initial cut in and using that to stabilize where I can actually really cut the thing. I think it's kinda like making a guiding hole for a nail.
For cutting peppers, after removing the seeds, I usually start by cutting off the ends (cutting them separately later) and cutting the rest of the pepper in quarters (or smaller) so I get more flat piece that won't wiggle on my cutting board. Most of the time I go for brunoise, so dividing the peppers in somewhat weird ways doesn't make a difference in the end.
I think it depends what you want. One technique i learned is : Cut off top part, you can then easily just remove the green part by pushing it to the inside . Turn the pepper around (on its head) and slice from the center outward to the bottom. If you want cubes, you can also just slice off the bottom, where you can cleanly seperate the flesh from the seeds and such.
Also: Cut cucumbers (and tomatoes) with a serrated edge knife , with the skin on top. I found it much easier to make sure i have fully sperated bits instead of having skin stuck together
Bought this knife a couple of months ago. Fantastic! 72 y/o, spent 35 years in the restaurant biz. Never had a knife better than this one.
One tip, at 3:02, for cutting the last bit of the onion where it's taller than it is wide and the angle of the onion is steeply slanted towards your fingers. You can roll the onion over towards your knife so the end you were cutting is now flat on the board. Then just keep cutting in the direction you were doing it. It helps keep the knife from slipping down the steep slope towards your fingers.
For cutting things with smooth skin, if your knife is sharp enough it should quickly break the skin with almost no pressure put on the knife (generally sharp knives areuch safer because of this; blunt knives slip far more easily and require much more force which also increases the chance of slipping).
An alternative is using a serrated knife with a sawing motion to break to the skin.
In either case (sharp knife or serrated knife) you should need almost no presure, thus also preventing squishing of softer vegetables such as tomatoes.
Yes! The claw grip thing. You've just freed me from 60 years of angst and sublimated guilt.
You have taken a whole lot of guilt off the shoulders of home cooks, who do not have the time orneed to chop professionally. Another gold star!
0:58 thats not a stem, thats a tunic/scape/whatever! smh my head
insert snappy remark here
I respect Adam’s opinion, but It seems foolish to me to learn entirely different ways to cut stuff just to avoid using the claw grip. You can both use the claw grip, AND go slow! It’s like double protection! If you are cutting stuff and cooking every day, you don’t even have to practice it. Just use the claw grip, go slow, and you will get used to it naturally. Again, if you really don’t want to use it, that’s fine, but I think the protection it grants from freak accidents makes it completely worth it.
Again, Adam already emphasize "choose the most natural way to cut". And he says that because it's just feels unnatural for him, and many of homecooker too. As long as your knife sharp enough and you can hold firmly, that's it.
If that's already natural enough for you, it's okay
Going about my day: 0 fear
Watch Adam in a knife fight with an invisible assailant: 1 fear
I've been using a claw grip on knives since I was taught to cook as a kid so it's funny how it just feels natural now
The claw grip is not intended for stabilizing the knife; it's just to keep your fingers out of harm. The claw grip is used for a feeding cut just as much as a walking cut.
The knife tip should be held onto the board whenever possible; that's what stabilizes it. A knife should then be used in an elipse like a locomotive.
the sections of a knife have different jobs and applications
I could keep the knife tip on the board comfortably, if I cut my kitchen down 6”. Keeping the knife tip on the board is a weird, unnatural thing to do, invented by television chefs to give them something to say.
I like keeping the knife's blade parallel with the cutting surface more often than not. Having the tip on the board is nice if you don't need to lift the blade too much but gets a bit ridiculous when you need to lift the knife more than 30 degrees.
other options
- Use smaller knives (they're easier to control)
- Drawing the point of the knife across the board and through the food is also fool proof.
Sharp is good.
I've worked in kitchens and also been slow at home.
This stuff should be taught in school.
often terrifies me watching people try to use a knife
I personally never use my proper chef's knife - I use the mini-butcher my set came with. It's just the right size and weight to me for just about everything. I do wish it had an actual point though... gotta keep my pairing knife in service somehow, I guess 😉
Big knives are great for carrots, pumpkin etc that are large and hard. You can use the weight of the knife and apply force in a more controlled way.
the no claw grip had me wincing the whole time
I love the fact that the vinegar leg on the right started as an experiment video of yours and now it’s basically your logo
After years of cutting carrots I have found my own method that basically negates any and all danger of rolling:
After cutting the root end of the carrot off:
Use the same grip as shown above
Place the blade lengthwise down the carrot just past the root end, and set the tip directly on the board at a 45-degree angle
Leave the tip on the board and slowly bring the hilt of the knife down until the blade starts embedding itself itself into the root end, about a half an inch to an inch (depending on the size of the carrot)
Now that the knife is already wedged into the carrot, the blade can only go in one direction - the angle determined by the initial cut
You don't even need to continue holding the carrot, and can move your hand to the spine of the blade, bringing it fully down like a paper cutter. As long as the tip of the knife remains on the board, and the initial cut is straight down the middle, you can't roll the knife, period. This works for all round, long produce like carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, etc.
I feel like this video is calling chefs skills elitists, when in reality its just called doing things that make sense, and are safe.
Yep Adam Ragusea can be weird like that. Probably does it for the views and being more approachable to people that never really cook.
I love that I buy that you did the math on 35 seconds 100 times being an hour live on camera. You did the up and to the right eye movement, bravo
Lol. That's grade school math
@@bartholomeoduke9152 35x100/60 is more than most people can do quickly in their head on the fly. I guess you are just much smarter than most. Look everyone we have a badass over here!
My old kitchen manager always used the flat hand approach to bracing the food he would cut and never had any issues with efficiency or danger. He was just really good with a knife.
Very good video! Most of us are NOT professional chefs and while I try do things "properly" there is no pressure to produce quantity. Quality is much more important and cutting matters. Cutting different shapes makes different tastes. Well textures really, but you get the idea. "Turn the crown upside down and cut down" Love it!
Honestly, I've basically abandoned all of my knife skills except for the bear claw after being taught them in school. The bear claw genuinely does become safer and quicker after you get over the initial discomfort, but some of the other stuff that I was taught like grip (kinda pinching the base of the blade with the thumb and pointer finger) I found to not be as useful, simply because the efficiency was never really there because of the discomfort.
I would say that overall, with the exception of the bear claw, basically all night skills are optional and you should really pick and choose which ones to use based on your needs.
Also, I sometimes wonder if knife skills are as eurocentric as most modern culinary education is, because I find that basically all knife skills completely fail me or require modification when working with more exotic ingredients
You just need practice with “exotic”ingredients lol
You don't really have to wonder, look at South American, Middle Eastern, Chinese and Japanese chefs and you'll see that their knife skill principles are pretty much the same. Even for Chinese with the tall cleavers, the principles are the same - using the knife as efficiently as you can, which in many cases overlaps how Europeans, and everyone else around the world use them.
Yes, the bear/claw grip is definitely worth learning. First week I started cooking for myself in college, I cut myself twice: first time I sliced off a bit of my index finger fingernail, second time I sliced into the tip of my thumb. Switched to claw grip and have never cut myself ever again, even when going at full speed while I'm looking elsewhere (not that I recommend doing that). It's fast, safe, and very comfortable once you get used to it, plus it makes you look a lot more competent than you actually are (haha).
The claw is 100% essential learning. I can't bear to watch anyone chop without holding things safely like that. I'm not a chef, I'm just a dad who wants to keep his fingers intact when making dinner for my family
Most of this stuff was probably invented by the French so it'd make sense it's tailored to the stuff they were cooking in Europe in the 19th ish century
hey adam, great video. i think you should mention or highlight that especially when cutting hard round things where the knife can easily slip out that the cutting motion should start by going all the way through with one end of the knife (either heel or tip) and then rocking or sliding into the other end. you did this when you cut the carrot, it just is important to prevent the carrot from rolling
This is how I halve carrots; it feels really natural, and keeps my fingers out of the way. It's basically a paper cutter motion; tip of the knife on the cutting board, second hand on the back of the knife, (both for pressure, and to keep it out of danger) then bring it down front to back. Because I'm only hitting one end of the carrot at a time, it doesn't roll.
It's also the same with weights training, you go slow with proper technique till you build the muscle memory, after a while finding your groove happens without thought.
“Just because you can’t do a u-turn at 100 miles-per-hour doesn’t mean you should never do a u-turn. Just slow down, it’ll be fine.”
Solid life advice.
I'm professionally trained cook yet I'm still watching this because your content is great!
No, you're not
@@bartholomeoduke9152 I literally went to culinary school and have worked as a cook, I don't anymore as I'm a stay at home dad now how is a cook watching a cooking youtuber so hard to believe 😂
@@GodUsopp6620 you're literally neither of those things lol
Cook with 20 years experience here. You saved the most important tip for the end. Keep your knife sharp. The one i have at home cost me 5 bucks a Wallmart.
Another tip: Try to keep the tip of your knife on the board as much as possible while doing an almost circular motion with the holding hand. Kind of like a steam locomotive's running gear.
The best safety advice that applies to however your cut things is have a sharp knife. A dull blade is more dangerous than a sharp one as it may slip, not make the cut and then also push out what you want from your herbs, meat, aromatics.
In my limited experience as a home cook, the most dangerous thing I have encountered is limes with dried out skin. No matter how sharp you get your knife it won't easily go through and the skin is just soft enough to catch the blade and make the lime move and often will redirect it into your hand if you are holding it. It's scary to chop even if your hands are nowhere near the blade.
this is where serration helps, yeah?
@@longlost00 maybe? I usually end up cutting them by placing my knife on top and giving the knife a few firm taps to cut the lime. Though the best way is to just use fresh limes
Zzzzest themmmmmm.
Regarding 6:05 , i honestly did not find learning the claw-grip very time consuming. It took me one night to get the rudimentary parts of it down (as in a single cooking-session, plus some added playing around with some spoiled potatoes afterwards)
After that initial evening of rudiments, I was chopping fast and safe within a week.
I learned it by watching food network when I was in elementary school. When I picked up a knife for the first time, I naturally started with the claw grip and did the "running chop", sometime in 4th or 5th grade. I think everyone has a different learning curve, but idk how much of it is just people not feeling like doing it. I honestly think everyone could probably get it after practicing for maybe a week at most.
It is still anecdotal but in culinary school we were told some specific techniques regarding regarding safe knife skills but they were mostly in place to avoid hazards that has happened to previous students. We were still cutting ourselves sometimes though, but we were preparing for the "quick stuff" that is required to be a chef so, just like you say, many of the techniques are not really applicable for home cooks. However one of the best itps is to put a damp dish rag under your cutting board to keep it from slipping.
Anyways, love from Sweden! :)
As someone that cooks only for my family, and that nobody teach how to cook, i always use that "claw grip" whit the things I chop. It feels so natural that is amazing people need to teach how to do that
Adam, I just want to say I really love your dialogue. It's hard to tell if it was scripted beforehand because it's so natural. I don't feel like I'm being lectured by a professor, but just listening to a friend. It's very natural, and I appreciate that.
And he enunciates really well!
One thing I don't see mentioned in arguments about the "claw grip" is that I'm pretty sure you can only effectively do it if your fingernails are shorter than the tips of your fingers. If your nails are longer than that, either for aesthetics or comfort (for example I have a hyponychium on most of my nails so the absolute shortest i can cut them is like, a few mm past my fingertips), the claw grip becomes really unsafe. Since your fingernails prevent the tips of your fingers from reaching the food, you're trying to hold it stable with either the tips or tops of your nail which is dangerously ineffective, especially for things that are round/slick. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but in my experience curving my fingers in like that means that my fingertips physically cannot touch what's beneath them, so I'm holding the food with my nails which is... kinda yucky, and means I have zero feedback or control.
Generally: Short nails in cooking is a MUST . Having some nail left is a plus, since you can "claw" or hook into the vegetable and keep your grip on it easier. Also, if you can , slice something off. An onion you can slice off at the bottom where the root is , for example.
THANK YOU for pointing that out. My The skin under my nails actually stick out past the tips of my fingers even when they're cut short on my index and middle fingers, THAT's why claw grip feels so unnatural for me, because if I curl my fingers so the knuckles are in contact with the blade, I can only touch the food with my nails instead of my finger pads. Hyponichium, it even has a word. Boy am I glad I read the comments today!!
I'm honestly more for "whatever feels best for you as long as you're safe about it" rather than "this is the best method because it's the safest and quite easy to learn"
5:46 its awesome how you can clearly see adam doing the math on his head to say that indeed, 35 seconds times 100 does equate to 3500 seconds which is pretty much an hour (3600 seconds).
He does take the time to do the math on the fly as to not say something incorrect
I half expected him to accidentally drop that knife at the beginning the way he was holding it weirdly
For peppers, I like to turn them stem side down, stick the tip of the knife into the dimple, and cut along the grooves of the pepper all the way down to the stem while avoiding the seed either into halves or thirds, depending on the particular pepper. Then you can snap the pepper right off the stem and seeds. I find this method doesn’t waste as much as cutting along the stem.
On garlic, here’s my tip - do what adam does here, but remove the tough stem end AFTER smashing the clove with the side of the knife. The tough end stays attached to all the papery skin through that smash and more often than not, you can get the skin and tough part off in one piece if they’re still attached
Great video, and I love the consistent message that there are no prerequisites to cooking, and one can develop skills through applied effort, based on your desire and need. Lots of good comments on the claw grip, but I have a particular argument for my personal case, which might be possible to generalize: I have cut this way for so long that I can cut safely, efficiently, and consistently *without looking at my hands*. Home kitchens are full of interruptions and distractions. My right (knife) hand can tell when my left hand is out of position and stop moving, regardless of my attention. This happens once or twice a month, saving me cut skin or a mis-sized prep cut. Heck yes, becoming this comfortable was like learning to ride a bike, with the same subsequent benefits. I find prepping vegetables a peasant, familiar ritual. And my tip for slicing peppers: I keep my knife very sharp. The pepper goes flesh-to-board, and the skin practically splits itself when caressed by the blade.
One thing I've found with dicing onions fast using the claw grip is to chop half way to the onion until you reach the highest point, flip and chop again starting at the thinner section. I've had occasion where, once you past the peak, the onion is sloped toward your finger and if the layers separate would direct the blade right into your fingers.
Honestly, cooks/chefs use the claw when getting close to the fingers, it starts becoming natural after the speed starts coming, and the knife bites you and you force the change to avoid such. It isn't directly about speeding up how you chop, but avoiding scars when you start to speed up due to the demands and experience of the job. Notice how you move your finger out of the way when holding the carrots, that is what is taken out of the equation, the claw grip actually requires less dexterity of moving the fingers, and thus less mistakes when you start to chop faster, and with the distractions of a busy kitchen, looking around you as you chop makes this a necessary habit. But you are right, if you don't mind taking it slow, then what is comfortable is fine. As for the knife, the steel is solid. It is durable and easy to sharpen, and liven up with a steel (honer). It is hard to have cheap limited runs, and with the personalized bits the price is understandable.
Yep, the reason we see every professional cook use the claw grip is because it is so far the best method for control, safety, speed, and accuracy. You may not need to use it but I don't think it's better to not do it, if that makes sense. Build a solid foundation for a skill, even if you don't want to improve it. Take your time, do slow cuts, but do it with a claw grip. Adam makes the comparison of "just because you can't do a u-turn at 100mph doesn't mean you shouldn't do a u-turn". I think it would be more like saying "you don't need to do a u-turn at 100mph but you should still be good at u-turns.
HELLO OTHER HOME CHEFS.
I have a tip for Adam. Angle the blade away from your fingers, so if it does slip where you dont want it to be. It will slip away from your fingers.
Thats it! Espcially @6:45. He should hold the same angle, but just away from the fingers instead.
There is a lot more trust in the process this way, and you can speed up your chopping, and its much safer.
For slippery skin fruit what I like doing it slowly slicing shallow enough to pierce into it before applying pressure. After all, the skin is very thin and once you slice through it the flesh on the other end will just guide you through the rest. If you have trouble, the tip of your knife works well in puncturing a hole that you can use as a guide.
Ironically, in some traditional fencing grips you do hold part of the blade as well.
Indeed. And not talking about whimpy modern sport-fencing stuff, but proper longswords.. ;)
er, no, I meant modern fencing swords. The ricasso on an epee is usually behind the cover of a basket hilt.
Something I've realized watching Adam's and other people's videos is that a lot of 'best practices' that people are told are essential to reach their goals are actually best practices from a professional environment that comes with very different hazards and scales. That includes hygiene concerns.
You *have* to clean a kitchen if there's been non-stop cooking for the past twelve hours (believe me, I've done it and those places get filthy), but as a laycook, using the professional methods the amount of times a professional cook would be required to do in a professional environment are complete overkill. And that's a matter of scale that would be overkill in an amateur kitchen. But there's also the other matter of whether you're working on the margins.
If you're on the margins of your craft, precision is going to matter far more than it is for an amateur cook. Adam Savage recently did a video where he explains a new tool he has received; Gauge blocks (I think) that are ridiculously precise. What I've found is that, across my life, I will find myself not pursuing certain paths because I think I don't have what I need. But Adam Savage explains that; Because of the level of mastery he has achieved, the margins start to really matter. And, implicitly, since he hadn't reached that level of mastery before, trying to be precise outside those margins is not helpful.
And that is true for lots of things. You may be playing a game and then hear about a certain trick that is essential for speedrunners. It shaves off that half-second of a perfect run, while you'll be spending minutes walking back because you forgot a thing. A lot of advice you will receive in life is like someone telling you that to be a real gamer, you have to master this speedrunning trick that is only useful on the margins.
Basic knife skills are just that: basic. You can teach basic knife technique to anybody who has never worked in a restaurant in about a week. Source: the legions of immigrants who end up cooking in line in every mid-level family restaurant of the world and never went to culinary school. Basic knife skills are the pentatonic scale and barre chords of the kitchen. It's the difference between knowing three open chords and the riff to smoke on the water, and being able to play most pop songs from tabs and sing whatever you feel with your friends around a camp fire. It takes about as much time to learn properly as it takes to continuously avoid learning it.
@@schwarzermoritz Thanks for adding, but I wasn't really talking about that
Hey Adam! Love your content!
I partially disagree with you on this, though. I don't use the claw grip to be a 'badass'. I use it because it's better (for me). Being able to control the thickness of what I'm cutting by the speed at which I recede my grip hand lets me do really thin slicing easily and safely. It's great for speed, which may not be your thing, but can be quite enjoyable (even if it doen't amount to much time saved) and making progress on mastering a tool can also be lot of fun. Also, I don't think 'our hands didn't evolve for the claw grip' is a bit far fetched :P.
But whatever works, works! And If you can enjoy yourself while keeping your fingers, it's all good.
I really enjoy your educational and honest channel. Refreshing!
I really appreciate that you have included the steel used. I refuse to buy kitchen knives from the kitchen knife brands as even the expensive brands refuse to publish the steel or even the hardness. So I end up buying from the utility knife brands becuase they are manufacturers first and marketing companies second.
FYI for most people. Those big kitchen brands do not have their own special formulations of knife steel that they make their knives from becuase most of them don't do any actual manufacturing and they are certazinly not doing metalurgy. They are essentially kitchen fashion brands that pick from the available forumulation of steel billet and outsource production to a massive factory in Germany or Asia.
TLDR; don't spend big money on knives if you have no idea what they are made of.
I, for one, am glad your knife is limited to the US at this time(being an international shopper). I bought knives from Babish, and they literally just arrived. Knives don't last more than a year or two in my hands(I do all kinds of things with them that would make knife enthusiasts clutch their pearls), so it'll be several months before I'm ready for Ragusea's Razor. But had I known you were working on a knife I would have held off. I love Babish and enjoy many of his recipes, but I find that on a per-video basis I get more realistically useful tips from your channel than his.
I'm going to make vegetable soup now.
First time I tried the claw grip as a teenager in the kitchen, I shaved the skin right off my knuckles. I'm sure if I practiced I would see how great it is, it's used by professionals for a reason of course, but I literally have no reason to keep trying and potentially mess it up again when more intuitive cutting techniques work just as well for me.
The blade should never be that high with the claw grip. You raise the blade just enough to clear the food.
You missed the most basic part. You don't ever let the knife blade get above your knuckle. Contact, 100% of the time. Once you get that part down (VERY SLOWLY), you are more than 3/4 of the way to mastering it.
That carrot cutting method is even more dangerous than not having your hand on it.
A thing I picked up from the channel Atomic Shrimp-- save those bits of veg that aren't really edible due to texture, like onion skins and roots/ stems/ etc. Freeze or dry them, whatever so they don't rot, then when you've got a lot put then in hot (boiling? Idk) water to make them into a soup stock, let them steep for a while, then strain and throw solids away. Works even better if you include bones in that, too.
okay, i tried the veggie soup, finally.
gotta admit, it was really great. i used:
1 small-ish red onion
1/3 of a bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic
1 pickle
about 2 tablespoons of pickle juice
1 small-ish potato
some indiscriminate amount of whatever was left of the nappa cabbage in my fridge.
a splash of vinegar
pinch of salt
it ended up being a little acidic for my tastes, but i just diluted it with a bit of extra water.
was actually really great, and lord knows it's better for me than whatever cheese-ridden pasta dish i would have made in place of it.
For skinned foods like tomatoes and peppers, I will usually use a steak knife. The serrations go right through the skin.
For garlic, you can use a fine grater (~1mm holes [ie a microplane]). Leave the skin on. The skin will not go through the grater, and will act as a finger guard. The garlic will be perfectly shredded.
Yo Adam i love ur vids but WTF brother, disagree vehemently suggesting not to learn claw grip,
doesnt matter if u chop fast or slow, pro or amateur - claw grip = many accidents saved over the long run, 100%.
seriously, why wouldn't u want a near guarantee fingers will remain safe - plus less work and more accurate.
It feels un natural as any new skill does - a few weeks MAX of correcting yourself and it becomes default.
Not even. Maybe 1 hour of total chopping time over a stretch of any time and you’ll have it down.
The index finger grip, or whatever it's called, is useful for more precise slicing. Think sushi for example.
The claw grip holding food is I agree an awkward thing to learn, but one other advantage it has, is very prices control of the slices. It's much easier to precisely control the knife with the hand actually touching the food.
And as for what's safe or not, you said it thoroughly. Rushing is dangerous.
Take your time, pay attention to what you're doing, and work at a safe pace. Oh and avoid working with dull knives.
To cut bell peppers, I trace lines with mostly the tip of my knife, instead of the same rocking motion used for other things like onions. Put the knife away from your body with a steeper angle with respect to the table and drag it towards you as if you were tracing a line on the table.
It works perfectly fine for me. I thend to hold the pepper with the fingers, not pres it agains the table. Once I have cut enough of the "quarter cylinger" that it actually becomes almost flat, then I press it against the table.
I have never cut myself or had any close calls, and I can cut it very fast.
I accidentally discovered that freezing basil in a zip lock freezer bag was the best way to make basil confetti.
I'm working in fast food gastronomy for a couple months now. A lot of your advices work at home where time is not really an issue. But preparing a couple dozens or hundreds of portions is going to cost you a lot of time without techniques. I just don't have the time to be as careful and thoughtful as I am cooking at home.
Love your videos and content.
Down to earth cooking channels are really great for non professionals
some arbitrary methods I've found myself doing:
onions: I cut these the same way, except when I get to that "other hemisphere", I flip it to the right and start side (diagonal?) cutting
carrots: If you peel one or two shavings off a long carrot, it becomes flat. Then flat cutting rejoices again. A paring knife works fine when you don't have a peeler.
Bell peppers: I adopted the "filet" method you've been showing, and when it comes down to that confusing which side question: I put skin side up, and squash it flat with my hand (like crushing garlic). Still kinda "skinny" , but flat.
Im pretty impressed by the intrinsic elements you went with for your knife