Essential Knife Skills for Good Chopping and Cooking

From the voice of the experts, great cooking can only happen when the chopping of the basic ingredients is accurate. For example, if you prepare a Manchurian dish, you must understand whether to keep the onions in julienne or make dice. Mastering this art can make you enable to prepare several cooking items. 

Here we will discuss the techniques of chopping and cutting vegetables in different shapes and aim to provide a step-by-step process for each. You can also feel the importance of fruit and vegetable cutter for cutting in different shapes and sizes. 

1.The Basics of Knife Selection

The essential part of this skill is knowing about the various techniques used for different cooking purposes. Here you need to select the knives with sharp points with a blade ranging from 6 to 12 inches. There are knives for chopping vegetables and knives that can be used to carve meats.

 

The blade of the meat-craving knives must be sharp at the point that can easily slice off the meat. The blades for cutting and disjointing large fruits and melons are also different. 

There are knives with different names and different work, like pairing knives which are small, light in weight and usually 3 to 4 inches long. It is mainly used to peel vegetables and create different designs with the item. There are other knives, like the Santoku knife, designed in Japanese. It has been used for slicing, chopping and dicing. 

2.The Correct Grip and Hand Position

The grip and hand positioning of the individual is important as it determines the safety and efficiency of the chopping. Hold the knife securely to maintain control and minimize the risks of cuts. 

It is essential to hold the pinch grips, the technique to position the hand, with the thumbs and index finger positioned around the opposite of the blade. Rest the thumb on the blade's spine; this technique gives you the perfect grip to remain stable throughout the cutting process. 

3.The Rocking Motion

The motion can be used for faster chopping and slicing of vegetables. The speciality of this motion is that it uses the same force to chop herbs or to cut garlic and shallots. 

Choosing the right cutting board is essential to improve the rocking motion's efficiency. You must maintain the proper hand and finger balance to control the knife and the cooking item. 

4.The Dice Technique

It is the technique where the individual will cut the onion or other vegetables into a diced piece. To do that, one can also use a fruit and vegetable cutter or can do that using a knife following the dicing technique.

You can achieve the size per your requirement and what you aim to prepare. You can get small, medium and large dice based on the size of the onion and your requirement.

In chilly and Manchurian chicken, this technique can be used to slice the onion, and after the food preparation, the dice will slide off, peeling out each layer of the onion tossed within the thick lard.   

These are the few basic techniques a person must know to dive into flavours and tastes.