I began the Academy of Culinary Nutrition in nearly September (which I’ll get to writing an entire post on once I complete the program) and the very first recipe assignment they gave us were Knife Skills paired with a few fundamentals of nutrition classes. I’m so into it!
In our first module, we reviewed some of the fundamental knife skills and various cuts taught to traditional culinary chefs and were assigned to put these skills into practice by creating a salad with many of the cut types included.
I’ll be sharing so much of what I learn through this program and how i’m applying it to my life over the next few months! For now, i’m sharing a few examples of knife skills 1-0-1 with this raw veggie salad:
- The long thin lettuce cut (shown here with romaine). Cut long-ways around the spine of the lettuce. place face down so it doesn’t move around while you slice. IMPORTANT that you’re knife is sharp for all of these cuts.
2. The Pepper Mince: Cut off the cap and carve out the insides. Set scraps aside for stock. Don’t cut the pepper all the way through but leave a spine on the pepper so you can cut one way and then mince the opposite direction without the pieces going everywhere.
3. The Carrot Coins: TIP! cut a thin sliver long-wise on the carrot before you begin to cut so that it lays flat on the cutting board and you have better control. Also, keep the ends and set aside for STOCK.
4. The Cucumber Dice: cut in half long-wise and then sliver long medium width. From there you’re all set for a very easy dice horizontally for perfect cubes.
5. The Onion… a tricky sucker. Peel the onion. Trim along the longer side of the onion so it lays sturdy on the cutting board. The same way we perforated the red pepper, cut one direction of the onion but don’t go all the way through so the onion doesn’t fall apart. Cut the opposite direction all the way through and then finish off by dicing the left over little spine that’s left behind. TIP! keep the ends of the onion for stock.
6. The Herb Chop – roll up your herbs into a cigarette like shape before you go crazy with the dice. Cut thin while it’s batched up in this roll. Once it’s received it’s initial chop, dice freely.
Want to put these skills to work? Take a look at my Everyday Chilli recipe where I put almost all of these knife skills to good use.
I hope this info was useful! Let me know if you guys are looking for any more knife skill’s tips on how you tackle a certain fruit or veggie. Hopefully no one asks for a spaghetti squash because that’ll be the death of me!
Enjoy in good health!
xx, jess
