You don't need knife skills just walk, don't run
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Date: 2020-03-17
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Comments and reviews: 9
Michelle
I remember when I was little, like 15, I was really afraid of using knives and cutting myself. My grandma, who was cutting apples with the BLADE GOING INTO THE PAD OF HER THUMB would tell me You need to respect the knife, which I didn't understand because how do you respect an inanimate object? Well, over the years I still don't totally know what she means, however as my relationship with knives grew, I figured out what she meant by respecting the knife. She just meant to understand it's a dangerous object and accept the risk, because cutting yourself is likely inevitable. This conclusion was NOT reassuring, being told I'll cut myself and be okay with it, like, I'd prefer not to cut myself at all. Outside of that, I was told to understand knives are all about the balance sharpness and pressure. More specifically, a sharper knife is safer because it takes less pressure to go through something and that means more control for you, like the evil tomato with the roundness and the juiciness that makes the skin less stable and wiggles under dull knives giving you a better chance of it slipping into your skin and not the tomatoes. Again, initially not reassuring, until I used a sharp knife on a tomato vs. a dull one and the difference was worth an audile Oooohhh and a lightbulb going off over my head. P. S. I know people having the blade going into the pad of the thumb isn't that amazing, but as a teenager terrified of knives and cutting herself my grandma's comfort with knives was intimidating.
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I remember when I was little, like 15, I was really afraid of using knives and cutting myself. My grandma, who was cutting apples with the BLADE GOING INTO THE PAD OF HER THUMB would tell me You need to respect the knife, which I didn't understand because how do you respect an inanimate object? Well, over the years I still don't totally know what she means, however as my relationship with knives grew, I figured out what she meant by respecting the knife. She just meant to understand it's a dangerous object and accept the risk, because cutting yourself is likely inevitable. This conclusion was NOT reassuring, being told I'll cut myself and be okay with it, like, I'd prefer not to cut myself at all. Outside of that, I was told to understand knives are all about the balance sharpness and pressure. More specifically, a sharper knife is safer because it takes less pressure to go through something and that means more control for you, like the evil tomato with the roundness and the juiciness that makes the skin less stable and wiggles under dull knives giving you a better chance of it slipping into your skin and not the tomatoes. Again, initially not reassuring, until I used a sharp knife on a tomato vs. a dull one and the difference was worth an audile Oooohhh and a lightbulb going off over my head. P. S. I know people having the blade going into the pad of the thumb isn't that amazing, but as a teenager terrified of knives and cutting herself my grandma's comfort with knives was intimidating.
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Blake
Some anecdotal evidence: Claw helps safety, not so much from any practical safety perspective that's inherent, so much as the comfort of it. When the knife is riding against your knuckles, it has some kind of guide surface- which comes with the side effect of establishing a rhythm with a running chop. Knife down, knife up, push food a bit with thumb, knife down, knife up- eventually you start to push the food while the knife is coming up. When you're using padded fingers and a walking chop, you adjust, chop, adjust, chop, adjust- it's a similar motion but you don't have any sort of reference for the knife past where you put it. With the claw chop comes confidence, which can serve to decrease incidents. It's confidence that makes things safe- respect what you are doing, but be confident in it. From earned confidence comes competence. It's the same as shooting a gun. If you're scared of it, it'll be awkward and unpleasant and the chance of injury goes up because you aren't totally sure on what to do, so you might do something dumb. If you know the 'proper' form, then you'll get more comfortable. It's less awkward, and as long as you retain that respect, you'll very likely be okay.
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Some anecdotal evidence: Claw helps safety, not so much from any practical safety perspective that's inherent, so much as the comfort of it. When the knife is riding against your knuckles, it has some kind of guide surface- which comes with the side effect of establishing a rhythm with a running chop. Knife down, knife up, push food a bit with thumb, knife down, knife up- eventually you start to push the food while the knife is coming up. When you're using padded fingers and a walking chop, you adjust, chop, adjust, chop, adjust- it's a similar motion but you don't have any sort of reference for the knife past where you put it. With the claw chop comes confidence, which can serve to decrease incidents. It's confidence that makes things safe- respect what you are doing, but be confident in it. From earned confidence comes competence. It's the same as shooting a gun. If you're scared of it, it'll be awkward and unpleasant and the chance of injury goes up because you aren't totally sure on what to do, so you might do something dumb. If you know the 'proper' form, then you'll get more comfortable. It's less awkward, and as long as you retain that respect, you'll very likely be okay.
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WZRD702
As a prep cook I learned to use the claw differently than portrayed here. The knuckles are sometimes used as a way to guide fine chops, but in this case the knife's edge shouldn't come above them to risk being cut. For me it was all about using fingernails as a shield, instead of curving your fingertips in you shoot for a perpendicular angle where any small slip meets nail instead of skin. And while I know it's anecdotal, I've knicked my nail and felt saved from being cut on countless occasions in my 4-5 years of cutting food for a living. I agree that no-one should ruin the fun of cooking by rushing for no reason, but I'm a firm believer in the claw regardless of speed. It's a habit that requires some getting used to, but it shouldn't be cramping your fingers or creating any other problems for you to worry about. IMO It's simply a good habit to pick up early as you will not only get faster with practice, but more confident. The confidence will be controlled by inevitable mistakes over time, but it's much better for those mistakes to be scary close calls than actual injuries. Just my 2 cents, I still agree and appreciate the sentiment of the video. Screw the snobs
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As a prep cook I learned to use the claw differently than portrayed here. The knuckles are sometimes used as a way to guide fine chops, but in this case the knife's edge shouldn't come above them to risk being cut. For me it was all about using fingernails as a shield, instead of curving your fingertips in you shoot for a perpendicular angle where any small slip meets nail instead of skin. And while I know it's anecdotal, I've knicked my nail and felt saved from being cut on countless occasions in my 4-5 years of cutting food for a living. I agree that no-one should ruin the fun of cooking by rushing for no reason, but I'm a firm believer in the claw regardless of speed. It's a habit that requires some getting used to, but it shouldn't be cramping your fingers or creating any other problems for you to worry about. IMO It's simply a good habit to pick up early as you will not only get faster with practice, but more confident. The confidence will be controlled by inevitable mistakes over time, but it's much better for those mistakes to be scary close calls than actual injuries. Just my 2 cents, I still agree and appreciate the sentiment of the video. Screw the snobs
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Krisna
As someone who was a home cook who is currently studying to become a commercial chef, the first thing that become very apparent in my first job as a kitchen hand job was the need to be faster then I currently was. Chef was losing patience with me so it's something I had to improve in my own time to get better at it. I felt like I was okay at using a knife, but it's the little things that you need to become really efficient and it's not just the claw technique + pinch grip. Little things like having a waste bin, peeling efficiently, cleaning area and wiping down as you go, avoiding repetition or actions that constantly require you to put the knife down/change knives, change hands(especially when you are de stoning and scooping 30+ avocados. There was no room to waste time/energy. If you remember the keep your station clear scene from Ratatouille, it's not a far stretch. Also when it comes to injuries, for me personally, I cut myself 5 times in the last year. 4 of those was from cleaning my knife and not from cutting anything with it.
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As someone who was a home cook who is currently studying to become a commercial chef, the first thing that become very apparent in my first job as a kitchen hand job was the need to be faster then I currently was. Chef was losing patience with me so it's something I had to improve in my own time to get better at it. I felt like I was okay at using a knife, but it's the little things that you need to become really efficient and it's not just the claw technique + pinch grip. Little things like having a waste bin, peeling efficiently, cleaning area and wiping down as you go, avoiding repetition or actions that constantly require you to put the knife down/change knives, change hands(especially when you are de stoning and scooping 30+ avocados. There was no room to waste time/energy. If you remember the keep your station clear scene from Ratatouille, it's not a far stretch. Also when it comes to injuries, for me personally, I cut myself 5 times in the last year. 4 of those was from cleaning my knife and not from cutting anything with it.
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Steven
As a cook/chef/kitchen manager for the last 28 years I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with this entire video. I've taught countless people how to use knives (professional and otherwise) and the one this I will always say the first time i work with them is Only go as fast as you are comfortable going. For people in a professional environment, they will inevitably gain speed over time, but for home cooks, that is not NEARLY as important. I will add this however. When cutting food to be cooked (even at home) cutting even pieces is important, as it will allow them to cook evenly. If that takes you an extra minute, so be it.
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As a cook/chef/kitchen manager for the last 28 years I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with this entire video. I've taught countless people how to use knives (professional and otherwise) and the one this I will always say the first time i work with them is Only go as fast as you are comfortable going. For people in a professional environment, they will inevitably gain speed over time, but for home cooks, that is not NEARLY as important. I will add this however. When cutting food to be cooked (even at home) cutting even pieces is important, as it will allow them to cook evenly. If that takes you an extra minute, so be it.
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Zugsta
Saving 40 seconds cutting one veggie a day adds up to 40hrs in the span of a decade. Two whole days added to your lifeDriving 4 minutes faster (two trips would be 8mins saved) on your daily driving trip is about 475hrs saved in a decade. Close to an entire monthI guess scale does matter, though I largely agree with slow cutting and driving. 40 extra hours in a decade doesn't mean much when you're spending thousands of hours painfully waiting for your fingertip to reattach. Same with not getting into an accident. An extra month each decade can't compare to getting to live several extra decades longer.
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Saving 40 seconds cutting one veggie a day adds up to 40hrs in the span of a decade. Two whole days added to your lifeDriving 4 minutes faster (two trips would be 8mins saved) on your daily driving trip is about 475hrs saved in a decade. Close to an entire monthI guess scale does matter, though I largely agree with slow cutting and driving. 40 extra hours in a decade doesn't mean much when you're spending thousands of hours painfully waiting for your fingertip to reattach. Same with not getting into an accident. An extra month each decade can't compare to getting to live several extra decades longer.
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crackhead
usually you're on point but i take some umbrage with the concern with scale as a professional with scale in your off time. i think it's undermining the importance of the value of time when people aren't working. 40 seconds when you're at home is not 40 seconds when you're at work, regardless of which one may be more important than the other as far as value goes. i get your point of course, you just usually expound a bit more, and i'm sure you're familiar with the struggle of living on small margins. still good and love the content in general bud.
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usually you're on point but i take some umbrage with the concern with scale as a professional with scale in your off time. i think it's undermining the importance of the value of time when people aren't working. 40 seconds when you're at home is not 40 seconds when you're at work, regardless of which one may be more important than the other as far as value goes. i get your point of course, you just usually expound a bit more, and i'm sure you're familiar with the struggle of living on small margins. still good and love the content in general bud.
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Jay
As a former chef: 1. The claw method is better because it's faster, obviously, and safer too. After just a few days of practice I can happily cut anything while holding a conversation, not paying attention and not even looking at the food, regardless of roundness of the food or sharpness of the knife. 2. You will never even be chopping long enough at home to cramp. Like he said it's only 40 secs. 3. Lastly, the claw also gives you a cutting guide, so you can cut things to similar thickness quite easily
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As a former chef: 1. The claw method is better because it's faster, obviously, and safer too. After just a few days of practice I can happily cut anything while holding a conversation, not paying attention and not even looking at the food, regardless of roundness of the food or sharpness of the knife. 2. You will never even be chopping long enough at home to cramp. Like he said it's only 40 secs. 3. Lastly, the claw also gives you a cutting guide, so you can cut things to similar thickness quite easily
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Nicolle
not a pro but the claw is meant for your knife to rest on your knuckle so you have a finger tip guard. It's not that hard to practice and as someone who cooks for a lot of people at home everyday it saves a lot of time. Also chef john had a very fast tidbit about how to hold a knife properly that really changed how controlled and safe i hold knives now. you do you though, just saying even home cooks dont need to give up learning knife skills even if you dont go to cooking school
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not a pro but the claw is meant for your knife to rest on your knuckle so you have a finger tip guard. It's not that hard to practice and as someone who cooks for a lot of people at home everyday it saves a lot of time. Also chef john had a very fast tidbit about how to hold a knife properly that really changed how controlled and safe i hold knives now. you do you though, just saying even home cooks dont need to give up learning knife skills even if you dont go to cooking school
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