One more thing to remember about knives. A knife is a piece of metal or other hard material with a cutting surface usually about an eighth of an inch thick, often smaller. That means the dangerous part of the knife is the very small edge. Other than that surface feature the rest of the knife is not the least bit dangerous unless you smack something with it using a lot of force, so you can interact with the knife very well with no risk of cutting yourself as long as you are mindful of the edge. I learned this in knife fighting training, and it also applies to using a knife in the kitchen.
-----Original Message----- From: cookinginthedark-boun...@acbradio.org [mailto:cookinginthedark-boun...@acbradio.org] On Behalf Of Tom Dickhoner Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 8:40 AM To: cookinginthedark@acbradio.org Subject: [CnD] Good Knife Skills This website certainly has been a help to me. I believe many of the recipes are way too advanced for me, but that's okay. As far as the knife is concerned, I make sure that when I am cutting, the food I want to cut is on a cutting voard. I feel with my fingers where I want to cut. I hold the knife with my right hand which is my cutting hand. With the other hand, I hold the vegetable or whatever it is that I want to cut to keep it from moving too far and to keep it stead on the cutting board. If the piece is too small I either just cut enough so that I can break it with my fingers, or I just let it be. It is a matter of judgement. Cuts happen if your fingers are too close to the blade or if you try to cut something with no distance between your fingers and the knife. As Nicole Massy said, the key is to be slow and to consentrate on what you are doing. Your risk of nicking yourself or cutting yourself so bad that you need to go to the emergency room will be slim. Tom Dickhoner from Cincinnati, Ohio _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list Cookinginthedark@acbradio.org http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list Cookinginthedark@acbradio.org http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark
