{"id":11997,"date":"2011-08-02T17:20:41","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T21:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/?p=11997"},"modified":"2017-01-20T20:15:18","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T20:15:18","slug":"cutting-vegetables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/cutting-vegetables\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutting Vegetables Blindfolded is Still Easier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cutting vegetables is so much easier when you don\u2019t have to take out your chopper\/dicer device.<\/strong> You might think that the electric gadget is quicker and easier than your standard chef\u2019s knife, but you\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GncWaXhAHSA\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s have a race. Ready, go! Get your chopper appliance down from the cabinet. <\/strong> Plug it in to the electric outlet. Then, fiddle with the bowl a little because it never fits just right the first time. Next comes the blade. You have to twist it a few times before it finally clicks into place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Now, you have to use a knife to peel and cut the onion in half so it fits in the chopper.<\/strong> If you can fit a whole onion, then the lid goes on and you push the button a few times to turn the onion into dust. Not equally diced pieces, but mush and water.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Okay, empty the electric onion into a bowl, and unplug the gadget from the wall. <\/strong> Rinse out the chopper bowl, remove the blade and clean it off. Wipe down the counter and the electric motor before returning it to the cabinet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stop! Now it\u2019s the chefs knife turn.<\/strong> Step one, peel and chop the onion. Step two, rinse the knife. Done. If you want to cook better and use fresh ingredients, you MUST use a knife.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cutting vegetables becomes more fun when you know how to hold and use the chef\u2019s knife correctly.<\/strong> It\u2019s actually quicker, easier, safer, and cleaner than any device you can buy, but it takes a little practice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How you hold the knife is most important.<\/strong> Many people mistakenly hold the knife like a club. All fingers wrapped around the handle, meeting the thumb on the other side. However, the knife can spin in the hand if held this way, making it dangerous.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The correct way to hold a chefs knife is between thumb and forefinger at the point where the handle meets the blade.<\/strong> Then, your other three fingers wrap around the handle. This way, the knife is \u201clocked\u201d into place by your index finger resting on the spine of the knife.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The motion you use for cutting vegetables is also important.<\/strong> Rather than a straight up-and-down motion, the tip of the knife should always stay in contact with the cutting board. This is called \u201ctip-fulcrum method\u201d, and the motion is down, forward a bit, and up again. It\u2019s like dipping water from a bucket with a spoon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The most important hand in using the chef\u2019s knife is the one that is NOT holding the knife.<\/strong> It has the greatest opportunity to be cut, especially exposed finger tips. So, I use \u201ckung-fu grip\u201d, curling my fingers and thumb under my palm so only the knuckles stick out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The knuckles are very important because the chef\u2019s knife will use the non-knife hand as a guide.<\/strong> As long as the knife rides against the knuckle, you always know where the sharp blade is. It\u2019s the non-knife hand that dictates the increment of the cut.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Moving the left hand in greater increments when cutting vegetables gives bigger pieces.<\/strong> Moving in smaller increments yields thinner pieces.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The knife hand is dumb.<\/strong> Its only job is to perform tip-fulcrum method and stay in contact with that knuckle on the non-knife hand. It\u2019s the hand that\u2019s NOT holding the knife that\u2019s the brains of the operation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where\u2019s the enjoyment in cutting vegetables with an electric chopper? <\/strong> You learn no new skills; you have no pride in what you\u2019ve done. Start using your chef\u2019s knife and you\u2019ll enjoy visually appealing food and a skill to last a lifetime.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cutting vegetables is so much easier when you don\u2019t have to take out your chopper\/dicer device. You might think that the electric gadget is quicker and easier than your standard chef\u2019s knife, but you\u2019d be wrong. Let\u2019s have a race. Ready, go! Get your chopper appliance down from the cabinet. Plug it in to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[30],"tags":[151],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11997"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}