Kitchen Knife Usage Techniques: Keep Your Fingers Intact

Alright, I’ll admit it. I have, on more than one occasion, taken off a part of my finger as I was whipping up what I was sure was going to be a fantastic meal. While finely dicing a yellow onion, I sliced the tip of my index finger in the process. The frantic race to the bathroom for disinfectant and a band-aid put a bit of a damper on the meal. I have also had unfortunate incidents with a serrated knife and a loaf of French bread, a paring knife and a potato, and one very bad time with a cheese grater.

You are probably thinking that I should be relieved of my cooking duties and kept at least 10 feet from all cutting utensils everywhere. I’d like to think that I am a strange, one time case but the real fact is that we all make unfortunate errors while working in the kitchen because we don’t use our knives properly. I found a great tutorial for the proper way to hold and use your kitchen knife sets so that you can avoid such unpleasantness as gouging your fingers.

The Cooking Enthusiast Web site provides How-To Guides and one specifically on Basic Knife Techniques. Take a look and practice. It will save you the Neosporin and embarrassment later.

Original source: http://www.lightsandknives.com/blog/kitchen-knife-usage-techniques-keep-your-fingers-intact-2007-05-09