Mastering knife skills : the essential guide to the most important tools in your kitchen

574 Pages·2008·15.86 MB·English

by  Mark Thomas, Norman Weinstein

s the number of gourmet home kitchens burgeons, so does the number of
home cooks who want to become proficient users of the professional-caliber
equipment they own. And of all kitchen skills, perhaps the most critical are those
involving the proper use of knives.
Norman Weinstein has been teaching his knife skills workshop at New York
City’s Institute of Culinary Education for more than a decade—and his classes
always sell out. That’s because Weinstein focuses so squarely on the needs of the
nonprofessional cook, providing basic instruction in knife techniques that
maximize efficiency while placing the least possible stress on the user’s arm.
Now, Mastering Knife Skills brings Weinstein’s well-honed knowledge to home
cooks everywhere.
Whether you want to dice an onion with the speed and dexterity of a TV chef,
carve a roast like an expert, bone a chicken quickly and neatly, or just learn how
to hold a knife in the right way, Mastering Knife Skills will be your go-to
manual. Each cutting, slicing, and chopping method is thoroughly explained—
and illustrated with clear, step-by-step photographs. Extras include information
on knife construction, knife makers and types, knife maintenance and safety, and
cutting boards.
Published in 2008 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
An imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Text copyright © 2008 by
Norman Weinstein
Photographs copyright © 2008 by Mark Thomas
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical,
electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission
from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weinstein, Norman.
Mastering knife skills : the essential guide to the most important tools in your
kitchen / By Norman Weinstein.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-58479-667-1
1. Kitchen utensils. 2. Knives. I. Title.
TX656.G78 1986
643′.3--dc22 2007033419
Editor: Luisa Weiss
Designer: LeAnna Weller Smith
Production Manager: Tina Cameron
115 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
www.abramsbooks.com
FOR
CHI-CHI, MY WIFE, LIFE’S PARTNER, AND GUIDING LIGHT
AND
MY DEAR FRIENDS ANNA AMENDOLARA NURSE AND CAROLE
WALTER,
WHO ENCOURAGED ME TO WRITE THIS BOOK—
MANY YEARS AGO
Introduction
PART ONE: A CONCISE HISTORY
I From Stone to Steel
II The Anatomy of a Knife
PART TWO: THE KNIFE KIT
III Your Knife Wardrobe
IV Knife Maintenance
V Safety and Storage
VI Cutting Boards
PART THREE: KNIFE SKILLS
VII Basic Knife Techniques
VIII Preparing Fruits and Vegetables
IX Fabricating Poultry, Meat, and Fish
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index of Search Terms
Knife Skills, as a stand-alone course, was an offshoot of my many years as an
instructor of Chinese cuisine. I realized my students needed to understand that
the preparation of the ingredients was crucial to the outcome of the finished dish,
that preparation often took more time than the actual cooking, and that good
knife skills (actually cleaver skills, then) were essential to both Asian and
Western cuisines.
Mastering Knife Skills thus represents the culmination of more than twenty-
three years of thinking about, teaching, lecturing, and demonstrating this primary
and essential skill in classrooms, lecture halls, and cookware stores. The
inspiration to codify knife skills techniques came in great part from my students,
first from analyzing the techniques they brought to the classroom, then thinking
about how to solve the technical problems I witnessed in a way that could be
easily communicated. It also came from the realization that the subject of knife
skills is seriously neglected in cookbooks, food magazines, and cooking shows
on television. Assumptions are made that the reader or viewer knows how to
dice an onion or julienne a carrot. Those of us who teach cooking classes for the
general public know full well that this assumption should never be made. The
book is therefore devoted to filling this knowledge gap.
The popularity of and need for knife skills information can be attested to by
the fact that in all the years I have been teaching, I have rarely had a class
cancelled for lack of registration. Despite the fact that I currently teach over 120
classes a year at The Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, most are sold
out. Some of my students have waited over a year to get in. I would like to
attribute this wholly to my name and reputation, but I would be flattering myself.
Students fill similar classes all over the country. They know that they need to
learn this primary skill. Many of my students have admitted that the lack of good
skills and the use of improper tools have made even simple meal preparation a
grudging, time-consuming chore.
Mastering Knife Skills is designed to help the everyday household cook who,
like it or not, has to put the daily bread on the table. By learning to select the
proper knife and use it correctly with a maximum of ease and a minimum of
stress, the preparation of the daily meal becomes a lot less time-consuming. I
hope this book becomes your constant companion in the kitchen and that it