This past week, co-founder and chef, Pete Snaith, shared with us some of the best tips and tricks when it comes to knife skills. Keep reading to learn more and stop in for a class to participate along!
Tips and Tricks:
Mushrooms
- The first tip is to wash your mushrooms with a damp paper towel instead of water. Mushrooms are like sponges, so it is best to use a paper towel.
- Fluting your mushrooms – make small slits around the top of your mushrooms in a spiral-like fashion. This will make any mushroom look much more appealing before serving.
- Be sure to curl the fingers of your non-dominant hand under to protect them from the blade.
Green Onions
- Another way to make you vegetables look more appareling, use the top of the green onion to create a nice garnish – make 1/2″ to 1″ inch cuts along the top. Place in cold water to get the green onion garnish to further spread apart.
- To really impress your guests, cut a yellow bell pepper into small cubes and slide inside the tip of the green onion.
Ginger
- The class was most excited about this trick – peel your ginger with a spoon rather than a knife!
- Best way to smash your ginger?…no better tool than your hands! Pound the ginger with an open fist.
Bell Pepper
- The most helpful tip for cutting peppers is to cut them with the skin side down. This makes the pepper much easier to slice through.
- Cut your peppers into roughly the same size so that they cook evenly and in the same amount of time.
- The hottest part of the Jalapeño pepper is the seeds and the center. Using a few of the seeds and center of the pepper is the best way to bring the heat.
The students put their new skills to the test by slicing and dicing a variety of vegetables! Each student did an excellent job, quickly picking up the knife skills. All of their hard work was thrown into a wok and made into an incredibly delicious stir-fry. The stir-fry was full of rich flavors and great taste, and the students enjoyed it even more knowing they helped make it all.
Need to learn the basics or just want to brush up on some of your skills? We would love to have you join us here at Culinaria for a Knife Skills class. Amazing tips, handy tricks, and a delicious meal await you!
Chef Pete gave the class a handout of some of the standard culinary cut measurements. The class found it so helpful that we wanted to share it with you!
Standard Culinary Cuts:
- Large Dice: ¾” x ¾”x ¾”
- Medium Dice: ½” x ½”x ½”
- Small Dice: ¼” x ¼”x ¼”
- Brunoise: ⅛” x ⅛”x ⅛”
- Fine Brunoise: 1/16” x 1/16” x 1/16”
- Batonnet: ¼” x ¼” x 2½” to 3”
- Julienne: ⅛” x ⅛” x 2½”
- Fine Julienne: 1/16”x 1/16” x 2½”
- Alumette: ⅛” x ⅛” x 2½” (alumette refers only to potatoes)
