"knife skills" news and stories

It's easy to get lost in the plethora of kitchen tools available for the home gourmand, but as "Everyday Exotic" Chef Roger Mooking reminds us, "Your hands are your most powerful tools in the kitchen."

Yep. Not that lemon squeezer, not that electric chopper and not even that beautiful cast-iron pan. Rather than spend an arm and a leg on every latest gadget, spend some time on your knife skills -- and keep every one of those precious digits intact.

In this video, Mooking does a super-quick primer on important knife basics: Make sure your knife is sharp (using the tried-and-true fingernail test -- it works!) and then use your knuckles, with fingertips safely curled under, as a flat "guide" for the blade. With these two rules and a little practice, we'll all be handling steel like a pro -- and won't ever have to dive for the Band-Aids again.

[Via YouTube]

Using a knife like a professional chef is like playing the violin. It takes time and practice, but the first step is getting the hand-positioning right. The best way to learn to wield a knife like a pro and cut your prep time in half is just by rolling up your sleeves and doing it.

So what does it take to get really skilled -- fast enough to join the ranks of top chefs like Tom Colicchio and Gordon Ramsey? I got a grip on my own knife skills somewhere around the 4,000-hour mark, the equivalent to chopping 3,000 pounds of carrots. Working in restaurant kitchens, I saw some serious stuff from chefs who wowed me with their fluidity, speed and perfect accuracy. However, you don't have to be a pro to improve your knife skills and avoid injury. Start today with these two easy tips that anyone can master.

Get Jennifer's safe, swift chopping secrets after the jump.

Maybe you were inspired by my post last month, asking for fresh pumpkin recipes. Or maybe one showed up in your CSA box and has been sitting on your counter for the last week, gazing at you serenely as you try to figure out what to do with it. However you came to be in possession of a cooking pumpkin, now that you have one, you've got to determine how to deal with it.

Apartment Therapy Kitchen has a post up today on the best way to crack open a cooking pumpkin, so that you can extract the seeds (delicious toasted with a little butter and salt) and roast/steam/bake the flesh for delicious eating. Their pictures take you through the process of cutting open the pumpkin and are really helpful if you're feeling a little daunted by your pumpkin's tough exterior.