Foods- Safety & Sanitation Knife Skills
What household object accounts for the most visits to the Emergency room? KITCHEN KNIVES!!!
Knife Skills Tips— – KNIVES are the basic cutting tool in the kitchen. Peelers, shears, and choppers are also helpful with cutting tasks. – Always make sure your knife is SHARP. Dull knives cause more accidents than sharp knives. Why? Sharpening knives- sharpening steel/knife sharpener – Wash your fruits and veggies before cutting them! –
Knives BREAD KNIFE - How is this one different? PARING KNIFE
Knives Chef’s (or French) Knife – The best knives are forged from a single piece of steel that runs the entire length of the knife. (It should be held together with at least 2 rivets.) – This steel in the handle is what makes the tang.
Proper way to hold a chef’s knife The thumb grips the knife around the top of the blade, with the hand wrapped around the bolster of the knife. This hold provides extra control over the blade.
Parts of a Knife Tang : the continuation of the blade that extends into the handle. Designed for balance. Blade : used to cut/slice. Handle : built to guide the blade for cutting. Bolster : joins the blade of the knife to the handle. Rivets : metal pins used to join the tang to the handle
Parts of the Chef’s Knife Blade 1 Tang 2 3 Bolster Rivet Handle
Slice & Dice Slice- to cut food into large, thin pieces Cube/Dice-to cut food into square pieces – Cube- ½ in. pieces – Dice- 1/8-1/4 in. pieces eos/watch/video/knife- skills-slicing-and- dicing- zucchini/1dnqt7umh eos/watch/video/knife- skills-slicing-and- dicing- zucchini/1dnqt7umh eos/search?q=video+how +to+dice+tomatoes&vie w=detail&mid=28918B BB7C26BA5EFB5C289 18BBB7C26BA5EFB5C &first=0 eos/search?q=video+how +to+dice+tomatoes&vie w=detail&mid=28918B BB7C26BA5EFB5C289 18BBB7C26BA5EFB5C &first=0
Julienne Cutting food into 1/8in. X 1/8 in. x 2- inch strips ideos/watch/video/knif e-skills-julienne-and- batonnet- cuts/17uxhbn51 ideos/watch/video/knif e-skills-julienne-and- batonnet- cuts/17uxhbn51
Chopping/Mincing Chop- to cut food into small, irregular pieces. Mince- chop finely com/play/16858-how- to-mince-jalape-os com/play/16858-how- to-mince-jalape-os
Pare/Score Pare- to cut off a very thin layer of peel with a paring knife or peeler Score- make straight, shallow cuts in the surface of food – Helps with tenderizing meat
Types of Knives
Chef’s Knife All-purpose knife. Used especially for chopping, slicing and mincing
Cleaver Used for chopping and cutting through bones.
Paring Knife A small knife usually used for trimming small fruits and vegetables.
Serrated Slicing Knife Used for cutting bread, cakes and similar items.
Steak Knife Excellent all-purpose table knife, great for cutting cooked meat.
Knife Safety
Safety Keep knives sharp. SHARP knives tend to be safer than DULL knives because you do not need to press as hard to cut foods. When carrying a knife through the foods lab always have the blade point of the knife pointing DOWN.
Safety cont. When cutting, curl your FINGERS under in the hand holding the food. If a knife falls, step AWAY from it. Never try to catch a falling knife. When cutting, always use an appropriate CUTTING surface. You should NOT test the sharpness of a knife by running your finger along the edge of the blade.
Safety cont. It is not safe to leave KNIVES to soak in a sink full of hot, soapy water. Cutting a Bagel: – Place the bagel flat on the cutting board, lay your hand down flat on top of the bagel, and slice the bagel in half from the side.
Truing a Knife on sharpening steel 1.Hold the steel away from the body in one hand and the knife in the other. 2.Holding at a 20º angle pass the blade along the entire length of the steel. (keep pressure even and light) 3.Keep blade in contact with the steel for the last few inches.
Truing a Knife on sharpening steel (contd.) 4. Return knife to 1 st position, this time on the other side, to sharpen the 2 nd side of the blade. 5. Use the thumb to maintain even pressure. 6. Finish the second pass making sure the entire length is properly sharpened.
True or False – Dull knives are safer than sharp knives. FALSE – A cleaver is used for cutting breads. FALSE – The Rivet is a metal pin used to hold the tang and the handle together. TRUE – When carrying a knife have it pointing toward you. FALSE – NEVER catch a falling knife. TRUE
Recipes Pico de Gallo Vegetable Stir-Fry