How to use a chef's knife

The grip

The single change that most improves cutting, and almost nobody does it by default.

1. Do not hold the handle like a hammer. That gives you no control over the blade.
2. Pinch the blade itself between thumb and the side of your bent index finger, just in front of the handle.
3. Wrap the remaining three fingers around the handle.
4. Your hand is now partly on the blade, which feels wrong for about five minutes and then feels obviously right.
5. This grip puts your hand at the knife's balance point, so the blade becomes an extension of your arm rather than something you are swinging.

The claw

How the other hand holds the food, and the reason experienced cooks can cut fast without looking.

1. Curl your fingertips under, so the first knuckles are the furthest-forward part of your hand.
2. Hold the food with those curled fingertips and rest your thumb behind them, tucked back.
3. Let the flat side of the blade rest against your knuckles.
4. Because the blade rides against the knuckles and the fingertips are behind them, the edge physically cannot reach your fingers.
5. Move the claw backwards to control the thickness of each slice. The knife stays where it is; the food moves.

The three cuts

The rock chop

The tip stays in contact with the board and the handle rises and falls, rocking through the food. For herbs, garlic and anything you want finely chopped.

The push cut

The blade moves forward and down through the food in one motion. For vegetables where you want clean, even slices — the knife slices rather than crushes.

The draw cut

The blade moves back and down. For softer things and for a long blade, and the natural motion with a Japanese knife.

What never works

Pressing straight down. A knife cuts by moving along its edge; pushing down crushes, which is why a straight-down cut on a tomato squashes it.

Dicing an onion

The standard test of knife technique, and the method that produces even dice with no radial slicing.

1. Cut the onion in half from root to tip, through both ends.
2. Peel, and leave the root end intact. The root is what holds the layers together while you cut.
3. Place a half cut-side down. Make horizontal cuts parallel to the board, from the tip end towards the root, without cutting through the root.
4. Make vertical cuts from the tip towards the root, again stopping short of it. Space these to the dice size you want.
5. Now slice across, and the dice fall away already formed.
6. Discard the root. It has done its job.

Safety and habits

• A sharp knife is safer. A blunt one slides off food and needs force, which is exactly when hands slip.
• Stabilise the board with a damp cloth underneath. A moving board is the most dangerous thing in a domestic kitchen.
• Cut a flat face first. Anything round should be halved or have a slice taken off it so it sits still.
• Never try to catch a falling knife. Step back and let it land.
• Never leave a knife in a sink of water. It is invisible and someone will reach in.
• Walk with the blade pointed down and back, against your leg.
• Go slowly. Speed is a consequence of technique, not a substitute for it, and it arrives on its own.

Keeping it sharp, which matters more than technique

• A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. It needs force, it slips off skins rather than biting, and it goes where you did not intend.
• A steel does not sharpen. It realigns an edge that has rolled over, which keeps a sharp knife sharp for longer. Use it briefly and often.
• A whetstone actually sharpens, by removing metal. Once every few months for a home cook, and it takes ten minutes to learn adequately.
• Pull-through sharpeners work and they remove a lot of metal at a fixed angle. Acceptable for cheap knives, poor for good ones.
• Never put a knife in a dishwasher. Heat, detergent and knocking against other things all damage the edge and the handle.
• Store it in a block, on a magnetic strip or in a guard — never loose in a drawer, where the edge is destroyed and your hand is at risk.