10 Knife Skills That Actually Save 15 Minutes Every Night
The pinch grip, claw guide hand, onion grid shortcuts, and honing maintenance to double your prep speed.
Adopt the "Pinch Grip" on the blade heel.
Choke up on the knife and pinch the base of the blade between your thumb and index finger. Blade control and leverage increase 5x over handle-only grips.
Curl your guide hand into "The Bear Claw."
Tuck fingertips inward like a claw, resting the flat of the knife blade against your middle knuckles. Cuts proceed rapidly with zero sliced fingertips.
The Halved Onion Grid Technique.
Halve onion through the root, make 2 horizontal cuts, make vertical slice columns, and dice across. Produces perfect cubes in 20 seconds.
Use kitchen shears for raw poultry and fresh herbs.
Snip bacon strips, chicken tenders, scallions, and cilantro directly into bowls without dirtying a cutting board.
Anchor your cutting board with a damp paper towel.
Placing a damp paper towel underneath stops the board from sliding across smooth granite countertops while chopping.
Hone the blade with a steel rod before every session.
Five light strokes per side realigns microscopic curled metal teeth. Honing maintains sharpness; sharpening grinds away metal.
Use the spine of the knife to scrape food off boards.
Scraping chopped food across wood with the sharp edge rolls and dulls the cutting edge in days. Flip the knife over and scrape with the spine.
Use a serrated bread knife for ripe tomatoes.
Micro-serrated teeth saw cleanly through slick tomato skin without crushing the soft interior pulp.
Rock the blade instead of hacking downward.
Keep the front curved tip of the chef knife resting on the cutting board and rock the curved belly smoothly over garlic, herbs, and celery.
Create a flat anchor cut on round vegetables first.
Slice a thin wafer off one side of round potatoes or butternut squash so they sit flat on the board and do not roll under the blade.
Put This Rule Into Practice
Use our zero-fluff interactive calculation engine to calculate exact weights, temperatures, or timelines.
Savory ground pork, shredded crunchy cabbage, and toasted sesame ginger sauce in 12 minutes.
Transform cold leftover takeout rice into restaurant-quality garlic butter fried rice with scrambled eggs and peas in 10 minutes.