Knife Skills and Safety

Cutting a round object without cutting yourself can be tricky.  They want to roll around.

--> It can be especially difficult to cut up a vegetable that has round sides and rolls around on the cutting board.  By following these easy steps, you can improve your kitchen safety and knowledge.  

Use a sharp knife and a cutting board that is secured to the countertop.

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First of all, make sure you are using a sharp knife.  Dull knives are an accident waiting to happen, and make the job so much more difficult!  Get your knives sharpened and you will notice what a difference a sharp knife makes.

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Secondly, secure your cutting board so that it won’t slip away from you while you are working.  You can put a damp paper towel under your board; you can use some sort of non-slip product such as this:

 

Use a non slip mat under your cutting board to prevent accidents.

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Or you can get a cutting board made with non-slip feet.

This cutting board has feet that prevent the board from slipping while you work.  You can remove the feet and send this through the dishwasher for cleaning and sanitation. 

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Third, make your round object flat on one side so it will lie flat on the board, and not roll around. 

Slice off one part of the carrot to make it flat and prevent rolling.

Put the flat side down on the board.

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Now you can work with your carrot to slice, julienne, chop or dice carrots!  

Here are some more tips.

Cut the carrot into thick slices for chopping.

Stack these for easy cutting.

  --> Slice your carrot into thin strips, and lay these on top of one another.  

--> .  If you want to chop these, you can use your knife with a rocking motion that will maintain your blade better, and cut a bunch of pieces at the same time

You can make a lot of pieces of chopped carrot this way.

 

 You can determine the size you want (chopped, diced or minced) using this method.

Chopped or diced?

Knife skills are difficult when you are learning but take your time and work on your technique.  You will be glad you did.

You can have a lot of fun learning knife skills, and your life will be easier when you get good!

Carrots are a great vegetable to practice your knife skills on.  You can throw them into salads and pilafs, or you can even treat the furry friends you have.

Baxter likes to hang out in the kitchen with me in case anything falls on the floor.

I use up the odd pieces of carrot by providing Baxter with a delicious treat. 

He loves his carrots!