Knife Skills —

a kitchen guide to using the right knife the right way

This site will give you the confidence to choose and use the knives and other nonelectric sharp tools in your kitchen. It’s also a reference site that you can use as you improve your skills and acquire the tools that will make you a better cook!

Scissors

Kitchen scissors are one of those tools that you don’t realize you need until you need them. That sounds obvious, but they’re more versatile and necessary than you might think. You need them for so many tasks such as cutting open food packaging, cutting the twine off raw and cooked meats, cutting through lobster and crab shells, and much more.

If scissors are so important, why not go to the stationery store, buy a pair, and move on to the next thing? Because you need break apart (also called take-apart) scissors. What this means is that the two scissor halves come apart by opening them up all the way and separating them. This is crucial because it means that you can thoroughly clean and sharpen your scissors. This allows you to completely remove any raw or cooked food bits from the scissors’ hinge. Without this, you’d be exposing yourself to harmful bacteria that will quickly build up in the scissors. Some scissors sold in the kitchenware section of stores and markets are not designed to be broken apart, so be sure to check before you buy.

Also, kitchen scissors must be used exclusively for food. Just as you don’t want to use household scissors with food, you don’t want to use your kitchen scissors for other household projects. In addition to being unsanitary, this can also dull the scissors.

How to Choose and Use Your Knives

How to Choose and Use Your Knives

How to Buy a Knife

How to Buy a Knife

Caring for Your Knives

Caring for Your Knives

Nonknife, Nonmotorized Sharp Kitchen Tools

Nonknife, Nonmotorized Sharp Kitchen Tools


Cutting by the tongue is different from cutting by the knife. Kikuyu proverb

Cutting by the tongue is different from cutting by the knife.

Kikuyu proverb


One knife whets another. American proverb

One knife whets another.

American proverb


A knife-wound heals, but a tongue wound festers. Kikuyu proverb

A knife-wound heals, but a tongue wound festers.

Kikuyu proverb

Javier Perez De Cuellar

I am like a doctor. I have written a prescription to help the patient. If the patient doesn’t want all the pills I’ve recommended, that’s up to him. But I must warn that next time I will have to come as a surgeon with a knife.

John Owen

Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his), poison, his exercise or his destruction.

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The information in this site is true and complete to the best of our knowledge.
The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information.
All recommendations are made without guarantee.