Absolutely. For any beginners, and even experts, the claw hand is important.
My ex is in Hawaii.
Hopefully she doesn’t touch the mainland again.
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I see you have surrounded her with oceans
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But how do you reheat - for many dishes which don’t have large amounts of liquids even after storing in the fridge reheating in the oven (or even worse microwave) leads to often disappointing dishes.
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Blue Hubbard! The farm share that we subscribe to in the fall I think uses an axe to cleave those big old Blue Hubbards into hefty chunks that then get distributed to us. But axe safety would be a whole other thread, LOL.
In all seriousness though, if I can find a good storage spot for a cleaver I may add one to deal with harder winter squash like butternut. We eat a lot of that in the colder months.
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Wear a Kevlar glove on your off hand when cutting something tough like certains kinds of squash. No shame in it whatsoever. Beats being out of work for six weeks if you put a knife through your hand.
You can tap the spine of a chef’s knife with a meat mallet or a wooden mallet to get a good start. Put a towel over the spine if not using a wooden mallet. A round carver’s mallet works as does a square joiner’s mallet --again woodworker’s tools that have a use in the kitchen.
You can also tap a cleaver with a hammer. I worked in more than one restaurant in France that had cleavers with dinged up spines from being struck with a regular steel hammer. Never, ever swing a cleaver over your head.
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If there were one available, there would be no shame in using a band saw.
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I think I’ll definitely sub out the hacking up of a Blue Hubbard squash, should I get one this fall. Haven’t brushed up on my axe skills lately, I mean never.
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Super steel, Razor sharp. Kiwi in a nutshell.
True that. Love it when folks gripe about the thread going off the rails. Sorry, when we connect with others on other topics, we like to chat.
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Don’t try to catch a falling knife.
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Easier said than done
This is very helpful information. Thank you!
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Do what you have to do to be safe. Getting ahead of yourself will only result in injury. You don’t need to be that fast to prep the amount of food needed for a family meal. Don’t make everybody spend their evening in the emergency room while you have your hand or finger sutured.
There are too many people on these boards still working from cookbooks, but trying to emulate the knife skills of the people who wrote the books. Far more important to learn product, flavors, saucing, etc. than trying to chop two lousy ribs of celery in a second and a half. The latter does not make you a chef.
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I believe it was Jacques Pepin who recommended cutting a slice off cylindrical vegetables (cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, etc) in order to provide a flat bottom surface. Prevents dangerous rock and roll.
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WORD! Product consideration and flavor/texture inspiration precede and dictate actual kitchen work.
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Agreed.
Three things go together for the home cook: organization, safety, and fun. Organization anticipates cooking demands, and reduces risk–without necessarily making a direct connection to safety. That connection too often reveals itself after a critical incident.
Things as obvious as location and availability of supplies, and not so obvious as comfortable counter height and sufficient workspace–they all matter–and tend to make safety nearly automatic. Kitchen knives, and knife work should fit right into a non rushed, just in time, environment.
Having a well equipped kitchen, set up the right way, to achieve what one intends, is not only safe, but fun–a joy to be there.
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Even with a flat bottom, I am actually thinking of getting a mango pitter. Those things are slippery like nothing else.
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I’ve got a mango pitter, it’s ok if the mango isn’t too ripe. I prefer a knife though. The mango can get a little mashed from the pitter.
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Good to know. I guess I shall stick to my regular method.
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