Mastering knife skills : the essential guide to the most important tools in your kitchen PDF
Preview Mastering knife skills : the essential guide to the most important tools in your kitchen
s the number of gourmet home kitchens burgeons, so does the number of home cooks who want to become proficient users of the professional-caliber equipment they own. And of all kitchen skills, perhaps the most critical are those involving the proper use of knives. Norman Weinstein has been teaching his knife skills workshop at New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education for more than a decade—and his classes always sell out. That’s because Weinstein focuses so squarely on the needs of the nonprofessional cook, providing basic instruction in knife techniques that maximize efficiency while placing the least possible stress on the user’s arm. Now, Mastering Knife Skills brings Weinstein’s well-honed knowledge to home cooks everywhere. Whether you want to dice an onion with the speed and dexterity of a TV chef, carve a roast like an expert, bone a chicken quickly and neatly, or just learn how to hold a knife in the right way, Mastering Knife Skills will be your go-to manual. Each cutting, slicing, and chopping method is thoroughly explained— and illustrated with clear, step-by-step photographs. Extras include information on knife construction, knife makers and types, knife maintenance and safety, and cutting boards. Published in 2008 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang An imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Text copyright © 2008 by Norman Weinstein Photographs copyright © 2008 by Mark Thomas All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Weinstein, Norman. Mastering knife skills : the essential guide to the most important tools in your kitchen / By Norman Weinstein. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-58479-667-1 1. Kitchen utensils. 2. Knives. I. Title. TX656.G78 1986 643′.3--dc22 2007033419 Editor: Luisa Weiss Designer: LeAnna Weller Smith Production Manager: Tina Cameron 115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.abramsbooks.com FOR CHI-CHI, MY WIFE, LIFE’S PARTNER, AND GUIDING LIGHT AND MY DEAR FRIENDS ANNA AMENDOLARA NURSE AND CAROLE WALTER, WHO ENCOURAGED ME TO WRITE THIS BOOK— MANY YEARS AGO Introduction PART ONE: A CONCISE HISTORY I From Stone to Steel II The Anatomy of a Knife PART TWO: THE KNIFE KIT III Your Knife Wardrobe IV Knife Maintenance V Safety and Storage VI Cutting Boards PART THREE: KNIFE SKILLS VII Basic Knife Techniques VIII Preparing Fruits and Vegetables IX Fabricating Poultry, Meat, and Fish Bibliography Acknowledgments Index of Search Terms Knife Skills, as a stand-alone course, was an offshoot of my many years as an instructor of Chinese cuisine. I realized my students needed to understand that the preparation of the ingredients was crucial to the outcome of the finished dish, that preparation often took more time than the actual cooking, and that good knife skills (actually cleaver skills, then) were essential to both Asian and Western cuisines. Mastering Knife Skills thus represents the culmination of more than twenty- three years of thinking about, teaching, lecturing, and demonstrating this primary and essential skill in classrooms, lecture halls, and cookware stores. The inspiration to codify knife skills techniques came in great part from my students, first from analyzing the techniques they brought to the classroom, then thinking about how to solve the technical problems I witnessed in a way that could be easily communicated. It also came from the realization that the subject of knife skills is seriously neglected in cookbooks, food magazines, and cooking shows on television. Assumptions are made that the reader or viewer knows how to dice an onion or julienne a carrot. Those of us who teach cooking classes for the general public know full well that this assumption should never be made. The book is therefore devoted to filling this knowledge gap. The popularity of and need for knife skills information can be attested to by the fact that in all the years I have been teaching, I have rarely had a class cancelled for lack of registration. Despite the fact that I currently teach over 120 classes a year at The Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, most are sold out. Some of my students have waited over a year to get in. I would like to attribute this wholly to my name and reputation, but I would be flattering myself. Students fill similar classes all over the country. They know that they need to learn this primary skill. Many of my students have admitted that the lack of good skills and the use of improper tools have made even simple meal preparation a grudging, time-consuming chore. Mastering Knife Skills is designed to help the everyday household cook who, like it or not, has to put the daily bread on the table. By learning to select the proper knife and use it correctly with a maximum of ease and a minimum of stress, the preparation of the daily meal becomes a lot less time-consuming. I hope this book becomes your constant companion in the kitchen and that it
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