CHOP CHOP.
Week 1: Orientation + Knife Skills
Image Credit: Heather Barnes
We learned 30 cutting techniques in two days and eight hours of chopping. And I only bled once! It’s just a flesh wound. (<— hope you read that in a British accent…and hope you know where it’s from).
Before we talk about knives, I want to tell you about my class! There are only 12 of us in the program (9 gals, 3 guys) ranging in age from 19 to 40/50-something? Together, we will be cooking our way through several modules including:
Fundamentals of Plant-Based Cuisine
Grains, Beans and Stews
High-Protein Foods
Advanced Culinary Applications
Baking and Desserts
Bread and Pasta
Food and Healing
Advanced Culinary Techniques
World Cuisines
For our first module, we are studying under Chef Celine Beitchman. I could tell you how cool she is, but you should just click that link and read about her.
After learning a few kitchen basics, set-up, clean-up, sanitation, and receiving our chore assignments (I’m on dishes…it’s SO fun), we dove right into knife skills. Starting with Anatomy 101:
Image Credit: foodfirefriends.com
We were also taught how to properly sharpen knives using both a steel and a water stone. Fun fact*: Japanese knives must be sharpened at precisely a 10 degree angle, and French knives have to sharpened at a 15-22 degree angle.
*all fun facts are test questions, so I can multi-task and study while blogging ;)
Then we got into the good stuff. Spending hours upon hours practicing the perfect slice of onion or julienned carrot is kind of how I imagined culinary school. Doing it over and over until it’s correct, and then being told to go home and practice some more.
Source: Pinterest
After attempting to master the batonnet, brunoise, julienne*, slice, dice, and mince we either took the mirepoix (carrots, celery, onion) to the stock room, where they are constantly whipping up giant vats of broth, or we divvied the vegetables up to take home. And you know I love getting home with bags and bags of pre-chopped veg. Definitely a perk.
*every time Chef says to ‘julienne’ something, I think she’s calling on me, and I get a teensy nervous.
Let me tell you, that diced potato up there is triiiicky. It doesn’t help that potatoes aren’t really my jam anyway. You basically have to whittle the potato down to a perfect rectangular slab (and I mean perfect), to then slice into precisely measured batonnets (like french fries), then chop those into proper cubes. I swear it’s harder than it sounds, especially when you put a ruler up to each piece.
Also, I’ve chopped a gazillion onions over the years, but I never knew that slicing with the onion grain is called a “sauté slice” and slicing against the grain is called a “salad slice”. Did you??
Oh, and chiffonading collards is no joke. These babies need some practice too. My chiffonade is not quite thin enough.
Once we get to the end of the week, every Friday is a half-day nutrition lecture, which felt like a nice change of pace. Our homework assignment is to read In Defense of Food. If I didn’t already feel like this was my kind of school, that confirmed it.
Until next week, happy chopping!