Proper chopping technique

Question

When you're cutting a veggie, you're holding a veggie in the left hand and the knife in the right hand. Which hand does move closer to another? When you hold a knife with a tip resting on the board and keep cutting moving to the left, you will end up with a knife bottom inclined to the left and not cutting straight. How should be done right?

Here's the video that help you to understand the problem better:

http://sebastian.honsa.eu/files/downloads/cutting.mp4

style 1 - I move the carrot to the knife (this cannot be done with any veggie)
style 2 - This is when my problem occurs
style 3 - I tried to cut it right and maintain the knife angle but it was pretty uncomfortable

#3 : I'm never that picky about my dicing. I'm not trying for haute cuisine. I'm perfectly fine with 'rustic' cooking. So I take off a slab roughly the thickness of the dice, and then dice that up afterwards. — Joe, Mar 15 '18 at 17:05
Hello Sebastian, each of your questions is OK on its own, but three questions at once breaks all the findability mechanisms of the site. Please choose one to leave here (and flag for reopening after the edit), and reask the others separately. — rumtscho, Mar 16 '18 at 07:18

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 16 '18 at 15:55

5

In my amateur experience, the knife moves and the other hand stays put; the knife should always be vertical.

edited Mar 16 '18 at 15:55

Cascabel

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answered Mar 15 '18 at 13:15

Max

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I would assume he is having a yaw, not a roll problem - from moving the handle with the tip stationary.

rackandboneman

Mar 15 '18 at 13:29

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@rackandboneman Maybe, I cannot visualize the problem. – Max Mar 15 '18 at 13:32

I imagine he has a problem that can be solved by only cutting veggies that are curved to the circle the radius of which is the length of the blade. – Menno van den Heuvel Mar 15 '18 at 15:38

I added the video for you, guys. Also updated the description under the line. Can you describe the right technique to avoid this? Thank you so much! – Sebastian Mar 15 '18 at 19:35

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 16 '18 at 15:56

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People who care about that kind of precision usually consider cutting styles with the tip resting on the board as fit for homemakers, not enthusiast cooks. Usually, resting your left hand, as a claw grip, on the vegetable and then sliding it along, keeping the knife in contact with the claw grip while using pull or push slicing will give good results here. Takes much more practice (been doing that for quite a while and still sometimes get things in a twist) than it appears to take, compared to resting-tip styles.

edited Mar 16 '18 at 15:56

Cascabel

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answered Mar 15 '18 at 13:19

rackandboneman

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The OP edited away a couple questions, so I made a corresponding edit here - I think the trailing bits weren't meant to apply to this paragraph but if they were, sorry, please add them back! – Cascabel Mar 16 '18 at 15:56

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 16 '18 at 15:57

For any vegetable, I tend to hold the knife close my left hand and continually slide the food under the blade. The knife stays put. For safety, I would use a large chef's knife or santoku which has large flat side. You hold the tip of one finger on that surface to make sure your hand doesn't go under. For anything with a spherical surface (e.g. onion), arch your hand and over both the knife and item.

Proper chopping technique

3 Answers3