How to sharpen a knife and chop vegetables
Keen to hone your knife skills? Good Food's Barney Desmazery shows you how to sharpen a knife and improve your chopping technique.
Points to remember
- Make a claw shape with the hand you're holding the object in, tucking the tips of your fingers and your thumb in, using the flat of your knuckles as a guide for the knife.
- Cut a flat surface to rest the object you're cutting on so it doesn't slip. Square off round vegetables such as carrots, by shaving off all the round sides so you have a square block.
- Cut batons/julienne by cutting the block lengthways into even, thick/thin slices, stacking these up and then cutting through the slices in the same manner.
- Cut batons/julienne into dice/brunoise by slicing across into even cubes.