What household object accounts for the most visits to the Emergency room? KITCHEN KNIVES!!!

Knife Skills and Knife Safety

Parts of the Chef’s Knife Tang Rivet 2 3 1 Handle Blade Bolster

Parts of a Knife Tang: the continuation of the blade that extends into the handle. Designed for balance. Blade: used to cut/slice. Handle: built to guide the blade for cutting. Bolster: joins the blade of the knife to the handle. Rivets: metal pins used to join the tang to the handle

Types of Knives

Chef’s Knife All-purpose knife. Used especially for chopping, slicing and mincing

Cleaver Used for chopping and cutting through bones.

Paring Knife A small knife usually used for trimming small fruits and vegetables.

Serrated Slicing Knife Used for cutting bread, cakes and similar items.

Steak Knife Excellent all-purpose table knife, great for cutting cooked meat.

Knife Safety

Safety Keep knives sharp. SHARP knives tend to be safer than DULL knives because you do not need to press as hard to cut foods. When carrying a knife through the foods lab always have the blade point of the knife pointing DOWN.

Safety cont. When cutting, curl your FINGERS under in the hand holding the food. If a knife falls, step AWAY from it. Never try to catch a falling knife. When cutting, always use an appropriate CUTTING surface. You should NOT test the sharpness of a knife by running your finger along the edge of the blade.

Safety cont. It is not safe to leave KNIVES to soak in a sink full of hot, soapy water. Cutting a Bagel: Place the bagel flat on the cutting board, lay your hand down flat on top of the bagel, and slice the bagel in half from the side.

Truing a Knife on sharpening steel Hold the steel away from the body in one hand and the knife in the other. Holding at a 20º angle pass the blade along the entire length of the steel. (keep pressure even and light) Keep blade in contact with the steel for the last few inches.

Truing a Knife on sharpening steel (contd.) 4. Return knife to 1st position, this time on the other side, to sharpen the 2nd side of the blade. 5. Use the thumb to maintain even pressure. 6. Finish the second pass making sure the entire length is properly sharpened.

What type of knife should you use to cut this? Serrated/Bread Knife

True or False Dull knives are safer than sharp knives. FALSE A cleaver is used for cutting breads. The Rivet is a metal pin used to hold the tang and the handle together. TRUE When carrying a knife have it pointing toward you. NEVER catch a falling knife.

Other knives… Backed-pendant-knife (arrowhead found in Texas) The “Ulu” (oo-loo) The knife of Alaska Japanese Ceramic Knife Gamma Knife Surgery