Ignis Scientia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2021-01-15 04:12 am
chef_chocobro) wrote in fandomhigh2021-01-15 04:12 am
Entry tags:
Culinary Fundamentals; Friday, First Period [01/15].
"Good morning, everyone," Ignis greeted the class from the front of the cooking classroom with a nod and a barely perceptable adjustment of the cuffs of his jacket. "Welcome back. Now, before we truly get started on our culinary journey, we still have a few more techniques to pick up along the way to ensure better results when we start actually working with the food, and today, we're going to cover basic knife skills.
"Now, it was suggested to me by a colleague that we hold this class in the danger shop, to prevent anyone from losing a finger, but I do believe she was being facetious, but let us keep that in mind as we work that teaching you these skills is meant to prevent such a thing from happening, but if you're feeling a bit squeemish or uncertain in your blade-handling skills, there are cut gloves at your station that I would recommend even if you are confident. It never hurts to take an extra step for precaution. At least not in the kitchen.
"Holding a knife," he said, taking a moment to slide one out from the knife block on the counter, "for cooking and preparation is quite a bit different than holding it for battle or defense." And, of course, he had to show off a little bit with a quick switch from his fighter's grip to his chef's grip, before explaining the ideal chef's grip in more detail. "The palm of the hand chokes up on the handle, while the thumb and index finger grip the top of the blade. This is also different from how many home cooks tend hold a knife, by wrapping the entire hand around the handle. The chef’s grip has evolved this way for a reason, though: it’s the most efficient way to use the weight of the knife, the sharpness of its blade, and the strength of your arms, which makes for the easiest cutting.
"As for your other hand? That shall be your helping hand. The ideal position for the helping hand is called a bear claw, with the fingertips curled under and knuckles pressing down on the ingredient to keep it from rolling or sliding," Ignis held up an onion, placed it before him on a cutting board, so that he could demonstrate, "like so. It may feel odd at first and take some getting used to, but it’s the safest place for your fingertips to be in relation to the cutting blade. Alternatively, bunch your fingertips together and rest the pads on top of the ingredient, like so. In a perfect world, while the hand that is holding the knife moves forward and back to cut, the helping hand moves across in even increments, creating perfect slices. Do not despair if your slices are hardly perfect; it does indeed take practice unless one just naturally has a gift for astonishingly well sliced onions.
"A few more things about your grip: it should be relaxed, not a death grip, and your wrist should be doing most of the work. The knife should be moving in a rocking motion, from front to back, as well as up and down, and you'll want to take caution to position your fingers so they are well out of harms way from the blade, and hold the knife at relatively the same height, typically just below your elbow, so that your whole upper body, not just your arm, has a hand in applying pressure to what you are cutting.
"Now, to get into some basic culinary cutting techniques:"
At which point, the lecture could easily go into handwavey mode as Ignis covered how to chop, slice, dice, and, finally, julienne, inviting the students to come up to the counter for a closer look as he went through the process and explained as he cut, reminding himself to take it slow as that they didn't merely blink and miss it. And, at the end, they could take a moment to notice the differences in the cuts once they were all complete.
"And now," he prompted, "it's your turn. For the rest of the hour, you can spend your time either trying to get to know the various different cuts, improving on ones you're not as familiar with, and trying them on different types of vegetables or fruits to see just how each one responds to different cuts. Please let me know if you have any questions, please be careful, and if you're feeling ready, we'll begin."
"Now, it was suggested to me by a colleague that we hold this class in the danger shop, to prevent anyone from losing a finger, but I do believe she was being facetious, but let us keep that in mind as we work that teaching you these skills is meant to prevent such a thing from happening, but if you're feeling a bit squeemish or uncertain in your blade-handling skills, there are cut gloves at your station that I would recommend even if you are confident. It never hurts to take an extra step for precaution. At least not in the kitchen.
"Holding a knife," he said, taking a moment to slide one out from the knife block on the counter, "for cooking and preparation is quite a bit different than holding it for battle or defense." And, of course, he had to show off a little bit with a quick switch from his fighter's grip to his chef's grip, before explaining the ideal chef's grip in more detail. "The palm of the hand chokes up on the handle, while the thumb and index finger grip the top of the blade. This is also different from how many home cooks tend hold a knife, by wrapping the entire hand around the handle. The chef’s grip has evolved this way for a reason, though: it’s the most efficient way to use the weight of the knife, the sharpness of its blade, and the strength of your arms, which makes for the easiest cutting.
"As for your other hand? That shall be your helping hand. The ideal position for the helping hand is called a bear claw, with the fingertips curled under and knuckles pressing down on the ingredient to keep it from rolling or sliding," Ignis held up an onion, placed it before him on a cutting board, so that he could demonstrate, "like so. It may feel odd at first and take some getting used to, but it’s the safest place for your fingertips to be in relation to the cutting blade. Alternatively, bunch your fingertips together and rest the pads on top of the ingredient, like so. In a perfect world, while the hand that is holding the knife moves forward and back to cut, the helping hand moves across in even increments, creating perfect slices. Do not despair if your slices are hardly perfect; it does indeed take practice unless one just naturally has a gift for astonishingly well sliced onions.
"A few more things about your grip: it should be relaxed, not a death grip, and your wrist should be doing most of the work. The knife should be moving in a rocking motion, from front to back, as well as up and down, and you'll want to take caution to position your fingers so they are well out of harms way from the blade, and hold the knife at relatively the same height, typically just below your elbow, so that your whole upper body, not just your arm, has a hand in applying pressure to what you are cutting.
"Now, to get into some basic culinary cutting techniques:"
At which point, the lecture could easily go into handwavey mode as Ignis covered how to chop, slice, dice, and, finally, julienne, inviting the students to come up to the counter for a closer look as he went through the process and explained as he cut, reminding himself to take it slow as that they didn't merely blink and miss it. And, at the end, they could take a moment to notice the differences in the cuts once they were all complete.
"And now," he prompted, "it's your turn. For the rest of the hour, you can spend your time either trying to get to know the various different cuts, improving on ones you're not as familiar with, and trying them on different types of vegetables or fruits to see just how each one responds to different cuts. Please let me know if you have any questions, please be careful, and if you're feeling ready, we'll begin."
Class Activity: Cutting Techniques - Culinary Fundamentals, 01/15.
Re: Class Activity: Cutting Techniques - Culinary Fundamentals, 01/15.
Then she got bored.
Which was how she wound up with rabbits.
What?
It was still practicing!
Re: Class Activity: Cutting Techniques - Culinary Fundamentals, 01/15.
Re: Class Activity: Cutting Techniques - Culinary Fundamentals, 01/15.
Re: Class Activity: Cutting Techniques - Culinary Fundamentals, 01/15.
"Would you like to share this particular technique with the class as well?" he offered. "We certainly have the time, and perhaps the others would be interested in something a little less cut and dry than the basics we've already covered."