How To Cut With A Chef Knife | 3 Main Cutting Techniques

Do you ever watch professional cooks and wonder how they're able to cut food so swiftly? If so, you're not alone. Most home cooks have decent cutting skills but are missing out on some key techniques that chefs use to make their cooking experience better. These are important because it improves your confidence with a knife and speeds up the entire meal prep process.

That's why in this article we'll be covering 4 cutting techniques that can be used in different scenarios. Hopefully, they will allow you to become more efficient in the kitchen and more comfortable with a knife.

Cross Chop

The cross chop is perfect for fine and quick chops, which is great for vegetables, onions, garlic, or any condiment that goes on food. It consists of holding the knife horizontally, with your dominant hand holding the handle and your other hand placed over the blade spine on the other end. To perform this technique, your dominant hand will be doing all the movement, going up and down to cut, while your non-dominant hand will be holding down the tip of the blade. This will give you great control since the tip will serve as an anchor point. 

Rock Chop

The rock chop is great for getting longer, thin chops. This technique works by feeding the ingredient to your knife's blade as it cuts in a rocking motion. To perform the rock chop, hold your knife as you normally would and cut by pushing your knife down and toward the food. While doing so, the tip of the blade should stay connected to the board at all times. On the other hand (pun not intended), your non-dominant hand should hold down the ingredient in a claw-like form to achieve control and prevent your fingers from getting cut.

The Classic Chop

The classic chop is very versatile because it can achieve all kinds of sized chops. It consists of cutting down food by evenly distributing the weight of the blade on it, and repeatedly doing this up and down. Your non-dominant hand will hold down the food as you do this—just remember to keep your fingers tucked in, so that they don't get in the way. 

In conclusion, learning all these techniques makes you a better cook but there's no denying that they take practice to master. The most important thing now is for you to try them out there—hopefully, you'll eventually be able to cut like a chef!