It’s Good Luck To Get Cut

They say it is good luck to cut yourself on your first day of culinary school, at least that is what our chef instructor told us.  Well if that is true then I am going to be a lucky girl this year!  I’m sure his theory is a futile attempt at making the injured feel better about themselves.   There was nothing I could do to stop it.  The sharp side of my knife pulled like a magnet attracted to metal slicing the tip of my middle finger.  I was the third person to cut themselves so I had some bloody company.  One of the chef instructors took me to the back of the room to the first aid kit and tended to my wound and bruised ego.

For anyone thinking of going to culinary school there are many differences compared to home cooking .  One such difference is the importance on knife cuts, or as the French say taillage.  Oh those French and their exacting ways.  Your cuts need to be uniform in order to ensure even cooking and a more pleasing look.  Food must not only taste good but look good.  In home kitchens, where speed and utility often outweigh aesthetics, you don’t need to be as accurate.  The main goal is often a healthy and delicious meal.

Jardinieres, juliennes, macedoines, and brunoises sure look pretty don’t they?  You may doubt that you can extract these forms from something as un-cube like as a carrot but it is possible and with practice I am assured that it gets much easier.

Take a look at this tutorial from chow.com if you are interested in learning these knife skills.

Lately I’ve spent my nights in front of my cutting board slicing carrots into equal and uniform dices.  I’ve gotten quite accustomed to coming home from work and pulling out the cutting board and watching mindless TV as I chop away at extra large carrots.  Needless to say I’ve had lots of carrots this week and the rest will get dumped into my vegetable stock.

Image via: chow.com

Tagged as: culinary school, French Culinary Institute, knife cuts