Cutting techniques can make or break a dish. Crave goes back to basics, uncovering the tools and knife work necessary to prepare a successful meal.
Text by Winnie Yeung, photos by Samantha Sin
Cutting seems easy and simple, but it is actually difficult to master. In cooking, the correct cutting techniques are the foundation of any great meal.
“When you think about it everyday in the kitchen we work 12 to 14 hours, yet the service usually lasts just four to five,” says Chef Richard Ekkebus, Director of Culinary Operations and Food & Beverage at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental. “That tells you how much time we spend on food preparation, and a lot of it is spent cutting.”
Amateur chef Nancy Fung, who trained in classical French cooking for three months at the culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu in Bangkok earlier this year, recalls that the first two lessons were devoted to cutting. “Then, throughout the course, different cutting techniques kept emerging, and we had to also keep practising the techniques we learned in every class,” she says.
In a professional kitchen, one must spend years cutting before advancing up the hierarchy. Chef Siu Hin-chi, Executive Chef of The Langham, spent almost two years cutting, chopping and dicing ingredients when he started out. “It’s inevitable – you chop and chop everyday, cut your fingers along the way repeatedly, until one day the chef thinks you are good enough to hold a wok,” he remembers.
In classical French cooking, there are dozens of cutting techniques. All of these have intricate specifications. The rules need to be followed so that the food cooks evenly. When every piece is the same size, it theoretically takes exactly the same amount of time to cook to perfection, thereby ensuring the quality of the dish.
In Chinese cooking, cutting is so crucial that a diner can tell with a single bite whether the job has been done masterfully. Chef Siu repeatedly refers to the chef responsible for cutting in a Chinese kitchen as the “chopping board master”. He explains how chicken should be cut. “A good chopping board master knows how to cut so that the bones won’t get in your way,” he explains. “It applies to other food like lobsters as well.”
Sometimes Chinese dishes require even more meticulous cutting techniques – for example fatty pork would be very oily if the slices are not thin enough. In fact, after every slice, the chopping board master needs to soak his knife in hot water to avoid the oil from the fat accumulating on the blade. To prepare abalone, one has to slice more than once for each piece because of its texture. And it shows when picked up with chopsticks – the slice looks wavy normally. Only a chopping board master is able to create slices that look smooth and flat.
To master cutting, one must start with the right tool. “Before, I was just like most people – we picked up whatever knife we had in the kitchen, and started cutting,” Fung says. In classical French culinary training, more than 40 knives are needed during training. Each one is used for a specific technique and for specific ingredients.
In a professional kitchen, every chef has a personal kit of 40-odd items. “There’s no way I would let anyone else use my set of tools,” Chef Siu says. It’s not about being territorial and selfish, he adds. When one has used the same knife for a long time the degree of wear on the blade is unique. If a different person uses that knife, it disturbs that wear pattern. “If my knife were used by someone else the day before, when I hold up my knife I can tell instantly,” Chef Siu says. “This might be cheeky, but it’s really just like in classical Chinese wushu novels, when the protagonist has formed a bond with some magical sword.”
Both executive chefs believe it is unnecessary to buy a full set of professional knives for use at home. In fact, Chef Ekkebus believes that for Western cuisine, only three knives are required – a simple small kitchen knife, a slightly curved turning knife, and a medium-sized chef’s knife (see p.35 for details). Chef Siu adds that there is almost no reason to have the same Chinese kitchen knives that professional chefs use for one simple reason: those tools are too heavy for most of us. Instead, one should pay attention to quality, and be diligent about maintenance.
“It’s a good investment to buy better quality knives because you can use them for a long time,” Chef Ekkebus says. “Getting a random one in a supermarket – it doesn’t help with good cutting and it wears out quickly.” He also suggests keeping the knives in knife blocks to make them last longer. Sharpening is also crucial. Sharpen knives regularly with simple or electric sharpeners to ensure a good edge.
“It’s a misunderstanding that sharp knives can cut you easily,” Chef Siu adds.“In fact, blunt ones cause more injuries.”
Understanding the complexity and importance of cutting skills allows for a greater appreciation of food served in restaurants. “In the past, when I saw garnish on my plate, I wouldn’t think much about it. I might just push it aside,” Fung says. “But now that I’ve been trained and understand how important, difficult and time-consuming cutting is to even a simple garnish, when I eat out, I immediately think of all the hard work it took for chefs to bring that dish to me. I don’t take things for granted anymore.”
Cutting 101
You do not need a year of culinary school training to become proficient with a knife. Learn these essential techniques with our step-by-step guide from Chef Richard Ekkebus.
THE BASIC
A full set of professional knives has 40-odd items, but for the home kitchen, three will suffice.
Small kitchen knife
Ideal for small, intricate work like cutting garnish and removing seeds. $42, available at Victorinox
Tourné knife
Ideal for peeling and tourné-cutting vegetables. $32, available at Victorinox
Medium chef’s knife
An all-purpose knife for chopping and cutting meat. $214, available at Victorinox
1. Chop off one end of the onion. Keep the other end so it won’t fall apart. Halve the onion and put the flat surface on the board.2. Hold the half with your fingertips and slice thinly and equally from left to right. Don’t slice all the way to prevent the slices from getting loose.
3. Slice the half with a smaller knife from left to right, horizontally from the top all the way to the flat surface. Hold the pieces firmly.
4. Turn the half 90 degrees and cut again from left to right to achieve a fine chop..
1. If the vegetable is rounded, make sure to slice off one side for a flat surface.2. Slice the vegetable equally, so that each slice has the same thickness.
3. Stack the slices together and trim them so they are the same length.
4. Keep the stack together, and cut to the same thickness to make blocks of the same size.
1. Brunoise starts with a julienne. Slice off one side for a flat surface.2. Slice the vegetable equally, so that each slice has the same thickness.
3. Stack the slices together to cut strips of the same width.
4. Turn the whole stack 90 degrees to dice finely in 4-5mm sections.
1. If the vegetable is big, cut it into same-sized chunks.2. Slice each chunk in pieces of the same thickness.
3. Put every two or three slices together to cut them into 1cm wide strips.
4. Arrange to form a parallelogram. Dice the strips vertically to achieve diamond shapes.
1. Here we use potatoes for demonstration. Cut the potatoes into same-sized small chunks.2. Soak the chunks in a bowl of water to wash off some of the starch.
3. Hold each chunk firmly with fingers to start shaping with a tourné knife.
4. Slowly peel each chunk to form seven surfaces of the same width.
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