Thanks for this basic info post too, I do tend to stick to the recipe although I’ve been a bit more experimental for the last week or so I’m not very confident. At the moment I’m devising some basic recipes that can be changed as it were to suit the individual.

One great book that I brought a while back for 50c at a garage sale is Deliciously Simple, Quick and Easy by Harriet Roth. If you get the opportunity to read it I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Bye for now!

Honestly, I learned a lot of the fundamentals by watching food television. I watched Yan Can Cook a lot when I was a kid, and picked up his knife skills. I also really like Alton Brown’s show Good Eats, on the Food Network – he teaches building blocks and food science/history rather than just sticking to recipes. There are also great example videos on the web (see this video on chow.com for instance.)

Most of us learn as we go, in the kitchen – just go slowly.

And as for the knife thing: you’re actually less likely to cut yourself with a sharp knife than with a dull knife. Really! Food is less likely to roll or slip under your knife if it’s sharp. Less rolling/slipping means fewer accidents.

There are also ways of holding your knife that make it less likely you’ll cut yourself. For example, if you’re the sort of person who puts her index finger on top of the blade, stop immediately before you cut your thumb! You know, I should write a post on this…

And definitely check out this video I found on Lifehacker on how to dice vegetables — the chef shows how the knife just moves up and down in space, while you feed the vegetable horizontally through it.

I still attempt to cut with my horrible knife and would love to invest in a real chef’s knife but am convinced from numerous “ouch” moments with my dull knife that I’d be looking at a life with stubs where my fingers used to be. How did you learn to use it properly and safely?