This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞ Copyright © 2008 by The Culinary Institute of America. All rights reserved. The Culinary Institute of America Contents president Dr. Tim Ryan vice-president, continuing education Mark Erickson Acknowledgments vi 3 cutting Techniques for director of intellectual property Nathalie Fischer Kate McBride Vegetables and Fruits 75 managing editor Preface 1 editorial project manager Mary Donovan Margaret Wheeler Vegetables recipe testing manager Introduction 3 production assistant Patrick Decker contributing writer Scott Kupferschmidt Fruits

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada 1 Knives and Cutting Tools 5 4 cutting Techniques for Meat and Poultry 99 Wiley bicentennial logo design by Richard J. Pacifico A Brief History of Cutting Tools Meat Fabrication Techniques No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of The Parts of a Knife Poultry the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, Types of Knives Rabbit (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, Sharpening and Honing Tools Carving Roasted Meats and Poultry fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this Additional Hand Tools book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this 5 cutting Techniques for Fish and Shellfish 117 book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty Large Cutting Tools may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained Round Fish herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to 2 Knife Skills 39 Lobster special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Trademarks: Wiley, The Wiley logo, and The Professional Chef’s are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or Knife Selection Shrimp its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries, and may not be used without written permission. The CIA logo is a registered trademark of the Culinary Institute of America. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Handling and Maintaining Knives Soft-Shelled Crabs For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993, or fax (317) 572-4002. Setting Up Your Work Area Clams and Oysters Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available Holding the Knife in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our Web site at www.wiley.com. Trimming, Peeling, and Squaring Off 6 hand Tools for Measuring, Mixing, Design by Vertigo Design, NYC and Baking 127 Chopping and Mincing foods Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Tools for Measuring Shredding and Grating In the hands of a chef : the processional chef’s® guide to essential kitchen tools / The Culinary Institute of America. Tools for Baking and Mixing p. cm. Slicing Cuts: Plain and Decorative Includes index. Summary ISBN 978-0-470-08026-9 (pbk.) Precision and Portioning Cuts 1. Kitchen utensils. 2. Cookery. I. Culinary Institute of America. Decorative and Special Cutting Techniques Glossary 147 TX656.I52 2008 643'.3—dc22 Appendix 149 2006021034 Index 163 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Photography Credits 170

Introduction Say the word chef and you can almost hear the ringing of knives as they flash back and forth on a steel, the rhythmic knocking of a knife chopping, and the whisper of mincing. You can see the gleam of a blade as it flies through an onion. Knives are so much a part of the chef’s work that it is impossible to imagine a chef at work without them. As a result, chefs have a strong and personal attachment to their knives. Today’s cooks and chefs have a wide array of cutting tools available to them. A basic selection of tools, the chef’s knife kit, is indispensable. Knives (including chef’s knives, utility and paring knives, boning and filleting knives, and specialty knives) are part of this selection, along with the appropriate sharpening tools (steels and stones). Other tools, such as peelers, zesters, brushes, palette knives, oyster and clam knives, and metal and wooden spoons, are also so fundamental to kitchen work that they are considered basics.

When you become a good cook, you become a good craftsman first. You repeat and repeat and repeat until your hands know how to move without thinking about it. — Jacques Pépin

introduction 3 Holding the Knife Basic Knife Grips Your choice of knife grip depends on the particular task and the specific knife. The Your ability to control the knife as you work is an important factor in working safely four basic grips are as follows: and efficiently. The way you hold the knife can change the way you work.F or instance, when you need to exert of lot of pressure, you’ll want to hold the knife in a firm grip. » Grip the handle with four fingers and hold the thumb firmly against the blade’s Otherwise, the knife could simply glance off whatever it is you are cutting; it might spine. even fly out of your hand. When you need to maneuver the knife blade around deli- » Grip the handle with all four fingers and hold the thumb gently but firmly cate fish bones, you hold the knife so that it is more like an extension of your fingers. against the side of the blade. Basic knife grips are described below, along with basic positions for your guiding » Grip the handle with three fingers, rest the index finger flat against the blade on hand. The guiding hand controls the food you are cutting. The position for your guid- one side, and hold the thumb on the opposite side to give additional stability and control. ing hand depends upon the cutting technique you are using as well as the food. » Grip the handle overhand, with the knife held vertically. This grip is used with a boning knife for meat fabrication tasks.

The Guiding Hand The guiding hand is responsible for controlling the food you are cutting. Just as your knife grip is determined by your personal preference and the cutting task at hand, so is the position of your guiding hand. One classic position for the guiding hand calls for your fingertips to be tucked under slightly. Hold the object with the thumb held back from the fingertips. The knife blade then rests against your knuckles, preventing you from cutting your fingers. When you peel or trim foods, cut them into tournés, or flute them, you may find yourself holding the food in the air, above the cutting surface. In that case, the guiding hand holds and turns the food against the blade to make the work more efficient. Be sure that the food, your hands, and the knife handle are all very dry. Certain cutting techniques, such as butterflying meats or slicing a bagel in half, call for the guiding hand to be placed on top of the food to keep it from slipping while the cut is made into the food parallel or at an angle to the work surface. Holding your hand flat on the upper surface of the food with a little pressure makes these cuts safe to perform. The guiding hand is also used to hold a carving or kitchen fork when disjointing or carving cooked meats and poultry in front of customers. The tines of the fork can be laid flat on the surface of the food or inserted directly into the item to hold it in place Keep the fingers of the guiding hand tucked under. as it is carved.

54 in the hands of a chef Chapter 2 KniFe skills 55 Vegetables Peeling and Cutting an Onion The right vegetable cut makes all the difference in soups, sauces, side dishes, salads, 1. Use a paring knife to remove the 2. Make two or three horizontal cuts 3. Make even crosswise cuts with a and garnishes. The more uniform and precise the cut, the better the appearance and stem end of the onion. Peel off the in the onion (parallel to the board) chef’s knife all the way through from skin and the underlying layer, if it from the stem end toward the root stem to root end. The closer the flavor of the dish. Cooking times are more uniform, so you are less likely to end up contains brown spots. Trim the root end (do not cut all the way through) cuts in step 1 and in this step, the with an unevenly cooked dish. The techniques in this section include techniques for end but leave it intact. Halve the while gently holding the vertical finer the dice will be. An alterna- vegetables to use as aromatics, such as garlic or leeks, as well as mushrooms and onion lengthwise through the root. cuts together. Holding the previous tive method for slicing or dicing an Put it cut side down on a cutting cuts together will help to produce a onion calls for a series of cuts to be tomatoes. board and make a series of evenly more uniform mince. made following the natural curve spaced, parallel, lengthwise cuts of the onion half (this approach with the tip of a chef’s knife, again eliminates the need to make a Onions leaving the root end intact. horizontal cut, as directed in step 2). Make a series of cuts evenly spaced There are many different ways to cut an onion. Some methods have the advantage over the curved surface of the onion of speed, important in volume cooking situations. Others produce very little waste, (sometimes referred to as radial appropriate when there is no use for the trim. Still others are best when precise, even cuts) and then make crosswise cuts for dice or mince. cuts are required. Select a method based on your specific needs. Onions can bring tears to your eyes. Although there are many home-style rem- edies, the best advice is to use a very sharp knife so that the onion will be cut, not crushed. To streamline your prep work, you can peel onions the day before you cut and cook them. Onions to be served raw should be cut at the last possible moment. As onions sit, they lose their flavor and develop a strong, unpleasant odor in a short time. If a portion of your sliced raw onions remains unused at the end of a shift, it should be added to a mirepoix, included in a stock or broth as it simmers, or, if there are no other uses, put in the compost bucket or thrown out.

Make parallel cuts (step 1). Make even horizontal cuts (step 2). Cut the onion crosswise to dice (step 3).

76 in the hands of a chef Chapter 3 Cutting Techniques for Vegetables and Fruits 77 Pastry Bags and Tips Portioning Scoops

There are mixtures in the bakeshop and kitchen that are too soft or too wet to ef- Portioning scoops are used to portion foods such as salads or ice cream for service fectively form and shape. A pastry bag allows you to pipe soft, pliable substances or to portion out batters or doughs. Mechanical scoops have a lever to operate a such as whipped cream, mashed potatoes, or pâte à choux into specific shapes and blade that sweeps over the inside of the scoop’s bowl to release the food. Scoops are forms. Commonly, pastry bags are made of canvas, but single-use plastic pastry bags made in a variety of standard sizes that are numbered according to their volume. The are popular. In a pinch, a heavy-duty plastic bag such as a freezer bag can be used. higher the number, the smaller the volume: A #16 scoop makes larger cookies than Pastry bags are shaped like triangles, with a mouth on the shorter open side. A metal a #30 or #24 scoop. You might use a #16 scoop to portion meatballs and a #6 for a or plastic tip can be place at the smaller open end of the bag before adding the food. hamburger. Different tips create specific effects.

Pastry or piping bags are used as portioning tools. Here one is used to portion the filling Portioning scoops produce consistent sizes for onto wonton wrappers. even baking.

144 in the hands of a chef Chapter 6 Hand Tools for Measuring, Mixing, and Baking 145