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Which knife is more likely to send you to the sink with a cut finger?
Almost all knife safety is really about control.
A blade that goes where you aim it is safe. A blade that wanders is not, however carefully you hold it.
So the rest of this is about giving the knife nothing to wander into.
Most people wrap a fist round the handle like a hammer.
Cooks pinch instead. Thumb on one side of the blade, curled index finger on the other, just in front of the handle. The other three fingers hold the handle.
Your hand is now on the part that does the work, so it goes where you send it.
The hand holding the food is the one that gets cut.
Curl your fingertips under, so the flat of your knuckles faces the blade. Rest the side of the knife against those knuckles as you cut.
The knife now has a wall to lean on, and your fingertips are behind it.
A cutting board on bare counter will creep while you work.
Wet a piece of kitchen paper or a tea towel and put it underneath. It takes three seconds and the board stops moving entirely.
This is the single cheapest safety fix in any kitchen.
You are about to cut a whole onion. What is the first cut?
A knife is a long edge, not a wedge. It cuts by travelling.
Push the blade forward and down as you go, then draw it back. The tip stays near the board and the handle rises and falls.
Pressing straight down crushes soft things and needs three times the force.
Knife blocks sell fourteen pieces. Kitchens use three.
A chef's knife, about twenty centimetres, for nearly everything. A small paring knife for anything held in your hand. A serrated knife for bread, and for tomatoes when the chef's knife is dull.
That long steel rod that comes with a knife set. What does it actually do?
Hone often. Every few uses is not too much, and it takes ten seconds.
Sharpen rarely. A home cook might do it once or twice a year.
The test is a sheet of paper held in the air. A sharp knife slices down through it. A tired one tears and folds.
A knife slides off the counter. Your hands will try to catch it.
Do not let them. Step back and let it hit the floor. A chipped tip costs nothing. A tendon costs a year.
Say it to yourself once now, so the reflex has something to argue with.
A knife dropped into a sink of soapy water disappears. The next person reaches in for a plate and finds it.
Wash it on its own, straight after use, and dry it. If you cannot wash it now, leave it visible on the board, edge away from you.
Two things happen in there, and neither is good for a knife.
The blade knocks against other metal all cycle, which rolls the edge. Wooden handles soak, swell and eventually split away from the steel.
Thirty seconds at the sink saves both.
Sort each habit.
Tap an item, then a bucket
This is the difference people taste without knowing why.
Big pieces and small pieces in one pan do not finish together. The small ones burn while the big ones stay raw in the middle.
Even is more important than small, and much more important than pretty.
Put a chopped onion in order.
Put these in order
Cooks on television are fast because they have done it many thousands of times. Speed is what happens to a correct movement, not a way of making one.
If you try to be fast now, you will move your guiding hand out of the claw. That is the exact moment people cut themselves.
Press a clean cloth on it firmly and hold, without peeking every few seconds. Raise the hand above your heart.
Go and get it looked at if the bleeding will not stop, if you can see fat or bone, or if the cut is on a joint and the finger will not bend properly.