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#GeekingOutSeries/Safety/KitchenDangerous/4

This post is part of the Geeking Out series which presents data-driven information on food and farming, safety in the kitchen, practical science for cooks, cooking techniques and processes and other relevant nerdy stuff that every cook should know.\\xa0 This topic is from the chapter, Safety 101.

In parts 1 to 3 of Kitchen Dangerous, we covered fire prevention, what to do if a fire occurs, preventing burns from frying and other hot items and first aid using ingredients you probably have at home. \\xa0In this installment of Kitchen Dangerous, we\\u2019ll talk about kitchen safety with regard to Knives and Other Sharp things.\\xa0 Read Kitchen Dangerous: \\xa0part 1,part 2, and part 3.

Knives and Other Sharp Things

As a pianist, I\\u2019m particularly careful with my hands. While I may have an impressive collection of stories about averted fire disasters, knife mishaps are thankfully few.\\xa0 If you know any pianists, I think you\\u2019ll find we\\u2019ve elevated finger-protection to an art form.\\xa0 There\\u2019s a reason I was never great at sports.\\xa0 If you throw a ball my way, I will run away.

So I\\u2019ve developed knife techniques that may not always be in step with what\\u2019s taught at culinary schools.\\xa0 You know how chefs peel their apples with a paring knife, the blade very near the thumb? That\\u2019s not me. The idea of a knife slip to my thumb is not something I will risk.\\xa0 I use a vegetable peeler instead.\\xa0 Boring maybe, but safe.

So instead of talking about techniques I don\\u2019t actually follow, I will share general guidelines on knife safety and some of my methods.\\xa0 What about celebrity chefs who look you in the eye while slicing and dicing at lightning speed explaining complex mathematical equations?\\xa0 Okay, maybe not math equations exactly, but anything that requires cognitive effort, not watching what you\\u2019re doing and speed means less attention to keeping fingers intact. The razzle dazzle may be impressive but it comes at a risk. Speed and pizzazz are nice, but safety first.

For those of you beginning the journey as a lifestyle cook, you can be confident that repetition guarantees improvement.\\xa0 That includes knife skills. Practice makes perfect.\\xa0 When I handle sharp tools, I give it my undivided attention. And this is why in the twenty plus years I\\u2019ve been cooking, I\\u2019ve only cut myself once with a knife. Knock on wood! \\xa0

A few years ago, I was slicing parsley with a new Shun Chef\\u2019s knife I had gotten Jeff for Christmas.\\xa0 It\\u2019s a knife with a beautiful hammered finish. If you remember in my overview on kitchen knives, hammered finishes, like granton edges, are supposed to reduce air drag so food doesn\\u2019t stick to the blade sides. \\xa0I concluded that I hadn\\u2019t found this to be true, or more precisely, that any difference the feature makes is not noticeable to me. \\xa0

I wiped away the parsley stuck on the sides of the knife blade, just as I\\u2019d always done whenever food sticks to the blades. This time, I gave myself a nice clean cut.\\xa0 Setting aside shock and dismay, I was suitably impressed.\\xa0 My Shun was a very sharp knife. The kind of knife every cook dreams of.\\xa0 But I had underestimated its edge and was careless.\\xa0 If you\\u2019re wondering why I\\u2019m waxing lyrical about sharpness being a great thing, then it\\u2019s time to discuss:

Rule number eleven: Follow Knife Safety guidelines.

Some of these guidelines might also apply when handling food processor and blender blades, kitchen shears, mandoline slicers, cork screws, ice picks and other sharp kitchen objects.

Knife Safety Guidelines

1.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 Keep your knives sharp.\\xa0 It might seem counter-intuitive, but excepting my Shun miscalculation, dull blades are what cause many accidents. It was my fault for underestimating the razor sharp edge of a knife handcrafted in the tradition of Samurai swords. With a sharp knife, the blade does all the work. A dull one forces you to compensate by exerting pressure, increasing the chance of a knife-slip on unwieldy surfaces like onion skin, for instance. Knives dull over time and need to be honed regularly.\\xa0 Sharpening should only be done when needed. What\\u2019s the difference?\\xa0 Honing with a honing steel or whet stone realigns the blade\\u2019s edge to make it sharp.\\xa0 Sharpening is taking metal off the blade to improve sharpness.\\xa0 The latter should only be done when needed through a knife whetter (professional knife sharpener) or with knife sharpening tools and appliances.\\xa0 Note that some specialty knives like the ones from Shun may require a specialized honing steel or whet stone designed for its blades.

2.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 Use the correct knife or tool for the job. In the overview on kitchen knives and cutting Tools, I emphasized the importance of\\xa0 using the right tool for the job because:\\xa0Using the right tool for the job= less effort = safety = a more pleasant experienceLarge knives like a Chef\\u2019s knife and Santoku make peeling fruits and vegetables not only awkward, but dangerous because they don\\u2019t give you the control necessary for fine movements. \\xa0A large knife makes it hard to negotiate the curves of an apple or ginger, but a vegetable peeler makes easy work of it. \\xa0And on a side note, I often prefer a spoon to peeling ginger over a vegetable peeler! On the other hand, trying to slice open something as large as a butternut squash with anything smaller than a Chef\\u2019s knife or Santoku is going to be difficult. \\xa0And anything difficult means you\\u2019re likely to exert more effort, which can lead to accidents.

3.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 Handle knives correctly.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

* Get a good grip and hold knife firmly using all fingers. A tentative grip means tentative control-- the knife can easily be knocked out of your hand or move in directions you didn\\u2019t plan on.\\xa0 I\\u2019ve seen many people hold knives so gingerly they probably would have dropped it if I said \\u201cBoo!\\u201d\\xa0

* Keep your fingers intact.\\xa0 Use your knuckles as a guide to guard against the blade and tuck your fingers so they\\u2019re not splayed out ready for the guillotine. That\\u2019s a bit of bad news if you have long fingernails because it will be harder to tuck your fingers in with the nails in the way.\\xa0 If you can\\u2019t live without really long nails, just be extra careful.

* Keep fingers and body parts away from the knife\\u2019s path.\\xa0 I was demonstrating in class how to pit an avocado safely.\\xa0 I had the avocado cheek with pit on my cutting board and drove my Chef\\u2019s knife into the pit, gave it a slight twist, yanked it out and then hit it against the side of the compost bin to dislodge. I was showing the participants how my fingers were nowhere near the knife\\u2019s path, unlike the method I\\u2019d seen where the avocado was held in one hand when slicing and de-pitting.\\xa0 A participant chimed in to say that was how he did it, then admitted he had slipped once and the knife had ended up in the palm of his hand.\\xa0

* Slice or peel away from your body or body part. This is where I might depart from chefs\\u2019 paring techniques whether using knives or vegetable peelers. While I understand that the thumb pressed down is meant to provide control, I won\\u2019t risk nicks when I can achieve the same results, perhaps not as gracefully, with a vegetable peeler slicing away from me.\\xa0

* Be careful when using fingers to wipe off a knife blade.\\xa0 Granton edge or hammered finish notwithstanding, food will stick to the sides of a knife blade.\\xa0 While I should probably say, don\\u2019t use your fingers to wipe it away as I did in my knife accident, I\\u2019ll be the first to break that rule.\\xa0 So while I sometimes brush off stuck food against the side of a bowl, I often use my fingers, but this time I make sure to wipe at an angle away from and not too close to the blade\\u2019s edge.

4.\\xa0 When slicing, establish a stable and flat surface whenever possible.

* Slicing a moving target such as a rolling onion is not only difficult, but unsafe.\\xa0 To establish a stable surface, slice off the poles first (the top and root ends) to create a flat top and bottom. Set the onion on one of the flat sides and slice down the middle to split. Peel the onion. Now that each half has a flat side, it will be much easier to slice the onion.\\xa0 Conversely,

* Only slice on non-slip cutting boards and on a flat surface. A cutting board that slides around your countertop is not a stable surface. Use cutting boards that are heavy enough or made from non-slip material to keep them from sliding around.\\xa0 If you have some slippery plastic boards like I do, you\\u2019ll need to put a non-slip mat underneath. I use rubber rug pads leftover from our carpets and it does the job.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

5. Always pick up knives and other sharp implements by the handle.\\xa0 That may seem obvious, but this also relates to how you arrange them in dishwashers, dish racks, and storage. With anything sharp, keep the blade or sharp area face down. The basic idea is to make it harder to access the sharp parts accidentally. When storing, consider knife blocks, magnetic racks or in-drawer systems designed to safely store knives.\\xa0 Note: It is recommended that kitchen knives are hand-washed, especially if they\\u2019re of high quality, to protect them from damage.

6. \\xa0Avoid putting kitchen knives and other sharp objects in the sink where it can be buried by dishes.A knife hidden underneath a pile of dirty dishes or soap suds is an accident waiting to happen. I\\u2019m sure you can imagine how this scenario can go. If you can\\u2019t wash your kitchen knives right away, place them somewhere highly visible to everyone. \\xa0\\xa0I leave mine on the kitchen counter next to the sink on top of dishes or on a cutting board.7. \\xa0Don\\u2019t leave knives or other sharp implements too close to the counter edge.

Knives extended over or too close to the counter edge can be reached by children, are easy to bump and for articles of clothing to catch on.\\xa0 Even if your foot dodges impalement, you can damage an expensive knife. \\xa0Which brings us to:

8.\\xa0 Consider wearing closed footwear in the kitchen. Knife slips happen and you don\\u2019t want any exposed toes in its trajectory. 9. \\xa0Don\\u2019t be intoxicated when doing tasks that may be dangerous or that require your full attention.Don\\u2019t get me wrong.\\xa0 I\\u2019m a huge proponent of having fun in the kitchen, and that means libations are totally on the table and practically required especially when doing dishes. But not with anything that requires my undivided attention, such as when handling knives and sharp implements or cooking with high heat like frying.

Jeff\\u2019s knife story Slicing open hard squashes used to intimidate me.\\xa0 Their surfaces are often slippery and hard to penetrate, even with a sharp knife. Before I learned that microwaving for a couple of minutes softens squash and makes slicing easier, I was quite hesitant and approached a squash very cautiously. So cautiously that one day Jeff, who was watching impatiently as I fudged around an acorn squash, offered to slice it for me.\\xa0 I was happy to relinquish the task. Instead of the chef\\u2019s knife in my hand, Jeff grabbed the serrated bread knife and proceeded to attack the squash with zeal and energy, making quick and large strokes.\\xa0 I was already shouting to be careful when the knife caught the side of a finger and blood spurted, accompanied by a stream of expletives.\\xa0 This leads me to the last guideline.\\xa0

10.\\xa0\\xa0 Be patient. I started this post talking about knife speed.\\xa0 We\\u2019re not in a contest and there\\u2019s no reason to rush through slicing or any activity involving knives or other sharp objects.\\xa0 We\\u2019re not in a restaurant kitchen where speed may be necessary; we\\u2019re home cooks where cooking can and should be leisurely.

Jeff\\u2019s finger healed, but it\\u2019s a story I invoke many times (perhaps too smugly) to remind him of the virtues of patience.\\xa0 Take your time. As to whether or not to use a serrated knife for hard squashes?\\xa0 There may be a serrated knife out there that will do the job, but I\\u2019ve not seen it and it\\u2019s definitely not a bread knife. My personal preference, after first softening in the microwave oven for 1-2 minutes, is to slice the top of, \\xa0puncture the middle with the tip of a chef\\u2019s knife and then so very gently push the knife in until I can slice through first one side, then the other.\\xa0 This is the end of part 4 of Kitchen Dangerous.\\xa0 In part 5, the last installment, we will cover First Aid for Cuts.

Interested to learn more? Read companion posts on Cooking Subversive:The Kitchen Dangerous seriesPart 1: Liar, Liar Pans on Fire: Fire and All Things HotPart 2: Don\\u2019t Burn Yourself Part 3: More Hot StuffPart 4: Knives and Other Sharp Things Part 5: First Aid for Cuts (and Burns)

Slicin\\u2019 and Dicin\\u2019: An Overview on Kitchen Knives and Cutting Tools

References:

https://kaishun.co.nz/blogs/use-care/sharpening-and-honing-your-shun-knife