Holding a knife with a proper grip

Grip the knife around its bolster. The bolster is both your knife's balance point and a finger guard. Only your last three fingers should rest on the handle. Your thumb and index finger should be on opposite sides of the blade. When you hold a knife around its balance point, it works as an extension of your hand. Hence your arm doesn't tire and you have excellent control.

Use your guiding hand when cutting

Whether it's dices, julienne cuts, or straight slices, your other hand has a key role to play. It stabilizes the food you are cutting, guides the knife, and determines the size of your cut. Make certain that your fingers are curled inward and your thumb is tucked underneath. The side of the blade should rest against your knuckles, but NEVER the edge itself. Remember to take it slowly at first. It is all about technique.

Using a Sharpening / Butcher’s Steel

Work the full length of the knife’s edge
Maintain an angle of 22.5⁰
Gentle pressure is all that is needed
About 5 strokes per side is sufficient

Vegetables

The term vegetable in common usage has come to include any edible parts of any plant.

Vegetables may be roots, tubers, stem, bulbs, flowers, seeds, leafy and etc.

NO	CLASSIFICATIONS	EXAMPLES
1	GREEN AND LEAFY	Spinach Lettuce
2	FLOWER/BRASSICA	Cauliflower Been sprout Broccoli
3	PODS AND SEEDS OF LEGUMES GREEN VEGETABLES	Broad beans Okra Peas Sweet corn
4	FRUITS	Aubergine / eggplant Avocado Cucumber Tomatoes Peppers
5	STEMS	Asparagus Celery Artichoke Bean sprout
6	ROOTS	Beetroots Carrots Celeriac Parsnips Horseradish Radishes
7	TUBERS	Potatoes Sweet potatoes Yams
8	BULBS	Garlic Leek Onions Shallots Spring onion
9.	FUNGI	Ceps Horns of plenty Morels Chanterelles

Vegetables: Basic Cutting

	NAME			SIZE	USAGE
STICK	1 .Julienne			Very thin strips	For garnishing dishes
	2 .Jardinière			4 cm x 4mm x 4 mm	Condiments or side dish for main course
DICE	3 .Brunoise			The smallest dice 3 mm x 3mm	Garnishing for soup usually doesn’t need to be cook
	4 .Macedoine			0.5 cm x 0.5 cm	For salads ex. Macedoine mayonnaise
	5 .Mirepoix			1 cm x 1 cm cube or roughly dice	For deglazing ex. To make roast gravy or making of stock (aromatic garnish)
	6 .Paysanne			Thin square or triangle	For soup ex. Vegetable soup
 Stick 4 mm x 4 mm 4 cm Batonnet / Jardiniere  Dicing: LEAVES: Basic Cutting
CHIFFONADE (Refer to cabbage or lettuce)		Roll into cigar and julienne		Usually finely shredded of lettuce and stewed in butter	For garnishing soup
BULBS: Basic Cutting
REFER TO ONIONS or SHALLOTS			Chop	For onions or garlic	For sautéing
			Slice	Very thin cut, usually for onion or other type of vegetable	Making soup or garnishing tarts
			Rings	Usually refer to onion	Use for garnishing

OTHER VEGETABLES: Basic Cutting
			Wedges	Refer to tomatoes, lemon and eggs.	Usually for garnishing salads or main course
REFER TO TOMATOES			Tomato Concasse	Tomatoes usually blanched, refreshed, seeded and chopped.	Use for many purposes such as garnishing for sauces or accompaniments.
			Tomato Fondue	Cooked tomato concasse.	To accompany pasta, fish, etc.
REFER TO GARLIC			Garlic	Chopped or crushed	Use for cooking stew