No, I’m not talking about flipping a butterfly knife (although that’s very cool to watch). I’m talking about slicing and dicing food. I’m taking a cooking class on Saturdays and we were given (right after we paid our fee) a DVD with Norman Weinstein demonstrating some essential knife techniques. Of course, I was eager to practice. And like most things, the professionals make it look way easier than it is.

Norm (can I call him Norm?!?) took a tomato and peeled it with a paring knife. No big deal right… Well, he managed to work his way around the tomato making one long strip of peel which he took and rolled up into a little “tomato rose” garnish piece. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a tomato, so I subbed and apple. I made it about 3/4 of the way around before it broke, rolled it up, and made a… rolled up apple peel – not a rose. At least Izzy and I enjoyed eating the apple.

Next up, dicing. I had celery available and since it is really cheap, I used it to work on my slicing and dicing. I’m still having problems with this technique as well. I keep moving the food toward the blade instead of moving the blade down the food. Looks like I need another few stalks of celery…