Encyclopedia Entry
Knife skills, the technique of cutting ingredients. Knife skills are the technical operation of processing various raw materials into specific shapes according to the needs of cooking and consumption, making them the basic forms required for assembling dishes.
The role of knife skills:
1. After being processed, ingredients are easier to cook and convenient to eat;
2. During cooking, they are easier to color and absorb flavors, heat evenly, cook quickly, and help kill bacteria;
3. After being processed, ingredients become rougher, especially those with smooth surfaces, making them easier to coat with batter, resulting in strong adhesion. After heating, they can retain moisture to the greatest extent, making the dish fresh, tender, and palatable;
4. After being processed, ingredients can take on various shapes, offering variety, increasing the number of dishes, and making the cuisine rich and colorful;
5. After being cut, ingredients are neatly shaped, aesthetically pleasing, whet the appetite, aid digestion, and increase nutritional value;
6. After being processed, ingredients can form beautiful knife marks and various patterns, adding unique flavor and character to the dish;
7. With clever knife work, the irregular shapes of ingredients can be corrected, making full use of the material and saving ingredients;
It is difficult to cook any dish without this important step of knife work.
Currently, it can be mainly divided into these twelve cutting methods: slicing, dicing, paring, chopping, scoring, cleaving, boning, pounding, coring, peeling, scraping, and food carving.
The most commonly used methods in our daily cooking are slicing, paring, and chopping. Today, we will introduce slicing.
Slicing vegetables, meat, cakes, pastries, noodles, etc., is the most frequently used cutting method in cooking. Although it seems simple, there is a great deal of skill involved. Different ingredients require different cutting techniques.