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Pico de Gallo: Basic Knife Skills

July 17, 2017 by Kyle Chen 6 Comments

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Pico de Gallo - learn basic knife skills - chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Pico de Gallo is a delicious, healthy and easy to prepare condiment that compliments almost any meal. Learn about basic knife skills and practice by making this simple pico de gallo. Delicious served with black beans, refried beans, grilled fish and grilled chicken.

Pico de Gallo - learn basic knife skills: chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

This is part 4 in a new series: College Cooking Crash Course. This series is written by Kyle, a student at Princeton University, and is designed for college students looking to learn the basics of making healthy, cost-effective, and delicious meals. Today, Kyle will be discussing the ins and outs of basic knife skills and how to make fresh Pico de Gallo using those knife skills.

Pico de Gallo - simple, fresh salsa

A chef is only as good as their knives. Knives are absolutely essential to cooking! So today, I want to walk you through what I have learned about working with knives in the kitchen.

There are three kinds of knives that are must-haves for any college student: the cook’s knife, the serrated knife, and the paring knife.

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof knives

The three basic kinds of knives (from top to bottom): the cook’s knife, the serrated knife, and the paring knife.

Before we go through each kind of knife, here are a few quick safety tips:

1) Buy sharp knives and keep them that way. Believe it or not, a sharp knife is far safer than a dull knife. The sharper your knife is, the less likely it is to get caught or slip.

So when it comes to buying kitchen supplies, a good set of knives is one area where you don’t want to skimp out on, even if you’re a college student. In the long run, buying a set of high-quality knives, such as Wüsthof knives, will be more than worth the cost.

It’s almost important to keep your knives sharp, since they will begin to dull over time. You can do this by regularly honing your knife (once every couple of weeks or so), as well as sharpening your knives 1-2 times a year (we recently bought the Professional Sharpening Station 130 by Chef’s Choice and it’s worked wonders so far).

2) Hold the knife properly by using a “pinch” grip. Use your lower three fingers to grip the handle of the knife, and then pinch the blade with your thumb and index finger. This will give you maximum control over your knife.

3) Protect your guide hand using the “claw” grip. Curl up your fingers slightly so that your fingertips stay out of harm’s way and cut alongside your guide hand so that the blade gently touches your knuckles as you cut. Do this right and you’ll never have to worry about accidentally cutting one of your fingers.

 

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Use the “pinch” and “claw” grips to keep your fingers safe.

Ok, now back to the different kinds of knives:

The cook’s knife is the knife you’ll use most often. It’s very versatile and will definitely be your go-to knife in most situations. For example, it’s perfect for dicing an onion.

To dice an onion, first use your cook’s knife to chop off the stem end of the onion. Then cut the onion in half, slicing through the root. Do not cut the root off! If you do, the onion will bleed and release a gas that will cause you to cry uncontrollably.

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Peel off the outer skin of the onion. Then cut the onion horizontally, up to (but not through the root).

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

After that, make tightly spaced vertical cuts up to (but again not through!) the root.

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Finally, turn the onion 90Ëš and make another series of vertical cuts perpendicular to the cuts you just made. And voila! Perfectly diced onions.

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

The cook’s knife is also great for dicing other fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes:

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

It is even great for finely mincing herbs, such as garlic:

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

While the cook’s knife is great for cutting most things, you’ll want to pick up your serrated knife when slicing foods with tough surfaces. For instance, a serrated knife is perfect for slicing tomatoes. Unlike most knives, the serrated knife has “teeth” that can easily pierce the skin of a tomato. This allows the knife to cut straight through the tomato smoothly, rather than squishing the tomato and splattering juice everywhere.

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Lastly, the paring knife is great for handling small, tight cuts, such as cutting out the core of a tomato or dicing up jalepeño peppers.

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Kyle Knife Skills - Wusthof kinves, chopping, slicing, dicing, mincing

Once you’ve gotten a handle on using these three kinds of knives, you can easily cut anything and make all sorts of things. One great recipe to try your knife skills on is fresh Pico de Gallo. It’s an incredibly simple salsa to make, with only a few ingredients, but it is also a surefire way to test the full range of your basic knife skills, from mincing an onion, to dicing a tomato, to chopping up a jalepeño pepper. Check out my recipe below and let me know in the comments what you’d like me to show you next!

Pico de Gallo - simple, fresh salsa

Pico de Gallo - simple, fresh salsa

If you like this College Cooking Crash Course post on Basic Knife Skills, be sure to check out my other College Cooking Crash Course blog posts:
How To Make An Omelet
Low Budget Cooking: Living on $6/Day
Shabbat Dinner: Hummus, Pita and Schug

5 from 4 votes
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Pico de Gallo

Fresh salsa that you can whip up in minutes. Serve with chips!

Course Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Mexican
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 16 kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 tomatoes diced
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 1/3 cup cilantro finely chopped
  • 1 small jalapeno pepper diced
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
  • salt
  • pepper

Instructions

  1. Dice tomatoes and onions. Finely chop cilantro. Slice jalepeno into quarters and remove seeds. Dice jalepenos. Mince garlic cloves. Combine ingredients in a bowl.

  2. Slice lemon in half and squeeze juice from half a lemon into the bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir until combined.

Nutrition Facts
Pico de Gallo
Amount Per Serving
Calories 16
% Daily Value*
Sodium 3mg0%
Potassium 123mg4%
Carbohydrates 3g1%
Sugar 1g1%
Vitamin A 400IU8%
Vitamin C 8.5mg10%
Calcium 10mg1%
Iron 0.1mg1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Disclosure: Wüsthof provided me with a complimentary set of knives to help me learn proper knives skills. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are own.

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Filed Under: College Cooking, College Meals, How To, Recipes, side dishes, snacks Tagged With: basic knife skills, chopping, college cooking crash course, cook's knife, dicing, mincing, paring knife, serrated knife, slicing, wusthof

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Comments

  1. Donna Merrill says

    July 19, 2017 at 6:11 am

    Hi Kyle,

    Great to read about your knife skills, even t this age, I am not good at using knives 😛 funny but it’s true.

    ~ Donna

    Reply
    • Kyle Chen says

      July 19, 2017 at 1:25 pm

      Thanks Donna! There’s always time to perfect those skills.

      Reply
  2. Isabella Chris says

    December 12, 2017 at 6:13 am

    5 stars
    Hi Kyle, Good to read about your awesome knife skills, I want to learn it too.

    Reply
  3. Mary Ingram says

    September 9, 2018 at 7:28 am

    5 stars
    Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate knife skills. I am going to purchase the knives you recommended and buy them from Wustof’s. Would you please tell me which style of Cook’s knife you are using? I find there are many choices of blade length and styles.

    Thank you again!
    Mary

    Reply
    • Jeanette says

      September 9, 2018 at 9:20 am

      Hi Mary – I believe this is the set Kyle has: http://www.wusthof.com/products/knives/seven-piece-block-set-1994 – here’s the description for the cook’s knife: http://www.wusthof.com/8-cook-s-knife-2064 – you should hold the knife in your hand and see how it feels

      Reply
  4. Mary says

    September 11, 2018 at 3:46 pm

    Thanks Jeanette! I plan on going out this weekend and shopping for the cooks knife. Years ago I bought a Henckels knife set one piece at a time. They never were that sharp to begin with and now find they just need replaced. I will do the same, one knife at a time 😉

    Thanks again!
    Mary

    Reply

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