How to Hold and Use a Chef's Knife Like a Pro

This guide is for home cooks who grip their knife like a hammer, chase onions around the board, or feel nervous every time they chop. You will learn how to hold a chef's knife properly, protect your guiding hand, make the basic cuts most recipes ask for, and keep your knife sharp and safe. Practise slowly; speed comes on its own. Knife-safety points are general information, not professional advice.

Why technique matters more than the knife

A chef's knife is the most useful tool in the kitchen. One reasonably sharp, well-handled blade can do nearly all of your everyday prep: chopping onions, slicing meat, mincing garlic and cutting herbs. You do not need an expensive set, but you do need good habits.

Most kitchen cuts happen for three reasons: a dull blade that slips instead of biting, fingers sitting in the path of the blade, and food rolling on the board. Every technique in this guide deals with one of those problems.

• A secure grip gives you control, so the knife goes where you mean it to.
• A guiding hand shaped like a claw keeps your fingertips out of the way.
• A stable board and flat-sided food stop things sliding or rolling mid-cut.
• A sharp edge needs less pressure, which means fewer slips.

Typical chef's knives are 15 to 25 centimetres (about 6 to 10 inches) long. If you are new, a blade of around 20 centimetres (8 inches) is a good all-rounder; if that feels too big for your hand, a shorter one is perfectly fine.

Get to know the parts of the knife, because the techniques below refer to them. The tip is the pointed front end, used for fine work. The belly is the curved middle of the edge that lets the knife rock. The heel is the back end of the edge, nearest the handle, used for firmer cuts. The spine is the blunt top edge, and the bolster is the thick part where blade meets handle on many knives.

Set up a safe workspace

Good knife work starts before you pick up the knife. Spend thirty seconds setting up and every cut becomes easier and safer.

• Cutting board is large enough to hold the food with room to spare
• Damp cloth or paper towel under the board so it cannot slide
• Board at roughly hip height; you should not have to hunch
• Counter cleared of clutter near the board
• Bowl nearby for scraps and another for prepared food
• Knife is clean, dry and has a dry handle
• Raw meat, poultry and fish kept on a separate board from ready-to-eat food, or the board washed well in between

Stand square to the board with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Turn slightly so your knife arm can move freely without your elbow hitting your side. Wood or plastic boards are kinder to the edge than glass, stone or metal, which dull a knife very quickly.