How to Use Knives

Take hold of the handle of the knife in your working hand (the right hand if you are right-handed or the left if you are left-handed); the tip of your thumb should rest on the right-hand corner of the blade where it joins with the handle. Resist the impulse to extend your index finger onto the blade; it may look chic, but it is unsafe.

To slice vegetables, such as carrots and onions, first cut a slice from any round vegetable, so it can lie flat on the cutting board without wobbling; cut from the back of the blade, as close, as possible to the handle of the knife, using a guillotine motion; as the blade slices, its tip should never leave the surface of the board. Your left hand rests on the vegetable, all fingers together and rounded; the blade of the knife comes and meets your rounded fingers before cutting; you determine the thickness of the slice by putting your middle finger either 1/16, ⅛, or ¼ inch away from the blade and moving down along the vegetable.