Describes skills needed for using a knife for both right- and left-handed people.

An illustrated, practical guide to everything you need to know about using knives in the kitchen. As the number of gourmet home kitchens burgeons, so does the number of home cooks who want to become proficient users of the professional-caliber equipment they own. And of all kitchen skills, perhaps the most critical are those involving the proper use of knives. Norman Weinstein has been teaching his knife skills workshop at New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education for more than a decade—and his classes always sell out. That’s because Weinstein focuses so squarely on the needs of the nonprofessional cook, providing basic instruction in knife techniques that maximize efficiency while placing the least possible stress on the user’s arm. Now, Mastering Knife Skills brings Weinstein’s well-honed knowledge to home cooks everywhere. Whether you want to dice an onion with the speed and dexterity of a TV chef, carve a roast like an expert, bone a chicken quickly and neatly, or just learn how to hold a knife in the right way, Mastering Knife Skills will be your go-to manual. Each cutting, slicing, and chopping method is thoroughly explained—and illustrated with clear, step-by-step photographs. Extras include information on knife construction, knife makers and types, knife maintenance and safety, and cutting boards. “In the old days, when kitchens weren’t equipped with a lot of fancy gadgets, a skilled chef needed only one tool to ply his trade: a sharp knife. This book will introduce novice cooks to and reacquaint experienced chefs with everything they need to know about a good knife and the art of using it.” —Cecilia Chiang, James Beard Award–winning restaurateur and author of The Seventh Daughter “This beautifully illustrated book, written with passion and precision, minces no words in guiding the reader to choose, maintain, and use a knife. Indispensable for anyone who prepares food, it has taught me how to cut produce much more efficiently.” —David Karp, Fruit Detective

Good knife skills can be the most important ingredient in preparing a dish. Mastering professional knife skills makes a cook not only faster but safer as well. Kitchen Knife Skills shows the home cook how to choose and care for knives, how to keep them sharp and how to make the best use of their most important features. This comprehensive guide details the standard professional techniques used by chefs the world over, allowing the home cook to work just like the professionals -- quickly, effectively and stylishly. Detailed, step-by-step photos and instructions show how to prepare anything in the kitchen, including: -Vegetables -Fruits -Herbs -Poultry and meat -Fish -Bread and cakes From filleting a fish to fanning a piece of fruit, every knife and knife skill is described in detail in this outstanding resource book. Using this guide, anyone can cook like a professional chef.

Good knife skills are key to feeling confident and comfortable in the kitchen. Chef Bill Collins teaches you how to wield cooking knives properly, so you can slice, peel, bone, and dice with ease. Illustrated step-by-step instructions show you how to cut and carve seafood, poultry, meats, and produce of all kinds. In addition to profiling the best uses for a variety of knife types, Collins includes tips for using other sharp kitchen tools like graters, vegetable peelers, and mandolins. Get ready to chop away!

Anyone who wants to cook-- either professionally or at home-- needs to know how to use a knife. Holding and using knives correctly will not only help you work more safely, but also enable you to work faster, making you much more efficient in the kitchen.

Sharp is a knife skills class in book form and an introduction to the best knives you can buy from all over the world. From a premier knife purveyor and go-to knives expert, this comprehensive guide details the elements of buying and caring for good knives, including sharpening and knife skills. Step-by-step instructions and photography cover a range of techniques with 15 recipes from great chefs—including Stuart Brioza of State Bird Provisions and Melissa Perello of Frances—which feature all the cuts that mark an accomplished cook. Sharply packaged with a textured cover, a foil spine, and more than 150 striking photographs of knifemakers, coveted knives, and beautiful food, this is the cookbook, handbook, and visual journey for anyone wanting to hone their skills in the kitchen.

Why are most of us so woefully uninformed about our kitchen knives? We are intimidated by our knives when they are sharp, annoyed by them when they are dull, and quietly ashamed that we don't know how to use them with any competence. For a species that has been using knives for nearly as long as we have been walking upright, that's a serious problem. An Edge in the Kitchen is the solution, an intelligent and delightful debunking of the mysteries of kitchen knives once and for all. If you can stack blocks, you can cut restaurant-quality diced vegetables. If you can fold a paper airplane, you can sharpen your knives better than many professionals. Veteran cook Chad Ward provides an in-depth guide to the most important tool in the kitchen, including how to choose the best kitchen knives in your price range, practical tutorials on knife skills, a step-by-step section on sharpening, and more——all illustrated with beautiful photographs throughout. Along the way you will discover what a cow sword is, and why you might want one; why chefs are abandoning their heavy knives in droves; and why the Pinch and the Claw, strange as they may sound, are in fact the best way to make precision vegetable cuts with speed and style. An Edge in the Kitchen is the one and only guide to the most important tool in the kitchen.

Definitive and compulsively readable¾an illustrated guide to the use in knifefighting and beyond of contemporary knives by long-time Blade columnist and master weaponsmith, Hank Reinhardt. Deadlier than the club, more ubiquitous than the sword, the knife is the universal edged weapon of all humankind. As our society has grown more advanced, and more reliant on technology, there has been an increased interest in the weapons of the past, and this sharp-edged guide to the use of the knife will whet the appetite of expert and layman alike. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Eminently practical and truly trustworthy, The Cook’s Illustrated Meat Book is the only resource you’ll need for great results every time you cook meat. Whether you have burgers, steak, ribs, or roast chicken on the menu shopping for and cooking meat can be confusing, and mistakes can be costly. After 20-plus years of purchasing and cooking beef, pork, lamb, veal, chicken, and turkey, the editors of Cook’s Illustrated understand that preparing meat doesn’t start at the stove it starts at the store. The Cook’s Illustrated Meat Book begins with a 27-page master class in meat cookery, which covers shopping (what’s the difference between natural and organic labels?), storing (just how long should you really refrigerate meat and does the duration vary if the meat is cooked or raw?), and seasoning meat (marinating, salting, and brining). Matching cut to cooking method is another key to success, so our guide includes fully illustrated pages devoted to all of the major cooking methods: sautéing, pan-searing, pan-roasting, roasting, grilling, barbecuing, and more. We identify the best cuts for these methods and explain point by point how and why you should follow our steps and what may happen if you don’t. 425 Bulletproof and rigorously tested recipes for beef, pork, lamb, veal, and poultry provide plenty of options for everyday meals and special occasion dinners and you’ll learn new and better ways to cook favorites such as Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Steak, Juicy Pub-Style Burgers, Weeknight Roast Chicken, Barbecued Pulled Pork, and more. The Cook’s Illustrated Meat Book also includes equipment recommendations (what should you look for in a good roasting pan and is it worth spending extra bucks on a pricey nonstick skillet?). In addition, hundreds of step-by-step illustrations guide you through our core techniques so whether you’re slicing a chicken breast into cutlets or getting ready to carve prime rib the Cook’s Illustrated Meat Book covers all the bases

No-reading-required recipes take you from breakfast omelets to decadent desserts thanks to “really great graphics” (Mark Bittman, The New York Times). With illustrations instead of text, Picture Cook will reinvent the way you make food. Over fifty homey recipes are distilled into their most basic components, each rendered step-by-step in enchanting line drawings like nothing ever before seen in a cookbook. Covering everything from omelets and lasagna to chocolate cake, this cheery bunch of recipes will cure your kitchenphobia, delight the design lover in you and satisfy every tummy in your path. Including a visual tutorial on knife skills, illustrated metric conversion chart, and an index especially organized for various dietary needs, Picture Cook makes the perfect gift for budding chefs, college students, or any home cook in need of some visual inspiration. “An unusual, quirky book, with adorable illustrations, and solid, well-tested recipes. A delight.” —TheKitchn “I totally loved the stripped-down graphics that Katie Shelly illustrated for Picture Cook: See. Make. Eat. I particularly enjoyed how Shelly presented basic dishes that could be adapted to different flavor palates, such as hummus and raita. The book contains enough staple recipes for a beginner cook, while still suggesting advanced variations for the more experienced.” —Serious Eats “An ingenious cookbook.” —Mark Wilson, Fast Company: Design “Unintimidating . . . readers will find it hard not to smile at whimsical drawings of white lasagna, nutty quinoa, Immortality Smoothie, and other easy dishes . . . A treat for visual learners, beginning readers, young people, new cooks, and anyone who enjoys graphic design.” —Library Journal