comments:
u/Tight-Mushroom4368 is correct, good knife ergonomics are important. There was nothing special that made me "get it", in fact probably that I was patient, took it easy and just plugged away at it was what helped me the most. When I learned to steel and sharpen my knife, that improved things a lot. You just need the basics, and it's not that hard to get to minimal competence with it, even freehand. It's amazing how much nicer a good, sharp knife is. Learn to steel a knife and get in the habit of doing it every time you use it, and you'll only need to sharpen a knife every few months. Don't use a super cheap knife, but you don't need an expensive knife. See the notes at the end. The "claw grip" thing is about safety, and it's really just, try to bend your fingers so your first knuckle is nearest the blade, if the fingertips are bent inward and the flat of the blade touches the knuckle first, you can't slice off a fingertip. I did that early on, half a fingertip, anyway. I was (uncharacteristically for me, ask anyone) rushing. Had to get stitches, it was no fun, still have the scar. Good form (claw grip) plus not needing to use lots of force (which is why you want a sharp knife) plus not-rushing and taking your time to think about what you're doing equals safety. Take your time and cut slowly for now. Try to cut with good form, i.e. focus on holding and moving the knife right. Don't rush, don't be sloppy, don't be imprecise. Be smooth and steady. Smooth and steady with good form and some practice and you'll get faster. As the gun geeks like to say "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." There's a bit of a nuance to the knife motion. Strictly speaking, there's chopping (moving the edge downward vertically) and slicing (moving the edge horizontally with a bit of downward pressure). Often I find that it works a lot better to do some of both. Very, very often you need a little slicing action to break the skin of whatever (onions, especially tomatoes) and then after that it can be mostly chopping action. I'm sure I'm not nearly as fast as a pro chef doing that "chopping fast while not looking trick", but I'm fast enough to get what I need done. Cutting everything to the same size is another thing you'll get with practice, and it never has to be perfect -- these ingredients don't show up perfectly rectangular and straight (except, maybe, for tofu), so they'll never be perfectly the same size and shape. You generally want them to be roughly the same size and shape, so they'll cook the same speed, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Not-Cheap But Not-Expensive Knives I know a number of professional chefs. They all say they do most of their pro work at the restaurant kitchens with a Victorinox Fibrox 8" chef's knife. They keep their $500 Wusthof at home. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000638D32?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback I bought a Misen 8" chef's knife for $60 about five years ago, I really like it. Something about the ergonomics just really clicks for me. Of the Misen, one my chef friends said (and others agreed) "It's not as good as my Wusthof, but it's a $200 knife that only costs $60." These days it's a bit higher list price, like $80-$90 but... wow, it's on sale right now for $50! https://misen.com/products/chefs-knife