Knife Training at the CIA

Earlier this season, before the CSA started up, I took the CIA (that's Culinary Institute of America, not the other one) course on Knife Handling. This one-day course was really useful, starting with a classroom discussion on the construction of knives and the various types of typical kitchen cutlery. We then moved into the teaching kitchen and spent the day learning a variety of techniques while simultaneously preparing vegetables for the dining hall's lunch menu. Here's the instructor's youtube video, demonstrating a smattering of what we learned in class.

 Beautiful windows in the CIA dining hall.

Set up at the chopping block. You will not see any photos of me in the chef hat. Just sayin'.

Chef demonstrates how to fry-cut potatoes:

Chef demonstrates how to peel kiwi:

Knife sharpening 101:

The day started with a classroom discussion of how knives are made, general knife handling and kitchen etiquette, and video of the instructor's favorite chef. We then moved to the kitchen and our individual stations. We moved through a series of tutorials, each designed to practice a new knife technique using our large, incredibly sharp CIA Chef's knifes.

By the end of the day, my hands were exhausted and I was bushed from standing all day, but my knife skills had taken a huge step forward. With constant practice through a summer of CSA vegetables, I can now chop 15-20 pounds of vegetables in about an hour. That seems like a dubious skill for someone who makes her living in a corporate setting, but given our family focus on healthy eating and a largely vegetarian lifestyle, this has definitely proved valuable. I've chopped, cooked and prepared vegetarian meals that fill our second freezer - and preserved our significant weight loss! There is something to be said for learning proper technique, whether it's on the violin, the QWERTY keyboard, or in the kitchen.