A line cook in Dallas said my knife skills were too polite, now I chop like a jerk

Last month a new guy watched me dicing onions and goes, 'You're being way too gentle, that's why prep takes you forever.' I always thought slow and steady kept my fingers safe, but he grabbed my chef's knife and showed me this aggressive rocking motion that felt wrong for about 2 days. Now I cut a full case of peppers in 20 minutes instead of 45, and I haven't lost a fingertip yet. Has anyone else had a younger cook call out some habit you thought was sacred?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

thomasm411mo ago

Funny thing is those "polite" habits usually come from somebody teaching you to respect the blade, and the aggressive style only works once you already know where your fingers are. So the young guy probably sped you up without realizing he was building on the safety you already had. Same deal happened to me with tasting food before it hit the pass.

-1