Knife Skills

Culinary · about 45 minutes

One board, one chef's knife, and a crate of onions, carrots, and celery to work through. You learn the grip, the claw, and why the tip of the blade never leaves the board. Then you do it over and over until your hands stop asking your brain for instructions. Somebody will also show you how to sharpen the knife you already own.

This is the most useful forty-five minutes in any kitchen, and it suits absolute beginners as well as people who have cooked for twenty years with bad habits. Teenagers fourteen and up are welcome alongside an adult. Everything chopped goes into the next class, so none of it is wasted.