Knuckle Up

An important guideline, when using a knife, is to keep your fingertips out of the way. For some reason, our natural instinct is to hold our food stationary for cutting, with our fingertips exposed and in harm’s way of a knife.

When you “knuckle up” in life, the urban dictionary says you are preparing to kick another’s a**, getting prepared to engage in fisticuffs. Well, I don’t want to get into a battle with a knife, but I definitely do want to be prepared to block any wayward cuts from a sharp edge. The trick is to hold the food being cut, ever so slightly, with your fingertips, and then to rock your knuckles forward and up against the upper portion of the knife blade and spine. This allows your knuckles to be a guide for the knife to rest up against and keeps those precious little fingertips out of the way. 

I was tasked, by Chef Husband, with slicing a couple baguettes for crostini. As I moved down the length of the bread, I let my finger (tips) do the walkin’ and my knuckles do the blockin’. I can hear the Cowardly Lion saying, “Put ‘em up, put ‘em up.”