Master Your Knife & Cooking Skills: A Guide to Efficient Cooking

Spending less time prepping food and more time enjoying it is a common goal for home cooks. Mastering a few basic cutting techniques can speed up your kitchen routine, save time, and ensure evenly cooked dishes while improving safety.

In this guide, we share the essentials of efficient food prep, including 4 key cutting techniques and our top 3 cooking methods. Safe tool and knife handling tips are also shared, as well as how to best maintain your equipment for your next meal.

4 Essential Food Cutting Techniques

Learning a few basic cuts can transform your cooking. Each technique serves a specific purpose, helping you achieve the perfect texture and size for your ingredients.

1. Dicing (The Uniform Cube)

Dicing is all about consistency. Squaring off the vegetable first ensures your cubes are identical, which prevents some pieces from being mushy while others stay crunchy.

The Process: Square off → Planks → Strips → Cubes.

2. Julienne (The Matchstick)

This elegant cut is the foundation for many others. It’s perfect for stir-frys or raw slaws where you want a bit of crunch and a delicate look.

• Dimensions: Usually about 5cm long and 0.3cm thick.

3. Slicing (The Versatile Flat Cut)

The most common technique. The trick to safety here is creating a flat base on round vegetables so they don’t roll while you cut.

• Tip: Use a “rocking” motion with the tip of the knife staying on the board.

4. Mincing (The Flavour Booster)

Mincing is used when you want the ingredient to “melt” into the dish. By breaking the cell walls of aromatics like garlic, you release the maximum amount of essential oils.

• The Goal: Pieces so small they almost form a paste.

Our Top 3 Cooking Techniques for Faster Cooking

1. Air Frying

Fry your favourite fried foods without deep frying or excessive oil. As heated air circulates around the oven, you can enjoy fried results faster than traditional oven cooking. 

The air frying function in Westinghouse’s 90cm Built-in Multifunction Pyrolytic Oven (WVEP9917DD) provides a healthier alternative to traditional frying by circulating hot air around your food for even, crispy results. It’s perfect for achieving golden-brown textures with less oil, making it an excellent option for preparing fries, chicken and even vegetables.

What to cook: diced vegetables for your Sunday roast dinner or to add into your home-made vegetable pie

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2. Maxi or Flexible Induction Zones

Make more of your favourite dishes and meals with the generous cooking capacity of the extra-large MaxiZone, perfect for your biggest pot and pan. If you’re frying or grilling with longer pans like griddle pans, the FlexZone accommodates by combining 2 separate zones together. 

The Electrolux 90cm Induction Cooktop’s (EHI955BE) maxi or flexible induction zones adapt to suit a variety of cookware sizes, ensuring even heat distribution across your pots and pans. This feature simplifies cooking with larger or irregular-shaped pans, providing precision and efficiency for your meals.

What to cook: a stir fry with lots of minced garlic for a fragrant dining experience

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4. Steam Assisted Function

Add a touch of steam to your oven cooking. Steam helps to retain moisture in meats, nutrients in vegetables and softness in baked goods. The oven can even be used for steam cooking steamed favourites like dumplings and delicate seafoods. 

With the steam-assisted function in Beko’s 60cm Pyrolytic Steam Oven (BBO6851PSDX), you can infuse moisture into your baking and roasting. Steam helps to retain food’s natural textures and flavours, ensuring breads are beautifully risen with crisp crusts or meats remain tender and succulent. This feature elevates your dishes to professional-like results easily.

What to cook: julienned ginger and shallots to garnish a Chinese style steamed fish

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Kitchen Efficiency Secret Weapon: Instant Taps

Instant water taps like Zip’s HydroTap G5 BCS Arc Plus Tap (H5L783Z00AU) revolutionises cooking and food preparation with its versatility and efficiency. The chilled filtered water is perfect for rinsing fresh produce, ensuring it is clean and ready for use, while the filtered boiling water is ideal for blanching vegetables, preparing instant noodles, or even warming plates. This multifunctional tap not only saves time but also enhances the workflow in your kitchen, making everyday cooking tasks easier and more enjoyable.

What to cook: steam vegetables and quickly plunge them into filtered chilled water, stopping the cooking instantly and locking in their bright colours

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Knife Cutting and Food Prep Tips and Tricks

How To: Handle Sharp Knives Safely

A sharp knife is a safe knife because it requires less pressure to cut, reducing the chance of it slipping. However, proper handling is still crucial.

• Master the Claw Grip: When holding the food you are cutting, curl your fingertips under your knuckles, forming a “claw.” This protects your fingertips and uses your knuckles as a guide for the side of the knife blade.
• Hold the Knife Correctly: Grip the handle firmly with your dominant hand, placing your thumb and index finger on the blade itself, just in front of the handle. This “pinch grip” offers superior control and stability.
• Focus on the Task: Avoid distractions while using a sharp knife. Keep your eyes on your hands and the cutting board.
• Never Catch a Falling Knife: If a knife falls, step back and let it drop. Attempting to catch it is a common cause of serious injury.

How To: Choose the Right Cutting Board

Your cutting surface impacts knife sharpness and safety.

• Wood and Bamboo: These are ideal choices as they are gentle on your knife’s edge and naturally antimicrobial. End-grain wood boards are especially durable and can “self-heal” from cuts.
• Plastic: Plastic boards are affordable and easy to sanitise in a dishwasher. However, they wear out faster and can develop deep grooves that may harbour bacteria. It’s best to use separate boards for raw meat and produce.
• Avoid Glass, Marble, and Stone: These hard surfaces will dull your knives quickly and can be slippery, creating a safety hazard.

How To: Clean and Store Your Knives

Proper cleaning extends your knife’s life. The dishwasher is your knife’s biggest enemy.

• Hand Wash: Wash your knife with warm, soapy water immediately after use. Clean the blade from the dull spine to the edge, keeping the sharp side pointed away from you.
• Dry Immediately: Never air-dry your knives, as this can cause rust and water spots, especially on carbon steel. Use a towel to dry the knife completely.
• Store Safely: Use a knife block, magnetic strip, or blade guards to store your knives. Tossing them unprotected into a drawer can damage the blades and is unsafe.

How To: Clean Your Cutting Boards

Proper board cleaning is crucial for food safety.

• Plastic Boards: These can go in the dishwasher. For hand washing, use hot, soapy water. To sanitise, soak the board in a solution of one part bleach to ten parts water.
• Wood and Bamboo Boards: Hand wash with hot, soapy water; do not soak or put them in the dishwasher, as this can cause cracking. You can sanitise with white vinegar and periodically apply food-grade mineral oil to prevent them from drying out.

By adopting these habits, you’ll work more efficiently and safely in the kitchen. Practicing your knife skills and caring for your tools will help you cook with greater confidence and ease.

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