Can Confidence in the Kitchen Do More For You Than Put Together a Good Meal?

Article and Original Illustrations by Loan Nguyen, 2024 Julia Child Foundation Writing Fellow

When we think of cooking skills, we may be imagining an Iron Chef on TV or professionals at the restaurants we dine at, using an array of tools and techniques to achieve impressive results.  

How do we relate these entertaining experiences to creating and maintaining a daily habit like cooking? Many people all over the world cook out of choice or necessity: with a knife, ingredients, a vessel to contain everything, and some source of energy to apply heat. The interactions might look different based on our resources and limitations, but we’re all expressing ourselves through cooking, down to how we decide to cut our vegetables and protein.  Common barriers to cooking might include time, lack of planning or access to ingredients. However, cooking can be an intimidating process for some, one that requires learning and practice of basic skills. 

Cutting is considered one of the most essential skills across many culinary traditions. For example, in traditional Japanese cuisine, Goho 五法 , (The Five Cooking Methods) is broken down to include: 

"Nama" (cutting)
"Niru"  (simmering)
"Yaku" (grilling)
"Musu" (steaming) 
 "Ageru" (deep-frying)

These skills are often demonstrated in Kaiseki-style cuisine, a traditional Japanese multi-course dinner that celebrates the seasons. Knife skills are particularly important in Japanese cuisine for Sashimi, often the “Nama” dish of the Kaeiseki, where the ingredients are usually eaten raw and must be treated delicately. 

Fun Japanese Style Cuts to Add to Your Repertoire 

The difference in how something is cut can set a dish apart.  Using a knife skillfully to cut vegetables into different shapes can add beauty to a simple dish. 

For example, Katsuramuki (かつらむき), a Japanese technique for peeling vegetables in rotation, particularly daikon radish, into long, continuous sheets may be used for wrapping or garnishing. 

Sogi-giri (そぎぎり) is the name for slices made by cutting ingredients at a slant often used for vegetables and fish and can provide a decorative touch to dishes.

Rangiri (乱切り) are rough, irregular cuts used for root vegetables like carrots or burdock root, intended to add texture and visual interest to dishes, especially in stews.

Other unique Japanese knife cuts include Hangetsu-giri（半月切り, half-moon cuts and Icho-giri (いちょう切り), Ginkgo leaf cuts. 

Investing in Cooking Skills During a Time of Dramatic Change

During the height of COVID, the restaurant industry had to pause, while many home cooks got to catch up on their cooking skills. These kitchen skills, like knife work, aren’t just good skills to have as a chef, but there’s some research out about how cooking skills can lead to healthier choices around diet and nutrition among young adults. As the 2024 Julia Child Foundation Writing Fellow, I recently visited Vetri Community Partnership, a Philly based nonprofit that hosts community cooking classes for students and adults. Their mission and services are based on research that suggests investment in cooking skills can help young people develop the knowledge and confidence to make nutritious  choices and build life skills for a healthier future.

In this multiyear study, the researchers surveyed young people in their late teens and early twenties about their self-perception of cooking skills and visited them a decade later to learn how their cooking habits have changed. Those who reported having adequate to very adequate cooking skills at age 18–23 were more likely to make better nutrition-related choices 10 years later, such as preparing more frequent meals including vegetables and eating less frequent fast food meals.

Building confidence in cooking skills, like knife skills, could be beneficial in the short term as well, by generally enhancing the cooking experience, such as: 

• Safety:  By knowing how to handle a knife correctly,  cuts and injuries to oneself and others are preventable in the kitchen.
• Efficiency: When you can chop, slice, and dice ingredients quickly and accurately, you can save time and effort in meal preparation.
• Consistency: Uniformly cut ingredients cook more evenly, leading to better-tasting dishes. 
• Versatility: With confidence using a knife, you might experiment with more recipes and cooking techniques.
• Cost-effectiveness: Learning to properly use a knife can save you money in the long run by preparing them yourself at a lower cost, rather than buying them pre-cut or pre-packaged ingredients.

A well-designed and functional knife can make the practice of cooking skills a pleasurable activity. If you’re looking to purchase your own Japanese glassware, Korin is a great place to turn. Their products come from a rich Japanese tradition but can be used for any cuisine, inside restaurants, or home kitchens. Their store in Manhattan is outfitted with glassware, tableware, and perhaps the most extensive collection of Japanese chef knives in the world. Thank you to Korin for supporting this article and Japan Eats!