"Brooklyn1" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:59:31 -0400, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:45:56 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> wrote:
>>
>>>I never gave this much thought until some years ago when my dad and I
>>>were
>>>watching a cooking show on PBS. I can't remember who the chef was, but
>>>it
>>>was a weird vegan woman. She seemed to have odd attachments to her food.
>>>She was teaching some guy to cut carrots. She had him cut them like you
>>>would do for a stir fry so that there were as many exposed surfaces as
>>>possible. She chastised the guy for putting his pointer finger on the
>>>back
>>>side of the blade. She told him when he did this, he was allowing the
>>>knife
>>>to control him and not the other way around.
>
> She was exactly wrong... the guy wielding the knife had better control
> by his method.
>
>>Whatever works for you, but the extended finger would feel awkward to
>>me. I hold the handle in the palm and one finger on either side of
>>the blade where it meets the handle.
>
> How can you have one finger on "either" side of the blade, do you have
> six fingers? lol I can't visualize a finger on the front side of the
> blade unless you mean your thumb... for heavier cutting with larger
> knives I often choke up on the handle so that one finger and my thumb
> are on the blade... offers better control and saves the wrist from
> fatigue... works well for slicing cabbage, melon, winter squash, and
> other large tough foods. Most oriental cooks use that grip on
> oriental cleaver type knives.

Thumb on one side. Pointer on the other.