April 16th, 2010
Cuts Like a Knife
Sharpening, cross-chopping, slicing, julienning—there’s more than one way to cut a carrot. We put our knife skills to the test with a three-hour class at Calphalon.
Our fruit salad turned out peachy, minus the mushy mango and uneven apple matchsticks. We gobbled that up and moved on to preparing our mise-en-place for a stir-fry.
Our instructor Susie and her assistant Estelle were superb, talking us through techniques (for basil chiffonade place leaves in a little pile, roll up like a cigar and roll-slice) while throwing in bits of trivia along the way (never put good knives in the dishwasher or they will blunt). A huge, handy mirror helped us mimic the instructions.
With shrimp stir-fry for six, and all ten fingers intact, we headed for home.
$130/3-hour class, Calphalon, 425 King St. W., Toronto, 416-847-2212, www.calphalonculinarycenter.com
