Knife skills is a series of classes that we offer to everyone, employees and customers. It teaches the fundamentals of using a knife, something that you need if you’re doing prep or kitchen work at Clover or cooking at home.  The class covers:

-knife safety
-anatomy of a knife
-proper posture
-how to work clean and efficient
-how to hold a knife
-knife cutting techniques

We’ve based the test around prep that everyone does here at Clover.  It’s a timed test when you’re ready.  You need to have perfect knife cuts and do it under 9 minutes to pass. Once you’ve passed the test you’re ready for knife skills 102.  You can practice at home before or after the class.  If you really want some practice you can also come into our Clover kitchen and break down 5o lbs of onions or eggplant to hone your skills (just let us know you want to come in!). Use this picture as a reference for your cuts at home.

-eggplant: striped and cut into 3/4″ disc (this is used in our Egg & Eggplant sandwich)
-planked cucumbers 1/4″ thick. Cut the whole cucumber in thirds before you cut into planks (you’ll see these in our seasonal sandwiches)
-large diced onion (this is the foundation for all our soups)
-medium diced tomato (use this in our tomato and cucumber salad on the chickpea fritter and egg & eggplant sandwich)
-finely chopped parsley (used for garnishes and flavor in soups.  Chop the stems up fine too!  They have the most flavor)
-thinly sliced pearl tomato (we put these on our BBQ seitan and Soy BLT sandwiches)
-minced garlic (what don’t we use this in? Soups, Salads, falafel, hummus……)

The next knife skills class is coming up later this month at our Harvard location. We’ll post to the Events sidebar when we have a date.