Culinary Corner 1: Basic Culinary Skills and Supplies

By :Josh Dunford

Welcome to the Culinary Corner. This is WHIP radio’s very own cooking show brought to you by me, Josh. These food blogs and recipes along with videos of me cooking will be posted on WHIP’s website. 

In today’s blog I will talk about some basic culinary rules including what kind of knife to use and how to cut an onion, and then I’ll teach you how to make a simple pasta dish. 

Let’s start off as basic as possible with knife rules and how to cut an onion. 

Knife rules are very important in cooking. Knives are one of the most dangerous tools you’ll be working with, so being safe with them is very important. 

A knife should be very sharp. The sharper the knife the safer you’ll be. You may think this doesn’t make sense but the truth is dull knives can slip and slide. You can find a good sharp knife at any cooking store or home supplies store. 

When using the knife, put your thumb and forefinger on the area where the metal part of the knife meets the handle. If you’re walking with the knife put it down by your side. 

When cutting something, one of the safest ways to cut is by using the bear claw technique. 

This is where you put your hands in a claw and hold on to the thing you are cutting. This is the safest way to use a knife. 

If your knife is getting dull, always get it sharpened. 

Next I will be talking about how to cut an onion. 

First, take off all the skin off the onion so it is just the actual onion. After this, cut off the ends, also known as the roots. The root is the brown spot at the end. 

After you cut off both ends, cut the onion in half. Put the onion halves on your cutting board. Make cuts straight along the onion. 

After this, you can cut it sideways where you cut it straight. You will have cut onions after this. 

This can be used for many different recipes. 

I will now talk about how to make pasta with spicy tomato sauce. This is one of the easiest things to start cooking with. 

First, go to the store and get pasta. The fancier the pasta, the better it will  be. I recommend going to Whole Foods or a store like that and getting fresh pasta. 

Once you have your pasta you will need a pan, fresh or crushed tomatoes, garlic, oil, and red chili flakes.

Start off by cutting the garlic the same way you cut the onion.

After it is chopped, put it in a pan with some olive oil and begin to cook your pasta in another pan. Cook the pasta  less than the instructions say and then finish cooking it in the sauce. 

Once your garlic is softer, put in your red pepper flakes. The level of spice depends on your preference.
If you’re like Sean Evans or the Spice Girls, put in the entire thing of red pepper flakes. If you’re not, you can put in as much or little as you want. 

After this put in your tomatoes and let it cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. 

After this, mix your cooked pasta into the sauce and serve it.

More blogs and recipes and food articles like this will be posted on WHIP’s website. Look for the section called “The Culinary Corner”.