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Norman Weinstein
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Mastering Knife Skills: The Essential Guide to the Most Important Tools in Your Kitchen Kindle Edition

by Norman Weinstein (Author), Mark Thomas (Photographer) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 134 ratings
An illustrated, practical guide to everything you need to know about using knives in the kitchen.

As the number of gourmet home kitchens burgeons, so does the number of home cooks who want to become proficient users of the professional-caliber equipment they own. And of all kitchen skills, perhaps the most critical are those involving the proper use of knives.

Norman Weinstein has been teaching his knife skills workshop at New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education for more than a decade—and his classes always sell out. That’s because Weinstein focuses so squarely on the needs of the nonprofessional cook, providing basic instruction in knife techniques that maximize efficiency while placing the least possible stress on the user’s arm. Now, Mastering Knife Skills brings Weinstein’s well-honed knowledge to home cooks everywhere.

Whether you want to dice an onion with the speed and dexterity of a TV chef, carve a roast like an expert, bone a chicken quickly and neatly, or just learn how to hold a knife in the right way, Mastering Knife Skills will be your go-to manual. Each cutting, slicing, and chopping method is thoroughly explained—and illustrated with clear, step-by-step photographs. Extras include information on knife construction, knife makers and types, knife maintenance and safety, and cutting boards.

“In the old days, when kitchens weren’t equipped with a lot of fancy gadgets, a skilled chef needed only one tool to ply his trade: a sharp knife. This book will introduce novice cooks to and reacquaint experienced chefs with everything they need to know about a good knife and the art of using it.” —Cecilia Chiang, James Beard Award–winning restaurateur and author of The Seventh Daughter

“This beautifully illustrated book, written with passion and precision, minces no words in guiding the reader to choose, maintain, and use a knife. Indispensable for anyone who prepares food, it has taught me how to cut produce much more efficiently.” —David Karp, Fruit Detective
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  1. Print length
    228 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Stewart, Tabori & Chang
  4. Publication date
    May 18, 2012
  5. Reading age
    13 years and up
  6. Grade level
    8 and up
  7. File size
    55.2 MB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

For more than 20 years, Norman Weinstein, a chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education, has taught everyone from first-time cooks to professional chefs how to select and use knives. He has been profiled in Wine Spectator and the New York Times Magazine, and has appeared on the Food Network. The 2003 honoree of the New York Association of Culinary Professionals, Weinstein lives in New York City.

Mark Thomas is a NewYork–based photographer specializing in food, lifestyle, and travel photography. His work has appeared in Stewart Tabori and Chang’s Opera Lover’s Cookbook and Endangered Recipes, and he recently completed four books for Williams-Sonoma. Thomas’s work also appears regularly in Bon Appétit.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0087OSSIW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stewart, Tabori & Chang; Har/DVD edition (May 18, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 18, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 55.2 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 228 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 134 ratings

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Norman Weinstein

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
134 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this knife skills guide excellent, praising its comprehensive coverage of essential techniques with detailed pictures. The book is particularly helpful for home cooks, and one customer mentions it was useful for their first culinary classes. Customers appreciate the DVD content, knife maintenance tips, and the book's comfortable pace.

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43 customers mention "Knowledge level"40 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the book's instructional approach, which includes detailed techniques and tons of pictures, making it a fantastic learning resource for knife skills, particularly for kitchen beginners.

"...guide to the choosing of knives, their care and upkeep, and their optimal use. This book fills a real gap in the field of cook-bookery...." Read more

"...handle, did not allow for the more spacious, comfortable, and easier to read layout (especially when you have it on the table while you are working!)..." Read more

"...really different than what I achieved before, but more ordered and elegant, and while not faster yet, I can tell that they will be as soon as I get..." Read more

"...There is some good information on becoming an informed consumer of sharpening services however, and that translates into good information for those..." Read more

7 customers mention "Home cook"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book great for home cooks, with one mentioning it was helpful for their first culinary classes, while another notes it makes cooking more efficient.

"...I have found I am now much more effecient in the kitchen. Is this booking going to make you Morimoto with a knife...." Read more

"Very useful book to Have in your cooks library" Read more

"The DVD and also the book were so helpful for my first culinary classes, because initially I had a lot of confusion whit the knife skills......" Read more

"...Awesome for kitchen beginners and home cooks as well!" Read more

4 customers mention "Dvd quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers like the DVD that comes with the book.

"...The enclosed DVD is pretty good, especially on the more complex tasks like fabricating and carving poultry...." Read more

"...Weinstein walks you through every technique. The included DVD is excellent as well. This is a great way to learn proper technique...." Read more

"...I also found the DVD to be very useful. Its nice to see what you have read about on the DVD...." Read more

"...I like that it comes with a DVD too." Read more

3 customers mention "Knife care"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's coverage of knife maintenance and care.

"...would like help learning how to choose, purchase, use, and maintain knives properly. I would venture to say this is the "Bible" of knives." Read more

"...useful for what purposes, has advice on what to buy, and how to maintain your knives...." Read more

"...is a lot of information on the background of knife making and how to care for knives, however like the title says, what you buy this for is to learn..." Read more

3 customers mention "Pace"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pace of the book, finding it quick and comfortable to follow.

"Invaluable lessons. Made my cooking enjoyable and easier. A keeper and Christmas gifts to my family." Read more

"Extremely well illustrated, comfortable pace and layout, great for beginners..." Read more

"Quick, easy to follow instructions..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • K. ONEILL
    5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding for home chef's
    Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    I highly recommend this book. I also purchased "Japanese Kitchen Knives: Essential Techniques and Recipes" in the hopes I would learn more on technique. Although "Japanese Kitchen Knives" was interesting it was short on technique and long on recipes and, being a vegetarian, it was not anywhere near as helpful as "Mastering Knife Skills".
    Chef Weinstein selects several vegetables to illustrate "knife skills" and these are just what I was interested in. I bought several handmade Japanese knives due to their really sharp edges. My first knife was a gift, a Kyocera Santoku ceramica which I fell in love with until it became dull and the only option was to send it off to be sharpened. My next two knives were Shun's, a Kershaw Shun Usuba, which I still love and use a lot and even with the admonition that it was "extremely sharp and use due care" I cut myself three times before I developed any skill (it's really, really, really sickeningly sharp and the handmade knives are even sharper). My third knife was a Chroma Damascus Santoku which I paid too much for, there being many Santoku's on the market in the same price range that are much better.
    That said, I wish I would have had Chef Weinsteins book in hand before I purchased ANYTHING. I shied away from a 10" Chef's knife as I thought it was too big and too heavy. I have to admit that after purchasing the Shun Usuba($120), a Seikon Dojo Usuba(handmade, $244), an Asai PM Damascus 7 1/8" Gyuto ($356) and a 6" Petit Kazuyki Tanaka handmade ($320, god I love this knife, beautiful and cuts anything like butter), for just over a thousand dollars (ok, I really like them all, I mean really) I still wish I would have bought this book before I bought my first knife. Well, after I purchased this book I bought a Messermiester Meridian Elite 9" Chef's knife (a mere $120) and was astounded by how often I use this knife and how easy it is to use. Just a point here, I'm very careful now with my knives after my experiences with the Japanese knives and while showing this knife to my wife, you guessed it (see honey...ooops), I sliced an extremely thin piece of flesh off my right thumb, so thin it did not draw blood nor was it painful either when I cut it or later. I bought the 9" because I was still under the misconception that 10" was too big and after finding how easy the 9" was to handle I'm thinking the 10" would be even better. Oh, by the way, I'm 5'7" with what you might call fairly small hands and I'm in love with the Messermeister's. Chef Weinstein likes the J.A. Henckel knives but since he stated that he wished all manufacturers polished the spine like the Messermeister's that's what I bought.
    Chef Weinstein, admittedly biased against Japanese knives, has made this home Chef a believer in German and French Chef's knives, not that I don't love my Japanese cooking razorblades, I do, but I'm now convinced I could have purchased the ultimate Knife wardrobe for the kind of money I spent on just three good Japanese knives. Oh, I also forked over mucho dinero on the right stones for sharpening the Japanese knives, something I do not regret at all, consequently all of my knives can be used to shave with and I have to agree with Chef Weinstein that slicing correctly adds to the flavor of vegetables. I think this is a must for your first knife book and I haven't even watched the video yet!
    Great book, you'll just love it. For vegetarians it's a must first book...
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Harvey Bordowitz
    5.0 out of 5 stars The only knife book you will ever need
    Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    "Mastering Knife Skills" by chef Norman Weinstein is a marvel of a book - visually attractive, overflowing with facts both historical and culinary, the ultimate guide to the choosing of knives, their care and upkeep, and their optimal use.

    This book fills a real gap in the field of cook-bookery. I, a serious amateur cook, have been cooking for over forty years now, and yet, in forty years of watching television cooking shows and reading cookbooks (of which I own some thirty), I have never before seen any teacher or TV chef relate - really relate in any serious and systematic, way - to this most important of all our cooking tools, at least not until the present illuminating book.

    One could be forgiven for expecting such a book to offer mere dry factual knowledge on the subject, but in fact it is excitingly written and lavishly illustrated, and Weinstein's style has a flow and a sweep that pull the reader along from page to page, like a good detective novel, from slicing through dicing, to mincing to filleting to fabricating - yes, fabricating - a chicken. The accompanying DVD, furthermore, is graphic and extremely well presented.

    I have seen Norman Weinstein in the classroom. He is an inspiring teacher, who wears his prodigious erudition lightly, and enlivens his classes with a quick and warm sense of humor. That same encyclopedic knowledge, sympathy and warmth come across in his book as well.

    And one last note: following Weinstein's instructions I sat down for an hour with a sharpening stone and sharpened all my knives to an edge the like of which I have not ever gotten from the "professionals".

    While this may not be the only cookbook you will ever want, it certainly is the only knife book you will ever need.

    Harvey B.
    117 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Jack Metcalfe
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book, great tips and good photos
    Reviewed in Germany on December 4, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    ... make working with, sharpening and even buying good knives fun!
    Not only for cooks getting started, but also somme good and useful advice for "advanced hobby cooks" as I count myself. Without a lot of cutting no one will be chopping like a learned chef, but you will know, how to hold the knifa as well as what you are dicing, chopping, boning etc.
    Definite thumbs up!
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  • A reviewer from London
    5.0 out of 5 stars Read this before buying your knives
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I felt I needed to improve my knifes skills after being inspired by some TV dramas set in kitchens., particularly vegetables and looked at reviews on the US site where I cam across this book.

    I had to wait a really long time - maybe six weeks - before I received the book but it was well worth it

    The book also included a DVD of the exercises and really covers the techniques,very well, but also includes how to select knives.

    He points out you can do all you cutting with just three knives, including the chef's knife and the sets you buy often do not include the knives you want. (He is not however a fan of Japanese knives, preferring German).

    By intensively practicing the vegetable skills I am really proud of my abilities in these area. I don't really cut meat or fish so cannot really comment on them.

    Before buying the book I toyed with going on the Leiths Vegetable cutting skills, but that is £100+ for a 2 hour class.

    Definitely recommend this book.
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  • kittenje
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Great illustrations.
    Reviewed in Canada on November 27, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Everything you ever needed to know about knife handling and kitchen skills.

    This book walks you through how to hold and handle knives properly, as well as outlines the proper cutting methods of common items. It also includes a section on the proper upkeep and sharpening of knives, as well as selecting knives.

    The photographs are excellent with step-by-step directions throughout. Well written and well illustrated.

    Having a good set of well kept knives, and knowing how to use them makes cooking so much more enjoyable, and easier!
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  • Xerocomus
    3.0 out of 5 stars Hätte mir mehr erwartet
    Reviewed in Germany on May 14, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Nun, das Buch ist in Englisch und eher für blutige Küchenanfänger. Jeder der bereits mal ein Ken Hom (Chinesisch Kochen) in der Hand gehabt hat ist, ist um einiges Schneller am Ziel, da man ja nur die Technik braucht und die Schnittarten. Schneiden lernen kann man leider nicht vom Lesen sondern nur vom Üben. Für mich persönlich ist das Buch etwas "aufgeblasen" mit "NoNaNed"-Wissen.
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  • Kirk McElhearn
    5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    This is an essential book for anyone who wants to improve their cooking skills. Knife skills are often ignored, but learning to use your knives makes preparing food much quicker. This book covers all types of cutting, and includes a DVD that demonstrates the various skills. This has made a huge difference in the way I cook. (Oh, and buy some good knives if you don't already have them.)
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