April 3rd, 2011 
365days2play The other day, I chanced upon a contest on ToTT (Tools of the Trade)’s Facebook. In order to win a free “Knack with Knives” class, all one had to do was to write about a close shave with knives and lessons learnt. I thought, hey I can do that, so I entered the contest. Bam, done in less than 5 minutes. And guess what, my efforts paid off and I got a golden ticket worth 98 bucks!!!
Photos all taken with the iPhone since I figured wielding a knife together with my trusty DSLR would be a tad cumbersome…
The knife in the picture is what is known as a Chef’s Knife. This is the knife that will be used for most of your slicing activities. Another knife I would highly recommend buying is the serrated knife. It has a ridged blade to cut through food with skin such as bread. We never used to have a serrated knife in our kitchen, but during the period when I was fervently baking lots of bread, we bought a serrated knife as it was a pain to cut the bread with the chef’s knife. I usually ended up flattening the bread because a normal chef’s knife just wouldn’t slice through the tough skin!
Chop chop chop, dice dice dice. There is a nifty way to cut onions such that you won’t cry. Chop off the top, chop the onion in half, then kind of flay it without cutting through the bottom. The bottom still holds all the pieces in tact, which then makes it easier for u to dice the onion. According to Chef Ming, the bottom holds the highest amount of tear causing chemicals, so only cut that off last.
Tomato condiments for the bruschetta we were making – onions, tomatoes, basil, garlic
With a serrated knife, you can slice up the bread really thinly.
Voila, the finished product!
Chef Ming from Jam explaining the ins and outs of using knives.
Chef Jeremy from Jam slicing and dicing
Other participants. Btw, I really want to get myself one of those wooden island trolley thingies. It’s so convenient to be able to chop wet food near the sink or dustbin, and after that wheel it to the cooking stove. Anything that cuts down preparation time for me is fantastic.
Coffee and tea for the participants. Not that you have time to drink it once the cooking gets fired up.
The class was totally worth my having to wake up at 8.30am! I really enjoyed myself very much. Although I still feel that $98 is very steep a price to pay for a 2 hour hands-on class, unfortunately cooking classes, especially hands-on ones, are pricey. The affordable ones which are less than $50, held at the Community Centres, tend not be hands-on. If you have spare dough and have entertained the idea that you might like to learn cooking, I would highly recommend doing it. Just take at least 1 class to get your adrenalin pumping. After that, you can rely on cook books if you are self-motivated. I assure you the dividends will pay off when you enjoy the fruits of your labour in time to come.
As a proof of how much I enjoyed the class, I went back home and diced up all my asparagus, mushrooms, onions and garlic for dinner. This would normally have been done by the Partner, while I disappear somewhere and pretend to be busy.
See my previous review on the Tools of The Trade Store as well as the ToTT Bistro.
ToTT Store
896 Dunearn Road 01-01A
Singapore 589472
Store Operating Hours:
Mon -Sun: 10.30am – 9.30pm
Tel: 62197077
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