• Share
• E-Mail
• Print

Tem Harrier, 53, thought he knew how to chop.

Maggie Baumais, 26, knew she didn't have a clue (and she's had the scars to prove it).

And Laura Stonikas- Well, the 25-year-old has been on a mission to work out, eat healthy and, to that end, cook. Except she's a "horrible cook," and after spending two hours trying to prepare scallops for dinner - they ended up an inedible "disaster" - she decided that was it: She needed professional instruction.

So here they were, gathered with a dozen others on a Tuesday evening in a kitchen at the Chopping Block cooking school in the Merchandise Mart.

Welcome to Knife Skills class, kids.

In the 13 years since Shelley Young opened her business, this class has remained her most popular.

This month, the class - which costs $40 - will repeat six times at the Mart and seven times at the Lincoln Square location. The 15 to 20 spots almost always are filled. Students range from faithful Food Network viewers such as Harrier to curious novices like Stonikas.

"What stops people from cooking is chopping, shopping and cleaning it all up," Young says. While you're on you're own with the latter two, chopping is where Young and her staff can help.

"Help" might be too mild a word. A co-worker who has taken the class with her husband calls it "life-changing."

But what does it matter if you can chop an onion into a perfect ¼-inch dice in two seconds without looking down, just as they do on TV- Really, it doesn't - though that's not the point of the class, either, Young says.

Having good knife skills will make you more efficient in the kitchen (not to mention cut down on the Band-Aids) and boost your confidence, which in turn will make cooking enjoyable, if it isn't already.

"The chopping part, the prep part of cooking, that becomes the therapeutic part of cooking," Young says.

"All we care about is that you cook. . . . I will say that after a two-hour class, most people will be probably 50 percent faster than they are now, and that comes from mitigating their trepidation."

Curious as to just why the class has such staying power (and whether my knife skills were up to snuff), I joined the group. On paper, the class runs two-and-a-half hours. Our session ran nearly three hours - and no one seemed to want it to end.Test-drive first

As we take our seats at two large tables, our instructor Greg Darden puts out platters of still-warm puff pastries called gougeres, our only sustenance for the evening.

Students are invited to order from a wine list (an offer in many Chopping Block classes); I decline, but about half the class does order.

Before us is a single-page outline of what we're going to cover. No two instructors teach the class the same way, Young says.

"There's no one right way to cut a pepper," she says. "You'll see some different ways."

But you can be sure you'll get an exhaustive review of knife construction, types of knives and cutting boards (because those matter) - all before you pick up a knife.

"A knife is a lot like a car," Darden says. "You want to test-drive it. That Porsche may look sexy, but you want to drive it first. You want to get something that fits you."

In fact, the test-drive portion of our class doesn't start until an hour and 29 minutes in.

The chef's knife - the one you'll use for most tasks - is designed with a slight curve so it rocks, Darden explains. This rocking motion, we will learn, is key.

He holds up a Shun knife, a sleek stainless steel number from Japan.

"These are one of the hottest knives on the market for chefs," he says. "With these, if you don't have your knife skills, you will definitely cut yourself."

His words hang in the air for a split-second. "But if you can learn to cut while you're sitting on a little wine," he adds with a grin and a wave of his hand, "you all are going to be fine."

Laughter. He's joking - sort of.Hands-on time

Darden moves on to knife maintenance. There is still much to discuss: using wood vs. plastic cutting boards, cleaning your knife, storage options (knife blocks, guards, magnetic strips), sharpening and honing.

Finally, it's time.

The pace seems to pick up now that we're standing at cutting boards, knives in hand. There are extra knives of varying sizes and styles at each table; Darden encourages us to experiment with different ones as we go.

He demonstrates the correct, firm grip and how to position the opposite hand like a loose claw with the thumb always, always tucked in.

Start cutting as close to the front of the knife as possible, and let the knife push forward, then up and back and forward again, Darden explains. Rock and slice, rock and slice.

We learn to break down ingredients into manageable chunks first. When dealing with a round item, create a flat surface first by trimming a sliver off the side.

We slice zucchini into half-moons, bell peppers into strips, celery into bias cuts.

"I would friend that knife on Facebook," declares student David Fields, 29, to no one in particular after taking a turn with a Shun knife.

We dice an onion. We cut carrots into slabs, then batons, then dice. We mince parsley.

And then, we're done.

Much ground has been covered and yet, for some it feels like the tip of the iceberg (or carrot, as it were) - revelatory, exhilarating and yes, fun.

"When I started, I was doing everything ass-backwards, with the knife down instead of up," Harrier says. "I'm going to take another class."

"I could go on," agrees Jenni Keating, 29, whose friend follows up with a plea to go out for tacos.

Stonikas, too, isn't up for cooking now. It's late. But browsing the Chopping Block store (discounts are another perk for students), she says, "I'm a process-oriented person, so to me, the fact that there's a logical way to do this - you can stop and think about creating a flat surface on whatever your chopping - that helps."

She gathers up an 8-inch chef's knife, a plastic cover and bench scraper and heads for the cash register. Tomorrow, she'll be ready to cook.

A good knife will last you a lifetime. So will the things you'll learn in the popular Knife Skills class at the Chopping Block.

The class is worth it just for the discussion of sharpening (shaving metal off the knife) versus honing (straightening out the fibers of metal), and why both are necessary to keep your knife performing at its best.

Of course, the part where you get to hack up vegetables is pretty cool, too - and you even get to take home your diced creations in Ziploc bags.

For schedules and to register, go to thechoppingblock.net.