We Sliced, We Diced, We Sharpened Our Knife Skills with CUTCO

All sell aside, knife skills really do make the difference in the kitchen so it was great to see how quickly Sharpen Your Knife Skills with CUTCO sold out.

In fact it sold out so quickly, we’re looking at options for future events, including one for vegetarians where we skip the butchery piece. (But more on that later.)

Setup

The evening started for us with setup. The CUTCO team were amazing and got the guest stations all setup while I was hustling around taking photos.

Chef Neil and Stephanie from Tasteworthy Catering setup the appetizers and samples in the Liaison College kitchen, while Gerry took photos.

Chef Neil was working with what looked like a complete set of every single knife CUTCO makes, and then some.  Hard not to be a little jealous of a kit like that.

Back out to the studio class room, and each station was set with a CUTCO cutting board, chefs knife, bird’s beak knife and a LOT of fruit and vegetables.

Guests, Wine & Appetizers

Guest started rolling in and the evening got off to a good start when Chateau des Charmes started pouring their Earth & Sky wines – 2010 Pinot Noir and 2011 Reisling. 

Of course the wine came with a strong “Safety First” message since CUTCO knifes are sharp.  And some appetizers

I did a little talking.

Rhancha introduced us to CUTCO

Chiffonade and Supremes

Then Linda came up to teaching us how to hold the knives properly and to guide use through making a kale salad with citrus supremes. We used the CUTCO chefs knife to chiffonade the kale.

Did you know that you can remove the stalk from kale by running your fingers up the side of the stalk like you would to get thyme or rosemary off the stalk?  I didn’t.  Linda compared it to a childhood game of “tree or bush” (Lots of snickering ensued over the use of the word “bush” Yup it was that kind of night. Aka awesome!)

Then Linda has us all reach under the table for our swag bags where  CUTCO had generously provided each of us with a CUTCO trimmer for use at the event and to take home.

We used the trimmer to peel the oranges and make supremes (orange segments with no skin, pitch or membrane).

As we were chowing down on our kale and citrus salad,

Frenching Chicken Wings

Chef Neil Noseworthy started demoing our next taste – making Chicken Lollipops!

Also known as frenching a chicken wing.  (Yes, that got a lot of giggles from the crowd.)

These are shockingly easy to make if you have sharp chefs knife or cleaver.  Did you know that both the drumette and the (not-drumette?) part of the wing both turn into Lollipops?  No, neither did I.

A quick toss in Chef Neil’s tasty jerk rub, some time in the oven, and these turn into a fantastic and fancy-looking appetizer.

Deboning and Carving Chicken

Next up was a demo of the proper technique for deboning a roasted chicken with both the CUTCO boning knife and the CUTCO chefs knife.  (Sorry no photos, no idea why.)

Hand-rolling

Then back to hands-on to make grape, goats cheese, pistachio balls.  (yup, giggling. We were a very mature crowd.)

Tourneed Potatoes

Next knife, the CUTCO bird’s beak knife.  It came out to tourne potatoes. (Oh, and that IS tourne not turn. Now I know too.) Finally I know what those curved blades are for!  And those knives are also referred to as a tourner knife. The things you learn at a knife skills night!

Did you know a proper tourneed  potato has 7 sides? And that they have different names based on their size? Well they do. We’re just calling them tourned potatoes. Leave on one strip of peel for a little extra appeal. Yes, I did say that and I think that’s why Meesh made that face.

Trimming Tenderloin

Now the potatoes are done, out came the beef tenderloin.  Oh yes please!

Chef Neil showed us how to trim it properly using the trimmer.

And Pat portioned it out.

Batons

Batons were the next skill, using the CUTCO chefs knife and the carrots.  That quickly evolved into julienne, dicing and mincing. And some straight up slicing.  These folks like playing with knifes and since I like raw carrot, that worked for me. I tried one from everyone.

Filet & Remove Pin Bones from Fish

Chef Neil moved us into working with fish, showing us that both the CUTCO boning knife and Chefs Knife had the flexibility to filet a fish.

Then he hauled out the plyers to demonstrate removing pin bones.

Peeling, Slicing & Dicing Fruit of all sizes.

Then it was time to work with fruit!

Things were getting a little silly.

I followed the instructions closely to make the lemon garnish, notice the concentration, and got photobombed by Lindsey before she went to the front to tell us all about knife care.

The evening was a hit, the crowd was fantastic and we learned some really cool stuff.  (I’ll be sharing the Chicken Lollipop skill in a post later this week because it was something I was really looking forward to learning.)

Since there were bloggers in the room, it’s no surprise that there are posts from other people as well.

What others are saying:

In Knife Skillz: Busting your Chops, Simon from the Fat Girl Squad said:

The night was filled with amuse-bouches, helpful information, technique demonstrations, and gettin’ down and dirty with the knives.

Ann Gagno from Food Trippin’ With Ann and Eye Candy TO, wrote I Sharpened My Skills with CUTCO saying:

Thank you Alexa for hosting such an enjoyable event. That was such a fun and memorable foodie event.   I’d sure be peeling more potatoes soon!  🙂

Cooking with CUTCO shared their thoughts ab out our evening in  Cooking With CUTCO put on a Knife Skills Class

And really that’s what life is all about – having fun and enjoying yourself! Life is too short to struggle with dull knives!

Thanks!

Thanks to Gerry for all his greeting, photography and Lex-wrangling skills. To Tasteworthy Catering for the great food and to Stephanie for keeping the appetisers and samples flowing. To Rhancha, CUTCO National Sales Director; Linda, CUTCO Sales Professional; Lindsay, Sales Support Specialist and Rena, CUTCO Content Manager,  for keeping the cooking stations clear of extra bits all night. Yup, that’s who was cleaning up your potato peels and chicken wing tips. Which was no small feat while we were cutting and slicing!

Thanks for all the tips and know-how from Rhancha, Linda, Lindsey and of course Chef Neil.

Thanks to Cooking with CUTCO for making the whole evening possible.

Finally, thanks to everyone who came out, I hope you had as much fun as I did and learned something too.

Slideshow from the night:

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Note:  this post is part of my Cooking with CUTCO  series.  For more information on my relationship with CUTCO read Lex & CUTCO and my disclosure statement