How to Use a Serrated Knife

Video Transcript

"LAURA BANFORD: Now, we're going to use a serrated knife to slice some bread. And the important, one of the important things I'm going to show you is how to hold your hand when you're using a serrated knife. You don't want to have your hand on the back of the bread because you could, if you slip, or if you continue slicing, obviously you're going to hit the palm of your hand. So when you're using serrated knife, and a serrated knife makes a really bad cut. I could tell you that because you could see obviously it's going to make a jagged cut and you don't want that. You're going to hold your hand on the top of the piece of bread, or in this case, bagel, and you're going to slice through like that. Now, when you get close to the edge, I will continue around. Put your hand safely up above. Unfortunately, this bagel is not as fresh as I would like. Good thing I'm just carving it and not eating it. There, that's a nice cut, and no harm to me. Let's take a fresher loaf of bread here. And I'm going to have my hand on the top, not on the side, not on the back. Put your hand on the top to stabilize it. Decide where you want your knife to go. Often, it's going to go right in the middle. And you're going to use a sawing motion. Now, for most other knives, you're not going to use a sawing motion. In this case, a sawing motion is just what's needed. Continue going through. Turn it around. Continue sawing all the way through. There we go. Beautiful. That's how you use a serrated knife. When we come back, we're going to use our santoku knife."