My fiancé bought me a knife skills class for Valentine’s Day. I really do like to cook, and do most of it when I’m not on the road speaking. In other words, the gift was perfect.
I wasn’t a complete novice. I’ve picked up a few tips over the years from my mom, from friends, and from Good Eats & the Food Network, but this class was going to be a little bit more in depth.
So I went to the Sur La Table in Carlsbad and prepared for two hours of cutting.
I learned about type of knives, care for knives, myths about knives & cutting, and about different cuts. I learned the secret to dicing an onion, julienning a vegetable, and cutting an orange to remove all pulp and membranes. I learned secrets to making even cuts and maintaining my fingers and finger tips. I even learned a few fancy cuts to impress dinner guests.
In other words, it was educational and quite fun.
And yet, I imagine that most of my readers can use a knife. Most of us learn this skill before the age of ten and can do most kitchen tasks by our teenage years. We won’t open a restaurant or look like a chef on Chopped, but we can hold our own.
We can get by.
But can we excel?
Even with a two hour class on knives, I’m still a novice. I’ll definitely be better in the kitchen.
I’ve had really good friends who’ve graduated from elite culinary schools, and each of them has spent hours upon hours perfectly their knife skills. Hundreds and hundred of vegetables. Hundreds and hundreds of fruits. Hundreds and hundreds of proteins.
Over and over again… until they can truly be considered chefs in the eyes of their instructors–before they can be considered masters.
My knife skills have improved, but I have a ways to go before I’ve truly mastered the skill.
And this is just one of the many skills we have the opportunity to improve in life.
Far too often, we sadly simply accept the base level (the knife skills we learned as a kid) or fail to put in the work to elevate our skills (like my friends in cooking school). We do the lowest common denominator rather than improve, stretch, and enhance our abilities.
We need to do more.
It’s difficult at times.
It’s frustrating at times.
It TAKES a lot of time.
But mastery is worth it.
We all don’t need to be experts chefs, but we need to master something in our life and share that with our world.