How Not To Lose A Finger In The Kitchen

As many times as I have watched deft prep cooks slice tomatoes and chop onions with nary a nick, I remain stalwartly accident-prone in the kitchen. I can’t seem to master that “bear claw” grip whereby you tuck your fingertips on the stabilising hand to prevent accidentally knifing yourself. After an unfortunate incident with a new chef’s knife and a trip to urgent care, I decided to swallow all my pride and invest in a pair of Kevlar gloves.

Is it humbling to wear a glove while cooking because you’re so klutzy you can’t trust yourself not to lop off a digit? Oh yes — but I needed humbling if I was to stay out of the ER. Does the glove sometimes get gross when you’re cutting chicken or a slimy vegetable? Sure, but you throw it in the wash. I can’t recommend you test the impenetrability of the Kevlar by running your finger down the blade of a knife or dicing drunk, but I will say that I have not cut myself since I started wearing the gloves. (I got these because I figured 11,000 positive reviews couldn’t be fake, but now that I think about it, yes they could, so get the ones that speak to you.)

I have not given up on building up my knife skills, so you have any tips or YouTube videos that changed everything for you, I’m all ears (and fingers! Ten of them at last count!).