Cutting Techniques in the Kitchen: Which Knife Suits Your Cutting Style?

Push, chop, pull, slice forward or rock: the way you cut helps decide which knife suits you.

Maybe you know this: two people cut the same onion with the same knife – and judge it completely differently. One is thrilled, the other gets on better with a different model.

A common reason for this is cutting technique. Some people cut mostly from top to bottom. Others move the blade forwards or backwards at the same time. Both work, but they place different demands on the blade shape.

In this article, we show you the most important cutting techniques and how to choose your everyday knife accordingly. How to then tune the edge itself to your cutting style is explained in the second part: “Fine or Toothy: How to Tune the Edge to Your Cutting Style”.

What type of cutter are you?

In everyday kitchen life, two basic preferences can be observed: the pusher and chopper and the puller and rocker. These aren’t rigid categories, but they help you place your own style.

The pusher and chopper

You move the knife mostly downwards and hardly along the edge. For the next cut, you lift the blade and start again.

When pushing, you guide the knife through the food in a controlled way. When chopping, short downward movements follow each other quickly, and the knife strikes the board harder.

For this style, the edge has to bite immediately, because no pulling motion helps it penetrate. With heavier chopping, there is also the question of how much stress the edge can take.

The puller and rocker

You like to move the knife downwards and forwards or backwards at the same time. You use the length of the blade or work with a rocking motion.

With a pull cut or forward slice, the edge glides through the food. With rocking, it depends on how you do it: the blade can glide as well, or mostly roll over its curve.

Nobody always cuts the same way

Your cutting type describes a preference, not a fixed rule. You cut a piece of meat differently from a carrot, herbs differently from a ripe tomato. But many tasks can be done with several techniques – and that’s exactly where you’ll see which movement suits you best.

The five most important cutting techniques

Push cut: straight through the food

With a push cut, you move the knife almost vertically downwards, with no significant movement along the edge.

Typical uses: cucumbers, zucchini and many smaller vegetables.

In Japan, the push cut is the most common technique. The index finger often rests on the spine and guides the knife straight down.

The edge has to bite immediately. If you have to press hard or the food gets noticeably squashed, that’s a sign your knife needs sharpening. Until then, a slight gliding motion helps.

Chop: short and repeated

When chopping, you lift the knife completely and bring it down in short, quick movements.

Typical uses: spring onions, or quickly cutting up suitable vegetables.

Control is what matters. The more momentum, the harder the edge hits the board. So work with as little force as necessary.

Important: Chopping vegetables is not the same as cleaving through bones. A wide, tall blade doesn’t turn a knife into a bone cleaver.

Pull cut: using the length of the blade

With a pull cut, you draw the knife towards you while moving it downwards.

Typical uses: portioning meat, carving roasts, slicing fish and sashimi.

If possible, start with the rear part of the blade and use a long, smooth stroke right to the tip. With a long enough blade, you can cut a slice in a single stroke – without sawing motions that tear delicate food.

Forward slice: forwards and down

With a forward slice, you guide the knife through the food forwards and downwards at the same time.

Typical uses: dicing onions, slicing carrots, cutting up cabbage and other vegetables.

The forward motion helps the edge penetrate. Carry the cut through to the board, then lift the blade for the next cut.

Rocking cut: working over the curve of the blade

With a rocking cut, the front part of the blade stays on or close to the board while you raise and lower the handle. The curved edge makes this movement possible.

Typical uses: finely chopping herbs, garlic and pre-cut ingredients.

Don’t twist the blade sideways while it is under load or stuck in the board. Take the pressure off the knife before you reposition it.

Santoku, chef’s knife or nakiri: which will be your everyday knife?

For your most-used knife, it’s not just what you cut that matters, but also how you like to cut it.

Santoku: for mostly straight cuts

The santoku has a longer, relatively straight section of edge. During the cut, it rests on the board over a long stretch and cuts cleanly through the food there. That makes the santoku ideal for push cuts and short forward slices.

If you like to work in a controlled way from top to bottom and prepare a lot of vegetables, the santoku is often the right choice. A slight rocking motion is still possible.

Chef’s knife: for gliding cuts and rocking

The chef’s knife has a continuously curved edge and so supports the rocking cut. Its longer blade also leaves room for long pull cuts and forward slices.

If you often switch between vegetables, meat and herbs and like to work with flowing movements, the chef’s knife will probably suit you better.

Nakiri: the vegetable specialist

The nakiri has a tall, rectangular blade and a mostly straight edge that only curves at the front. It is made for push cuts and forward slices through vegetables and is also good for chopping. It isn’t intended for rocking cuts, however.

Visually, the nakiri resembles a Chinese chef’s knife. That knife is even taller and is used in China as an all-purpose knife for vegetables and boneless meat. Many people who like this style therefore reach for the somewhat more compact nakiri.

What counts is the actual blade profile. The name alone doesn’t determine how you use a knife. You can push with a chef’s knife and pull with a santoku, too.

Regardless of shape: the geometry behind the edge

Especially when pushing and slicing forward, you’ll notice another difference: how easily the knife glides through firm food depends heavily on how thin the blade is directly behind the edge. We explain why in our series “Sharpness vs. Cutting Ability” and in the article “Thin Grind: Why It’s So Rare in Kitchen Knives”.

How to find your knife

Next time you cook, watch how you actually move your knife. Do you mostly cut straight down, or do you like long, gliding movements? Which foods do you prepare most often?

Then choose the right blade shape. In the second part, we show you how to tune the edge to your style when resharpening: “Fine or Toothy: How to Tune the Edge to Your Cutting Style”.

The best knife isn’t the one with the nicest name, but the one that suits the way you move.