Brendan McDermott

Complete Knife Skills

Brendan McDermott
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4 Lessons
1  hrs 50  mins

Become faster and more accurate with your knife work, and create dishes that cook evenly and look truly professional. Guided by chef Brendan McDermott, you’’ll explore proper hand placement and the four fundamental cuts. Learn to dice, mince and julienne a range of produce. Find out how to chop herbs without bruising them or losing flavor, and never again cry when cutting an onion. Uncover Brendan’’s favorite shortcuts for working with butternut squash, pineapple, chiles, citrus and more. Discover the four knives every chef needs in their kitchen, and enjoy a bonus lesson on honing and sharpening your knives at home!

Brendan McDermott

Chef Brendan McDermott's culinary technique was honed at acclaimed New York City restaurants, and his knife skills classes have been lauded by New York Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Today, he is a highly sought-after instructor, both at Chicago's Kendall College and here on Craftsy, where he also teaches Complete Knife Skills and 20 Essential Cooking Techniques.

Brendan McDermott
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53 Responses to “Complete Knife Skills”

  1. Sara Medina

    This class was really enjoyable. I always had a hard time when it came to cutting vegetables. I’m left handed so everything seems harder to do lol. Thanks to this class I finally get to cut vegetables quicker and cleaner.

    Reply
  2. Katie

    This class was just what I needed. I always struggled trying to dice vegetables, especially onions. Know I know what I didn’t know. Thanks to Bendan for his his very clear instructions and injecting some humor into the class. I’ll be back for more classes in the future.

    Reply
  3. TONYA

    I learned I knew nothing about knife skills. I was just about to throw away all my handed down knives because they were so dull. I’m definitely glad I watched this. Now I’m going to use my honing and a wetstone to whip them into shape! I remember my grandfather sharpening my mom’s knives, now mine, and I was entranced by the motions. Thank goodness for this class. I enjoyed the instructor and his great humor. It sweetend the class and made me out right laugh. He knew his stuff and I know I will be viewing this class over and over if I can’t recall the exact way to slice and dice. I especially liked his mention about the carrots. I have always chopped the fool out of those with uneven pieces flying everywhere. That’s what Mom did. Thanks so much! I have always wanted to know how to properly use my knives and get all the various shapes he made. This class is enough to be worth the whole year’s payment for Craftsy!

    Reply
  4. Michelle Delgadillo

    This was an awesome start for me with Craftsy! I saw some things I knew, but learned so much more! It so important to have sharp knives to enjoy cooking in my opinion!

    Reply
  5. heather Snyder

    Very informative learn a lot as well as some jokes in between. I also wonder how many people actually incorrectly use there knives in the first place even chefs? Who knew I have seen people use glass jars to peel garlic I guess there wrong two mental bowls is how you do it. thanks for the tips Brendan!

    Reply
  6. Kevin Garvey

    The pith is where all the nutrition of the orange is. The citrus part of the orange is mostly sugar water

    Reply
  7. Kevin Garvey

    Excellent series of knife skills. I’m pretty confident with a knife but I still learned a few tricks here. Kudos.

    Reply
  8. Patricia

    What a great class!! I especially appreciated how Brendan identified so many incorrect practices one uses and then demonstrated the correct way to get things done. He’s a fantastic instructor. Master at conveying information succinctly and with humor!

    Reply
  9. Patricia Gutiérrez

    I took this course a couple years ago. Nice to see it’s still avaliable. It’s very useful!

    Reply
  12. Stephen Roll

    Question: what are your thoughts on choosing a regular-style chef’s knife vs. a hollow edge chef’s knife?

    Reply
    • Chef Mcdermott

      Hollow ground knives are not my personal preference. I find that you can get much cleaner cuts with a “regular” blade. thank you for watching!

      Reply
  13. Donna Kadden

    Where were you when I first got married!
    This tutorial is probably the best I have ever watched. Your demonstrations were easy to follow, safe, and succinct.
    What a great gift for a new bride.
    In using a wood cutting board, how often do you sand it down and apply mineral oil. How do you treat it after purchase. When do you replace?
    Thank you for such an informative fun demonstration.

    Reply
    • Chef McDermott

      When your board starts to look old or holding color you can give it a light sand. Mineral oil, if it starts to look dry. I up keep my bored as needed, but once every 6 months to a year depending on how often you cook would be fine. The nice thing about a good wood butcher block, is that if you take care of it, you’ll never have to replace it!

      Reply
  14. Kat

    Brendan, this was a great class! The cutting motions and safety rationales were very well explained, and I’ll be much better about avoiding chopping motions with my chef’s knife from now on. On an equipment note, I’d love to know your recommendations for hygiene, both in terms of keeping the wooden cutting board sanitary and also how to handle the sequential prep of so many strongly flavored products (for real eating, rather than a skills demo). E.g., do you keep different cutting boards for different classes of foods? Do you order food prep by delicacy of flavor or wash your tools thoroughly in between? What cleaning methods do you use, and at what stages? Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Chef McDermott

      Kat, great questions! I really only use one board for the most part, a Wood butcher block. To keep things easy, I do have a second board that I use for raw chicken and fish. Wood is naturally bacteria resistant, but you still have to keep it clean! I do usually start with less intense flavored ingredients (carrots, celery, etc) and then move to the stronger one (onions and garlic), but its not law. I depends on what I’m doing. But, if I am using ingredients that are spicy or really intense like jalapeños or ginger, then I do those last.

      As for daily cleaning I use a mix of vinegar and water and give is a good scrub with a sponge and hot water. Every now and again after it dries, a little mineral oil. Hope this helps!

      Reply
  15. Michael Turner

    This was a really really clear class. Hats off to Brendan – made me sign up 😅

    Reply
  17. Chimere Bray

    As a current culinary student, I thoroughly enjoyed the refresher of the many knife cuts as well as some new ways to easily and quickly cut foods. I did, however, have to refresh my screen to gain access to the PDF for the course, but it wasn’t a big deal. I hope Chef Brendan teaches more culinary classes in the future.

    Reply
  18. Don

    This class can’t be viewed on a TV set using the Roku interface even though it is a free class. I have the one year subscription and I tried viewing it both logged off and logged on and it didn’t make a difference. Just won’t work on Roku. I am able to view the class on a PC. My wife wanted to watch it on the TV set while working out. Please have the computer staff fix this issue in addition to the problem with the .pdf file not being accessible.

    Reply
  19. Kristina Schroeder

    Hi Brendan! Can you please share some tips on purchasing a honing rod? Any specific brands, details to look for, etc?

    Reply
      • Chef McDermott

        Honing rods are great to have around. Most bigger name honing rods, Wustof, Messermeister, etc are great. Most are magnetized to catch the burrs that are removed when honing. If you want something a little more intense, a ceramic rod, helps with light sharpening as well, the only down side is that you may need to replace it after awhile or they can break.

        Reply
    • Customer Service

      Hello Kristina

      Thank you for contacting us. I am sorry that you are experiencing technical difficulties with: Bonus Materials.

      We are aware of the issue and working on a resolution to get this resolved as quickly as possible. I apologize for the inconvenience.

      If you have any other questions, please email or contact Customer Service at 888-891-7203.

      Sincerely,

      Steve
      Craftsy

      Reply
  21. Mmedara Affia

    I enjoyed this course so much. His sense of humour is remarkable. I am terrible at kniving so this is a great solution to my culinary life. Mucho gracias maestro.

    Reply
  22. Donald Jones

    I have a one year subscription that is supposed to let me watch any class on Craftsy and I’ve been able to open the the .pdf for every class I’ve gone through so far, EXCEPT for this one. When I try to view it, I get a message that I need to purchase the class to see it, even though I’m logged in, have refreshed the screen, and I am able to watch any of the lectures for the class. It looks to me like the security on the file needs to be changed to give access to subscribers.

    Reply
  23. Norman Mockford

    Why is the Complete Knife Skills
    Bonus materials available after purchase not available it says it is free ?

    Reply
    • Customer Service

      Hello Marco. I am sorry you are having trouble viewing the bonus materials. Please be sure you are logged into your account. Please try doing a hard refresh or using a different browser. If you are still having trouble with the download please give our customer service team a call at 1-888-891-7203.
      Jean
      Craftsy

      Reply
  27. Gayle

    Great info and Brendan has a nice teaching style. Where can I get the pdf? The download link doesn’t work.

    Reply
  30. wans60@icloud.com

    Great class. Very informative. So many facts and tips. Really enjoyed it. Now I just have to put it into practice. Thank you.

    Reply
  32. Patricia

    Hello Brendan, my husband and I are enjoying your knife skills class. We would like to purchase a knife with the serrated edge that you used. In our search we haven’t found one that is as long as yours with the rounded edge. Is there an internet site that you know of for this item?

    Reply
    • Brendan McDermott

      Patricia! Thank you for watching. The serrated I use and recommend is Messermeister. You will be able to find their knives on their site.

      Reply
    • Mmedara Affia

      That stock pile ends up being something no one has ever tasted. Crazy.

      Reply
    • Customer Service

      Hello Elizabeth,

      I have included troubleshooting instructions below for you to try.
      If you are using a mobile device, please delete your internet history. To clear your cache, please click the link below and select the appropriate browser:
      http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cache
      If you are using a computer, please attempt a hard refresh of your browser by pressing and holding Ctrl + F5 on your keyboard.
      If you are on a Mac, please attempt a hard refresh of your browser by holding ⇧ Shift and click the Reload button. Or, hold down ⌘ Cmd and ⇧ Shift key and then press R.

      Let us know if you have any other questions.

      Thank you!

      Reply
  38. Earline

    I enjoyed the knife course. What is the knife set instructor was using or can he recommend a set of knives to buy

    Reply

Complete Knife Skills

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