Many years ago, I took cooking classes at what was then known as Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School in Manhattan (now the Institute of Culinary Education). I learned a lot of simple techniques to make cooking easy, and this is one I use all the time, so I wanted to share it with you in this video.

When you’re chopping loose herbs, such as parsley, you could just lay it out on your cutting board and attack it.

But here’s a better way:

Wad the parsley as tightly as you can into a ball and hold in place with your fingers curled. Start chopping through the wad. At some point, you’re going to have to get your fingers the hell out of the way. But by then most of it will be tamed. Just rock your knife back and forth to your desired fineness.

By the way, I use the Wüsthof Classic 8-inch chef’s knife. I’ve had mine for nearly 30 years and expect to be buried with it. It has a nice heft in the handle and the blade is good and sturdy.

In an upcoming episode, I’ll show you how I keep my knives sharp.

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