I've seen a few discussions around push cut vs rocking and the recent discussion about cutting techniques with vegetables. I would like to start a discussion about cutting techniques that do not involve prolonged board contact.
- Do you notice a difference in speed, accuracy, or "quality of the cut" when comparing pull/push/chop?
- The place I most see pull cuts is cutting fish. I have no experience cutting fish. Is pull cutting easier or better for some reason here?
- Does sharpness of knife play any role in which style of cutting works best? For example, I suspect I don't feel comfortable with chopping cuts (no motion in the direction of the spine of the knife) because I started cooking with dull knives and its easier to cut things with a high cutting speed.
- Do you observe a knife dulling faster with any of these techniques? From a machining standpoint, I've been told that running with too slow speed dulls the tool bit (I'm not a machinist, don't quote me). Is there an analogy here? Does chopping dull the knife appreciably more than a pull or push cut?
- Does food release change with pull/push/chop or is it a purely knife dependent property?
- Is push/pull/chop any different with a workhorse vs laser?