You can cut prep time in half by knowing how the knife works

I don't aspire to be a professional chef myself. I think I can safely speak for a good 49% of the population—and a good 95% of the population over, say, 50—in confiding that making stock or julienning carrots for hours on end doesn't constitute a career goal but cruel and unusual punishment.On the other hand, it would be very cool to be able to cut up stuff like a three-star chef, to carve a celery stalk into a hundred wafer thin slivers in seconds flat, employing minimal energy and motion, while preventing my index finger from becoming part of the salad.The personable Mr. McDermott promised that by the end of the three-hour class we would. "You can cut prep time in half by knowing how the knife works," he explained.He's also a bit of a proselytizer, as most good chefs are these days. Their interest isn't only in making sauces or steak but also instructing us how to save the planet from ourselves. "The average U.S. family throws away $400 to $500 a year in food," he explained, insisting that most kitchen scraps, even carrot peels and onion skins, could go into the creation of first-class stock.
I'm as interested in saving the planet as the next guy, though perhaps slightly less than my daughter who will only eat meat if it's sustainably raised, humanely slaughtered, and costs roughly triple what I'm used to paying for chicken or pork. But first things first. How do I chop so fast and smooth I look like Superman when Clark Kent made the keys on his typewriter smoke while knocking out a story for the Daily Planet before saving the Earth from an incoming asteroid?"Speed and accuracy comes from using the back half of the knife," Mr. McDermott explained. It's sort of illogical when you think about it. If he's right, why do knives come to a point in the first place, except to cause injuries?The secret apparently involves exercising control and maximizing leverage. In other words, it's all in the wrist. And the elbow. Also, if whatever you're cutting resists, don't try to power through it; draw the knife back and try again.We were mesmerized and he hadn't even started chopping yet. Mr. McDermott walked us through the only four knives we'd ever need: a chef's knife (that's the big, scary looking one); a Santoku, a Japanese utility knife; a small paring knife; and a serrated knife. He also answered a question that I've had for years: Does the honing steel I own that's a metal rod with a handle at the end actually sharpen my knife when I run it back and forth across the rod, because it certainly doesn't feel like it's making any difference?