Placement of knives and forks
When eating, it is 8-shaped. If you have a short break in the middle of a meal, you can put the knife and fork on the plate separately. The knife head and fork tip are in the shape of "I" or "I", and the knife and fork are facing yourself, indicating that you want to continue eating. If you are talking, you can hold the knife and fork, but if you need to make gestures, you should put it down and never wave it in the air. It should be noted that at no time should one end of a knife and fork be placed on a plate and the other end on a table. Knife and fork not only cut food into the mouth, but also has another very important function: the way the knife and fork are placed conveys the message of "eating" or "ending eating". According to this information, the waiter can judge whether the guests have eaten or not, so he wants to remember the correct way to place the tableware. It is particularly important to note that the blade side must face itself. After eating, you can turn the bottom of the fork up, put the blade side of the knife together with the fork and put it on the plate in parallel. The following placement methods are divided into English and French. Both methods are ok, but the most common one is French: try to put your hand on the plate to avoid falling off because of touch, and the waiter can clean it easily. When attending a wedding reception, put the tableware in the "eating" position anyway, and put away all the dishes as soon as the host and guest finish eating. Therefore, when hosting a banquet, remember to take the guest as the center. At the banquet, each dish uses a pair of knives and forks, and the knives and forks placed in front of you are taken from the outside in turn, because the order in which the knives and forks are placed is exactly the order in which each dish is served. When the knife and fork are used up, the serving is over. When you need to talk or rest halfway, put the knife and fork on both sides of the plate in a figure of eight. On the contrary, the knife and fork handles are placed side by side on the plate, indicating that the dish has been used and the waiter will take the plate away. For appetizers or desserts, if they can be eaten directly with a fork, there is no need to deliberately use a knife. In family dinners or informal dinners with friends, soft dishes such as salad or egg-filled rice can only be eaten with a fork. But using knives and forks at formal parties can give people a more elegant and tidy feeling. In addition, in Europe and other places, people can often be seen eating with a fork in their right hand and bread in their left hand. No matter how neat and elegant you eat, you can only eat it at home or in public stores, and it is absolutely not feasible in high-end restaurants. Unused knives can be left on the table as they are, and the waiter will take them away automatically.
How to hold a knife and fork
The formal usage is to use a knife and fork in pairs, with a knife in the right hand and a fork in the left hand. Knives are used to cut food, and forks are used to send food to the entrance. It should be noted that forks and spoons can be put into your mouth, but knives can't be put into your mouth, whether there is food on them or not. The grip of the fork is to straighten the index finger and press the back of the fork. In addition to holding the knife in the same way as a fork, you can also hold the joint between the handle and the blade tightly with your thumb and forefinger. You can choose a simpler way to eat according to your cooking. Hold your thumb against the side, then straighten your index finger, press the back of the knife and fork respectively, and clamp them hard. This is the way to eat meat dishes or hard dishes. Pinch the joint between the handle and the blade with your thumb and forefinger, and then gently buckle the handle with your other fingers. Hold the fork as above. This is the way to eat fish dishes or soft dishes. If you hold it with all your fingers, it will destroy the overall balance. Holding it with your thumb and forefinger is the key to holding a knife and fork. Seasoning spoon is a unique tableware in French cuisine. Although it has existed before, it has only recently become popular. At one time, thick sauce was very popular in French cuisine. Even with a knife, you can get a sauce, but later, lighter sauces became popular. Therefore, in order to obtain the sauce, the seasoning must be improved again with a spoon. When changing knives with spoons or spices, you must hold the spoon in your right hand and the fork in your left hand. The spoon is held in the same way as a pen. When cutting food with seasoning and spoon, the grip is the same as that of a knife. But when you take the sauce, you should hold it like a spoon. After the food is cut, scoop up the vegetables and sauces on the plate and eat them.
Can you cut it all before eating it with your right hand? It doesn't matter whether you are at home or in a relaxed store, but it's best to avoid it in high-end restaurants. It is also inappropriate to change the fork to the right hand in a high-end restaurant. If you are not used to holding a fork with your left hand, you may find it difficult, but once you can use it flexibly, you will enjoy eating.
The use of knives and forks
Knife and fork have different specifications and sizes according to different uses. When eating meat, whether you want to cut it with a knife or not, you should use a big knife. When eating salads, sweets or some appetizers, use a medium-sized knife. The fork or spoon generally varies with the size of the knife.
The basic action of cooking after serving is "cutting with a knife in your right hand and fork with a fork in your left hand". Press the left end of the dish with a fork and fix it. After cutting the dish into a bite along the side of the fork with a knife, the fork can directly fork the dish and send it to the mouth. Simply put, it means "hold it down with a fork first, then cut it with a knife".
Too high elbows on both sides will make the knife and fork angle too large and upright; On the other hand, if the elbow is too low, the knife and fork will fall off and it will be impossible to cut the food well. Relax your shoulders and wrists, don't open your arms, and keep the angle between the knife and the plate at about 15 degrees. Here is a summary of seven points: sitting and cooking; Relax your shoulders and wrists; Keep your arms close to your body; Elbows should not be too high or too low; Knife and fork tilt to the plate; Hold the dish tightly with a fork; Move the knife gently, but hold it firmly. This not only makes it easy to cut food, but also looks quite elegant. The way the knife moves is also reasonable. First, the fork in the left hand is hard, and then the knife is gently moved. Be careful not to use force when pulling the knife backward, but to use force when pressing the knife forward, so as to cut the food neatly. If the elbows on both sides are too high, the angle between the knife and fork will be too large to cut the food neatly. Don't tilt the knife and fork too much. The fork can be changed freely according to the characteristics of cooking, which is convenient for eating. When eating with a fork, the back of the fork must face up. However, when eating with a spoon, the fork should face up. British people and Americans have different eating habits. When eating meat and vegetables, the Englishman holds a fork in his left hand, with the tip of the fork facing down, and sends the meat upright into his mouth. If it is a burnt vegetable, he puts it on a fork with a knife and sends it to his mouth. Americans cut meat like this, then put down the knife in their right hand and change forks. The fork is pointed up and inserted under the meat. Without knives, they shoveled up the meat and sent it to their mouths. This is the same as shoveling up and eating burnt vegetables.
If there is a dish with sauce, you can also scrape off the sauce with a knife, and then put the dish and sauce into your mouth with a spoon or sauce. It's a mistake to fork it up and then pour the sauce on it with a spoon, because in this way, when the food is delivered to your mouth, the sauce will drip everywhere and make a mess. When scooping vegetables with a fork, hold the fork in your left hand, put the food in the fork belly on the front of the fork and send it to your mouth. If you don't need a knife, you can eat with a fork in your right hand in a relaxed occasion with friends. When the flour and rice in the dish gathers, it can be blocked with a knife and then scooped up with a fork. You can also use a spoon instead of a knife. Gather the dishes on the spoon with a fork, and then send the food into the mouth with a spoon.
When eating salad, cut the big lettuce leaves into small pieces with a fork. If it's not delicious, you can use a knife and fork. Cut one piece at a time. Don't cut the whole bowl of salad into small pieces at once. If the salad is on a big plate, use a salad fork. If you put it with the main course, you should fork it with the main course. If salad is a separate dish between the main course and dessert, it is usually eaten with cheese and cornflakes. First take a slice or two of bread and put it in your salad plate, then take two or three pieces of cornflakes. Cheese and salad should be eaten with a fork, and cornflakes should be eaten with your hands.
When eating asparagus, if there is soup in the asparagus dish, cut it into small pieces first, then use a knife and fork. If asparagus is very big and needs to be dipped in juice, cut off the head first and then eat it separately to prevent the juice from dropping and dropping. You can also dip the stem in your hand and eat it. For small asparagus, you can dip it with your hands.
Potato chips and chips are eaten by hand, unless there is juice in the chips, in which case a fork should be used. Small potato chips can also be eaten with forks. If the potato chips are too big to use, fork them with a fork instead of biting them. Put the ketchup on the edge of the plate, hold it in your hand or dip it with a fork. Baked potatoes are often cut when you eat them. If not, cut it from the top with a knife. Crush the potatoes slightly with your hand or fork, add cream or yogurt, cream and onion, salt and pepper, one at a time. You can eat with skin.
You can't change the position of the set tableware at will, but if you are left-handed, you can exchange knives and forks when eating. Just after eating, the tableware must be placed according to the right-handed usage, and the handle of the knife and fork should be placed on the right side of the plate. The main reason for this is that we don't want to bring trouble to the service personnel.
How to hold a knife and fork
Using knives and forks in pairs is a formal usage. Knife in right hand, fork in left hand. Just like chopsticks, knives are used to cut food and forks are used to send food to the entrance. It should be noted that never use a knife to send food into your mouth. The grip of the fork is to straighten the index finger and press the back of the fork. In addition to holding the knife in the same way as a fork, you can also hold the joint between the handle and the blade tightly with your thumb and forefinger. You can choose a simpler way to eat according to your cooking. Hold your thumb against the side, then straighten your index finger, press the back of the knife and fork respectively, and clamp them hard. This is the way to eat meat dishes or hard dishes. Pinch the joint between the handle and the blade with your thumb and forefinger, and then gently buckle the handle with your other fingers. Hold the fork as above. This is the way to eat fish dishes or soft dishes. If you hold it with all your fingers, it will destroy the overall balance. Holding it with your thumb and forefinger is the key to holding a knife and fork. Seasoning is a spoon, which is a unique tableware in French cuisine. Although it has existed before, it has only recently become popular. At one time, thick sauce was very popular in French cuisine. Even with a knife, you can get a sauce, but later, lighter sauces became popular. Therefore, in order to obtain the sauce, the existing seasoning must be improved again with a spoon. When changing knives with spoons or spices, you must hold the spoon in your right hand and the fork in your left hand. The spoon is held in the same way as a pen. When cutting food with seasoning and spoon, the grip is the same as that of a knife. But when you take the sauce, you should hold it like a spoon. After the food is cut, scoop up the vegetables and sauces on the plate and eat them. Can you cut it all before eating it with your right hand? It doesn't matter whether you are at home or in a relaxed store, but it's best to avoid it in high-end restaurants. For example, in a high-end restaurant, you will never hold your rice bowl to your mouth and stutter, just like at home. Similarly, in high-end restaurants, it is not appropriate to change the fork into a right-handed one. If you are not used to holding a fork with your left hand, you may find it difficult, but once you can use it flexibly, you will enjoy eating.