This read is for the person who's never been in a professional kitchen before but is considering entering the profession or beginning (as well as finishing) culinary school. This is a reality check as well as a source of knowledge from experience that I would have appreciated reading before beginning down this path myself.

I write this because when I started cooking, I often wondered if anybody out there had taken the time to share what they had learned to make this game easier, or more efficient, or less painful. I write this to share what I have learned and what I've passed onto my co-workers either passively or intentionally. The same tenets here apply to the barista, as well as to any skilled chef.

The chef's knife is the most important tool in the kitchen. The home cook, line cook, or executive chef should take pride in having their tools perform at peak performance.  Not only is it disrespectful to the ingredients to use a knife as dull as a baseball bat, but there is nothing more dangerous than a dull knife. I've seen a coworker stab straight through the fleshy part of his hand from a miscalculation with a knife dulled by animal fat and sinew. This knowledge matters.