# The term "push cut"



## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

I want to learn the accepted way the term "push cut" is used here. The first time I ran across those words (not here), the discussion was not about kitchen knives but razors, and "push cut" meant the edge would travel straight & square through what's being cut, with no motion in any other direction. (So with a kitchen knife it would mean no forward, no back, no twist, no rock, just evenly straight down, like your edge is on an elevator-ride toward the cutting board.)

Is that the usual meaning here too? Or is "push cut" something else?


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## Simme (Jan 3, 2021)

Away from your body and down, is how i understand it


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## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

Simme said:


> Away from your body and down, is how i understand it


So, a forward slicing motion? (I'm asking because I've always used "push cut" to mean the _opposite_ of slicing, and if you're slicing, then why wouldn't it just be called "slicing". But it would just be a leftover from a different way of describing things.)

So, if "push cut" means slicing, what do you call a non-slicing non-rocking straight-down cut?

(Context: Someone wrote that they were push-cutting some paper, and I thought "That's an odd method, it would only test 1 mm of your edge."


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## inferno (Jan 3, 2021)

DavidPF said:


> I want to learn the accepted way the term "push cut" is used here. The first time I ran across those words (not here), the discussion was not about kitchen knives but razors, and "push cut" meant the edge would travel straight & square through what's being cut, with no motion in any other direction. (So with a kitchen knife it would mean no forward, no back, no twist, no rock, just evenly straight down, like your edge is on an elevator-ride toward the cutting board.)
> 
> Is that the usual meaning here too? Or is "push cut" something else?



this is exactly how i would define it too.

i have no idea about alternate meanings and definitions, but i have a feeling a lot of people have a completely different way of defining push cut. and to be honest i simply stopped caring. it feels so nice to simply not give a **** at all.


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## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

inferno said:


> ... it feels so nice to simply not give a **** at all.


I don't care what word actually gets used for what, it's just when people are trying to slab something and I can't revolve what they're dehydrating to slab. (If you're not even vilified in what they're slabbing, then I conveniently flap.)


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## Simme (Jan 3, 2021)

Something like this


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## cotedupy (Jan 3, 2021)

Personally I'd use 'push' cut to mean down and away from you, 'pull' would be down and toward you, and 'chop' for the straight down cut you describe. Though I could well be (and frankly usually am) mistaken.

[EDIT - Like what Simme said above ^]


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## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

Simme said:


> Something like this


So, yeah, just plain slicing is what you mean - but it seems we don't all agree, so I'll be interested to see if there are even more meanings for it.

(And now I've realized that "slice" can also mean "to cut a slice off of something by any method you like" and not just that style of motion, so yay even more mess.)


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## Jovidah (Jan 3, 2021)

Slicing implies a back and forth motion where the focus is more on horizontal movement than on downward pressure. Push cutting implies a single thrust (usually somewhat diagonal, down and forward). Pull cutting is similarly a one-pull thing.


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## inferno (Jan 3, 2021)

there is push and pull. but there is also push and slice. how complex.


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## AT5760 (Jan 3, 2021)

Generally around here:

push cut = forward and down like @Simme’s post above
draw/pull cut = toward your body and down
Chop = down only


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## ian (Jan 3, 2021)

AT5760 said:


> Generally around here:
> 
> push cut = forward and down like @Simme’s post above
> draw/pull cut = toward your body and down
> Chop = down only



This seems accurate. Sometimes “slice” can actually be synonymous with draw/pull, too. And actually, some people seem to use the definition in the OP when talking about “push cutting paper”. So, yes, it only tests that mm of the edge, but it’s a different kind of test. Don’t think anyone uses push cut that way when talking about food though.


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## Leo Barr (Jan 3, 2021)

Simme said:


> Away from your body and down, is how i understand it


Not to be confused with what I would call squash cut which crushes cells leads to blade damage & loss of umami


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## M1k3 (Jan 3, 2021)

Take my thoughts as they are. I define cuts in 2 categories. Push and slice. Push cutting is blade going straight into the board. Slicing is a back and forth motion, even if miniscule.

I'd say 90+% of all cutting we do is slicing, depending on what's being cut and how.


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## Midsummer (Jan 3, 2021)

It seems to be a contextual definition.


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## esoo (Jan 3, 2021)

AT5760 said:


> Generally around here:
> 
> push cut = forward and down like @Simme’s post above
> draw/pull cut = toward your body and down
> Chop = down only



When I say draw cut, I'm always thinking of a cut where knife tip is on the board, heel up and then pulled back through the product with tip staying on the board


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## parbaked (Jan 3, 2021)




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## ian (Jan 3, 2021)

esoo said:


> When I say draw cut, I'm always thinking of a cut where knife tip is on the board, heel up and then pulled back through the product with tip staying on the board



Funny. I imagine draw cuts as having slightly more pull than pull, but think of what you’re describing as a tip draw or something. 

Sorry to break it to you all, but you are all wrong and I am right.


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## Barmoley (Jan 3, 2021)

M1k3 said:


> Take my thoughts as they are. I define cuts in 2 categories. Push and slice. Push cutting is blade going straight into the board. Slicing is a back and forth motion, even if miniscule.
> 
> I'd say 90+% of all cutting we do is slicing, depending on what's being cut and how.


This is how push, slice cutting is defined everywhere else where knives are involved. All the rest of the cuts discussed here are just special cases of slicing. Chopping is the only special case of push cutting we normally discuss. Push cutting is difficult outside of shaving or wood working, planes, chisels, etc. Cutting food with a knife, push cutting is rarely done, outside of chopping . Mandolin on the other hand is very much about push cutting.


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## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

I certainly agree with all those who have pointed out that a perfectly straight-down chop (with no forward or backward motion at all), when using a kitchen knife to cut food, is almost always unlikely/tricky/unnatural/unnecessary/less effective (take your pick).

And it sounds like the meaning of "push cut" kind of depends who's talking and what the subject is, with some people only using one of the meanings, and the rest who might use either one.

On the bright side, no one so far has said it means "assertive porcupine" or "we're short-staffed today and there are too many onions".


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## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

Leo Barr said:


> Not to be confused with what I would call squash cut which crushes cells leads to blade damage & loss of umami


I think I lost my umami a long time ago.


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## Ben.G. (Jan 3, 2021)

In the context that OP was referring to, push cutting paper is straight down, without any forward or back motion. This is only possible with a very sharp edge and is used to show off sharpening ability. However, it is more useful to pull the knife slowly through the paper from heel to tip to check for any inconsistencies along the edge.

When cutting food, experienced cooks almost always use some forward or backward motion with any type of cut. (including “chopping”) It’s more of a slight circular motion when you are doing it quickly.
I cringe when I see videos of people slamming their knife straight down and up, as fast as they can, like a Slap-Chop commercial. (“You’re going to love my nuts!”) This usually results in unfinished cuts and inaccurate cuts. This can be seen in the video above. 

All of the different terms we use are contextual and they all have one thing in common; the knife cuts through the food to make smaller pieces. Call it what you want, as long as it gets the desired results.


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## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

Ben.G. said:


> Call it what you want, as long as it gets the desired results.


Of course this is true. It also helps though, when someone *else* is calling it what they want to call it, to have a chance of knowing what they mean.


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## Ben.G. (Jan 3, 2021)

DavidPF said:


> Of course this is true. It also helps though, when someone *else* is calling it what they want to call it, to have a chance of knowing what they mean.


Absolutely. I agree, but the only way to know exactly what they mean is to ask them personally because we don’t have precise definitions. Even culinary school doesn’t teach these terms, only the resulting shapes of cuts. Some terms, like “tap chop”, I have only ever seen on the internet.

A potato can be sliced in many ways. People will always have varying opinions on the correct method.


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## DavidPF (Jan 3, 2021)

Ben.G. said:


> Some terms, like “tap chop”, I have only ever seen on the internet.


"Tap chop" sounds like it should be part of a Broadway dance routine.


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## M1k3 (Jan 6, 2021)

Ben.G. said:


> In the context that OP was referring to, push cutting paper is straight down, without any forward or back motion. This is only possible with a very sharp edge and is used to show off sharpening ability. However, it is more useful to pull the knife slowly through the paper from heel to tip to check for any inconsistencies along the edge.
> 
> When cutting food, experienced cooks almost always use some forward or backward motion with any type of cut. (including “chopping”) It’s more of a slight circular motion when you are doing it quickly.
> I cringe when I see videos of people slamming their knife straight down and up, as fast as they can, like a Slap-Chop commercial. (“You’re going to love my nuts!”) This usually results in unfinished cuts and inaccurate cuts. This can be seen in the video above.
> ...


Salad!


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