How To Use A Potato Peeler
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How To Use A Potato Peeler
Chef Paul Ellis takes us through this handy guide to the most essential of all kitchen skills: potato peeling. He talks us through the various different techniques and peelers available.
My name is Paul Ellis and I run the time and time again cookery school in West Sussex and I'm going to share some culinary tips with you.
I'm going to show you how to use a potato peeler. I've got two types.
I've actually got three different peelers, two with a different type of grip. Now in my kitchen I use a speed peeler. Really, really simple to use, nice and lightweight and its got a one way motion.
You know I have my potato in my hand, I'm literally taking and following the potato round and there's literally less waste. They're nice and light but a lot of people don't like using these, people like to feel that they've got a grip in a different way when they use them. Now we've got two domestic peelers: one with a nice sort of spongy feel to it, a nice sort of grip to it, a nice rubber feel to it for them to sort of grip on and claw onto rather than holding the peeler this way they prefer to grip it as a claw and take it holding the thumb on top of the potato and bring it down, and peel it down towards them.
Good thing about these though you can actually go the other way as you go away from you but I always feel as a chef its always good to have full control and having your thumb on top of the potato, or the bottom, and bring it towards you, nice even stripes down come from the potato.
Again, we have a different type of peeler as well, we have one with less grip you know again very lightweight, I mean people like to feel there is weight on there very lightweight, a less spongy feel to the handle but again, you know, just as easy to use. And what I do, again, what I like about this is that you can peel forward and backward.
I like to have my thumb on top of the potato and bring in the potato peeler towards me and get a nice feel to the vegetable as we peel down. It's definitely, it comes down to a personal preference on what you like. I prefer the speed peeler, some people prefer to use the one with the nice spongy feel grip, they feel they're got more of a claw grip to it or a nice lightweight but they all do a very similar job.
And that's how to use a potato peeler.