There is a right way and a wrong way to hold a knife, but really, this article is not here to judge you. You can hold your knife any number of wrong ways and still get dinner on the table.
But if you hold it the right way, you might become a happier cook.
"It's not that if you don't hold your knife like a chef that you're a failure," says Alison Cayne, founder of the cooking school Haven's Kitchen and author of The Haven's Kitchen Cooking School. "It's that you won't enjoy the process of cooking as much."
The right way to hold a knife can be easily summarized in one directive: choke up on it. To do this, identify the bolster of your knife—it's the ridge that separates the handle from the blade. Place your thumb and forefinger just above the bolster and pinch the bottom of the blade. Wrap your other three fingers around your knife's handle.
Holding the knife this way is an exercise in control. Knives are unwieldy things. They'll wiggle and waver and flip and flop—especially on, say, the surface of slippery onions—if you don't hold them steady enough. The lower on the handle you hold your knife, the less control you'll have over where your blade goes. The higher on the blade you choke up, the more you can direct the blade's movements.
And this control, Cayne says, leads to happier cooking. Choking up "gives you more control, it feels better in your hand, your arm doesn't get tired, and you're able to prep more quickly—which, again, makes cooking less of a chore."
Choking up isn't possible for all knives. It's not an option for paring knives, obviously. And many utility knives have blades that are too thin to choke up on. Choke up on your bigger knives—your chef's knives and santokus.
But don't be surprised if choking up on just some of your knives make you feel better about using all of your knives—and about cooking overall. "One of the quickest ways you can gain confidence in the kitchen is to gain control over your knife," Cayne says. "It's a good hack."