Do you peel towards or away?

[CanadaGirl]

I have always used vegetable peelers away from me, but I've noticed most cooking show folks go towards themselves with them. I find towards awkward, but that's probably due to my years of going away.

Wondering which technique is actually more common.

[uman]

toward.....Jacques Pepin once commented on his show that when he was an apprentice his chef would kick him in the butt if he peeled away...

[scubadoo97]

I like using the Y peeler and find I do carrots not towards or away but sideways on most occasions but if doing it over the trash it's definitely away

[Hank Hanover]

I do it away from me, mostly for safety.

I am no Chef Sakai from the original Japanese version of Iron Chef. That guy would take a razor sharp paring knife and peel it directly into his thumb fast as lightning and never, ever cut himself!

I don't do it for the extra speed. What am I gonna do peel 3 carrots? ... maybe?

[Chemicalkinetics]

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-xkL9...

[racer x]

I've never acquired the dexterity to confidently use a paring knife for peeling.
I nearly always use a peeler, and peel away from me (which usually equates to downward).
It's really pretty fast -- carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, squash, ginger, ...

But now that I've read this thread, I'll try back and forth next time with the longer vegetables.

[Chemicalkinetics]

If we are talking about a straight peeler, then I peel away from me.
If we are talking about a Y-shape or T-shaped peeler, then I mostly peel toward me.
If we are talking about a paring knife, then I initially peeled away from me, but learned to peel toward me and have been peeling toward myself ever since.

[meatn3]

I'm a klutz so I've always figured "away" held less potential for bodily injury!

[susans]

I notice that when I peel away, the result is thinner than when I peel to me, but that may just be me. Given that, carrots and other thin-skinned stuff gets peeled away and potatoes, cukes, etc. are peeled towards me. Peeling towards me also is more controlled, so that's the technique I choose when more control is important.

[shallots]

Somebody laughed at me peeling carrots a month ago. She'd never seen a carrot peeled with combined backward and foreward action, as I turned the carrot.

She was surprised how fast I could work that way with no wasted motion.

She now peels carrots my way.

Try it, you might like it.

[bushwickgirl]

I do the same as everyone else here on any given day; towards or away from me, knife or peeler. Sometimes I don't peel at all, especially potatoes.

Tip: restaurant cooks and prep people often have to peel 50# bags of carrots and want to finish as rapidly as possible. I run my peeler up and down the carrot, while holding the top nub and resting the bottom tip of the carrot on the cutting board on an angle; rotate the carrot with your fingertips and wrist as you peel, and you'll be done in no time.

[MazDee]

One day when I was a prep cook, I was peeling carrots, away from me. The chef walked by and said "that thing goes both ways, you know." Hah! Of course he was right, and it's much faster. I still do that for thin skins like carrots, potatoes and cukes. Toward me for apples, eggplants.

[jvanderh]

interesting.

[calliope_nh]

Carrots and cukes away. Apples, with a paring knife toward. Butternut squash toward with what I think of as a squash peeler. The handle is Y shaped with a horizontal blade. Potatoes? I can't remember the last time I peeled one, but that would have been toward. Now I just cut out eyes & spots with a paring knife. Beets toward.

[Quine]

First reaction, away from me, Then read Becca' response and yeah! I do that, then I read IAPC response and yeah and that's exactly what I do. Round objects toward straight objects away.

[odkaty]

Both. With a knife I peel toward me, away with a peeler.

[mnosyne]

Me too!

[mnosyne]

When i got a Messermeister peeler and did "toward me" , I did myself grievous bodily harm!

[petek]

"Both. With a knife I peel toward me, away with a peeler."

+1 ^ this.

[chefathome]

For some odd reason I peel potatoes faster with a paring knife than a peeler but when I do use the peeler for carrots I do it away from me.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Toward offers the greatest control, so I usually use it for more difficult things with thicker skins, such as apples. Away is fastest, so I use it for easy, thin-skinned vegetables such as carrots and potatoes.

[inaplasticcup]

Let's see... Potatoes and apples toward and/or around as if I were using a paring knife and carrots mostly away. But I always feel more in control of it when it's toward.

[monavano]

Both. I truly do not believe there's a right or wrong way. I use a traditional peeler and have never gotten used to the "vertical" type which dictates you peel towards. A traditional "horizontal" peeler allows me to go both ways.

[Becca Porter]

I peel carrots away, and apples towards me. It seems the easiest way to me.