Cooking Tips - Know the cuts and Kitchen Cutting Board

JD

September 27, 2019

0

cooking-tips

The cutting board is the center of a cook’s work. If your board is in order, your cooking is off to a good start.

Set Up Your Board

First, make sure the board isn’t going to slide around the counter as you
work. Some boards have nonslip grips on the bottom or sides. If yours
doesn’t, place either a square of damp paper towel or small pieces of
shelf liner between the counter and the cutting board to firmly anchor it
before you do anything else.

A Place for Everything

Organizing your prepared ingredients into little bowls isn’t just for TV
chefs—it’s actually really useful. This setup makes it easy to grab an
ingredient and add it to a hot pan at just the right moment, and it keeps
the prepped ingredients from crowding your cutting board.

Keep It Clean

As you’re prepping your ingredients, don’t just push the trimmings and
skins to the side; this reduces the usable area on your board, and those
trimmings have a way of getting back into the mix. Instead, place a small
bowl or plastic grocery bag at the side of your board for everything that’s
destined for the trash or compost.

KNOW YOUR CUTS

The language of cutting can seem mystifying—chopping, dicing, mincing.
What exactly is the difference? It may not seem like it would matter that
much, but because cooking times are calibrated for ingredients cut to a
particular size, food that’s cut incorrectly won’t cook right. Here are some
explanations for a few common and sometimes confusing prep terms
that you should know.

“chopped fine” / “chopped” / “chopped coarse”
Chopping is the most general word for cutting food into small pieces, but
the size designations have pretty specific meanings. “Chopped fine”

corresponds to food cut into ⅛- to ¼-inch pieces, “chopped” to ¼- to ½-
inch pieces, and “chopped coarse” to ½- to ¾-inch pieces.

“diced”

We don’t call for dicing (“chopped” works fine for us) but if you see the
term, it refers to food cut into uniform cubes, which can be large or
small. Since most ingredients don’t have right angles, not every piece will
be a perfect cube; just do your best.

“minced”

Minced ingredients are cut into ⅛-inch pieces or smaller; this is likely the
smallest cut most recipes will call for. Pungent ingredients such as garlic
and herbs are often minced to make them easier to evenly distribute
throughout a dish.

“sliced”

In general, slicing calls for cutting food into pieces with two flat edges
(the thickness will depend on the recipe). Orb-shaped foods like onions
are difficult to slice whole because they do not sit on a flat side. Unless
whole sliced onion rings are the goal, halve an onion pole to pole, peel it,
sit it on a cut side, and then slice.

“matchsticks”

Also known as “julienne,” this refers to cutting food into matchstick-size
pieces, ¼ inch thick (or less) and 2 inches long, unless otherwise
specified. Start by cutting the ingredient into 2-inch-long segments, then
cut each segment into ¼-inch-thick planks. Working with a few planks at
a time, stack the planks and cut them into ¼-inch-thick matchsticks.

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