The Home Chef: Transforming the American Kitchen by Perry P Perkins

Author:Perry P Perkins [Perkins, Perry P]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Elk Mountain Books
Published: 2017-07-06T04:00:00+00:00

A work of art: the proper way to chop

If you’re going to spend any time in the kitchen, you’re going to have to learn how to chop vegetables. Proper chopping, slicing, and dicing techniques help us reduce waste, stay safe, and improve the taste and texture of our dishes.

Those of us who grew up under tyrannical chef-fathers, toiling away in the Dickens-esque sweat-shops of their prep kitchens (sorry Dad, just trying to make a point…), may have spent months, or even years, doing little else than chopping veggies, and take the techniques required in stride.

For those who grew up playing outdoors, with other children, in the sunlight…the following steps will walk you through how to prepare almost any fresh vegetable for cooking, in your own kitchen.

Getting Ready

First, we need to prepare our veggies for chopping, as necessary, by rinsing, peeling, trimming, discarding roots etc.

It doesn’t matter how pretty, clean, or pristine they looked at the grocery store, there’s always the chance of residual contaminates from chemicals, pesticides, “color enhancers”, and, of course, that teenage stock-boy’s hands. Rinse your veggies!

Next, make sure to use the right knife for each job.

A paring knife has a 3-4″ long blade and is used for peeling and paring fruit and vegetables, and for trimming where a larger chef’s knife would be unwieldy. A good chef’s knife will typically have a blade 8″ – 12″ long. This is the one you’ll use for slicing, dicing, chopping, mincing, and keeping nosy in-laws out of your kitchen.

The side of the blade is great for crushing garlic, as well.

Now, before we start whacking away at our veggies, how do we want the final result to look?

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