Cutting & Peeling Food

Picking out a cutting board can feel like a daunting task these days, between all of the shapes, sizes, and materials available. What’s plain to see, though, with a quick browse on Amazon or a stroll through your kitchen supply store, is the amount of bamboo boards on the market. While they look attractive and come with a reasonable price tag, what’s actually the deal with bamboo cutting boards? Here are five basic things to know in order to decide if this material is best for you.

You finally took the plunge and invested in a good knife — or maybe a few good knives. Either way, you’ve spent good money and your blades deserve a storage place that will keep their edges pristine for as long as possible. Here’s what not to do, and three ways to do it right. Tossing your knives in a drawer along with other kitchen gadgets and cutlery is a lousy idea.

You don’t need any fancy grips or gadgets to keep your cutting board in place while you work — you just need some good old-fashioned ingenuity. This little trick, which is common practice among professional chefs, will save that board from sliding all over the counter while you dice and chop. It’s of utmost importance to keep your board from slipping while cutting; it’s knife safety 101.

I have been using the same single cutting board for several years. It is bamboo, maybe? I think it is bamboo. I am happy with it, but are my knives happy with it? Is it the best kind of cutting board? Am I secretly doing something that is ruining them in some way I do not yet know of but will live to regret? If you have these questions, too, read on to find out what your knives want you to know about cutting boards. This is arguably an overstatement. There are uses for glass cutting boards.

The next time a recipe calls for minced garlic or chiles, this is exactly how you want to use your knife to produce that cut.

Want to know a secret to better knife work? One that doesn’t require a new knife or more practice or a sharpening stone? Here’s a little-known tip for working better, faster, and smarter that starts not with your knife, but with your cutting board. A common cutting mistake is using a cutting board that is too small for your knife.

Trying to get the most juice out of limes can be tough. We have a whole bunch of tricks on the site for how to get the job done, including rolling limes and putting them in the microwave. I thought I had seen it all until a post popped up on Reddit, which includes an image that indicates we should be cutting our limes in a different way to get the most juice. Have you tried this? Does it actually make a difference? I needed to find out.

Packing lunch every day can get boring, but here’s a fun and inexpensive way to make it more fun. My colleague Meghan makes lunch for her kids each day and, on a hunt to keep her “lunch-packing spark alive,” she stumbled on the cutest little way to pack up condiments for lunch boxes. Meghan stumbled upon these condiment containers made for Japanese bento boxes and instantly fell in love.

This is what a julienne cut looks like and how it's frequently used in recipes.

A good knife should last pretty much forever — that is, if you take good care of it. But what exactly does that mean? We asked our “cutting board” of knife experts to weigh in. Here’s what they had to say. This may seem obvious, but it’s worth saying: Never put your knife in the dishwasher. Why not, you ask? Well, there are two big risks, according to Taylor Erkkinen, founder of Brooklyn Kitchen. The first is that you’ll dull your blade.

Keep your knife skills sharp by knowing just what a recipe means when it calls for an ingredient to be finely chopped.

With sharp, jagged teeth, serrated knives are the kitchen equivalent of a saw. The long and powerful blade is quick to grip food and strong enough to slice through just about anything in its path. Here are five more ways you should be putting your serrated knife to work, beyond cutting through a crusty loaf of bread. We already know this is the knife to reach for when slicing a big, juicy beefsteak tomato, but it’s also the best tool for slicing a lot of cherry tomatoes at once.

Chopping is a common method for cutting food, and is often used interchangeably with dicing. Stay sharp in the kitchen by knowing just what a recipe means when it calls for chopped ingredients, why that cut is used, and what it looks like. Chopped ingredients are cut to similar, bite-sized pieces, but unlike diced ingredients, they can be irregularly shaped. Chopped ingredients, like vegetables and herbs, are used in recipes when the precision of uniformity isn’t necessary.

File your paring knife under the category of “small but mighty tools.” With a blade that averages about three inches in length, this is the knife we reach for when our chef’s knife feels a bit too cumbersome. In addition to peeling and trimming fruit and vegetables, here are five smart ways you can put your paring knife to work. While serrated knives are your best choice for slicing tomatoes, you’ll want to reach for a small paring knife to remove the core.

Cutting with dull knives not only makes prep worker harder, but it’s also dangerous. Unfortunately, there’s no set interval to tell us how often to sharpen these trusty tools, but there are a few telltale signs that will keep you clued in. Not quite sure if it’s time to sharpen your knife? Put it to one of these five tests to find out. It’s useful to get familiar with the way the blade of the knife feels, albeit very carefully.

Sized midway between a chef’s knife and a paring knife, this handy general-purpose tool is a jack of all trades that excels at tackling everyday tasks. Here are five smart ways to put this knife to work. Reach for your utility knife to cut and peel mid-sized produce, like large potatoes and apples, small winter squash, and cucumbers. This sturdy knife is just the right tool for slicing through big chunks of cheese.

This month, we’re exploring all the different considerations that go into finding the right knife for you — and there are several. Are you buying your very first knife or are you already a member of the knife club? What are you planning to use the knife for? Are looks important? And what’s your budget? Still, when it comes down to it, there’s one thing that is critical — and that’s how it feels in your hands.

There's no magic trick or secret formula to learning to dice — the only way to improve your dicing skills is to dice more.

If peeling a head of garlic frustrates you as much as it does me, you’ll be happy to know you have options. Head over to the microwave with that garlic and it can make the peeling process a whole lot simpler. And it takes no more than 20 seconds of your time (maybe even less). Toss the whole head of garlic in your microwave and heat it for 20 seconds on high. Check it after 10 seconds — remove the head using oven mitts, since it will be hot, and see if the papery skins feel loose.

Keep your knife skills sharp by avoiding these common mistakes.

The chef’s knife is the do-it-all king of the knife block. We rely on it for most of our slicing, dicing, and chopping, but that’s not all it can do. Here are five more ways to put your chef’s knife to work. When recipes call for smashed garlic cloves, you can use the flat side of your chef’s knife to get the job done. Lay the flat side of the knife over each whole clove with the blade facing away from you and push down with the heel of your hand.

Exactly what does a recipe mean when it calls for an ingredient to be diced? Here’s what that common cut looks like, it’s standard size, and why it’s used in certain recipes. Dice refers to ingredients cut to a small, uniformly sized square. The standard size is a 1/2-inch square. Basically that’s the size of — you guessed it — a die. Of course, the size can vary (some recipes may call for a two-inch dice), but most often this is the size to go with.

For years I had my knives sharpened by a grizzled older gentleman who occasionally drove through my neighborhood in a converted Mr. Softee truck, ringing his bell to summon customers and using the same grinding wheel to hone everything from paring knives to hedge clippers. I loved the price (low) and the convenience (house calls!

Maybe instructions for slicing a tomato seem silly, especially since no matter how you slice a ripe tomato, it will still be meaty, juicy, and mouthwatering with nothing more than a sprinkle of salt. If you’ve ever had a luscious tomato fall apart before you could get it on that BLT, though, you understand that just one important trick means the difference between a sliced tomato and a perfectly sliced tomato. Cutting against the core is the key to keeping slices intact.

Sometimes it’s the littlest things in the kitchen that can elicit the feeling of pure joy. For me, it’s a kitchen tool I received as a wedding gift — one that, right now, is making the bounty of perfectly ripe summer tomatoes even more enjoyable. Roughly the size of a utility knife, with a serrated blade and a sharp, two-pronged tip ideal for coring, tomato knives are a tool of pure genius. For a true tomato-lover, these knives are the darling of the knife block.

Peeling tomatoes is an arduous task whether you blanch the tomatoes or employ a serrated peeler. Some would argue there is rarely a need for peeling tomatoes (the peel is quite edible after all), but some specific instances call for peeling tomatoes to make a better end product. Here are five. Here’s the obvious one: Tiny tomatoes don’t need to be peeled. Large heirloom varieties, with their tender skin, don’t need peeling either.

There are a dozen different ways to cut a tomato, but the best method depends on the tomatoes’ intended use. Tomato wedges are ideal for salads of all kinds — tomato salads, green salads, or for just eating drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. The goal for cutting tomatoes into wedges is to keep the tomatoes’ seed jelly intact once cut. Thinking about how a tomato grows and learning its parts will make slicing it much easier.

There are some kitchen chores that grow tedious when volume becomes a factor. For example, slicing a handful of cherry tomatoes goes quickly, but when you have a pint or two to get through, the task feels daunting. Cutting cherry tomatoes is a necessary evil because slices are easy to eat in salads and cook faster in quick pasta sauces. So how can you cut a bunch of cherry tomatoes in half at once instead of slicing a whole pint one by one? There’s a trick.

Of all the disastrous kitchen scenarios you can face when you show up at a rental cabin or beach house, dull or flimsy knives might be the most painful. So what do you do if the kitchen you’ll be cooking in for the next several days or weeks has crappy knives? Here are a few solutions, depending on how you’re getting to your rental and how long you’re staying.

Sometimes corn cobs need to be halved, whether for a recipe or simply smaller serving sizes, but you can leave that big knife where it is — there’s a better way to split those ears. Instead of using a knife, make this a hands-on task and break the cobs in two. If you’re working with uncooked ears of corn, be sure to shuck the corn to remove the husk and silks first; it’ll make this a much easier job.

Despite the many accolades of Sara Moulton’s long-reaching career (which include positions as executive chef of Gourmet magazine, Food Editor of Good Morning America, and now the host of Sara’s Weeknight Meals), she has, in her own words, “insisted on getting a homemade dinner on the table every night of the week.” Perhaps that’s not too surprising, considering she’s a protégée of Julia Child.

Not all greens are created equal. Some, like spinach, arugula, and chard, are tender and delicate, ready to be eaten as is. Others, like kale and collards, come bearing a tough and fibrous center rib that’s best removed before eating. There are three easy ways to tackle this task; ready to see which one is right for you? If you’re all about keeping things simple and fast, and don’t mind if there are a few stragglers left behind, then this is the approach for you.

Every time I go to cut a winter squash, I find myself holding my breath. Because no matter how sharp my knife is, cutting through its thick skin and dense flesh is never an easy task. So if there’s a way to not risk slicing my fingers off every time I want to cook up a winter squash, be it butternut, acorn, spaghetti, or kabocha, then sign me up. That’s why I immediately had to try this tip for making cutting easier.

Confession: I go through at least a head of garlic a week. Pretty much any dish that’s made in my kitchen starts with peeling and chopping a couple cloves. So when I learned about a tip to make peeling garlic cloves easier, I was intrigued. Would it become a game-changer for my cooking routine? We wrote about the original tip when it gained popularity a few years ago.

Slicing a tomato is pretty boring. In general, just use a serrated knife and aim for uniform steaks. Pop one or two on your burger or salad and dinner is served. But sometimes plating calls for something more inspired. Maybe you’re trying to impress someone, or maybe you just want to treat yourself. Whatever the case may be, you’re in luck! Jacques Pépin has spilled his technique for turning a humble tomato into a work of art.

Citrus zest is one of those fabulous kitchen secret weapons. It brings that bright, sunny flavor you know and expect from citrus fruits, minus the acidity of the juice. But knowing how to zest citrus is only half the battle. The real ticket is knowing how to put that bright zest to work. First, don’t confuse citrus zest and citrus peel. Zest refers to just the thin, colored outer skin, while peel refers to the entire skin, including the outer skin and white pith.

When you’re late getting home from work and you’re already starving for dinner, peeling your vegetables before cooking them probably feels like the last thing you want to be doing. It tacks on a few extra minutes, which on crazed weeknights can feel all too precious. So is it really necessary? Nope! If you wash your vegetables well, organic or not, it’s OK to leave the peel on.

When my child turned 1, it suddenly seemed like the world was conspiring to up her sugar intake. There were lollipops at the supermarket (and the bank), bowls of candy at family nights in our town square, birthday cupcakes at daycare, and fruit snacks at the playground. I had so much sugar anxiety that I once seriously debated skipping a friend’s party when I learned there would be store-bought cupcakes piled high with bright-blue frosting.

I inherited my love of avocados from my mom. When I was in high school, she showed me how to prepare one for guacamole: carefully whacking the pit with a hefty blade, twisting to remove, and then cutting a grid pattern into the flesh before scooping with a large spoon. From there: mash, mash, mash. The task never bothered me — avocados are so delicious that the semi-annoying way that they exist is just kind of … well, fine, I guess.

How do you cut your homemade pizza so everyone gets an even share? Do you do the classic slices, or maybe even squares? Well apparently, according to science, there is a better way to cut your pizza. Be warned: This may upset you. The image you’re seeing above is the best way to cut your pizza according to science.

Winter squash are the heroes of cold-weather cooking. Rich in vitamins and fiber, they bring a touch of sweetness to heavy dishes and enliven our plates with their bright, often deeply hued flesh. Long-lasting and beautiful, they can even double as a sculptural centerpiece until you’re ready to bring them to the chopping board.

Happy National Cookie Day! Let’s talk about these adorable sugar cookie mini cakes. Yes, that’s right — these little “cakes” are made of sugar cookies and frosting. Like I said … adorable. To create these mini cakes, you’ll need to cut sugar cookie dough into five increasing sizes of circles (ranging from 1 1/2 inches to 3 inches). Molly uses biscuit cutters to help shape her cookies; I suggest doing the same if you have some on hand.

Who: Tucker Pecan Company What: Southern Pecans Where: Montgomery, Alabama Got a pecan tree in your yard? Well, today you’re in luck: David Little, president of Tucker Pecan Company, is sharing a few gathering and shelling tips. In the fall, when the green outer hull enclosing each nut opens, the pecans are ready for harvest. At commercial pecan orchards, machines are used to shake them out of the trees.

I love acorn squash. You love acorn squash. But these gourds can be a real pain in the you know what to cut in half. Let’s just make sure we all survive the winter with our fingers intact and no visits to the ER for stitches. Here’s the best way I’ve found to cut an acorn squash in half. Use your sharpest, sturdiest chefs knife for this task.

Cooking for two has its pleasures and its difficulties. One of the great things about my and my husband’s current situation is that we tend to eat whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want. I can try out new recipes on a whim, using flavors and ingredients from around the world, and though I may get the occasional raised brow from my husband, the freedom is exhilarating. Every day is different. But we still have our own challenges, even after all these years.

Q: I have been cooking since I was a teenager, but I have not mastered the proper way to cut tomatoes and chicken. Every time I try to cut either one of these, the slices are uneven and I end up making a mess. Do you have any suggestions on how to cut these ingredients successfully without smashing the tomatoes or messing up the chicken? Thank you! Sent by Maia Editor: For cooked chicken, I like to let the chicken cool off a bit, as it’s easier to cut up when it’s firmed up a bit.

I love always having fresh ginger around to add a spicy kick to sweets or depth to savory foods, but I don’t always use it up. Another thing that annoys me is when I grate ginger, there are usually lots of stringy bits that don’t break up in the grater, and I’m left with weird pulpy bits. Here’s a trick that solves both problems!

When you want to add a zingy, sweet citrus flavor to food, the juice is good, but the zest is even better. It has natural oils that will impart way more flavor than you’ll get from juicing. Plus, sometimes all you need is a little bit. So whether you’re working with lemons, limes, oranges, or any other citrus fruit, there are four easy ways to get your hands on some zest.

Spiralizing is a fun way to get your fill (and then some) of fresh produce. Certain vegetables — like zucchini and squash — get all the glory, but there are so many other veggies that are ideal for spiralizing. Some of them might even surprise you. When it comes to spiralizing, certain vegetables work a lot better than others. The best vegetables for spiralizing have a hard to semi-firm texture — everything from tough winter squash and carrots to potatoes and cucumbers.

Put away your pizza wheel. Don’t even think about using that giant chef’s knife. There’s another kitchen tool that’s faster and better for cutting a pizza: your kitchen shears! Scissors to cut pizza? Not a classic pizza wheel? Does this sound a little surprising or untraditional? I’ll admit that I was even skeptical before trying this for myself. But yes, kitchen shears are the simplest way to cut pizza.

There are certain foods that just scream “summer,” and watermelon is definitely one of them. From its bright-colored flesh to it sweet, refreshing taste, this fruit is a summer essential. While there’s not one right way to cut a watermelon, there are certain ways that are faster and less messy. Here’s my favorite. Whole watermelons can be tedious to cut up. They’re large, kind of awkward to work with, and super messy.

There aren’t many single-function kitchen tools that I can get behind. Do we really need a jalapeño corer and an avocado cuber? I’ll admit I do love a strawberry huller and a citrus squeezer, but generally these types of products are fun at first use, then end up collecting dust and making clutter in my kitchen. My knives or my hands alone end up doing all the work.

Have you spent most of your life peeling carrots before cooking or eating them just because that’s what you’ve seen other people do, so you followed suit? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. When it comes down to it, you don’t ever really have to peel carrots. As long as you wash and scrub them well to remove dirt and any debris (this natural fruit and veggie wash is a good start!), unpeeled carrots are perfectly safe (and delicious) to eat.

Warning: You may wish you had a time machine after reading this post. Because what you’ll discover is that, for years, you’ve been missing out on a ridiculously tasty treat — baked vegetable peels. When prepping potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and other root vegetables, it’s common practice to first wash and then remove the outer layer of skin. But the next time you ready these ingredients for a recipe, throw out old habits instead of the scraps.

The words dentist and knives together in the same sentence don’t sound very pleasant, do they? Don’t worry, they have nothing to do with any painful dental work, but instead are a good way to think about knife honing and sharpening! We have talked about how a honing steel doesn’t actually sharpen knives, but actually just realigns the edge of the knife back to the center. One extremely wise comment came in from our reader: This analogy is absolutely perfect.

Because we want you to have nice, juicy pork chops for dinner.

Q: Can we talk about the best wooden cutting boards for carving cooked meat? Mine was ancient and had developed a split, so I chucked it — there was no way I could carve a chicken or other cooked meat on it without juices leaking all over my counters. I need to replace it, but am not sure how much I should spend for the best quality. I would like one with grooved edges to collect runaway juices, ideally. Thanks Kitchn editors and readers!

Unless you’re a butcher, getting really thin slices of meat, particularly uncooked meat, is a tough feat. It sounds simple enough, but even with a sharp knife, cutting a clean, totally even, thin piece of meat is challenging. The more likely scenario is that you hack back and forth through a soft piece of uncooked beef, chicken, or pork, and end up with jagged slices that are thin on one side and thick on the other. Let’s put an end to that, shall we?

Let’s face it: A crudité platter is really just an excuse to eat dip. As virtuous as I feel eating raw vegetables, the large amount of dip I try to get onto each bite probably negates any of the vegetables’ health benefits. Since carrots are such a staple on a vegetable platter, I’m here to tell you why you should ditch the carrot sticks forever and cut them into rounds instead! To put it simply, carrot rounds maximize your dipping potential.

Although short ribs used to be seen as a less desirable cut of beef, they’ve risen in popularity, causing prices to also increase for this cut that used to be fairly inexpensive. So if you’re now spending more for short ribs, it makes sense to get to know the two popular ways that they’re cut, flanken and English style. The difference can come down to thickness of the cut and cook time for your desired meal.

One of the things that made flying cross-country with a toddler a bit more bearable was the free snacks handed out on the airplane. These little bags of treats helped maintain both my blood sugar level and acted as bribes to keep my daughter from roaming the airplane cabin. My favorite discovery in the basket of snacks was cinnamon-sugar pretzel bites. Sweet and a tiny bit savory, these pretzel bites were addicting but really weren’t the healthiest option.

Holiday baking season is in full swing — which means it’s time for sugar cookies in all sorts. But how to make pretty cookies that hold their shape, without spending the whole day mixing, chilling, and rolling? Here’s the easiest and best way to save time and make the most perfect-looking cookies. It’s all in the chilling. Here’s how to do it. The easiest way to roll out the dough? Don’t chill the dough, but roll it out immediately instead!

As much as I love eating stuffing or dressing on Thanksgiving, I find the whole process of cutting up a big loaf of bread for it quite tedious, especially when there are so many other cooking tasks vying for my time and attention. Here’s a way I’ve found that helps speed up the process a bit! I used to cut up the loaf of bread crosswise into slices like you would for sandwiches, then cut each of the slices into little cubes.

The most ideal carving situation for a Thanksgiving turkey (or any large piece of meat) is a big cutting board with wells or grooves to catch the juices that leak out when you’re carving. But you may not be able to justify the space for an oversized board like this if you only use it once or twice a year for holidays. Here’s a quick hack to make your everyday cutting board into a better setup for a large bird, roast, or piece of meat.

When you’re baking apples into pies and tarts, cutting them into uniform slices means they’ll cook evenly and best of all, just look gorgeous and perfect. Using a knife to do the work, especially when faced with the pounds of apples that are needed to go in a deep-dish pie, can be a tedious task when you’re trying to make the slices as even as possible. Time to pull out a gadget that might be gathering dust in the back of the kitchen drawer!

This plate is stacked high with crispy, chewy snacks that fall somewhere between potato chips and French fries — and it's all because I didn't throw out my potato scraps.

If you watch food competition shows, you’ll probably see a competitor or chef expertly running their knives over that steel tool pictured above. In fact, you might even own one of those steels if you have a big knife set or knife block. So do you know what that tool is? It sharpens knives, right? But here’s where you’re wrong: That tool, no matter what it is labeled, is decidedly not a sharpening steel. The tool many think of as a sharpening steel is actually a honing steel.

Choosing the right cut can make or break the dish.

Today’s Lesson: Knife Skills The Goal: 20 lessons, 20 days to become a better cook at home Enter to win The Kitchn Cookbook: Simply share and tag photos of your Kitchn Cooking School progress on Instagram and Twitter with #kitchnschool to enter for a chance to win. We’re giving away one copy for every homework assignment during The Kitchn’s Cooking School. See rules and regulations.

Q: Jalapeño juice got on my hands after cutting them up, and it sent my brain into overload! I couldn’t believe how bad the burning sensation got. This never happened to me before! I tried yogurt, bleach, lemon juice — nothing worked! The only thing that helped was putting my hands in a bowl of ice water. I was in a lot of pain for three to four hours. I saw today that another idea was to use olive oil then wash it off after a few minutes. That made some sense to me.

While those big knife blocks seem to send the message that every kitchen needs a dozen knives, it’s really not true. Invest in a good chef’s knife and small paring knife and those can take care of almost all of your slicing and dicing needs. There is one more knife, however, that is essential for cutting bread and tomatoes: the serrated knife.

As a kid, I was completely inept at opening bananas the usual way. Which is to say, from the stem. Like a normal person. I ended snapping the stem or squashing the banana every time. I can’t explain it. Then I discovered that there was another way, an easier way — the monkey way. Have you ever heard of this? Here’s how you open a banana like a monkey: Ignore the handle-like stem. Turn your banana upside-down and focus on the nubby, pointed tip at the opposite end.