Slicing Veggies: How to do it Right
It may sound like a simple task to someone who has never had to do it, but those that handle vegetables on a regular basis know that some of them are not easy to cut properly by any means. After all, not everything is as simple as slicing a potato! On that note, we are going to take a look at how to slice five vegetables that are tough to work with.
Cauliflower
Before we begin, remove the leaves from the bottom completely by hand. Now, cut off all the stems from the stalk with a paring knife, which should also make the florets come loose. Pull the ones that aren’t loose yet and get rid of the stalk. Separate the larger florets from the smaller ones and make them all relatively equal sized by slicing the trunk of the bigger florets.
Avocado
Find the place on top where the stem was attached to the avocado and put your paring knife in through that place. Stop when you have reached the pit and firmly hold your knife in place with one hand while twisting the fruit (it is actually a fruit!) with the other. Once you have reached the entire way and the avocado is in two halves, twist the two halves in opposing direction till they separate completely. Remove the pit with your knife and then use it to cautiously cut the avocado in rows (vertical and horizontal) without cutting through the skin. All you need to do now is remove the pieces from the skin with a spoon.
Garlic
Remove the root section with a crosswise cut and peel off the papery layers as best as you can. Now press and roll it against a hard surface with your hands to loosen the cloves. Slice off the end of each clove, then place a chef’s knife (the flat broad sides) over the cloves and smash down on them with your other hand. Removing the peel should be quite easy now. Chop the smashed cloves into equal size and you are done.
Tomato
Use a serrated knife to slice parallel to the stem and make sure that each slice is equal to the other. Remove the seeds from the slices and then proceed to slice further till all that is left are strips. Now continue cutting those strips crosswise and soon you should have a bowl of diced tomato.
Jalapeno
Jalapenos are tricky little veggies because the juice can set your hands and especially eyes on fire if you are not extra careful. Remove the tip of the jalapeno with your knife and set it upright. Hold the stem with one hand and slice down along the stem. After a few slices, you should now have the core and the seeds separated from the flesh of the vegetable with minimum chilly juice squirted everywhere. Slice the fleshy part into strips and then use crosswise cuts if you want diced jalapeno.
Now that you know how to do it, the next step is to make sure that you have the right choppers and slicers necessary to get the job done. Cooking is an art and the equipment you use are your brushes, so do make sure that you invest in some good ones by checking out vegetable chopper reviews on Indreviews.
While there are a few other difficult to handle vegetables out there, quite a few of these rules do apply to them as well and you should experiment a little on your own to learn what works best for you.