One of the first skills a chef masters is the ability to correctly, cut food quickly and beautifully. Agree that this is very important in cooking. Surely you would like to learn this and make your life a little easier.
We present to you 10 ways to easily and quickly cut your favorite foods. Try it, it's interesting and not at all difficult!
How to quickly cut food
1. Cherry tomatoes
Place equal-sized tomatoes between two flat plates, then run a sharp knife between them. You can also cut grapes this way!
2. Kiwi
Cut off the top of the kiwi with a knife and eat the fruit with a spoon.
3. Avocado
Cut the avocado in half and eat it, like kiwi, with a spoon.
4. Mandarin
Whoever came up with this method deserves a culinary award.
5. Pomegranate
Cut off the top and bottom of the pomegranate. Make cuts on the sides. Then break the pomegranate into pieces.
6. Watermelon
To eat watermelon without getting splashed, cut off the corners of a piece.
7. Cake
To prevent the cake from becoming stale, cut out the central part of it. And then connect the resulting parts together.
8. Mango
With a slight movement of the hand...
Size matters, and this phrase is especially relevant in cooking, where the quality and aesthetics of food directly depends on the cut. Depending on the cooking technology, for different products It has its own cutting, and today we will learn how to properly and quickly cut cabbage for pickling and pickling. In this article we will discuss not only optimal size straws for main winter harvesting, but also find out which tools and devices are most effective.
How to properly chop cabbage with a knife: instructions with video
A properly selected knife is half the success of culinary success. But what kind of knife is best to chop cabbage for pickling beautifully and thinly?
It is absolutely not necessary to choose an expensive, super-fashionable tool; a kitchen cutter that has been tested over the years will do just fine. But there are several conditions that must be met the right knife for shredding cabbage:
- The blade should be long so that it can easily cut the fork in half and then chop along the entire length, resting the end of the blade on the cutting board. This will reduce the strain on your hand and adjust the width of the straw.
- You should choose a knife with a fairly wide, well-sharpened, and most importantly, durable steel blade that will protrude under the handle.
- The sharp end of the blade is a prerequisite for shredding cabbage. Also, the blade should not be figured (waves, teeth), it should have straight line sharpening.
Now that you were able to pick up perfect tool, you can start cutting cabbage for sourdough. And our professional chef will tell you how to do it correctly in a detailed video tutorial.
How to chop cabbage with a special knife
For non-professional cooks, a cabbage shredder with two blades will be a great help. It allows you to chop cabbage faster than with a regular knife, however, this device is somewhat specific.
In order for shredding cabbage to go quickly, smoothly and not put a lot of stress on your hand, you must first, as they say, get your hand full, and then, through trial and error, determine for yourself how it is more convenient for you to hold it and work with it.
For those who have just purchased this kitchen auxiliary tool, often during the first use it is necessary to clearly demonstrate how to use a shredding knife correctly.
There are many videos on this topic on the Internet. Well, we've prepared comparative analysis the two most popular shredding knives according to reviews from ordinary users.
Knife "Housewife"
There are a lot of users positive feedback I assembled the “Housewife” shredding knife, which consists of a stainless steel frame with two blades attached to it, also made of stainless steel.
If desired, the blades can be sharpened quite easily with a small needle file. However, sharpening for such a knife is rarely required. According to reviews, after eight years of use, the blades remain sharp and shred cabbage perfectly.
The knife itself is lightweight and has an easy-to-hold plastic handle. You can shred cabbage quite quickly with it. In just 5 minutes, judging by the reviews, you can turn two three-kilogram heads of cabbage into straws.
In addition, the blades produce smooth, medium-sized straws, perfect for sourdough (5 mm). Also, with this knife you can beautifully cut cheese, lemon (in thin, neat circles) and shred other vegetables besides cabbage.
But the main advantage is the cost. You can buy such a knife in ordinary hardware stores for only 70-100 rubles.
This knife is very easy to use:
- Take a medium fork of cabbage, prepared for slicing: washed and peeled from the top leaves.
- Cutting it off with a simple knife a small rounded piece to provide a flat work surface for easy shredding.
- We begin shredding the cabbage from top to bottom from the protruding edge of the cut.
The straws are smooth, medium in size, and are great for pickling, salads, and soups.
Planer "Giant"
This type of knife or even several knives is popular not only in Russia and the CIS, but throughout Europe, because this one comes from kitchen helper from Germany.
The planer represents light steel frame with a plastic handle and 4 movable blades, similar to a potato peeler. This design allows, according to the manufacturer, to chop vegetables, in particular cabbage, 8 times faster.
In addition to the mega-shredder attachment, this unit has 3 attachments:
- simple grater;
- wedge shredder;
- and a “Roko” grater for Korean salad;
- and a food holder that protects your hands.
In general, reviews about this plane are all positive. The disadvantage of such a device is its price, which varies between 2000 rubles, depending on the configuration.
The plane is very easy to use:
- We cut the cabbage fork, washed and peeled from the top leaves, in half or into four parts - whichever is more convenient for you.
- If you want to shred half a cabbage, then you should place it on the table with the rounded part, cut side up, and, holding it with one hand, use a “Giant” plane to shred along the sharp part of the cut of the vegetable.
- It is more convenient to hold cabbage quarters in your hand, chopping the straws with ease, without even making an effort.
Vegetable cutter “Princess of Kitchen”
In everyday life this kitchen appliance better known as a potato peeler. It's really indispensable assistant, and it’s cheap, because the price is 50-100 rubles, but the functionality is huge.
This vegetable cutter is most often used for peeling root vegetables (potatoes, radishes, beetroot, carrots), but it also does an excellent job with the thick skin of zucchini, pumpkin and delicate tomato skin.
But, in addition to this, such a knife is also quite successfully used as a shredder. Thin slices of cucumber or potatoes, the thinnest piece of cheese - this vegetable cutter copes with such a task perfectly, just like shredding cabbage.
But it is worth clarifying that such a vegetable cutter produces very thin straws, and therefore it is not suitable for sourdough.
The thing is that cabbage fermentation is a fermentation process that lasts several days, and the cabbage must gradually ferment during this time.
Thin straws can become salted and fermented very quickly, and the ongoing fermentation process will spoil them. As a result, the cabbage will turn out soft, limp and very sour. Ideally, the thickness of the straw should be 5 mm.
You can watch how to use this vegetable peeler in this video.
How to properly shred cabbage with a shredder
Among kitchen manual choppers, the most popular are vegetable shredders and graters and a manual cabbage shredder similar to a meat grinder. Let's figure out which device is more convenient to use.
Shredder
Is this plastic or wooden plank with a wide variety of attachments available in almost every home. This device is very convenient to use, and with the help of such a shredder you can chop cabbage and other vegetables (and not only them) very quickly.
In addition, many models are equipped with a voluminous and very convenient container (where the chopped products go) and a holder that protects our hands from cuts, which makes cooking neat and safe.
Some models, such as Borner vegetable cutters, have a cutting thickness regulator: 3, 5 and 7 mm, which makes it possible to cut vegetables for different dishes.
A 5mm shredder is best suited for sauerkraut. It is this average shredding parameter (5 mm) that is set by default on simple vegetable cutters with one shredding attachment.
Today they began to appear electric vegetable cutters. They are identical in technology hand graters, but they are equipped with a mechanism that pushes a shredding knife back and forth, and all we have to do is push the cabbage cut into large pieces through the loading compartment.
However, the cost of such a device is much more than a regular shredder: 2500 rubles. versus 150-500 rub.
And our step-by-step video can tell and show you how to use a manual shredder-grater.
Manual shredder
Mechanical shredders “Lepse” are an excellent purchase for the kitchen, especially if you don’t like conventional graters: they are easy to use, assemble and disassemble and maintain.
The operating principle of this shredder is identical to a manual meat grinder:
- We cut the cabbage into four parts with a knife, and then cut each half into pieces no thicker than the loading compartment window of the shredder.
- Next, for convenience, we cut each long piece into 2-4 pieces so that they completely fit into the loading compartment.
- Now all that remains is to load each part into the vegetable cutter, press it into the grater with a pusher and turn the drum handle.
The result is an ideal cut for cabbage fermentation - fast, convenient and safe. And if you change the attachment to a regular grater, you can just as quickly grate carrots for a winter salad.
The cost of such a shredder is 700-800 rubles.
How to properly and quickly chop cabbage
Winter preparations are usually prepared in large quantities. And for such a large-scale starter, you need to finely chop a lot of cabbage. Some people, of course, are already accustomed to manual kitchen work, but housewives have several devices at their disposal that can significantly reduce cooking time.
A blender, a meat grinder with a vegetable cutter and a food processor have an identical design and grinding technology.
We prepare devices for work
- The shredding disk attachment should be installed on a movable axis in the bowl, after which we close the container with a lid.
- If we are talking about a meat grinder, then first we fix the loading part of the vegetable cutter on the electric motor block, and only then insert the shredding drum into it.
If your chopper model includes shredders different sizes, then for pickling, choose a 5 mm nozzle, because for this winter salad, shredded cabbage should be at least 4 and no more than 6 mm.
Cutting cabbage for pickling
To shred the cabbage, you need to cut it into small pieces, the width of which will be slightly less than the volume of the loading window.
- To start, cut the forks into quarters along the stalk.
- Then we cut each quarter in half across the veins.
- Next, we cut each part into another 2-3 parts, so that the thickness of each piece is no more than the width of the loading window of the vegetable cutter. This is exactly the length the cabbage straws will be.
Shredding cabbage using a shredder
- We insert the prepared pieces of cabbage into the loading window of the unit so that the stratified part of the cabbage is in contact with the grater, and the layers should be perpendicular to the blade. This will make the straw cut more evenly.
- Turn on the power to the device and push the cabbage through the moving shredder using a pusher.
When starting to prepare a salad, appetizer or main course, cooks often expect to spend a lot of time on the process of cutting food. You have to spend a lot of time on this especially if the ingredients in the dish must be cut finely, that is, shredded, this is the term used by professional chefs.
There is a simple way, any product, and quite quickly.
Contrary to popular belief, this does not require a couple thousand dollar knife. If you know the technique of how to quickly cut with a knife, you can do it with an old kitchen knife, provided that it is well sharpened.
Ideally, you will need a sharp knife with correct geometry blade (it is often broken due to inept sharpening), sufficient width of this very blade and a “heel”, that is, a protrusion under the handle of the knife.
The knife should have a sharp tip; bread knives or knives with any original blade shapes are also not suitable. To learn how to cut quickly, you will need to forget about your fear of cutting yourself, because it happens to absolutely everyone, including the most famous chefs. However, this does not mean that you should forget about safety precautions.
If you are interested in cutting lettuce, cutting onions into thin rings and chopping greens to the smallest state, use simple tips.
Firstly, You can’t chop food while sitting. In this position, vision narrows, range of motion decreases, and muscles and joints experience unnecessary stress. This most important rule, how to properly chop with a knife, which is most often forgotten.
There are two ways to cut a product: with the knife lifted off the board and without tearing it off. Option one is suitable for your first training, but will not provide high cutting speed.
But you can move on to the second option right away if you cook and cut often enough. The second rule, how to quickly cut with a knife, remains a “secret” for many owners today: It’s not the knife that moves across the board, but the product. The knife always remains in one position, pressed to the knuckles, it moves only vertically.
To learn how to cut quickly, master the correct grip with your fingers. You probably hold the food with your fingertips, and this is not very convenient and not very safe. Bend your fingers so that the first phalanges are completely hidden behind the knuckles.
It is with the bones of your fingers, all at once, that you hold the product. Tilt your hand slightly forward so that you can lightly press the knife blade in the upper part against your fingers.
This is exactly correct technique,how to properly chop any product with a knife. At first, it may seem that the position is awkward and not at all suitable for quick cutting. Conduct your first training sessions on these convenient products like cucumbers and celery stalks, and then move on to chopping softer foods.
The same techniques work for methods like chopping cabbage. Now you know, how to quickly cut food with a knife, but some vegetables have their own cutting techniques.
Many dishes contain onions, but cutting them is very inconvenient. To finely chop this vegetable into cubes, follow the sequence of steps. Peel the onion, leave the tip, cut in half and place cut side down on a cutting board.
First, cut the onion into strips of a few millimeters vertically, then make a horizontal cut, then turn the vegetable over and cut it in a direction perpendicular to the first cuts.
Learning how to quickly and safely cut an onion is not difficult: do not complete all the cuts, leave literally a millimeter, then the onion will not move apart on the board, the cubes will turn out even, and your fingers will remain intact.
You probably know how to properly chop cabbage. But there are several tricks that allow you to make a dish with cabbage as tasty as possible and even quick to prepare.
Be sure to take it off upper leaves, and make the first cut along the stalk. After this, find the veins in the cabbage leaves, they are very visible. Cut half the head of cabbage into eight pieces strictly across these veins.
The best option for shredding cabbage– in narrow strips, their width should not exceed three millimeters. This process is very long and difficult, so if you love cabbage, it makes sense to purchase special device for chopping cabbage and carrots.
When cutting, do not make the strips completely transparent, otherwise it will not be very tasty; let the strips be thicker than one millimeter. If the head of cabbage is very large, for convenience it can be divided not into two halves, but into four parts.
Remember that you only need to cut when dry. cutting board, which has a bottom without irregularities. The same goes for the table on which you cook. Otherwise, the board may slip and you will get a nasty injury.
Every person knows how to do many things quickly: cheer up loved ones, calm a child, put on makeup, get ready for a trip, etc. If you want to add quick shredding to this list, then simple vegetable slicing, soups, and salads will take much less time. After all, for every housewife or owner, time is a very important element.
Learning to chop quickly is quite simple, but mastering such a skill requires endurance and patience.
To inspire you, you can watch this short presentation.
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At first it may seem that it's all about good instrument, however, as you already suspect, acquiring a professional chef's knife won't help here. It's all about technique.
Fast shredding training
To learn how to quickly shred, you need:
- A little fearlessness and patience.
- Smooth surface.
- Cucumber or celery stalks (for the first time)
- A sharp knife with a comfortable handle, wide blade and, of course, with a heel. The heel is the base of the knife plane at the bottom of the handle. Markings and stamps are applied to it.
First step
How do you handle the food you're chopping? Two fingers? And you need to use all your fingers!
Place the middle and index fingers on top of the cucumber, and the ring finger can also join them if it is convenient for you. They should press the cucumber into the surface. The thumb and little finger are wrapped around a cucumber.
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Bend your fingers slightly so that their tips are protected by your knuckles. The knife must be pressed with the blade against the outer surface of the fingers. This way you can protect your fingers from damage. Look at the photo and try to repeat.
Second step
Press the side surface of the blade (the wider it is, the better) against the outer surface of your fingers, and press the tip of the knife against the board so you don’t need to tear it off while slicing. The hand with the cucumber moves along the board, not the knife.
Third step
You need to relax your hands, otherwise you can cut yourself, and they will quickly get tired. No matter how sharp the knife is, it does not need to chop, but to cut. You can adjust the thickness of the slices by moving the cucumber slower or faster.
It is better to start training when you have good mood and there is at least 10 minutes. Free time. Good luck in the kitchen, save your fingers and time!
Video lessons
The topic was often raised on forums. Perhaps someone will share their story.
So, first let's note most important factor which significantly increases your chances of cutting yourself is a condition alcohol intoxication. There are no specific requirements for drinks; the main thing is to immerse yourself in the euphoria of relaxation and lightness of life. The people have a clear definition of “knee-deep sea”. Having reduced the reaction well and turned off most of the brain, you can start working with a knife. At the same time, it is easy to miss when chopping or slicing food (if you are right-handed, the fingers of your left hand suffer).
If the concentration was enough to cut without injury, the desire for cleanliness can work very well. Take a napkin, wrap it around the blade and, squeezing it well with your fingers in the area of the cutting edge, pull it along the blade - the blade, having carefully cut through the napkin, will no less carefully cut through the fingertips. Options: wipe the blade on the fabric of the sleeve, naturally sliding the blade along your own forearm, the same with your trouser leg and leg.
If you are so harsh or hungry that you don’t consider it necessary to wipe your knife, you may find good idea lick the blade, this is especially tempting when slicing something tasty and sticky, such as soft blue cheese. If you lick the blade, not from the butt to the blade, but vice versa or parallel to the cutting edge, the likelihood of a quality cut on the tongue will increase significantly.
If you are in nature, you can try to achieve the goal in a very popular discipline - “planing a twig.” At the same time, carefully select a knotty branch, so that it would be more difficult to plan, the knife would more often break off the knots. It is especially effective to press your hand with the branch to your torso or thigh, then the knife is almost guaranteed to fall off the branch and cause you a quality cut. In general, cutting yourself is a Klondike dangerous situations. Well, really, why drag a cutting board into the forest? Sitting down on a log, you can quickly cut a snack “on your knees” in one go and get the desired cut. Some people prefer to cut in a handful with their second hand; there is also every chance of success. In the office of one knife shop there hangs a small leaflet describing a situation where a person was pressed to the stomach tin can and opened it with a knife, simultaneously opening his abdominal cavity. Double benefit: you opened the can and made hara-kiri.
Let's go back to the branch. This technique works very well: planing a branch not holding the twig by hand, but to the hand. A few years ago, at the “Angry Beavers” competition (cutting a pine block at speed), which has long become a key competition in knife work at the “Steel Edge” knife show. Comrade Tsirkach worked exactly according to this scheme, that is, he planed away from himself, and then cut towards himself, when the first of the participants finished cutting the pine block and everyone heard the sound of a falling piece, Tsirkach was distracted at this moment, losing control for a split second and as a result - deep cut between the large and index finger, a car walk to the nearest hospital, stitching up an arm...
The same situation, but we are cutting not a twig but a watermelon, the thicker the blade the better, the blade gets stuck tightly in the watermelon, we put additional load on the knife, it suddenly breaks off, cutting through the rind of the watermelon and - bingo, it crashes into the hand with which we are holding the watermelon.
After the "twig" it is very popular to start more active recreation. If alcohol vapors have already disappeared from the body, we need to immediately replenish them, because an ancient good fun. On a stump or log of a fallen tree, at home in the kitchen or in the office, right on a stack of papers or a telephone directory, you need to place your left hand (naturally for right-handers) with outstretched fingers and inject with a knife, getting between your fingers, increasing the pace. The longer the game lasts and the higher the speed of injections, the greater the likelihood of cutting yourself or piercing a nail with the tip.
Next, we can’t help but mention knife throwing, which is so beloved by the population. It is practiced both outdoors and in the office and even in the apartment. There are known cases of damage to premises and office equipment (a metal tool flew into the copier's paper receptacle, etc.) But we only consider cases of injury to participants. In addition to the excellent chance of getting a knife in the back when thrown collectively, it should be noted that real berserkers, as a rule, do not bother buying and using the actual throwing knives, everything that in their opinion can fly and stick is put into action. Needless to say, folding knives and even some non-folding ones are destroyed. But since they are not intended for throwing, they demonstrate unexpected ricochet abilities. Having somehow thrown a small dagger with a rubber handle, I was impressed by how it flew into a pine board with the end of the handle and flew back, whistling at my temple one and a half centimeters away, and back it flew straight with the blade forward. Some fixes have a steel protrusion from a rubberized handle (falknivens, kizlyars, etc.) if you think that this reduces the risk of a 180-degree rebound, I hasten to disappoint you - it does not.
