Essential Kitchen Cutting Tools and Techniques

Essential Kitchen Cutting Tools

Vegetable Peeler

A short tool with a slotted, swiveling blade used for peeling vegetables and fruits. There are two types: Swiss peeler and standard peeler.

Mandoline

A manual slicer with adjustable blades for creating various cuts, such as julienne, batonnet, and waffle slices.

Sharpening Steel

Used for honing and maintaining knife edges, keeping them sharp with regular use. Not intended for sharpening dull knives.

Sharpening Stone

Also known as a whetstone, used to sharpen dull knives and refine their edges.

Cutting Board

Made of wood, plastic, or composite material, used as a stable surface for cutting, chopping, and other food preparation tasks.

Scissors

Versatile kitchen tool for various tasks, such as snipping herbs, cutting parchment paper, and opening packages.

Zester or Microplane

Used to zest citrus fruits, grate spices, and create fine shavings of ingredients like cheese or chocolate.

Parisienne Melon Baller

A small, cup-shaped tool used for scooping out uniform balls from soft fruits and vegetables.

Fruit Corers

Designed to remove the core from fruits like apples and pears in one piece.

Cutting Verbs

To Chop

To cut food into roughly equal pieces using a chef's knife or santoku. Examples: mirepoix, vegetables for stew.

To Dice

To cut food into small cubes using a chef's knife. Examples: vegetables for tartar sauce, Spanish omelette.

To Slice

To cut food into large, thin, flat pieces using a mandoline, meat slicer, or chef's knife.

To Mince

To cut or chop food into very small pieces. Examples: garlic, herbs, onions for mirepoix.

To Grind

To reduce food to fine particles using a grinder. Examples: ground meat, coffee beans.

To Turn

To cut food into evenly sized, barrel-shaped pieces using a tourne knife. Examples: potatoes, carrots, zucchini.

To Bone

To remove the bones from meat, poultry, or fish using a boning knife.

To Skin

To remove the outer skin or membrane from food using a boning knife or paring knife. Examples: fish, poultry, tomatoes.

To Trim

To remove unwanted parts from food, such as stems, leaves, or fat.

To Fillet

To cut boneless pieces of meat or fish using a filleting knife.

To Butterfly

To cut food, usually meat or seafood, partially through and open it flat like a butterfly.

To Shred

To cut food into long, narrow strips using a grater or knife. Examples: cheese, cabbage.

To Halve

To cut food into two equal parts.

To Carve

To slice cooked meat into thin pieces using a carving knife or electric knife.