By Katie Goodman

Many around the world have resolved to start cooking more in 2010. I’m a firm believer that anyone can follow a simple recipe once educated on some basic terms. If you don’t know what chop, cube, dice, julienne, mince, or slice mean, it can be hard to prepare a recipe. Someone might brand themselves to be a “horrible cook,” when really they just need to understand a few terms. Here are some of the most common cutting terms spelled out verbally and visually.

Chop: To cut pieces into irregular shapes, roughly the same in size. You can finely chop or coarsely chop.

Cube: Ingredients cut into cubes larger than 1/2 a square inch are said to be cubed. First, cut slices into your ingredient, such as cheese. Then, cut each slice into sticks and cut each stick into cubes.

Dice: Ingredients cut into cubes smaller than 1/2 a square inch are said to be diced. First, cut slices into your ingredient, such as cheese. Then, cut each slice into sticks and cut each stick into small cubes.

Julienne: To cut food into long, thin, matchstick-sized strips. Commonly used for celery, carrots, and bell peppers. To create uniformly cut julienne carrots, cut the carrot to length and trim on 4 sides to remove the rounded edges, creating a thick, rectangular stick. Then, cut the stick lengthwise into thin rectangular slices. Stack the rectangular slices and cut again into thin lengthwise strips. There are also specific gadgets that assist in "julienne peeling" vegetables without the use of a knife, as shown in the image above.

Mince: To mince is to very finely cut an ingredient so that it is more evenly distributed throughout the dish. Mincing is smaller than dicing. Commonly used for garlic, herbs, and ginger. In addition, one may "bruise" the ingredient with the back of the knife to further release the juices and oil.

Slice: A portion that is cut thin and flat is said to be sliced, such as: sliced onion, bread, meat, or tomatoes. To slice an onion, first cut it in half from root to tip. Then peel the onion. Place one half, inside facing down, on your cutting surface, and make thin vertical cuts through the onion.

About the Author:

Katie Goodman resides in New Mexico with her husband and two children (a 4-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl). Learning in the kitchen, eating, trying new recipes, and sharing them with friends and loved ones are some of Katie's favorite things to do. She wholeheartedly believes that part of the goodness in life is enjoying good food with good friends and family, and goodLife {eats} is a place for her to share what she finds good in the kitchen.