Cutting board. If I tried to use my hand, I'd probably lose a digit. :D

Reply

I'm a cutter. My wife is a slicer. It's kind of a handy pairing, actually. She peels things with a paring knife, and then I chop them quickly on the board. I would just use a peeler if I was her, and she would just slice things over the bowl if she were me, but hey it works!

Reply

I use botyh techniques for different purposes and different foods. I hand slice my potatoes directly into the pot or skillet after washing. I hand slice bell peppers the way my wife likes them. I chop everything for stir fry. I slice meat on the board.

I have learned not to cut my thumb but that doesn't mean that it will never happen again. Carrots are not good candidates for hand slicing! Just ask my right thumb.

Reply

I learned the old school way, mostly: peeling and slicing with a paring knife. Cutting boards were for bread in my house when I was a kid.

I do both: in fact, I use one of those chopping devices for onions and remove the knife entirely from the occasion, I get so teary-eyed with them!

But there's something more homey about sitting over a waste basket, peeling apples, or leaning against the kitchen counter, hand-slicing carrots or potatoes into a pan.

Reply

I used to hate chopping and mincing until I got a decent knife set. I would read people saying that they enjoyed the simple, menial tasks in cooking like that, and I realized that they must never have been stuck with second-hand knives that weren't any good to begin with.

The most-used item in my kitchen has to be my cutting board and my favorite knife.

Reply

Cutting board singular? How about cutting boards! I have one of those 4 packs of thin ones for traveling and light duty work. A large plastic one for breaking down big stuff, a small plastic job for lemons and limes at parties, and a large wooden one for, well, everything else.

However, when I cook while on camping trips, gotta go with the hand slicing. Stumps don't make good cutting boards.

Reply

I'm usually a chopper (I'm quick with the knife, so usually it's just about getting to job done), except when I'm making stews or chunky soups, where apart from the meat, I'll peel the vegetables with a paring knife, and then just do the cutting straight into the pot. For me there's something relaxing about it.

For me my skill with the paring knife didn't come from cutting vegetables, but from my Mom instilling the need within me to use the most I can from ingredients, chicken being a prime example of this (cutting all the meat away, and then boiling the bones).

Reply

@Pyrofish and Sara: How true. It was only when I bought myself a couple good knives, a proper sharpener, and a nice thick wooden cutting board that I properly realised how fun chopping can be (and what a dork I am).

Reply