PrintLove to eat, hate to chop
Cauliflower - leaves little crumbs all over the board, the knife, the counter. But oh so yummy when roasted in the oven. What do you love to eat, but hate to chop?
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24 Comments:
broccoli...for the same reason.
hammondcheese at 12:56PM on 04/11/08
Gosh, I love to chop. I really do. Should have been a sous chef? I don't like carving meat, especially when there are bones to avoid. In short time, my arthritis kicks in and I have to give it a rest, but I can chop much longer than I can carve.
PerkyMac at 1:05PM on 04/11/08
I don't mind chopping at all, but am not all too crazy about chopping raw bacon or sausage - I almost wish I had a third hand that wouldn't get greasy when I chop them! Still, don't mind it terribly as both are oh so good when cooked!
brooke29 at 1:20PM on 04/11/08
Love to eat, love to chop, love to cook.
HATE to clean.
wookie at 1:27PM on 04/11/08
@brooke29........for narrow meat like sausage and bacon, I often use kitchen shears and you could hold the meat with paper towels to keep your hands clean?
PerkyMac at 1:31PM on 04/11/08
I'm with @Perky on this. I love to chop. I have a food processor, but other than humus, I hardly ever use it because I prefer chopping things myself. From start to finish, I can peel and uniformly mince a large onion in less than a minute. And I am absolutely dreadful at carving.
@erinlovestoeat and @hammondcheese - I chop stuff like cauliflower and broccoli on a cutting board in the sink. No fuss, no muss.
I cannot carve to save my life and I'm not great at boning either.
chisai at 1:32PM on 04/11/08
@wookie - YES!
bitchincamero at 1:37PM on 04/11/08
I'm with wookie too! :-)
mepolo at 1:50PM on 04/11/08
@Perky - brilliant!!!!!!
brooke29 at 1:56PM on 04/11/08
RE cauliflower and broccoli: not to be condescending, but maybe you are doing it wrong?
I think the "official" technique (and certainly the tidiest) is to place the bunch florets down on the board, so you're looking at the stalk. Take a smallish knife and just cut through the joint where the little stalks meet the big stalk. You'll get clean florets with minimal mess.
Of course that doesn't solve the problem if you need a small chop (hello processor).
I also like chopping, but if it's seriously large volume (like making 2 big gratins for holidays), I'll use the processor.
And I keep hemming and hawing over buying a garlic helper (mincer, probably). Is it really so bad? I use so much garlic (never less than 3 cloves) and while mincing is going faster as I get used to it, it's still a chore.
renzata at 2:01PM on 04/11/08
I'm firmly in the rather-chop-than-drag-out-the-FP camp, and mostly I find chopping somewhat therapeutic.
That said, the one thing I find tedious is kale. It's one of my all-time most favorite foods, but the prep really sucks. Actually, come to think of it, this is true of many other tough, giant-leaf greens intended for cooking (mustard, collards, etc.). And it doesn't help my mindset knowing that the FP isn't really an option.
All that work, so little to show for it.
LoCo at 2:11PM on 04/11/08
Love chopping. Like LoCo, I find it therapeutic. When I make big batches of soup, and it really would make sense to get out the FP and save some time, I still don't.
@renzata, husband bought a garlic press and I really don't like it. I think it leaves too much garlic behind. That said, I'm not a fan of big pieces of garlic, so when I mince it, I take the extra time to mince it really finely. He also has one of those choppers that has a rotating zigzag blade to chop up food. I can't stand that either. I guess that just leaves me, my knives, and my cutting boards.
blackolive at 2:34PM on 04/11/08
I love to chop... I could have been a sous chef too. But when I have to cook for over 20 people, I hate to chop anything too hard like raw root vegetables - they usually give me blisters.
MadelynRodriguez at 2:39PM on 04/11/08
Am I really the first person to bitch about chopping onions?
no matter how often I do it, the damn things still make my eyes want to drop out of my skull.
unarata at 2:40PM on 04/11/08
i like vegetable noodle soup with grilled cheese sandwich and pigeon-pea stew (asopao de gandules) with toasted garlic bread... YUM!!!
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 2:50PM on 04/11/08
sorry people.... hit the wrong key on the computer and posted in the wrong thread....
MadelynRodriguez at 2:53PM on 04/11/08
@unarata- seriously! chopping onions makes me weep like a baby.
@hammondcheese, I'm with you on broccoli, too. Something about it is just annoying, yet I love cooking with it!
Now we should talk about what we enjoy chopping! Zucchini anyone? It's like butter! Carrots are also fun to turn into half moons.
jbeach at 2:54PM on 04/11/08
Jbeach, I enjoy "chopping" cake and other baked goods into single-serving pieces. Also, ribs.
I stress over zucchini, actually, because I am never sure if I should slice it thick or thin, or half moons, but then they get mushy on the flesh side, or maybe I should dice it, but if I do, then I have to toss the seeds since they're just going to go to mush, etc.
(Does anyone here have that Victorinox/Forschner knife recommended by Cook's Illustrated? I am considering the move from 8-inch to 10-inch, and that's about all I could afford. But I'm used to traditional forged chef's knives, and wonder about the difference. I normally hate working with stamped blades, but apparently these are better? I haven't seen one in person. Sorry, not trying to hijack.)
renzata at 3:03PM on 04/11/08
I do enjoy chopping boiled eggs for egg salad. The texture of the whites just feels neat under my knife : )
erinlovestoeat at 3:30PM on 04/11/08
@renzata..........I have that knife and I love it, but my 8" Japanese chef's knife that I inherited from my mother is always my first choice. I have others with stamped blades and I never use them. The two above are it. I should give all the others away.
PerkyMac at 3:46PM on 04/11/08
With reference to the kale comment above. I thought I was "all that" when I brought 2 huge bunches of kale to my parents house and proudly claimed I was going to make kale with dinner. I washed it, and parboiled it then attempted to saute it with garlic and olive oil. I was tarred, feathered and otherwise reminded of the most disgusting vegetable ever served at the dinner table every time greens are discussed. I have no idea what the purpose of kale is (apparently).
izatryt at 11:23PM on 04/11/08
It would be garlic. I try to pawn that job off on my sous chef every time. When we moved last year, in an effort to simplify life and move less (stuff), we tossed many "one- task" , gimicky kitchen gadgets, like an egg-slicer, a garlic press and the like. We vowed to multi-task our great set of cutlery for everything we possibly could. We haven't regretted it and I sincerely hope someone is enjoying slicing eggs with their kitchen implement they picked up at the Salvation Army!
frederika at 12:00AM on 04/12/08
I HATE chopping onions, for the obvious tear-inducing reasons, but I also hate having to smash the garlic, take off the peel and then dice it up. I refuse to use frozen onions or pre-minced garlic and I am a garlic and onions fanatic, so it must be done, but everday when I find myself chopping onions I always think:
This.
Blows.
PumpkinBear at 12:02AM on 04/12/08
i hate chopping garlic too. it's just sticky...
but i love chopping celery, esp when i slice the ribs into strips,
it's so fun
mochateri at 4:32PM on 04/13/08