Post by ScreenHead One on Jul 28, 2023 15:15:27 GMT -6
Cutting Methods
The different ways of separating components during food preparation and consumption.
What does it mean "To Cut"?
To reduce the size, amount, or quantity of a whole.
Concerning food, almost everything we eat has been separated from it's whole.
Understanding the different ways this can be achieved is the focus of this thread.
Most of us are end-user consumers. We purchase our food at market in reduced sizes and 'trimmed'.
We do not walk a cow into the kitchen so we can have a steak.
We don't buy a manufacturer's 50 pound block of cheese to make Mac 'n Cheese.
We don't buy an entire banana tree to have a banana.
When dealing with food, most people think of 'Cut' as using some type of 'knife' to separate something.
However, there are other ways to separate food from the whole.
Bite, Rip, Twist, Break, Smash, Grate, Pull, Slice, Grind, Peel
and different combinations.
You and I, preparing and eating meals at home, use different methods than manufacturers, butchers and grocers.
Many times we use completely different ways to do what we need to do.
If you have a home farm or garden you might use even other ways to separate the whole.
We commonly use tools to get the job done. The tools we use at home are different than the tools used outside our kitchens.
There are different methods of using these tools to get the desired results.
Cutting Methods without Tools:
The oldest (and simplest) method of cutting is when we use our teeth to 'bite' our food.
There are very few foods we eat which are not made smaller by our chewing.
Even foods we can fit in our mouths whole are chewed before we swallow.
You can eat a berry whole but it is reflex to chew it before we swallow it.
Human beings are harvesters. We started out cutting our foods from plants by 'picking' it from the whole plant.
We still cut by picking and plucking fruits and vegetables from plants.
We certainly don't eat the entire plants, roots and all (in most cases).
While we usually don't use tools to pick fruit, the harvesting industry uses machines to harvest crops.
But, before those machines were invented and often even now, people are hired as laborers to harvest crops by picking them.
If you have your own garden, you probably use your hands to harvest from the plants.
Eggs
I don't know anyone who makes an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
We don't eat whole eggs but I guess it is possible.
When you break the egg you don't use a knife to cut around the shell.
You bang it till the shell breaks and pull the shell apart. Using your hands.
De-boning Cooked Poultry
I've de-boned a few cooked birds and only used my hands for the job.
Separating the meat from the bone can be accomplished with knives but it is much easier to just pull it apart.
Along with pulling, you can separate bones from their joints using a twisting pull.
When I make Chicken Wings I buy a pack of whole wings from the market.
Since I par-boil most bone-in poultry pieces it is simple to twist and pull apart the sections of the wing before air frying them.
Its also much cheaper than buying a bag of wings already sectioned.
Breaking/Fracturing
This is basically breaking something into smaller pieces.
Slamming a watermelon over your leg to break it apart, pressing two pecans or walnuts together with your hand to break the shell.
Anyone who has filled a beer cooler with ice knows to slam the bag of ice against something sturdy to break the cubes up.
You can freeze almond bark or baker's chocolate and slam it on the counter to break it up.
If you ever eaten a bag of crawfish you separate the tail from the head by breaking it apart.
If you pay attention to what you do when cooking and eating there are many methods of cutting which require no tools.
They are so common we do it without even thinking about it. Learned at an early age and mastered by experience.
When yer stuck and no knife is available, use what you know.
Cutting Methods Using Tools:
Cutting is used for the size reduction of large to medium sized parts of food material; knives, blades, cleavers or saws are usually used for the cutting.
The most common cutting techniques that can be used with virtually any type of kitchen knife is Slicing.
The Chef's Knife is most commonly used for dicing, mincing, slicing and chopping.
Move the hand that's holding the knife forward to cut the food, leaving the tip of the knife in contact with the cutting board the entire time.
Use the hand that's holding the ingredients to carefully move the ingredient forward to ensure even cuts.
Slice
Julienne
Brunoise
Batonnet
Dice
Baton
Chop
Minced
Rondelle
Cube
Grate
Fillet