How To Small Dice

  • December 3, 2007
  • 1,758 Views
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Cubing isn’t just for math geeks anymore. Just ask your local sous-chef, who probably cubes more items in a single night than all the 10th graders in America.

You Will Need

  • A chef’s knife
  • A cutting board
  • And a vegetable to cut
How To Small Dice: Wash & peel

Step 1: Wash & peel

Wash and peel the vegetable, if necessary.

How To Small Dice: Grasp knife

Step 2: Grasp knife

Grasp the knife in your dominant hand, holding the handle close to the blade with three fingers: your middle, ring, and pinkie. Curl your forefinger around one side of the blade while holding your thumb on the opposite side.

How To Small Dice: Hold vegetable

Step 3: Hold vegetable

With your non-knife-wielding hand, hold the vegetable firmly on the cutting board close to the area you will cut.

Curl your fingers so that the tips are firmly planted on the vegetable and the knuckles point outward—in the food world, this is called the “claw grip.”

How To Small Dice: Cut off ends

Step 4: Cut off ends

Cut off the ends of the vegetable.

How To Small Dice: Cut off sides

Step 5: Cut off sides

Cut off the sides of the vegetable. It should now resemble a block with 4 long flat surfaces—this will make it easier to cut uniform pieces.

How To Small Dice: Slice lengthwise

Step 6: Slice lengthwise

For a small dice cut, you are aiming to make dice, or cubes, that are ¼ inch on every side. Begin by slicing the vegetable lengthwise into uniform slabs ¼ inch wide.

Keep the point of the knife on the board and use a steady rocking motion to slice—not saw—the vegetable with the full length of the blade.

How To Small Dice: Stack & cut

Step 7: Stack & cut

Stack the slabs on top of each other and again cut them lengthwise into 1/4” wide sticks. You now have a “wood pile” of ¼ inch-thick sticks.

How To Small Dice: Make crosscuts

Step 8: Make crosscuts

Line up the pile of sticks, and make ¼ inch crosscuts along their length, creating ¼ inch cubes.

A pair of ivory dice discovered at the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes dates to 1,500 B.C.

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