Processing hard veggies into cubes?
December 13, 2014 12:24 PM Subscribe
I love the blend of cubed root veggies on the salad bar at Whole Foods. From the research I've done, however, these pea-size cubes can't be made by a regular food processor, only by special cube blades that run over $100 and are meant for use in professional kitchen equipment. Is this true? Is there any way other than chopping by hand do get the same results?
Response by poster: I won't thread sit after this. Potatoes aren't a problem. The blend I see contains carrots, parsnips, turnips, and maybe other things. They are very hard and irregularly shaped before processing. I have tried the box chopper you linked to and find it doesn't make clean cuts on truly hard veggies. BTW, I am using these raw in salads.
posted by harrietthespy at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2014
posted by harrietthespy at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2014
Save time and money and space by searching YouTube for tips on how to make these cuts for the specific vegetables you are interested in. If a seven dollar Chinese buffet can crank these out day after day for fried rice, so can you. Knife skills will change your life. Focus on those.
posted by oceanjesse at 12:53 PM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by oceanjesse at 12:53 PM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
I can almost guarantee that they are using this, or something almost identical.
So yeah, good knife and practice.
posted by supercres at 1:03 PM on December 13, 2014
So yeah, good knife and practice.
posted by supercres at 1:03 PM on December 13, 2014
Best answer: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FX0LBGE?psc=1
posted by hortense at 1:11 PM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by hortense at 1:11 PM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
1. Have a very very very sharp classic chef's knife or santoku. If it won't shave hairs off your arm, it's not sharp enough.
2. Square off your vegetable enough so that a flat surface is resting on the cutting board. Slice sheets off this, cutting down towards the board, in whatever thickness you want your final cubes to be.
3) line your sheets up (or go one by one if you like), and slice into strips the same width as the sheet's thickness. Congratulations, you now know how to julienne.
4) Now line up your julienne and cut crossways to get cubes, or dice.
Alternatively, use a good mandolin to skip steps 1 and 2.
Sorry, but you aren't getting these results without pro/prosumer level expense, and/or using a knife in your hand.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:29 PM on December 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
2. Square off your vegetable enough so that a flat surface is resting on the cutting board. Slice sheets off this, cutting down towards the board, in whatever thickness you want your final cubes to be.
3) line your sheets up (or go one by one if you like), and slice into strips the same width as the sheet's thickness. Congratulations, you now know how to julienne.
4) Now line up your julienne and cut crossways to get cubes, or dice.
Alternatively, use a good mandolin to skip steps 1 and 2.
Sorry, but you aren't getting these results without pro/prosumer level expense, and/or using a knife in your hand.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:29 PM on December 13, 2014 [5 favorites]
Best answer: A good mandoline will get you the matchsticks. Then all you need to do is the cross grain with a good, sharp knife.
posted by carrioncomfort at 1:43 PM on December 13, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by carrioncomfort at 1:43 PM on December 13, 2014 [6 favorites]
Yes and that's why what fffm writes makes sense, because it actually goes faster to make the matchsticks that way than to rig up the mandoline to the right size sticks and clean it up afterwards. I guess it's very much so that people who have little experience with how sharp a knife can be hope for the magic machine that does the chopping for them. It ain't so.
posted by Namlit at 1:49 PM on December 13, 2014
posted by Namlit at 1:49 PM on December 13, 2014
Response by poster: I should have explained that I have a sharp knife. And decent knife skills. I also have pretty bad arthritis that makes a lot of chopping painful. I'm not lazy. I was just looking for other options. Im going to assume there aren't any, save perhaps the mandolin to get the matchsticks. Thanks.
posted by harrietthespy at 2:07 PM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by harrietthespy at 2:07 PM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Is this (50% off) item for $69.95 something that would work? It would spit out french-fry like rectangular strips, then you could chop those strips into cubes fairly quickly. That's how we made home fries at a restaurant where I once worked.
Read up on knife safety, if you haven't already. Hold the bundle of veggie strips with your full hand, like you would with a suitcase handle or oar (though not actually being all the way underneath the veggies, as you want the veggies to rest directly on the cutting board), while you chop with the other. Don't hold them delicately with your fingertips. Keep the tips of your fingers away. Your brain can kinda lose track of where your fingertips are and accidentally let them get cut with the knife, but it is much less likely to accidentally cut your knuckles or the side of your hand. If the suitcase/oar grip doesn't work, you can use your fingers with the tips tucked back behind your knuckles. In fact, googling "safe chopping technique," I'm seeing primarily this method, so maybe the other way I was taught isn't considered as safe.
Then with your knife hand, rest the tip of the knife on the cutting board and, following its shape, use a rocking motion to go up and down.
Vulnerable fingertips
Fingertips tucked safely back
Knife tip anchored, fingertips tucked back
posted by salvia at 2:31 PM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
Read up on knife safety, if you haven't already. Hold the bundle of veggie strips with your full hand, like you would with a suitcase handle or oar (though not actually being all the way underneath the veggies, as you want the veggies to rest directly on the cutting board), while you chop with the other. Don't hold them delicately with your fingertips. Keep the tips of your fingers away. Your brain can kinda lose track of where your fingertips are and accidentally let them get cut with the knife, but it is much less likely to accidentally cut your knuckles or the side of your hand. If the suitcase/oar grip doesn't work, you can use your fingers with the tips tucked back behind your knuckles. In fact, googling "safe chopping technique," I'm seeing primarily this method, so maybe the other way I was taught isn't considered as safe.
Then with your knife hand, rest the tip of the knife on the cutting board and, following its shape, use a rocking motion to go up and down.
Vulnerable fingertips
Fingertips tucked safely back
Knife tip anchored, fingertips tucked back
posted by salvia at 2:31 PM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
Ah, sorry, I should have refreshed or previewed. But maybe someone else can use photos of safe knife technique.
posted by salvia at 2:31 PM on December 13, 2014
posted by salvia at 2:31 PM on December 13, 2014
Best answer: I have an embarrassingly expensive mandolin ($200) that does cubes and diamond shapes of different sizes. I got it at williams-sonoma. Your unicorn exists, maybe with some searching you can find it sub-$100.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 3:56 PM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by PorcineWithMe at 3:56 PM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm not familiar with the WF salad bar, but I did just get very small cubed sweet potatoes and turnips from my local BJs club, reasonably priced, so maybe shop around if that is an option for you.
posted by cestmoi15 at 4:45 PM on December 13, 2014
posted by cestmoi15 at 4:45 PM on December 13, 2014
I have one of these. There's lots of cheap versions but unless I'm doing huge quantities (ie feeding 30-50 people), I much prefer to hand cut. Make sure you have a good sharp knife and if your knife skills aren't great, just practice, you might be surprised at how quickly you become a pro.
posted by Hillsbillie at 7:07 PM on December 13, 2014
posted by Hillsbillie at 7:07 PM on December 13, 2014
Best answer: Sweethome looked at mandolines, and their top pick ($55) can do a dice. Sweethome's review has a gif showing how to use an attachment to dice things.
posted by amarynth at 7:15 PM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by amarynth at 7:15 PM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
However, if you bone up on your dicing skills, you can do it by hand without it taking a ton of time.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:30 PM on December 13, 2014