How do restaurants peel, core, and dice mango efficiently and safely?

April 12, 2018 9:21 PM

I love eating mango and kind of fear and loathe prepping it. I know two methods, and neither are as safe and fast as I would like. Surely there must be a better way. How would I be doing this if I were back-of-house in a restaurant that served a lot of mango?

Method 1:

1. Cut a slab off each side, parallel to the core.
2. Score each slab.
3. Invert the slab and slice the cubes off.

Problems: Too many cuts where my other hand is acting as the backstop for my knife. Hard to grip the inverted slabs with my now probably slippery fingers as I cut the cubes off.

Method 2:

1. Peel all but a fingertip-sized patch on either side.
2. Cut a bit off one tip, to make a flat bit.
3. Pinching the mango by the unpeeled spots, and resting the mango on the flat bit, cut a slab off each side.
4. Peel the last two spots.
5. Lay the slabs flat and dice them like any other slab.

Problems: Hard to grip the mango while peeling it, since you eventually get down to only the exposed wet flesh. Hard to peel the last two bits, unless you peel toward your other hand (yikes).

But surely this is a solved problem, right? Some Thai prep cook must be churning through crates of these every day without filing for workman's comp. How is it done?

posted by d. z. wang to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

Cut a bit off of one end to make a flat spot, peel the mango with a fruit peeler, then use a mango slicer, and then dice or whatever.
posted by gregr at 9:49 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Method 1, absolutely. You can score/take off the cubes with a butter knife (and or spoon) if you're cutting yourself doing that bit. (I realise that I rarely have this issue, because I stand over the sink and slurp the cubes straight off the inverted skin)
posted by kjs4 at 9:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]

The Alton Brown Way to Peel and Cut a Mango:

I was watching Alton Brown on FoodTV demonstrating how to peel and cut a mango. His method actually produced more edible flesh, and was safe and efficient. But you do need a few more pieces of equipment for the Alton Brown method.

Corn-on-the-Cob Holders

In addition to a large kitchen knife, you will need a vegetable peeler and a corn-on-the-cob holder.

Start by peeling the mango with a vegetable peeler

Then slice off the top (stem end) and bottom of the mango.

Insert a corn holder into the mango. This is going to act as a holder while you slice the mango. Notice how the mango can stand by itself!

Holding the corn holder, slice off the cheeks.

And trim the flesh off the pit.

Then slice the mango according to your recipe.

Enjoy!
posted by MovableBookLady at 10:00 PM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

Your method 1 is the one I've seen most often. Given how soft a ripe mango should be, there's no need to use a particularly sharp or pointed knife. kjs4's idea of using a butter knife is excellent. I just keep a couple of worn out old knives in my drawer specifically for tasks like this. Peeling the whole mango seems messy, time-consuming and unnecessary to me.
posted by pipeski at 4:50 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Use method one, but instead of inverting the halves and using a sharp knife for slicing the squares out of the mango skin, use a spoon to scoop them out. If your mangos are ripe enough to eat, you shouldn't need to use any kind of peeler or blade to separate the flesh from the skin.
posted by moonlight on vermont at 5:25 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]

I would not do this in a restaurant, but at home I use the cup.method. It seems safer and I get less goop on my hands.
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:27 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]

For soft mangos Method #1 use spoon to scoop

For hard/green mangos peel and cut.
posted by captaincrouton at 5:27 AM on April 13, 2018

On preview, moonlight in vermont beat me to it. The spoon method is the best.
posted by john hadron collider at 5:28 AM on April 13, 2018

The cup method posted above, or if you want presentation-grade mango, the inside out method uses safe knifework.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:43 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Here's what I do:

Cut off the two slabs, parallel to the core, as in method 1.
Cut each of those slabs in half the long way (so you have four, teardrop size pieces)
Peel the pieces by hand (each will have a corner to be able to grasp and peel).
Enjoy!

I find I waste a lot less vs the cube-and-score method this way and it's easier to cut them in different shapes. This method works best on a ripe mango (firmer can still be done, but a lot harder to get the peel off in on piece).
posted by Twicketface at 7:11 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

OK It's not the official method but I like to cut peel off the skin with a veggie peeler (a sharp one if they are lovely & soft) then climb into a nice bubble bath & just eat the whole gnawing at the big old seed in the middle to get ever bit.

Seriously if a bath isn't a viable option then I go method one, just make sure my knife is super sharp, then you don't have to grip as hard with your other hand and you apply less pressure so less chance of it sliding out of your grasp. Just go slow if you're worried about cutting yourself.
posted by wwax at 8:25 AM on April 13, 2018

If you just want to eat it without any prep you can do it the way my husband learned to in India.
Massage the intact ripe mango all over, very firmly.
Nibble a small hole in the end.
Then suck out the mango.

It's the most beautiful and sensual way to eat mango of all!
posted by taff at 9:32 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]

I more or less do your method 1, but instead of inverting it and slicing off the cubes, I scoop them out with a spoon. Requires one more tool, but I think it's faster and easier.
posted by number9dream at 9:36 AM on April 13, 2018

If you're just eating mango (and not putting it in a dish) - do what we did in India. Slice off the two slabs. You now have two slabs (two "halves") and the core. Use a small spoon to scoop out the flesh from each half and eat immediately (like eating an avocado). Use your hands to peel off the skin from the core in one long strip, hold the whole thing in your hand and eat all the flesh from it. Suck the seed.

taff's method works for really juicy mangoes.

I'd honestly never seen the scoring mango into cubes method in India because most of the time we don't put mango into things - we're just eating the mango as is.
posted by peacheater at 12:21 AM on April 14, 2018

Having read this thread with interest, I purchased a Good Grips mango slicer, and I can report that using it together with the ‘cup’ technique produces what amounts to two peeled, stoned, half mangoes with minimal waste, quickly and easily.

I think this must be the way they produce the pre-sliced mango you can buy.
posted by Segundus at 12:02 AM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: The cup method is great. I'm somehow able to apply much more force, and more evenly, using the cup than a spoon. And then I have a peeled slab that I can dice. Thanks, all!
posted by d. z. wang at 12:32 PM on April 15, 2018