Chop vs. Dice

I thought this article from Fine Cooking Magazine was clear, helpful, and definitely worth passing on:

Of all the instructions you're likely to see in a recipe, "chop" and "dice" are two of the most common. Lots of people think they're the same thing, but between these two similar concepts lie important differences.

CHOP:
• irregularly shaped
• similar in size
• for rustic dishes, mixtures to be puréed,
or ingredients that are small or unusually shaped (like olives or parsley)


To chop: Cut ingredient into somewhat large, coarse pieces. Group the pieces and rock a chef's knife back and forth through them. Work randomly and in different directions.
Fineness is relative to the original size of the ingredient, so "finely chopped" parsley should be smaller than "finely chopped" onions.


DICE:
• cubes or squares
• all the same size
• for dishes more refined in style
or where even cooking is important



To dice: For most ingredients, start by cutting lengthwise into sticks, or similar long, slender shapes. (For onions, halve and slice them lengthwise, leaving the root end intact to help hold the slices together.) Then, hold the item together as you make neat, even crosswise cuts.
Small dice = 1/4"; medium dice = 1/2"; large dice = 3/4".

[ adapted from Fine Cooking 96, pp. 94, October 22, 2008. ]

The Dash -- grammar's nice black pants

Earlier today, I was looking up the correct way to use the dash and was particularly amused by the description in The Elements of Style by Strunk and White:

"Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary. A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses. Use a dash only when a more common mark of punctuation seems inadequate."

I love when punctuation gets described like dinner attire.

With a grain of salt: Morton's Salt Guide

There are plenty of sites that list the different types of gourmet salts, showing everything from Hawaiian Sea Salt to Fleur De Sel. However, there aren't many that do a decent job of indexing salt types by use. Therefore, I thought I'd spend my first post giving props to the Salt Guide on the Morton Salt website.

Morton's Salt Guide may not list all the fancy varieties of culinary salt, but they do point out which salt is ideal for the rim of margarita glasses vs. popcorn seasoning. Their guide consists of 3 nicely organized tables:

• one table that highlights the characteristics of their salts
  
• one table that indicates the various uses for different salt types
• and a bonus conversion table for culinary substitutions

While it would have been nice to find a guide with more variety, or links from the usage table to their recipes... Morton's Salt Guide is overall clean, concise, and straightforward.

Miss Rules gives Morton's Salt Guide an A-.

On a side note, Morton's Salt is responsible for the widespread idiom: "When it rains, it pours." According to Wikipedia:

"The company's logo (from 1914), and its motto, "When it rains, it pours" (from 1911), were developed to illustrate the point that Morton Salt was free flowing, even in rainy weather. Originally, the company had added magnesium carbonate as an absorbing agent to ensure that its table salt poured freely; calcium silicate is now used instead for the same purpose."

The original English idiom is: "It never rains, but it pours."