The Vegetable Butcher

Butchery Basics

Selection. Storage. Washing.

Before you butcher anything, you have to take care in selecting, storing, and washing your vegetables. This will maximize their shelf life and set up your prep work and cooking for success. Determine your personal sourcing philosophy to focus your options and streamline shopping. Are you interested in joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program or do you prefer shopping at the farmers' market, a local specialty store, or the supermarket? Is certified organic produce right for you? My best advice: Get to know a general growing calendar for your region at sustainabletable.org/seasonalfoodguide/ and always pay attention to the time of year.

Selection

No matter where you're shopping, take some time to choose the pick of the crop. Seek out brightly colored, fresh-looking produce that is in season. It may seem obvious, but take care to avoid vegetables that are discolored, limp, overly soft, shriveling, or dry. (Don't be afraid of fresh-looking but irregularly shaped vegetables. Nature produces vegetables that are perfectly imperfect, and just fine to eat.) Veggies in their prime have a much better chance of lasting longer and remaining in good condition until you are ready to cook them. Shopping at farmers' markets and specialty produce stores is a good guarantee of freshness. At the supermarket and big-box clubs, look for in-season vegetables or items that last a long time if stored correctly, like onions, beets, cabbage, carrots, and rutabaga. Procure the season's best and most vibrant vegetables from the start, and much of your work is done for you. Not only will your vegetables last longer, but they'll offer incomparable flavor.

Storage

Most vegetables are at their best as close to picking as possible. Try to use them within a few days of purchase. The refrigerator promotes a humid, moist environment that will help extend the life of most vegetables, but they still must be cared for properly in order to avoid mold and decay. Pierce storage bags or leave them open enough to allow air to circulate (unless otherwise indicated). Some items, like winter squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and avocados, store better outside of the refrigerator. Keep these veggies in the coolest part of your kitchen to extend their life. If you store any vegetables a bit past their prime, try to salvage them by cutting away any discolored, wilted, or soft spots just before using them.

Washing

Always wash vegetables just before using them no matter how they will be prepared (even if you are peeling off the skin and even if they are organic). Make sure to take extra care with all raw vegetables that will not undergo cooking. Some of the recipes in this book include washing instructions when I think the reminder is important, but washing is assumed in every recipe.

Knives.

Hands-on contact is part of the joy in working with vegetables—ripping leafy greens from stems, snapping asparagus spears, popping beans out of pods, pulling apart florets, tearing herbs, stripping leaves, peeling your way into the heart of an artichoke. The next-best tool—and the essential tool for most vegetable prep—is a good-quality chef's knife.

An 8-inch chef's knife is an all-purpose utility knife that can take on almost all cutting jobs. It should be as comfortable to hold as it is to work with, so it's a good idea to shop for your knife at a kitchen store that will allow you to test the grip and performance of several options.

A paring knife with a 3- to 4-inch blade is an invaluable knife for precise maneuvering and detailed work like coring a tomato, pulling skin from a clove of garlic, and stringing cardoons. (I like a 3½-inch blade.)

A long serrated knife, 8 to 12 inches, with moderately deep, pointed serrations, is essential for cutting some vegetables like artichokes and tomatoes.

I also like a Japanese-style vegetable cleaver, which, unlike a long, pointed Western chef's knife, has a shorter, rectangular, almost completely squared-off blade. It's a fun (and nonessential) addition to my knife collection—most certainly a splurge—but I enjoy using it and rely on it for clean, smooth, and precise cuts. Its broad surface is also helpful for picking up and transferring just-cut vegetables from the cutting board.

You will find knives in a range of prices and materials, but most of the best-quality knives on the market today are made of high-carbon stainless steel. They combine the best of carbon-steel knives (a razor-sharp edge) and of stainless-steel knives (resistance to stains and corrosion). Most reputable manufacturers will offer a lifetime guarantee.

You don't need as many knives as those big block sets make you think. I recommend three essential knives and one that is nice to have, but not mandatory.

Knife Care

Once you invest in the right knives, you must care for them properly. The edge can be damaged quite easily if it comes in contact with anything besides food and your cutting board. During prep when you aren't actually using it, keep a knife on its side, with the blade pointed away from you. If you wish, you can keep a damp cloth next to your work space to wipe it clean as you work through different vegetables. After you use a knife, immediately wash it with a mild soap and hot water (with the blade pointed away from you). Never put it in the dishwasher. Dry the handle and blade thoroughly and store it upright using a magnetic knife strip, or on its side covered in a protective plastic sleeve. I think countertop wooden storage blocks take up too much space, and the ones with vertical, angled slots will dull your knives. If you prefer to use one, turn the knives so that they sit on their spine, not on the blade, or use a universal or magnetic block that will hold a variety of shapes and sizes without dulling them.

Honing Your Knives

It is important to maintain the edge of your knife for performance and safety. (Not only will a dull knife mash or crush veggies instead of chopping them, it is more likely to slip and cause injury.) A knife's cutting edge is made up of very fine, almost invisible teeth that can easily get knocked out of alignment with regular use and especially when you are cutting hard materials like tough roots or winter squash. This will make a knife seem dull even when it is not. You can straighten the edge of your knife by running it along a metal rod known as a honing or sharpening steel. (The exercise is called honing or steeling.) Honing your knife is actually just a tune-up—it does not make it sharper. If you steel your knife and it is still dull and not performing, it's time to send it out for professional sharpening.

I steel my knife before almost every use to ensure an optimal and safe performance. If you use your knife on a regular basis, it's a good idea to get in the habit before prepping a recipe or as soon as you notice that it isn't up to snuff.

I don't use my paring knife as often, so I steel it less routinely. The only knife that you cannot hone is the serrated one—instead, you'll need to take it to a professional sharpener when it seems dull. You can hone your other knives as often as you feel necessary.

Sharpening Your Knives

If you steel your knife and it is still performing poorly, it's time to sharpen it. Unlike honing, which essentially straightens the cutting edge (known as the burr), sharpening will remove metal from the blade, creating a new edge. Most reputable kitchen stores and cutlery shops offer sharpening services at around five dollars per knife.

If you really want the ability to sharpen your knives at any time, I suggest using an electric sharpener, which will help you hold your knife at the right angle against the stone. Steer clear of a whetstone sharpener, which can be quite tricky without a lot of practice.

How to Hone a Knife

1. The easiest and safest way to hone your knife is by holding the steel vertically out in front of you, firmly anchored to the board with the tip down atop a folded dish towel. Position the side of the heel of your knife at a 15- to 20-degree angle (imagine the angle of a closed matchbook) against the steel, blade pointing down. Applying pressure, firmly draw the knife across the blade, moving from the heel toward the tip in one motion.

2. Switch sides between each swipe, keeping your knife steady and firm at a 15- to 20-degree angle. Repeat these motions 5 to 8 times, lightening your pressure as you reach your final strokes. Use the kitchen towel to wipe your knife with the blade pointing away from you.

Holding a Knife

The ideal way to hold a chef's knife is with a "pinch grip" or a "blade grip." Place your thumb and forefinger just in front of the handle and pinch the blade near the point where it joins the handle (also known as the bolster). This will give you good control over the tip of the blade. If this is uncomfortable or takes getting used to, you can use a "handle grip." With this grip, your thumb and forefinger rest on the handle of the knife instead.

The weight and size of a paring knife allow you to alternate between these two grips to maneuver around a vegetable. When using one to peel an onion or remove the germ from a garlic clove, the spine of the knife should rest in the palm of your hand with the edge of the knife pointed toward your thumb. Wrap your forefinger and middle finger around the spine of the blade to secure and steady the knife in your hand, using your thumb on the other side as a counterweight.

Cutting Boards.

I cannot emphasize enough just how essential the cutting board is to vegetable butchering. A cutting board should provide a firm and stable surface that will allow you to work with ease and control. For the majority of your prep work, you will want to use a large, sturdy board that won't slip and offers plenty of room to work comfortably and safely—get rid of those small, cramped boards! It should rest securely against the counter and grip your knife just enough to offer you excellent control. You can get away with a board that is 18 inches long by 12 inches wide, but really a 20-by-15–inch board is my recommended minimum.

A traditional wood cutting board or butcher block is my top choice. It is an ideal cutting surface (and a beautiful one) that makes butchering any vegetable a joy. Teak wood boards are my second choice, and offer great durability. These boards—especially the large ones—are expensive, but they should last a lifetime if you take good care of them. Look for a reversible board with built-in handles.

Thick plastic boards are less expensive alternatives and will get the job done, but they can scratch easily, seem to dull your knife faster, and aren't much of a pleasure to cut on. Place a damp paper towel underneath plastic boards and lightweight wood boards to keep them from sliding out of place. (Make sure to change out the damp towel between uses, as it can harbor bacteria.) Acrylic and glass boards offer a slippery surface with no control, and they dull and damage the edge of your knife; avoid them.

I like to keep around a set of flexible cutting mats, which I place on top of my wood board for cutting small, soft vegetables—especially ones that yield messy juice. You can buy them at most kitchen stores.

Equipment. Tools.

Outside of the basics, these are the standout pieces of equipment and tools that I use on a regular basis. Some are not absolutely essential, but all will help support your work with vegetables.

• Bench scraper

• Blender

• Box grater (or an extra-coarse or ribbon Microplane)

• Colander (standard and double-mesh)

• Collapsible steamer basket

• Food processor

• Handheld citrus juicer/squeezer

• Kitchen shears

• Mandoline (preferably a handheld, Japanese-style mandoline; my favorite is the Kyocera)

• Microplane (rasp-style)

• Scale (see box)

• Salad spinner

• Spider (a mesh strainer attached to a long handle)

• Vegetable brush (with natural bristles and a short handle)

• Vegetable peelers (a swivel peeler and a Y-shaped peeler)

• Vegetable peeler with julienne blade

Basic Cuts.

As you will learn in A Visual Guide to Basic Cuts (see here), every vegetable requires an assessment of its size, shape, and texture in order to determine the best way to approach it. Each vegetable is different. Is the skin tender and thin enough to eat? Does it have rough, dry, or hard skin that will require peeling with a knife, or can a vegetable peeler handle the job? What is the best way to break down the vegetable to produce uniform pieces? This decision will impact how the vegetable cooks, how it partners with other ingredients, and how the final dish looks. Perhaps most important, the cut—a small, medium, or large dice; thin slices or strips; thick slabs; sticks or rounds—will affect each and every bite.

Trimming and Peeling

Use a vegetable peeler, when called for, to peel vegetables with thin or stringy skins. I recommend a swivel peeler for carrots, cucumbers, some eggplants, parsnips, potatoes, salsify, and sweet potatoes. A Y-shaped peeler is best applied to roundish vegetables like radishes, rutabaga (unwaxed), sunchokes, and butternut squash, as well as celery stalks and cardoons.

A paring knife comes in handy to core, peel, and trim vegetables, especially ones with soft, papery, or stringy skin like tomatoes, tomatillos, cooked beets, garlic, ginger, shallots, onions, celery, cardoons, and rhubarb.

Use a chef's knife to peel vegetables with thick, hard, rough, or waxed skins: celery root, jicama (waxed), kohlrabi, rutabaga (waxed), and some thick and hard-skinned winter squash.

Chopping, Mincing, and Cutting Ribbons

You can coarsely chop vegetables when the final results don't have to be so precise, such as when simmering them in a stock or pureeing them. Although these are not uniform cuts, you want to get the pieces as close to the same size as possible (typically between ¾ inch and 1 inch) to ensure even cooking. You will also chop fresh delicate herbs such as parsley and hardier ones like rosemary leaves. Naturally, due to their form, they require much smaller cuts that still hold some shape.

Mincing is a much finer version of chopping. It requires a different hand position on your knife to create a unique rocking motion without breaking contact with your cutting board.

Leafy greens and large-leaf herbs can be rolled up and shredded with a chef's knife to produce fine, uniform ribbons (chiffonade).

Slicing

Depending on the shape of the vegetable, slicing can produce round or oblong coins (as with a carrot); thin or thick slabs, rounds, or planks (as with an eggplant or zucchini); or thin strips (as with an onion, fennel, or pepper). You can use slices whole or butcher them further to produce sticks or very thin strips known as matchsticks or julienne (see here). For paper-thin slices, you'll want to use a mandoline or a vegetable peeler (see here or here, respectively).

Before you break a vegetable into slices, assess its form and consider its relation to other similarly shaped vegetables. You can use the same general approach for carrot shapes, round roots like beets, and cylindrical veggies like cucumbers, as well as leafy greens, adjusting slightly to account for subtle differences. Other irregularly shaped veggies such as artichokes, cardoons, and peppers will require a unique approach that I cover in their respective chapters.

To slice, position your non-knife hand against the vegetable, with your fingers tucked back in a claw position to hold the vegetable firmly against the cutting board. Line up the side of your blade with your knuckles so they kiss. Now, a sharp chef's knife will do all the work for you. Just guide your knife through the vegetable, with a gentle rocking motion—tip of the blade down to the heel. Keeping your fingers tucked back, slide your knuckles back to make the successive cuts, spaced according to your desired thickness.

Using a Mandoline

A mandoline is useful for producing very thin, uniform slices—typically from paper-thin up to ¼ inch thick—and makes quick work of cutting firm vegetables, such as beets (cooked or raw), carrots, celery root, cucumbers, fennel, kohlrabi, onions, peppers, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, summer squash, sunchokes, sweet potatoes, and turnips. If a vegetable needs to be peeled, you'll want to peel it before slicing. If the vegetable is wider than the mandoline's platform and blade, first cut the vegetable in half, then begin to slice with the cut side down.

Cutting Matchsticks (Julienne)

To cut very thin, uniform strips (⅛ or ¹/₁₆ inch wide), you can use a chef's knife, julienne peeler, or the julienne attachment on some mandolines. For cuts with a knife, see here.

Apply the julienne peeler like you would a standard peeler to zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Turn the vegetable as you go or hold it in place on its side against your board. Press and slide the peeler along the flesh to create matchsticks.

To use a mandoline's julienne attachment, you will have to adjust or change the slicing plate, or flip a switch to activate it. Follow the steps here, applying moderate pressure on the hand guard and gliding the vegetable back and forth to produce even strips.

Grating and Shredding

Use a box grater or handheld Microplane with large holes for jobs that require only a couple of ingredients. I especially recommend it for coarsely grating beets, carrots, cucumbers, daikon radishes, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and zucchini.

To grate a vegetable into fine shreds, use the smallest holes on a box grater or a standard rasp Microplane with very fine teeth. These tools work well for citrus zest, garlic, ginger, and horseradish. Do not saw a Microplane back and forth: Move smoothly in one direction.

Alternatively, a food processor fitted with a shredding attachment will quickly break down firm-fleshed vegetables into thin shreds—particularly helpful when shredding full heads of cabbage and multiple potatoes, sweet potatoes, and celery roots that will yield a large volume. Consider this when making slaws, vegetable cakes, and fritters.

Small quantities of cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and some chicories and endives with tight heads might call for shredding with a chef's knife instead.

1. To coarsely grate a vegetable, trim a small piece off the end and, using firm and consistent pressure, run it back and forth against the largest holes of a box grater to make shreds.

2. To finely grate a vegetable or zest citrus, use a rasp Microplane, running the vegetable in one direction against the cutting edge of the holes (for citrus, stop just before you reach the white pith).

Butchery Essentials

To Prep Whole Artichokes

1. Fill a large bowl with acidulated water (see Butcher Notes). Remove small and tough leaves from the base and stem.

2.