Skill 1 of 16

Knife basics

A safe grip, a flat side down, and an onion chopped without tears of panic.

What it means

Chop

Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.

How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.

Dice

Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.

How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.

Mince

Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.

How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.