Is There A Right Way To Chop A Salad? Well, Of Course There Is
Ever wondered why restaurant salads are way better than homemade salads? You got the best-quality ingredients available and even found a classic vinaigrette recipe. But in the end, you wished you were dining out. The secret might be in the way your salad ingredients are chopped. The best way to chop a salad is to use a mezzaluna, a curved-blade knife with a handle on each side. This is a pretty common tool in Italy, and some cooks in the U.S. and U.K. swear by it as well, like Nigella Lawson for example.
There are a few steps involved in making the perfect chopped salad. After washing and arranging your ingredients separately, from veggies to cheese, you might think that by mixing those ingredients in a big bowl, you are ready to go. But with just a small amount more work, you'll achieve much better results. First We Feast suggests dumping all the mixed ingredients onto a cutting board and going through another chopping session with the half-moon knife before transferring your salad to the bowl again.
A mezzaluna is not an expensive tool, and the cooking community attests to the importance of the utensil.
Mezzaluna helps chopping tiny ingredients
To mezzaluna or not to mezzaluna is a constant topic of debate on social media. Overall, people think a mezzaluna helps with cutting, especially small things like herbs. In a Reddit thread, someone commented: "I know it will be really helpful for herbs, spices, mincing garlic, very finely chopped onions, marinated peppers, semi-dried tomatoes, etc." Another Reddit user described it as a safer alternative because "your hands are kept away from the cutting edge so it's good for children or people lacking knife skills." Plus, it allows you to cut several ingredients at the same time, evenly, and thus save some time in the kitchen, which is great when meal prepping, as an Instagram user shared.
However, if a mezzaluna knife intimidates you, a good chef's knife works too. Make sure you are using the correct knife, and holding it correctly. To utilize a chef's knife, put your salad ingredients on a chopping board, in a rectangular form preferably, as First We Feast advises. Cut all the way down the form with your knife, rotating the board once or twice so everything is chopped thoroughly. If this still sounds like too much work, a vegetable chopper or a food processor might save you, but keep in mind that practice makes perfect, even when it comes to knife skills.