Hello, I'm Jonathan Dansby the sous chef
of the Portland VA healthcare system
today i'm here to show you how to cut
produce that you would normally have in
your kitchen
first off you want to make sure you
rinsed all your produce and then after
that you want to sanitize your hand see
the washer soap whatever you have
available and make sure you have nice
sanitary conditions I have a cutting
board here with a chef's knife along
with the serrated knife that we're gonna
use for the tomato first off you want to
make sure that you have a clean dry
cutting board because if you have a
slippery surface with a sharp knife
accidents can occur first off we're
gonna start off with the melon
you know those hot summer days where you
just want a cool piece of melon you can
have your melon
so the first thing I'm gonna do I'm
going to take the melon and create flat
surfaces all right from here you can
shave off the rinds from around the
sides and you're always on the flat
surface without worrying about the
milling slipping out of your hands so
we're gonna go around I have a claw on
my fingers to show that you know not
having to worry about cutting your
fingers and you can make smooth cuts
around your mouth all the way around
nice flat surface not worrying about
cutting my fingers at all
get rid of this into the sink and then
from there you just cut the building in
half scoop out your innards and then you
can just cut the melon right into slices
however you would like and that is nice
and safely cut into slices now from
there you can go smaller or you can just
keep them like that for a nice display
next we're gonna slice julienne and dice
a bell pepper now a lot of people don't
really know and there's a few ways that
you can go about it but one of the
easiest Safa is just going around those
bell peppers r-squared in a circle and
you just go around that same cloth this
one's not as slippery because it's most
raw peppers have a flat bottom and you
have four pieces of produce that you can
do it with and then the bottom you can
just go with your same cloth see how
fast and simple that was and then to
julienne that you can take out the past
two if that seems to be not something
you enjoy eating which sometimes they
can be a little bitter
excuse me and then you can just julienne
that same claw I showed you at the
beginning you just go through and
whatever your recipe is calling for you
have a very clean
julienne very fast and simple and you
don't have to spend a lot of time on
your produce now to dice you can go
along the same route and take those
Julianne's and then turn your produce
and then just go back through the side
DICE Ville covers this we will take an
onion I will show you how to dice slice
and then dice and so here's a whole
onion for you sir most people are
familiar with it so when dealing with
onion there's a few ways you can go
about it one of the cleanest ways so you
don't have all the ends in your dicing
your slicing is just to cut really
closely to the end of the night there
instead of cutting it in half you don't
have a lot of the root system in your
onions or in your dice or your slicing
you don't have to worry about getting it
all mixed into your cuts you can also
cut off the other end some people prefer
to clean the onion and then cut it it's
all about your preference then you will
cut it in half vertically so that your
and root stays into place then you would
go about killing your onion taking off
the first few layers that are pretty and
edible when you could try to cook it
down but in my experiences I have not
seen the time when you can cook down the
outer leaves some people will enjoy
using it in stocks one of those people
all right now that that is all clean you
are ready to go so this end root will
hold your onion in place while you were
slicing and dicing I'm going to show you
a dice first so first thing you will do
is on it on the top part of your onion
you would just make a in cut on your
dice and then turn the onion and then
with that same cloth show just beginning
see
step nice and slowly using your fingers
as a guide just come down and that same
root piece of the onion that I showed
you it's holding everything in place so
you'll have a few pieces which you can
move this thing around and it's not
going anywhere
then you would turn your onion 90
degrees and then just come back with
that same cloth and you just get a clean
dice now you can toss this or you can
utilize it by coming down and that same
claw using it you'll get a dice just so
much I ended up using the whole onion
that's a slice for you
now we'll dice for you yeah a slides
very easy depending on what you're using
the slice for you can just slice right
down and cut across or if you're gonna
let's say you're gonna caramelize some
onions you can cut off maybe a quarter
to a half an inch off the edge to have a
more uniform slice and then turn your
onion you're gonna use the ring lines
along an onion and that same claw that
we started on the cantaloupe just go
forward just slowly right through and
when you get to this part you can turn
the onion and just keep going and you
have the whole onion nice and sliced for
your burgers caramelized onions wait
have you yeah alrighty next we're gonna
do garlic I have two pieces of two
cloves of peeled garlic right here ends
intact
I'm gonna show you a couple ways to man
sit
really fast way here's a whole unpeeled
piece of garlic right here and a fast
way to get the skins off is just to cut
a little bit off the tip not all the way
through and just pull the skin off away
from the garlic nice and peeled all
right the way I like to mince garlic at
home it's not the way I was taught but
it's just convenient for me is to
lightly smash the garlic little boy and
then just run that same clog and showing
you little practice makes perfect
so you'll definitely get it and just
slowly just go right through your garlic
and you'll get a little slice edge
pieces of garlic and then you can just
run your knife through real fast in a
couple different directions and that's a
really fast way of mincing your garlic
you can throw that right into the saute
pan and there you go another way and
probably the way to get more uniform
cuts is to take the whole clove of
garlic cleans hands
definitely almost another way of going
about that is you have your cloth and
just go through now you're gonna have a
stub leftover just cuz you don't want to
cut your fingers off safety first and
you have these slices of garlic you can
go through with your knife and this
you'll have little thin shreds
Oh garlic with hot time-consuming but
you get a more uniform cut and depending
on what your cut cooking sometimes a
uniform cut is the more desired cut then
you would turn your garlic sideways and
then just run your knife right back
through and there we go you have nice
minced garlic that's ready for sauteing
or going into waka Moliere salsa but
what happened
the final thing I'm going to show you is
a tomato
now you can take the paring knife that
Jesse shows you in a little earlier and
cut out this little core that's right
that's not a very edible piece or you
can take your serrated knife little
circle nice and easy
pop that out and then you can go about
it as if you want to use a tomato
without the seeds in it you can just cut
it in half just dig your fingers around
and pull out the seeds you can also
slice it just taking your serrated knife
which is very easy to go through the
tomato it's same claw be careful
definitely a flat surface and then just
turn sideways in there yep diced tomato
or you can just go with your slices when
you're burgers
thanks for watching happy cooking
