After you have decided what to cook, and you know what vegetables you are going to need, decide what knife you will use and what size or shape you want the vegetable to be.  You might say, "I just cut them up and the vegables are all different sizes".  What I want you to think about is the cut will determine the consistency of your dish.  If you have large and small pieces of carrots in your dish, for example, some may cook well done and others may be too hard.  This will happen if your sizes are all different.

Also are you going to cut the vegetables in julienne strips, dice, slice or cube them.  Also important to how you want the end result to be.

There is a right way and a wrong way to hold a knife while you cut anything.  Don't just grip the handle but hold the blade right above the handle.  This will keep the knife from spinning and give you more control of the knife.  Now your other hand is most important, it will control the size of the vegetable.  Curl your fingers inward so your knuckles are the outer most part of your hand.  Grip the vegetables with your left hand and the knife with your right hand.  Keeping the tip of the knife on the cutting board, raise the back of the knife where you are gripping it and let the blade feel your knuckles, not in a way to cut them of course, just resting next to the side of the blade, push the knife up and down in a rocking motion, moving your fingers back each time you go upward.  Be consistent with your size.  It will feel awkward at first but you will get the idea after a few tries.

Cutting up your vegetables to end up with the beautiful presentation that you want to accomplish depends on this one step.  Determine what shape and size you want your vegetables to be.  Learn to present your dishes to the family and have them look and taste like you are not just a home cook but a professional cook that went to culinary school

Here is a list of the various cuts

1. Julienne - sticks about 1/8" x 1/8" x 2"
2. Battonette - sticks about 1/4" x 1/4" x 2 1/2"
3. Brunoise - cubes about 1/8" x 1/8"  1/8"
4. Small dice - cubes about 1/4" x 1/4" x 1/4"
5. Medium dice - cubes about 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2"
6. Large dice - cubes about 3/4" x 3/4" x 3/4"

The consistency of your cut will determine the consistency of your cook.  If you have all different sizes in your dish, so may be under cooked and some may be over cooked.  

In the next blog we will talk about the importance how you hold your knife to get that consistent same size cut of your choice.