Chopping

At John Besh's demo in Aspen, the chef had to chop a lot of garlic for the nouveau New Orleans cuisine he was making. However, he had a technique for getting it minced quickly: smash it. I'm not talking about to remove the skin; I'm talking about after the skin has been peeled off. Place the garlic clove on a cutting board. Turn a large chef's knife on its side so it's perpendicular with the board. Slam the knife with the palm of your hand on top of the garlic clove. If you hit it hard enough, it turns into a pulverized paste. Run the knife through it once and you've got minced garlic in seconds.

What's your method for chopping garlic?

At Fabio Viviani's demo in South Beach, I learned a genius new method for cutting green onions. Here's what what you do:

1. Instead of removing both rubber bands, take off the one that holds together the stems of the scallion.
2. Slice off the stems and throw them away.
3. Cut the onions up until the dark green part, which should still be held together by the second rubber band. Most recipes have you discard the dark greens, so toss them in the compost bin and mince the onion according to your recipe.

Since watching him do this, I've been slicing green onions following his quick technique. Do you have a chopping suggestion? Share it with us below!

I use my food processor practically every time I cook. It makes chopping a large amount of vegetables quick and easy. Here's how you do it: slice the vegetables into chunks and toss into the food processor. Pulse several times until the veggies are chopped. Use accordingly. Be careful not to overstuff the processor — if it's too full, some vegetables won't get chopped. Also, avoid overprocessing: you want diced veggies not veggie puree. Do you use your food processor to chop?