Score

To score means to cut shallow lines into the surface of food without cutting through it. The cuts are usually 2 to 6 mm (1/16 to 1/4 inch) deep, often in a crosshatch or a row of parallel lines. Cooks score meat, fish, poultry skin, vegetables and bread dough, each for a slightly different reason.

How to do it

1. Chill the food first if it is soft or fatty. Cold fat and skin cut more cleanly.
2. Use a very sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread lame.
3. Cut shallow lines with the tip of the blade in a single smooth stroke.
4. For duck breast and pork belly, cut through the skin and fat but stop before the meat.
5. For fish, make three or four diagonal cuts through the skin, about 5 mm (1/4 inch) deep, on each side.
6. For a tomato you plan to peel, cut a shallow X in the base.

Why it works

• Fat and skin: the cuts let fat melt and run out, and stop the skin from shrinking and curling in the pan. You get a thin, crisp layer when you sear it.
• Fish: the cuts let heat reach the thick parts faster and stop the fillet from curling.
• Meat and vegetables: the cuts give a marinade more surface to work on, though it still only goes a few millimeters in.
• Tomatoes: the X gives the loose skin a place to start peeling, as for a concassé.
• Bread: the slash gives the loaf a weak point to expand during oven spring, so it does not burst at random.

Common mistakes

• Cutting too deep into meat, so juices run out and the piece cooks unevenly.
• Scoring with a dull knife, which drags and tears the skin.
• Scoring bread timidly. A shallow, slow cut seals up. Cut quickly at an angle, about 6 mm (1/4 inch) deep.
• Scoring pork rind unevenly, so parts stay chewy.

In recipes

"Score the skin", "slash the fish" and "make shallow cuts" all mean scoring. A potato cut into thin, deep slices that stay joined at the base is a Hasselback potato, not a scored one.