Slice

To slice means to cut food into flat pieces of the same thickness. It is the first step of most other knife cuts. Recipes slice vegetables, fruit, bread, cheese and cooked or raw meat, and they often say how thick: thinly, thickly, or a measurement in millimeters or inches.

How to do it

1. Use a sharp knife that fits the job: a chef's knife for most food, a serrated bread knife for crusty bread and ripe tomatoes, a long carving knife for roasts.
2. Make the food stable. Cut a thin strip off one side of round food so it sits flat.
3. Hold the food in a claw grip: fingertips curled under, knuckles touching the side of the blade.
4. Cut with a long forward or backward stroke, not by pressing straight down. Let the knife do the work.
5. Move your claw back by the same distance after each cut, so every slice is the same thickness.

How to tell it is done

Rough guides when a recipe gives no number:

• Thinly sliced: 1 to 3 mm (1/16 to 1/8 inch).
• Sliced: about 6 mm (1/4 inch).
• Thickly sliced: about 1 to 2 cm (1/2 to 3/4 inch).

For paper-thin, even slices, use a mandoline with its hand guard.

Common mistakes

• Pressing down hard with a dull knife. It crushes tomatoes and bread and is more likely to slip. Keep your knives sharp.
• Slicing meat along the grain. Look for the lines of muscle fiber and cut across them. The short fibers make each slice tender.
• Slicing a roast straight out of the oven. Let it rest first so the juices stay in the meat.
• Sliding food off the board with the knife edge. Turn the knife and use the spine.

In recipes

"Sliced on the diagonal" means a bias cut. "Sliced into rounds" means a rondelle. "Sliced against the grain" means across the muscle fibers, which matters most for flank steak, skirt steak and brisket.