What knife and cutting technique should I use for cubing bacon?
I like to fry and cook cubed bacon for various dishes, but I sometimes have a hard time cutting through bacon, especially where the fat meets the meat. The bacon just tends to move around too much, and it gets trickier at the end of the slice (or chunk). I usually use a 6 inch serrated knife for this task. What knife would be best - serrated, chef's, or filet? Or something else? Is there some special technique I should be using?
Best Answer
Cutting bacon into cubes was a regular prep task for me when I was cooking professionally, so I got very fast at it. Here are the tricks I found:
- Fully cooked (baked) bacon cuts MUCH faster and cleaner, and you can make perfect cubes
- Don't use a serrated knife. It'll be easier to cut with, but it will shred and fray the bacon as you slice, eventually making a mess.
- Use the sharpest knife you have, especially for uncooked bacon. There's already a tendency for it to slip and slide around, and a sharp knife cuts with less back-and-forth motion.
- You want a deep-bellied knife such as a santoku or Chinese cleaver, because you can slice through multiple stacks of bacon at once.
- Stack slices of bacon so you can cut multiple pieces at once.
- Try to work with 4" by 4" blocks of bacon, so the pieces aren't big enough to slip around as much. With this size you're still able to do a lot at once, but it's fast
- Organize your cutting board. Pick one corner for whole chunks of bacon, then cut into strips and move to another spot, then finally into cubes which goes in another spot.
Now if I were a culinary school, you'd have paid a few hundred bucks to learn what I just told you.
Pictures about "What knife and cutting technique should I use for cubing bacon?"
What knife should I use to cut bacon?
Use the sharpest knife you have, especially for uncooked bacon. There's already a tendency for it to slip and slide around, and a sharp knife cuts with less back-and-forth motion. You want a deep-bellied knife such as a santoku or Chinese cleaver, because you can slice through multiple stacks of bacon at once.What knife is used for cubing?
Deba Knives These knives have medium-length blades, and they can be used for a variety of tasks, such as preparing cuts of fish, chopping vegetables, or cubing meat.The Only Knife Skills Guide You Need
More answers regarding what knife and cutting technique should I use for cubing bacon?
Answer 2
I first remember seeing Melissa d'Arabian demonstrate using KITCHEN SHEARS to cube bacon during her season on "The Next Food Network Star". I tried it soon after and I find that the scissor action of the shears makes it EASY to cube bacon. Clean, consistent easy to use.
Answer 3
I would say a chef's knife, for sure. Make sure it's sharp! If you've never sharpened your knives (not just honed using a steel) it can make a world of difference.
If you are having troubles, making sure the meat is chilled will help. Straight out of the fridge works okay, but it is even easier if you throw it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so.
Answer 4
Just use a slicing machine for the first 2 cuts (1st=slices, 2nd=stripes) and a sharp blade for the 3rd cut (the cubes). That's probably the fastest and most precise way to cut lots of them :)
Guess I should mention one trick: put them in the fridge/freezer for a while ... simply because fat on low temperature is way more easy to handle.
Answer 5
Stack and slice with a large santoku or cleaver (you'll need the weight, depth and relatively flat blade)
Answer 6
I use a pair of scissors. This is clearly the most underrated kitchen utensil. I've written an article about my top five - scroll to the bottom to see the scissors. One huge advantage is that you can do it straight onto the frying pan leaving only the scissors and your fingers for cleaning :-)
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Maahid Photos, Maahid Photos, Gustavo Fring, Karolina Grabowska