How to efficiently dice lots of ripe tomatoes?

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Push in every other knife cutting discussion is up and down without any forward or back movement, but kitchen related terms are different. All other knife cutting discussions don’t really have chop either or other cutting techniques. So kitchen cutting just has more gradations. This is confusing for people not familiar with kitchen knife techniques.
 
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MarcelNL said:
How does one sharpen a Tomatenstrunkenentferner? Do they sell a Tomatenstrunkenentfernerschleifer?
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I expect so. Although, in this modern discard society, maybe not. I’d suggest doing a search for Tomatenstrunkentfernerschleifstein. After all, sharpening on stones is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

I might start a new thread, so we can discuss which stones are most suitable for sharpening Tomatenstrunkentferners. Just because I like to make @daveb’s day :)
 


Very ripe tomatoes. I would say in this one I definitely do a guillotine and glide for most of it. You can see I don't bother with coring them because I get rid of core and seeds and everything for this type of dice. This video came from the end of a month of using that nakiri without any touchups so it was not very sharp. This is only a 165mm if it was longer I would still probably rock chop. To me, whether I do rock chop, push cut, chop, or pull cut is a completely subconscious decision. I start using the knife and then I adjust by how it feels on the ingredient. It depends on the the length of the knife (longer knives I will tend to gravitate toward rock chop, shorter knives toward push chop).

Part of the confusion with the semantics (at leas in my brain) is "push cut" has two meanings and they actually contradict each other.

First when we talk about styles of cutting. To "chop" is to go straight up and down. Push cut is to chop with some forward motion and pull cut is to chop with some backward motion and rock chop is circular motion. Guillotine and glide is a hybrid. So in this case push is the opposite of pull and the absence of push or pull is called a chop.

But "push cut" has a secondary meaning which actually contradicts it's first meaning. A "push cut" is a vertical cutting motion (as in push down) as compared to a "slicing cut" which is one hundred percent lateral (pulling). I usually think about this more in terms of edge types than actually physically describing cutting techniques. A "push cut" edge is one that excels at cutting stuff with no lateral motion (a really sharp nakiri or a heavy Chinese cleaver). A "slicing edge" is one that excels at cutting stuff with mostly lateral motion (a boning knife, yanagiba, vintage Sabatier, etc.) In this case push is also the opposite of a pull. But push refers to the vertical motion and pull to horizontal or lateral slicing motion. There is no easy way to remedy this. Just like the primary/secondary bevel debate.

I very rarely chop when I do push cuts. I almost always push cut or pull cut when I push chop. Sounds like a tongue twister. There is almost always some sort of lateral slicing movement one direction or the other. Chef knives just work better that way. If you are chopping a jalapeno straight up and down into circles and it starts sticking then you add a little push into your stroke. Halfway through you feel it start to grab again, change your push stroke into a slight pull stroke. You get close to the end and the knife starts tearing again. You can go to a rock chop and increase your leverage and finish strong. Learning to make little on the fly adjustments to technique can make up for a dull knife. Getting too caught up on the terminology or being too dogmatic about which technique is right or wrong is kind of silly. Whether that's the Culinary school instructor who flunks you for push cutting instead of rock chopping or the J-knife aficionado who believes that you should never rock chop with a gyuto.
 
Barmoley said:
Push in every other knife cutting discussion is up and down without any forward or back movement, but kitchen related terms are different. All other knife cutting discussions don’t really have chop either or other cutting techniques. So kitchen cutting just has more gradations. This is confusing for people not familiar with kitchen knife techniques.
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This is an interesting and valid point and one I gave zero thought to until now. Coming from a heavy pocket/sporting knife background but also with a love of cooking, my brain always just rather automatically made the distinction.

If I read about a guy saying he got his Spyderco Sage 5 sharp enough to push cut receipt paper, I immediately, and without any conscious thought see him just pushing straight down from the edge, no forward or back motion.

But when I read someone saying they prefer push cutting in the kitchen, I immediately and without conscious thought, see him pushing down and forward.

To take it a step further, it is really more about the context than the knife type. You could switch those knives in the above examples and I would picture the same things just with the different blades. With edge testing, I see one thing and with food prep, another.
 
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Michi said:
I might start a new thread, so we can discuss which stones are most suitable for sharpening Tomatenstrunkentferners. Just because I like to make @daveb’s day :)
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What steel is best for Tomatenstrunkentferners?
 
ian said:
Anyone dice romas like peppers? Just thought to try this a min ago. Works pretty well.

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Been doing that with Romas and other long mostly flat tomatoes since I saw a chef do it in a cooking demo about 25 years ago. I've showed it to other people as well. It saves a (very) little time and gives a few more perfect dices per tomato, I've noticed.
 
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stringer said:
Here's my two main methods. The first is for hot dog dice. The second is for brunoise tomato garnish.

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This is how diced tomatoes at work for lomi salmon. At least one 25# case at a time. Would core them first with little red handle scoop with teeth.
 
Might add first technique not second none of tomato wasted cored first. Slice cuts stack & chop. Some of videos here impossible for volume dice.

We had a dice hopper at Sheraton Waikiki the tomatoes came out mushy. Nothing beats hand chopping.
 
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