I wonder how Chinese food cooks dice their carrots? I can't believe that
they do this by "hand" since we are talking about cooking a LOT of food? I
have been looking for something to dice carrots quickly but came across
only 2 "As seen on TV" dicers that people say are only gimmicks. Anyone
know of anything that works?

Thanks a lot Steve, tracked down some of these "Mandolines" on the net,
looks like what I will need. Another question while we are on the topic, I
had asked our local take out about the "rice" that they use and they would
not say, any ideas on how I can find out?

ok, understood, which type of rice do you think is "closest" to what you
get with their take out?

Jumped the gun here Steve, just got a reply from a vendor who sells the
Mandolines and other slicers/dicers, there isn't anything they know of
that will dice the carrots for this purpose so I am guessing that the
takeout stores buy the frozed diced carrots like you said, not practical
for someone like myself who will only use a little every once in while
unfortunately..

On 1/5/06 9:24 PM, in article "mikehende" > wrote:

> I wonder how Chinese food cooks dice their carrots? I can't believe that
> they do this by "hand" since we are talking about cooking a LOT of food? I
> have been looking for something to dice carrots quickly but came across
> only 2 "As seen on TV" dicers that people say are only gimmicks. Anyone
> know of anything that works?
>

Yes, they do this work by "hand". In a ordinary Chinese restaurant kitchen
they work usually from 10 am to 12 pm. Between lunch and dinner hours lots
of work is done. On one day they might only prepare meat and duck and on
other day you might only clean vegetables and precook them. So are the
carrots also cleaned and diced by hand. The amount of diced carrots
necessary for the Chinese kitchen is little compared with the those used by
huge catering or lunch service kitchens (schools and companies and so on).
This fact makes huge cutting device(machine) in a small, otherwise
overcrowded Chinese kitchen an obstacle. I once seen a cook clean and cut
50 kg of carrots in 2 hours. Wow!!! practice makes prefect!

MB

mikehende wrote:
> I wonder how Chinese food cooks dice their carrots? I can't believe that
> they do this by "hand" since we are talking about cooking a LOT of food?

As for "diced" I'd agree to "bought them" - Mandolines don't last long
in a kitchen where ev'ryone uses them and hardly anyone knows how to
....

> I have been looking for something to dice carrots quickly but came across
> only 2 "As seen on TV" dicers that people say are only gimmicks. Anyone
> know of anything that works?

Yes - a good Chinese cleaver (or a good kitchen-knife) and the right
cut: diagonally and turning.

Take the carrot, cut it diagonally once, turn (roll) it bei 90 degrees,
cut diagonally again through the middle of the previous cut, repeat
until finished. This way you get bite-sized chunks ideal for
stir-frying in no time.

Bye, Sanne.

I cut mine lengthwise by hand and then keep cutting until I get matchstick
sized pies. A vegimatic would do this too.
Wayne

Appreciate the info and tips guys, a friend told me yesterday that the
supermarkets sell carrot "strips", I haven't seen them yet but if I get
the strips, then I can dice them easily, the main problem I am having is
cutting the carrots into thin long strips.