Is there a difference between chop vegatables and dice? I looked it up and said chop is cut into peices that do not need uniform shape or size. Dice of course is of uniform shape and size.... Squares. Problem having is when they say chop they show cutting lengthwise than crosswise on say a potatoe. Result is squares so how can it be chop if chop is of no uniform shape or size? Also read people say chop is bigger than a dice, dice smaller than chop, and minced smaller than both. Again how is the above true if chop has no shape or size that is uniform? Then there is chopped chocalate no way is this diced . Could some one please explain help with this . Thanks
Chop vs dice
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I can see where it can be confusing and vague in some instances. Let me explain how I view it.
As an example I'm going to use my family's bread stuffing recipe and a recipe for potato salad, which incorporates onion, potatoes, celery hard-boiled eggs. The stuffing includes, green pepper, celery and onions.
In the case of the stuffing, I could care less how the veggies look but I want them cut up so that they can be mixed fairly uniformly in the stuffing. This is where I chop them. I go about it in a somewhat willy-nilly fashion. Whacking and chopping, but keeping an eye toward making sure the pieces are fairly uniform. In no way are they little cubes. I can hold my own with a nice sharp knife, but I'm decidedly not the kind of chopper, slicer, dicer, etc. as seen on the cooking shows on TV.
As for the potato salad, it is scrutinized more closely than stuffing so this is when I dice my vegetables. Cut them into long, uniform strips, then cut them into cubes as similarly as I can manage. This is what I understand as dicing.
Now, when it comes to size of dice. In many instances, it's up to the person preparing the dish/recipe and their personal preference. But, many recipes direct you to cut into a specific size. That is 1-inch dice, 1/2-inch dice, etc. That makes the preparer's job much easier because they have some guidance.
Hope this helps.
As an example I'm going to use my family's bread stuffing recipe and a recipe for potato salad, which incorporates onion, potatoes, celery hard-boiled eggs. The stuffing includes, green pepper, celery and onions.
In the case of the stuffing, I could care less how the veggies look but I want them cut up so that they can be mixed fairly uniformly in the stuffing. This is where I chop them. I go about it in a somewhat willy-nilly fashion. Whacking and chopping, but keeping an eye toward making sure the pieces are fairly uniform. In no way are they little cubes. I can hold my own with a nice sharp knife, but I'm decidedly not the kind of chopper, slicer, dicer, etc. as seen on the cooking shows on TV.
As for the potato salad, it is scrutinized more closely than stuffing so this is when I dice my vegetables. Cut them into long, uniform strips, then cut them into cubes as similarly as I can manage. This is what I understand as dicing.
Now, when it comes to size of dice. In many instances, it's up to the person preparing the dish/recipe and their personal preference. But, many recipes direct you to cut into a specific size. That is 1-inch dice, 1/2-inch dice, etc. That makes the preparer's job much easier because they have some guidance.
Hope this helps.
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RPCookin
Executive Chef
This should explain it. This is how it was taught in the techniques class I took:
Chop vs Dice vs Mince
Chop vs Dice vs Mince
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Sounds good to me.
Would some of the cooks out there be willing to take a look at this and tell me if this is ok to go by or follow in regards to dice vs chop. I google chop vs dice and it came up with Miss Rules: chop vs dice. I can't get my I pad to copy paste. But it is called Miss Rules : chop vs dice. .....thanks in advance.
Miss Rules: Chop vs. Dice. Here it is it .
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
A potato salad recipe will tell you to cut your potatoes into what is for me rather large cubes. I have a rather small mouth, so I cut all my foods to fit into my mouth with ease. Yet I will put the onion into my small food processor and let it rip. A lot of folks do not like to bite into a piece of raw onion. It comes out as a real fine dice.
I don't worry about the size of the food in a recipe. I am more concerned that it will fit into someone's mouth. For strong flavored foods, they are diced to the point that you cannot pick it out of the dish, yet it is an ingredient that enhances the flavor.
I don't worry about the size of the food in a recipe. I am more concerned that it will fit into someone's mouth. For strong flavored foods, they are diced to the point that you cannot pick it out of the dish, yet it is an ingredient that enhances the flavor.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
I think that link is OK to go by or follow.
This isn't science. You cut up food so the flavors can be extracted and so they are an appropriate size for the dish you're cooking. A beef stew, for example, would be fine with larger pieces of food while a salsa would be better with smaller pieces.
Uniform size and shape are important only for appearance.
RPCookin
Executive Chef
Sometimes it affects the cooking process too. If I make a recipe that calls for very specific cooking times for each ingredient as it's added, then it's important that they be fairly close to the recommended size, and that all pieces for each addition are the same size, or the required and expected textures (doneness) will be inconsistent. This is particularly true for a fast cooking item like zucchini or yellow summer squash. Inconsistent piece sizes means that either the large pieces will be half raw, or the smaller ones will be mush - if the pieces are sufficiently uneven, the dish can cover the entire range.
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Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
True RP. When I make beef stew, I like to have the potato sized small enough to fit into my mouth. And don't want to have to remember to add them later than the carrots. So I cut the carrots much smaller than most folks will, yet cut the potatoes the way I like them. Then they can all go into the pot at the same time. Put a cover on the pot and let it simmer. Now all I have to remember is to go back and stir it a couple of times. Both the carrots and potatoes are ready to eat at the same time.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Although it may not have been clear, I was talking about irregularly shaped pieces that all have about the same surface areas but are not neat little cubes. i agree uniform sizes result in all parts of the product evenly cooked.
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
I can see your point Andy. If I am making a salad, then I would like the red pepper, celery, onion and any other addition except the lettuce to be all the same size. It makes for a better appearance. And eating experience.
RPCookin
Executive Chef
Of course there is more to knife prep than just chop and dice.
Typically I see and use the term "rough chop" when I don't care about size and want larger chunks, like when I'm making stock or something that I'm going to simmer for a long time, then discard the remaining solids.
Other than this "chop" can be almost any size and shape, depending on need and the type of ingredient. "Mince" is usually a very fine chop.
Dice is a more precise term. The first step in a good dice is cutting the ingredient into the proper sized strips or sticks. I'm going to get more technical now, because we have to throw in the names and sizes of the "strips" that are further chopped into the different dice sizes.
Strips or Sticks
Visualize strips as typically 2" long with a square cross section. They are then stacked and cut crosswise to make different size cubes, or "dice".
Allumette - 1/2" x 1/2" (Large dice)
Baton - 3/8" x 3/8" (Medium dice)
Batonette - 1/4" x 1/4" (Fine dice)
Julienne - 1/8" x 1/8" (Brunois)
Then there is chiffonade, which is where you take a leafy herb like basil or Italian parsley and roll the leaves into a wad, then finely slice the bundle into 1/16"-1/8" strips, making shreds rather than a full chop or mince.
I hope that I have now managed to totally confuse the topic.
Another thought: Which came first, the food prep dice or the gaming dice?
Typically I see and use the term "rough chop" when I don't care about size and want larger chunks, like when I'm making stock or something that I'm going to simmer for a long time, then discard the remaining solids.
Other than this "chop" can be almost any size and shape, depending on need and the type of ingredient. "Mince" is usually a very fine chop.
Dice is a more precise term. The first step in a good dice is cutting the ingredient into the proper sized strips or sticks. I'm going to get more technical now, because we have to throw in the names and sizes of the "strips" that are further chopped into the different dice sizes.
Strips or Sticks
Visualize strips as typically 2" long with a square cross section. They are then stacked and cut crosswise to make different size cubes, or "dice".
Allumette - 1/2" x 1/2" (Large dice)
Baton - 3/8" x 3/8" (Medium dice)
Batonette - 1/4" x 1/4" (Fine dice)
Julienne - 1/8" x 1/8" (Brunois)
Then there is chiffonade, which is where you take a leafy herb like basil or Italian parsley and roll the leaves into a wad, then finely slice the bundle into 1/16"-1/8" strips, making shreds rather than a full chop or mince.
I hope that I have now managed to totally confuse the topic.
Another thought: Which came first, the food prep dice or the gaming dice?
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Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
Of course there is more to knife prep than just chop and dice.
I hope that I have now managed to totally confuse the topic.
Another thought: Which came first, the food prep dice or the gaming dice?
Yup. You succeeded. Good job. 
Mad Cook
Master Chef
Basically, chop means don't worry about size and shape just render it into bits. Dice means be more precise. If you diced perfectly you would have a fair amount of waste but in chopping you would have some out of shape pieces but no waste.
In practice, unless you where training at the cordon bleu school, it doesn't really matter. In most cookery books the terms are interchangeable so do your own thing.
As for size, you cut to the size that fits what you want your finished dish to look like.
Stop worrying about the trivial things and give your attention to the whole dish.
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
Sound advice for everyone Mad Cook.
I was startled that "allumette" (French for match) would be as large as 1/2"x1/2", so I looked at a bunch of Google results. Most of them wrote that it was 1/4"x1/4". I still find that a bit thick for something called a matchstick cut. A few sites said it could also be 1/8"x1/8". That's more the size of all the wooden matchsticks I have ever seen....
Strips or Sticks
Visualize strips as typically 2" long with a square cross section. They are then stacked and cut crosswise to make different size cubes, or "dice".
Allumette - 1/2" x 1/2" (Large dice)
Baton - 3/8" x 3/8" (Medium dice)
Batonette - 1/4" x 1/4" (Fine dice)
Julienne - 1/8" x 1/8" (Brunois)
Then there is chiffonade, which is where you take a leafy herb like basil or Italian parsley and roll the leaves into a wad, then finely slice the bundle into 1/16"-1/8" strips, making shreds rather than a full chop or mince.
I hope that I have now managed to totally confuse the topic.
Another thought: Which came first, the food prep dice or the gaming dice?
Mad Cook
Master Chef
Yes, I thought that allumettes are smaller than given above and I agree about them looking like matchsticks
Can any one help me to understand this? When I think of chop, I think of either rough chop, chop....bite size ( being diced or like a food chopper little pieces here and there) or finely chop. That's my thinking when see or hear the word chop.My confusion is when they say chop vegetables and they include dice and slice and strips of food, how is this classified as a chop? When chop is what I said before. How does one know which one they are referring to, if they say in recipe chop vegetables what they mean? Not over thinking this just like to know how they include slice or dice or julienne as chop vegetable. Thanks ahead of time if any of you try to shed some light on this.
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Cheryl J
Chef Extraordinaire
mumu, have you gone back and re-read this thread? I can't imagine anything more explanatory than what's been offered here. Just have fun cooking, and don't worry about the exact size of your dice or chop.
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