— Theresa Schroepfer

If you have wacko shaped vegetables, then you gotta, you gotta, you gotta go wacko on 'em. And, um, you know, you, you're probably not gonna get a large dice, um, out of a thin carrot, um, you know, a large dice, you know, by sort of textbook definition. Um, you know, as we start out on this path, is about a three quarter inch cube. Um, I've certainly seen many cares that are smaller than that in diameter. Uh, which means you, you're not gonna be able to get a large dice out of that. Um, so, you know, keep that in mind, in which case, um, uh, you know, you'll just need to cut it up as you can. Um, things that are very long and skinny, um, can be much less, um, I'll say efficient when you're trying to create these, um, sort of, you know, textbook shapes and sizes. And I'm gonna take a bit of a tangent here and, and put this into some context by saying that, um, if you are, um, you know, doing our assignments or graded assignments, then please, uh, you know, look for the produce shape and size that's gonna be appropriate to the results that you want to generate. And, um, uh, once you get past our assignments and you get into your routine of daily cooking, feel free to use whatever comes at you out of your garden from the market, you know, whatever you get. And, uh, and work with it. Uh, which means that if you get a smaller diameter carrot, um, and you're thinking, wow, I wanna make a, a, a large cut of some sort, you may just need to adjust it down to a, a medium-sized dice or a smaller cut in order to fit it into what it is you have, of course, right? That's what we have to do as cooks. And, um, so I mean, that's the way you manage those things. Um, you know, don't, um, uh, don't fret over it, uh, just sort of run with it and, uh, enjoy the process of cooking. What you're gonna make in the end, uh, should be delicious. And, uh, once you get past our graded assignments, then don't worry. You know, you don't have to worry necessarily. Um, you know, so much about the, the, the, the perfection or the size and shape of, uh, the knife cuts. We want you to focus on that while you're doing our assignments, because we wanna push you to develop your skills, and we wanna see, uh, at what level you're at. And, um, but once you get beyond that, then you have that understanding, uh, to make some adjustments, um, uh, in your, your daily cooking.