Usually I hold the cucumber when I’m slicing it. I never had this issue but I guess it’s probably my knives, if you have a santoku or nakiri knife or even a big chef’s knife the slices will usually stick to it.
partial peel three to five stripes all the way around, so it’s a mix of flat and round edges
or just cut on a bias so you end up with ovals instead of circles
or get a cutting board with a gutter
Ia this where you live ?
So, I would recommend starting with Basic knife skills.
I have a few guesses here, the first being is that you’re moving the knife weirdly. Maybe it’s a Dull knife and the extra force required is making things go whonky.
Maybe you just have a small cutting board. And would benefit from a large one that just lives on the counter. (Small boards are for presentation, imo.)
Edit: As a side note, if you do find your knife isn’t sharp… you don’t need to spend a whole lot on water stones. They’re “the best” because of tradition. the aluminum oxide stones he mentioned sucked. Arkansas stones are good, but you were never going to get a razors edge on one. But the modern standard is the diamond stone.
And diamond stones turned out to be pretty inexpensive lately. You can get a lasts-a-lifetime stone for 15-20 bucks
If you don’t want to use Amazon (please consider not,) you can get them from any woodworking supply store like rockler or woodcraft or whatever you have where you are.
Do the diamond stones need any kind of maintenance? I’ve read that you need to regularly flatten the surface of your typical whetstone.
you cut it diagonally so it falls on its side instead of rolling off. make sure your hand is not in the way of the knife.
Is…is…is your chopping board level?
Great question. You’ll need a really sharp knife.
First you carefully place the cucumber on a cutting board and then dispose of it in a garbage can. Then get a big hunk of cheese from the fridge and take a generous bite off it, chewing thoroughly. Bite and chew the cheese over and over again until the cheese is no more. If you do this right, you can work through a pound of cheese in about 5 minutes.
This way there will be no round slices rolling all over and off your cutting board. Oh and you didn’t need the sharp knife for this, but it’s good to have one.
The sharp knife is for later. To deal with the giant brick that’ll come. Eventually.
A few ways you do it.
First is for bigger cukes only, really. You cut it in half first. Seems like it isn’t answering what you actually asked, but there is an upper limit to how big a slice can get before it’s too big. So once a cuke is much bigger than maybe an inch and a half (a little under 4 cm) wide, cut it in half first.
Second is to sacrifice a slice length wise. Take your knife, cut a ribbon off of one side,and you’ll have a flat part thru not only reduces/prevents rolling slices, it also makes the job easier. It’s a little less pretty maybe, but effective.
Third is to slice at an angle. The rounds then fall over before they can roll. It’s also visually appealing, if maybe not better than standard slices.
Fourth, use a barrier. Some damp paper towels (or cloth ones) placed on the edge of your cutting board will stop the slices from going past. Yeah, you can use dry ones, but they tend to move easier, so paper towels will blow away (and cloth ones get knocked away by errant elbows.) But any barrier will do tbh. A long handled spoon, your honing rod, whatever.
Fifth, use a jig. I’m not aware of any brands, but there’s veggie cutting jigs with even slice sizes. They have the side benefit of holding things like carrots, cukes, or zucchini and keeping the slices in place. Haven’t used one in ages, so I’d have to go searching for a link, and you can do that just as easily; but if you can’t find anything, holla back and I’ll see what I can find. But you can make your own with a little ingenuity and access to a band saw or even the right hand tools, but the plastic ones are cheaper and lighter.
Sixth is using a damp towel on your cutting surface. I wouldn’t do it, but if you pay attention to what you’re doing, you won’t fuck up the towel and it does work. Has to be damp though, something about that makes the skin grab better than on a dry one.
Seventh is using your hands and speed. If you’re feeding the cuke along with the ol’ claw finger technique, and slicing/chopping fast, they don’t get a chance to roll.
As an alternative to that, the eighth I’m aware of is to partially slice through on your first pass, then come back and finish. The slices don’t roll. Won’t work on more fibrous veggies, but stuff like cukes or zucchini will stay in place just fine. Takes longer though.
Tbh though, I’ve always had more trouble with carrots, even with very thin knives that don’t wedge much. Which, that helps too, btw. If you pick up a cheap Kiwi nakiri (kiwi is a cheap brand of stamped steel knives, but they rock for some jobs better than the fanciest and most expensive knives. Try one with onions and you’ll see what I mean for sure), you’ll have way less wedging, so there’s less force applied along the side of the slice, meaning they don’t roll as much.
Shit, you could probably just push the end of the cuke/zucchini against something weighty as you slice and as long as you don’t push hard, it would at least reduce the force the slices would roll with, meaning they wouldn’t go far.
Sharp knives also reduce the problem because they go through with less force, leading to less motion as the slices part from the body of the veg.
Legit though, doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll have some escapees with thick slices. Cukes are much rounder than most similar shaped veggies, and often have smoother skin. So they roll easier than most. Like I said, I had more trouble with carrots, until I got my techniques down and knives that let me do the job smoothly. A decent knife with a thin profile, kept sharp and used appropriately to the design of the knife tends to apply the force in a way that slices fall laterally rather than roll. Plus, if you slice conservatively, the force you’re applying across the veg doesn’t have enough energy to get the slice moving much. That’s easier with a well maintained knife.
Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKwE1jHNEww
This is an adaptive system, but the jig they have on it is the first example I found.
For your carrot problem, get the really fat bulk carrots, which (at my grocery store anyway) are not woody and very tasty. Peel it as usual, noticing you only have to peel one or two. You’re now perfectly set for your first cucumber solution, cutting it in half lengthwise, or maybe even quarters because carrots are a firmer bite. Personally I start cutting off the fat end and work towards the tip, because you have more to grip for better control on the harder slices, and if your last ones are a little thicker they’re also small.
How round are y’alls cucumbers?? When I slice it the pieces just tip over
I’ve sliced cucumbers for many years. I have yet to frequently encounter the same cylinders OP is buying. they usually have a more flat side, or just tilt the knife a little after you cut and the cucumber is stuck to the knife.
Mandolin
So I got myself a mandolin, and the hippie who sold it to me asked if I wanted to join his band. Now I play the mandolin (very badly,) for a hippie band. The music sucks but the weed is great.
Was it this pack of savages? They seem like a rowdy bunch, but great song.
Cut thinner slices? Idk. That never happens to me and I slice cucumber daily. I don’t think I could make a slice roll even if I tried to - they just fall over.
Cut the slices at a slight angle so they tilt over if they roll.
i was taught to do it that way,
I don’t. I make one careful, lengthwise cut, then I slice up the halves to get a bunch of semi-circlss. Mostly, I just do this so the cucumber stays planted on the board better (for safety), but not losing the round slices is a nice secondary benefit.
Use a potato peeler to turn the surface into a polygonal prism rather than a cylinder before you slice
Thats just simply never been an issue for me when cutting cucumber…
