Test Kitchen video tip: Peeling and dicing an avocado
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After cooking school, one of my first line jobs was working the garde manger station at a local restaurant. Most of the components could be made ahead of time, but one of the items -- fresh diced avocado for the Cobb salad -- had to be done to order so the avocado wouldn’t discolor.
With its crumbly, tough skin and soft, buttery flesh, avocado can be a pain to peel and slice or dice. But with a few basic tricks, it’s really a simple procedure. And you can do it quickly.
Check out the how-to video above, or follow the jump below for a step-by-step.
If you have any kitchen tips or questions you’d like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at noelle.carter@latimes.com.
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-- Noelle Carter
Video: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times
1. Halve the avocado lengthwise: 2. Tap the avocado seed firmly with the sharp side of the knife, pressing the blade into the seed:
3. Twist the blade to loosen the seed from the avocado flesh, then pull the blade away from the avocado. The seed should come out:
4. Gently slice into the avocado, slicing through the flesh all the way to, but not through, the skin (you should be able to feel when you’ve hit the skin). Be careful that you do not slice through the skin and hurt your hand.
5. Wedge a large spoon into the avocado where the flesh meets the skin, and gently scoop out the flesh:
6. The flesh will come out as slices:
7. Before scooping out the slices, you can continue to slice the other way to dice the avocado before scooping out of the skin:
8. Sliced avocado is added to one of our Culinary SOS -- the Veggie Burger from Upper West -- as we tested the recipe in the Test Kitchen:
