The Chopping Tool You Should Never Buy, According To Professional Chefs

Do you ever wish you could chop ingredients with the precision and speed of a professional chef? Have you also grown rather attached to your fingers and thumbs? Understandably, the love of your digits may have dampened your enthusiasm for truly honing your knife skills. Surely, there are tools that you can use to circumvent the need for choosing between your pinky and finely chopped food. 

So, what should every finger-loving chef have in their cutting repertoire? Culinary genius, Alton Brown, recommends starting off by getting a chef's knife, a serrated knife for breads, a set of kitchen shears, a rock maple cutting board, and magnetic strips for storing your knives. Giada De Laurentiis told TODAY that the ideal knife is the one that feels best in your hands. It could be a small paring knife or a larger chef's one, as long as it's sharp. Why is it so important that your blade is at its sharpest?  Admittedly, it may sound counterintuitive to sharpen the very thing that can amputate your fingers, but a dull knife can be dangerous: It can slip off the food you're cutting and wind up embedded in your flesh. 

If that last sentence has made you leery of your cutting utensils, you may be tempted to look for chopping alternatives. According to some, there is one item you shouldn't invest in, even if your thumb tells you otherwise. 

While it's perfectly reasonable to recruit your food processor for big jobs, you may want to avoid being pulled in by the ever-growing kitchen-gadget vortex. Yes, it seems like everyone has something on offer that promises to make your food prep life easier. One such item is the food chopper. 

Have you ever considered getting a food chopper? You know, those tiny cousins to the food processor. Professional chef Lizzy Briskin told Insider that food choppers are a huge waste of money as they wouldn't trust this "one-size-fits-all appliance to achieve the uniform knife cuts" that can be done by hand. Not everyone, however, believes that the food chopper is without redeeming qualities. Olivia Roszkowski, a chef and instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education, revealed to Food & Wine that the food chopper is a great tool for busy home cooks making a week's worth of suppers and are a safe cutting tool for young people or those with gripping problems. Plus, the chopper is small enough to store on your counter, making it readily available for your chopping needs. 

Whether you deem the food chopper a great tool for small chopping duties or a complete waste of money, the decision is yours. And, when in doubt, ask your thumbs.