How to cut potatoes into strips beautifully and evenly? Hot and sour potato straws (recipe with photo) Perfect potato straws

Potato, perhaps one of the most popular vegetables in the world. In order to list all the recipes with this tasty and healthy root vegetable, you will have to spend more than one hour of time. If you love potatoes as much as we do, take note of our recipes. Make sure that even simple dishes can be delicious!

1. Perfect French fries

Ingredients

1.3 kg potatoes
juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons sunflower, peanut or rapeseed oil

Preparation

Take a 6-quart Dutch oven, cauldron, or cast iron pan. Cut the unpeeled potatoes into strips approximately 9-12 cm long and 1.5 cm thick. Place the chopped potatoes in a bowl of cold water to avoid oxidation. Rinse the potatoes, fill them with fresh water, add a couple of handfuls of ice cubes and lemon juice. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Then start frying. Add about 12cm of oil and heat, pat the potatoes well with a paper towel and fry in small batches until lightly golden brown, about 4-6 minutes. Remove the potatoes using an iron colander or tongs.
Sprinkle the finished potatoes with salt and serve immediately. You can use ketchup or sauce if you wish.

2. Country-style potatoes

Ingredients

10 large potatoes
2 tbsp. l. butter
3-4 tbsp. l. chopped fresh dill
1-2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
Greek yogurt to taste

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt. Cut large potatoes into 4 parts, small ones into two. Throw them into boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes until tender.
Add butter, herbs, salt and pepper. Serve with Greek yogurt or sour cream and grated cheese.

3. Potato fans with cheese

Ingredients

0.5 kg small potatoes (for one serving)
olive oil
cheese slices
sour cream
cooked chopped bacon
green onions

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 200°C and cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Using a sharp knife, make cuts in each potato, not reaching the bottom. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet. Gently rub the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Place slices of cheese into the slits. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted. Cool slightly and season with sour cream, bacon and green onions. The dish is served warm.

4. Classic Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

1.3 kg medium potatoes
4 tbsp. l. butter and a little more for baking
2.5 cups cream
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat the oven, peel the potatoes, place in a bowl of cold water. Grease a baking tray with oil or line it with baking paper. Place potato slices on the bottom of a baking sheet or shallow pan, add salt and pepper to taste. Then add a few more layers and season to taste.
Pour the cream over the potatoes until they are barely covered. Add a little oil, cover the dish tightly with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and let it sit warm for another half hour.

5. Potato casserole

Ingredients

1.8 kg potatoes
1/4 tbsp. butter (finely chopped)
2 tbsp. cream of chicken soup (made from flour, milk and chicken broth)
2 tbsp. sour cream
1/3 tbsp. finely chopped onion
1/2 tbsp. grated cheddar cheese
2 tsp. salt
1 cup crushed corn flakes
2 tbsp. l. melted butter

Preparation

Wash, cook, cool and peel the potatoes. In a medium saucepan, heat a mixture of butter, cream of soup, sour cream, onion and salt. Cook until the butter melts, remove from heat and stir in the cheese. Attention: the cheese should not be completely melted!
Mix 2/3 of the mixture with chopped potatoes. Pour into a greased baking dish. Distribute with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with corn flakes. Bake for 40 minutes.

6. Colorful French fries

Ingredients

4-6 potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
sea salt, fresh ground pepper, favorite seasonings, salt

Sauce

1 tbsp. sour cream
1/2 cup sour cream sauce with onions, garlic, herbs and seasonings
1/4 tbsp. milk

Filling

1 cup (or more) shredded cheese (cheddar or other)
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 cup bacon bits
1/4 cup green onions

Preparation

Cut the potatoes into thin slices (medium thickness if desired). Place on a baking sheet lined with foil, drizzle with olive oil and toss lightly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 200°C for 40 minutes, checking doneness with a fork.
Prepare the sauce. Grease a large dish with sauce (3/4 of the resulting amount), place hot potatoes on it, pour the remaining sauce over it and sprinkle with filling. Wait until the cheese melts and start eating.

7. Samosa Pie

Ingredients

3 tbsp. l. ghee or butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
0.5 kg chicken (or turkey) fillet
2 tbsp. l. curry powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric
600 g potatoes, diced
1 cup water
1 cup green peas, frozen or fresh
1/2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 sheet of puff pastry
salt to taste

Preparation

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and fry until golden brown. Add jalapeno, garlic, chicken, curry and 1.5 teaspoons salt. Bring the chicken until half cooked, throw in the diced potatoes and add water. Stir and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.
Throw in the cilantro, seasonings, salt. Place the filling on the dough, cover the dough on top, make holes for steam to escape.
Bake at 200°C until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

8. Pepperoni Potato Pizza

Preparation

Wash the potatoes, rub with olive oil and salt, and wrap in aluminum foil. Make holes and place in a preheated oven. When the potatoes are half cooked, cut them in half and remove some of the core. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with breading, bake until golden brown.
Place a spoonful of sauce, a little cheese and pepperoni salami on top of each hot half, salt and pepper to taste.
Bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle with Parmesan and green onions if desired.

9. Fried potatoes with herbs

Ingredients

potato
olive oil
thyme or rosemary
sea salt
black pepper
parsley
green onions

Peel the potatoes and place them in a pan of salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender over moderate heat.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and place an empty baking tray in the oven. Cut the potatoes into a bowl with olive oil, thyme or rosemary, salt and pepper.
When the oven is hot, place the potatoes in the pan and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with fresh parsley and green onions.

10. Fried potato balls with cheese

Ingredients

620g potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 tsp. Taco seasoning
100 g mozzarella cheese, diced
3/4 tbsp. breading
2 eggs
vegetable oil for deep frying
sea salt to taste

Preparation

Boil the potatoes until tender. Make a puree and leave to cool. Divide the puree into 16 balls, press the center of each ball with your finger, and fill the holes with cheese cubes.
Then “wrap” the potatoes around the cheese. Dip potato balls in breadcrumbs, dip in beaten eggs, and then back into breadcrumbs. Fry the balls in batches over moderate heat until golden brown. This simple dish takes about 1 minute to prepare. Serve with your favorite sauce.

Indeed, the above recipes are not only simple, but also incredibly appetizing and quick to prepare. Share our article with your friends. Let them know that regular potatoes can be incredibly tasty too! Bon appetit!

This is a real creative laboratory! A team of true like-minded people, each an expert in their field, united by a common goal: to help people. We create materials that are truly worth sharing, and our beloved readers serve as a source of inexhaustible inspiration for us!

For today, another simple recipe - we are preparing a delicious second course (or appetizer, as you like) - potato pie. If you have never tried this dish before, I can say that these are a kind of homemade potato chips.

Potato pie turns out crispy, tasty, impressive and very easy to prepare. It can be served as an original appetizer or main course with fresh vegetables, sauces, a side dish for meat dishes, or used as an ingredient in salads (for example, Wood Grouse's Nest).

Potato pie is salted (or flavored with seasonings) in its ready-made form. Even after a day, these thin potato sticks retain their crispy properties. In any case, no matter how you serve it, this simple potato recipe will surprise you with its originality, not hackneyed and appetizing crunch. Quite a worthy replacement for everyone’s favorite French fries!

Ingredients:

Cooking step by step:

To prepare potato pie, I advise you to choose smooth, medium-sized root vegetables, preferably without eyes, so that the stripes are long and of the same size. Peel the potatoes and wash them in cold water.

Then we choose one of two grinding methods. You can take a sharp knife and cut the tubers into very thin, long strips. But it is much more convenient to use a Korean carrot grater. Then three potatoes in one direction so that you get long strips.

Now you need to rinse it thoroughly to remove the starch, otherwise nothing will work. We wash the potato straws in cold water 2-3 times until they are transparent.

Then you need to remove excess moisture, for which we place the straws in a colander or sieve. Now the potatoes will not darken.

At the end of preparation, lay out paper towels in several layers and distribute potato straws on top in an even layer. The less moisture there is in the potatoes, the faster and better the potato pie will cook.

Take a saucepan or any other dish, not wide and deep enough. Pour refined vegetable oil into it (I use sunflower oil) and heat it over medium heat until a slight smoke appears. You can check the readiness of the oil this way: just throw a couple of potato straws into it. If the oil begins to sizzle and bubble immediately, it means you can cook in it. You need to add potatoes in portions, otherwise they will not be able to cook properly. I did this in 5 steps. Throw some of the potatoes into boiling oil and fry over medium heat for 3 minutes. At first, the potatoes will become very soft, it will literally seem like they are crumbling into porridge. At the same time, the oil boils and bubbles very actively. But this is one of the stages of preparing potato pie. Then you will see how the boiling begins to subside (even though we did not reduce the heat), and the potato straws become dense and elastic. And finally, the potatoes will begin to acquire an appetizing blush. Attention, the most crucial moment! Just when the straw starts to brown, it will be ready in a matter of seconds, so don’t leave the stove. Using a slotted spoon, remove the finished portion of potato pie and place it on a paper towel. Prepare the rest of the potatoes in the same way.

Just half a kilo of (unpeeled) root vegetables yielded a decent amount of potato pie. Now you can add salt to it, but I'll be honest. I didn’t even add salt - and it was so delicious.

Potato pie has long ceased to be an exotic dish for Russians. This dish is often served in cafes and restaurants. However, not everyone knows that you can easily prepare these delicious potatoes at home. If everything is done correctly, guests and household members will certainly appreciate the culinary efforts of the hostess.

Potato pie is potatoes peeled and cut into thin slices, fried in a large amount of vegetable oil.

Some nutritional experts consider this dish extremely harmful to the stomach.

However, in reality this is not the case. These delicious fried potatoes only become harmful if you fry several portions in the same oil. This is usually done in catering establishments - bistros, cafes and restaurants, to save oil. But no self-respecting housewife, of course, would do that. But you should keep in mind that, like all potato dishes, “pie” is high in calories, so if you have diabetes or obesity, it is better to forget about this dish.

Potato pie - American cuisine recipe

Experts say that one of the most common American cuisine recipes in the world is the “potato pie” recipe, or simply French fries. This is the recipe used to prepare the dish in most cafes and bistros. Any housewife can also cope with this task at home.

In order to surprise your guests with real American potatoes, you need to:

Take half a kilo of potatoes, wash the tubers thoroughly and peel them. Wash the peeled tubers again and finely chop the potatoes. You can use a special grater for cooking carrots in Korean;
Place the resulting “chips” in a plastic bowl, add water and leave for twenty minutes so that all the starch goes into the water;
Place in a colander and dry the potato chips on both sides so that excess water completely evaporates;
Fry in hot oil, stirring constantly, until nicely golden brown. You can remove the finished potatoes using a slotted spoon. Serve hot.

Pie is good both as an independent dish and as a side dish. It can also be added to various salads. It is better to eat potatoes as early as possible, since their taste may deteriorate when stored in the refrigerator.

Potatoes with pink skins are not suitable for preparing a tasty dish, since such varieties contain a high concentration of starch. Also, when choosing between young and old potatoes, it is better to give preference to the old ones, for the same reason.

Salad with potato strips and chicken

Potato straws go great with chicken.

Fans of separate meals may argue that you cannot combine carbohydrates with proteins, but a salad with potatoes and poultry is an ideal option for a hearty dinner.

Here's how to do it:

Mix the prepared potatoes with boiled chicken breast cut into strips;
Add pickled onions;
Place hard-boiled chopped eggs into a salad bowl;
Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste;
Mix all ingredients until smooth;
Garnish with cilantro or parsley.

This salad will turn out especially tasty and less caloric if you season it with homemade mayonnaise rather than store-bought mayonnaise.

Appetizer with Korean carrots

Fried potato shavings go well with Korean carrots. Thanks to the neutral taste of potatoes, carrots lose their extra pungency, so both adults and children will enjoy eating this dish.

To prepare you need:

Cut into pieces and fry the breast or turkey until golden brown;
Place the meat in a salad bowl;
Spread mayonnaise on top;
Place a layer of prepared Korean carrots and coat with mayonnaise again;
As an additional layer, you can add “Korean” beets and (or) cabbage to the carrots), this layer is also coated with sauce;
The fried potatoes are nicely placed on top.

If you put a couple of quail eggs in the center of the finished salad, the dish will look like a swallow's nest. This decor option is suitable for any holiday feast.

Lenten salad with potato pie

You can prepare potato pie for a healthy and tasty lean salad.

During Lent you often feel hungry, so such a hearty dish will come in handy, especially in winter.

To prepare you need:

Cut the red onion into rings or half rings;
Cut the pickled cucumbers into small cubes and mix them with the onion;
Take some sauerkraut, squeeze it to remove excess water, and add to these ingredients;
Mix all ingredients with chilled potato chips;
Season with a mixture of mustard and olive oil.

You need to mix the salad very carefully to maintain the beautiful shape of the potatoes. You can season the dish with lean mayonnaise. Anyone who does not like mustard can only use oil; it is advisable to give preference to olive oil or a mixture of olive and sunflower oils. To add an oriental flavor, soy sauce is suitable.

Preparing an appetizer with mushrooms

Potatoes with mushrooms are a classic combination of Russian cuisine. By adding forest products, you can give an American dish a Russian national flavor.

To prepare you need:

Sauté onions and carrots until golden brown;
Add chopped champignons or porcini mushrooms, simmer in a small amount of water;
Dissolve processed cheese in boiling water, pour the resulting mixture into vegetables, simmer for fifteen minutes over low heat;
Add salt and pepper to taste, boil for another five to seven minutes;
Gently sprinkle potato chips on top.

Thanks to the melted cheese, this dish tastes somewhat like French julienne, but, unlike julienne, it does not contain meat. Therefore, this is an excellent dinner option for those who do not eat meat products.

Smoked chicken breast salad recipe

Potato pie salad is prepared not only with boiled, but also with smoked poultry. But you should keep in mind that smoked meat is much higher in calories than boiled meat and also contains more fat.

To prepare you need:

Chop the smoked breast and pickled cucumbers into thin strips;
Cut the onion into half rings, pour boiling water over it and drain in a colander, then it will not be bitter;
Place the bird and onion in a deep bowl, coat with mayonnaise. It is better to apply mayonnaise in the form of a mesh so that the salad does not turn out too greasy;
The next layer should be placed on the mayonnaise grid of pickled cucumbers, this layer is also coated with sauce;
The potatoes are carefully placed on top and sprinkled with finely chopped cilantro (parsley, basil). It is better not to use dill; it does not go well with meat and poultry.

To make the dish more appetizing and slightly crunchy, you can add croutons to it. They are placed in the salad strictly before serving the finished dish on the table. If you put them in right away, they will become soggy and lose their crunchy properties.

Prepare delicious and crispy potatoes at home. A properly prepared dish will certainly help out the hostess in those cases when there is no time to prepare delicious dishes, and guests are already on the doorstep.

One of the most important steps in the cooking process is learning how to properly chop food. After all, there are no trifles in cooking, and such an action requires a certain skill. Take potatoes, for example. In most cases, at the initial stage after cleaning, it needs to be cut. Depending on the specific dish, the chopped preparations must have a certain shape. Let's say that for work you need rectangular blocks like straws. What should be done in this case? How to cut potatoes into strips? It turns out that this can be done in different ways.

French fries

Nowadays, fast food has become so popular that many even try to cook their favorite dishes at home. The banal force of habit works. As you know, no fast food establishment is complete without the famous French fries. Moreover, doing it is not at all difficult. The main thing is to give the main product the appropriate shape. Here the question arises: “How to cut potatoes into strips?” To do this, you can use the simplest method. The only tools you need are a sharp knife and a cutting board.

To understand how to cut potatoes into strips, you must strictly follow these steps:

The tubers must be peeled, washed and dried thoroughly with a paper towel.
To make the straw long, the potato must be placed on the board so that the knife blade runs along it.
The tubers should be carefully divided into even longitudinal rings.
Each workpiece must be cut into strips no more than 5 millimeters thick.

After this, the prepared potatoes can be sent in small portions into boiling oil.

The secret of the correct form

When ordering French fries in a cafe, people are often surprised at how even the sides of the fried pieces turn out. After all, this vegetable has an oval shape, and when cutting, some of the preparations should be slightly rounded. Here the chefs have their own secret. They know exactly how to cut potatoes into strips so that each piece has the correct shape.

The fact is that before chopping the tuber you need to:

First cut off the side longitudinal edge.
Rotate the potato 90 degrees along the axis and separate the same part on the other side. You get two flat sidewalls.
Place the product on one of them and divide into even pieces parallel to the second cut. Set the remaining rounded part aside.
Divide the resulting blanks into strips of equal thickness.

As a result, there will be neat large straws with regular, even sides on the cutting board. And the cut pieces of potatoes remaining after processing can be used to prepare other dishes.

Preparing for frying

Fries are just one way to fry potatoes. But most housewives rarely use it at home, mainly due to the high oil consumption. It is much more economical to simply fry potatoes in a frying pan. At the same time, it can also be crushed in the form of straws. In this case, it is better to use smaller or medium-sized tubers. How to cut potatoes into strips for frying? The technology of this method is much simpler than previous options. To work, you will need a cleaned and washed product. It must be dried first to avoid unwanted splashes from contact of moisture with boiling fat.

Processing of prepared potatoes takes place in three stages:

The first step is to cut off both tops of the tuber. So it becomes like a small barrel.
You should place it on one of the bases (the wider one) and, holding it with your other hand, carefully cut it into equal plates with a knife.
Without lifting it from the board, turn the product 90 degrees and do the same steps.

The result is a neat straw, the size of which depends on the selected thickness of the plates. The remaining ends can also be cut. True, they will be shorter than the others. But for frying it doesn't really matter.

Technology to help

Every housewife is familiar with the situation when, as they say, guests are already on the doorstep, and there is very little time left for cooking. For example, I would like to surprise them with thin fried potato strips, but I have absolutely no time to deal with careful slicing. What should you do in such a situation? How to quickly cut potatoes into strips? For such a case, there should always be special household appliances in the house. Today, purchasing it in a store is not difficult. You will need a regular vegetable shredder with an attachment for cutting into strips. With its help, in a matter of minutes you can turn any amount of potatoes into a mountain of thin, even pieces.

After that, all that remains is to fry them. If you are planning a side dish in the form of French fries, then the semi-finished product must first be poured onto a napkin to remove excess moisture. The product should not be piled up. It must be spread out in a thin layer and blotted several times while the oil is heating up in the frying pan.

Combined option

Each dish has its own special ways of cutting the original ingredients. For example, it cannot be said that potato straws can only be made with a sharp knife. There are many other options, and each of them is good in its own way. Let's assume that you need to prepare potato pie as a side dish. This is a very tasty product that looks very impressive on a plate. How to properly cut potatoes into strips for such a dish?

Experienced cooks in this case proceed as follows:

First, each peeled tuber is cut into thin slices. You can do this with a knife or use any mechanical chopper.
Then each plate must be chopped using a Korean carrot grater. The result is small straws no more than 2 millimeters thick. Plus, they will all be the same size.

After this, the prepared product can be further used for its intended purpose.

A good example

Recently, designers have developed many unique devices that greatly simplify work in the kitchen. For example, not long ago original potato cutters appeared on sale. A simple device invented by Chinese craftsmen. It is a plastic case, in the center of which steel knives are fixed in the form of a lattice. Looking at it, it’s easy to figure out how to cut potatoes into strips. The photo will help you understand this issue in more detail.

The operating principle of the device is extremely simple:

The peeled tuber must be placed on a cutting board.
Place a potato cutter on top of it.
Holding both hands at your sides, press firmly on the device.

The result is blanks of the same size and cross-section. By placing the potato in a vertical position, you can get large straws in a matter of seconds with minimal physical effort. The instructions show the operating principle of the device using photographs that clearly demonstrate the simplicity of its operation.

Perfectly even slices of fries, sauce and a soft drink are frequent attributes of fast food advertising brochures. And if few people admire the last two components of the banner, then potatoes are the peak of culinary perfection. How to cut potatoes into strips at home? Nothing could be easier! Let's hone our skills together.

How to create potato masterpieces easily and quickly?

The easiest and fastest way to cut slices of raw vegetables is to use a special device - a square vegetable cutter. Fortunately, today there are plenty of such devices. They come in the form of a removable attachment on a plate or jar, are part of a manual food processor, and are also represented by a special tetrahedral grater with a pointed edge.

Using such devices is quite simple:

Using a knife, cut off the bottom so that the tubers can be placed in a vertical position on the table.

Place the vegetable slicer on top with the sharp edge on the vegetable pulp.

Admire the result.

Perhaps the only drawback of this method is that it is impossible to regulate the thickness and length of the bars. And the length of the straw depends only on the pressure of the hand. So if physical strength is not enough, the vegetable cutting method is not suitable for you. But don't worry, there are other options.

Sleight of hand - and no vegetable cutters

Even though potatoes are mostly round in shape, they can easily be cut into neat, thin strips using a sharp kitchen knife. True, this method is quite labor-intensive, and the process itself will take a lot of time. But the finished result is worth it. Shall we try?

So, let's do the following:

Wash and peel the potatoes as you did before.
Trim the ends of the tubers so that they are flat on all sides.

Don't forget to remove the parts from the base too. The result should be a perfectly even rectangle.

Now cut the pulp into thin slices. Each cut should be no thicker than 4 millimeters.

Place the slices flat on a cutting board and cut crosswise into thin strips.

The perfectly smooth and thin straw is ready. It can be seasoned and baked in the oven.

Such thin slices are suitable for making salads, although it is better to boil the potatoes first, and also as an Indian side dish with hot spices. But it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to fry such straws. Thin strips will quickly boil, and as a result, instead of fried potatoes, there will be vegetable porridge in the pan. Although this is a matter of taste.

Cutting potatoes like at McDonald's

Fragrant and crispy French fries with garlic sauce... Just the thought of them awakens your appetite. Of course, you can not bother yourself too much and just buy ready-made frozen potatoes in the supermarket. But who knows what kind of tubers they are, how long they are stored there and what they are made of?

It’s much healthier and tastier when you cook French fries at home. Moreover, the technique is very simple:

Traditionally, we wash and peel the potato tubers. It is desirable that each of them be almost equal in length and oblong in shape.

Cut each potato in half. Then we divide the resulting parts in half again in the longitudinal direction.
We cut each strip into 4 parts.

While we are cutting a new batch, we place the already prepared potatoes in a bowl of water. This way there will be less starch, and the potatoes themselves will not have time to turn black.

Now you can look for a suitable recipe for making French fries in the oven, slow cooker, microwave, or just in a frying pan. By the way, it will be very tasty if you roll the potatoes in olive oil with spices and crushed garlic before frying.

"Country style potatoes"

Don't like French fries? Then perhaps you will like spicy country-style potatoes. This simple dish is now served even in the most fashionable restaurants.

To prepare such potatoes, you will need to find and buy tubers in the store as young as possible. Choose those vegetables whose peel in your opinion is the thinnest, smoothest and without burrs. By the way, there should be no green spots on the root crop. Often they are direct witnesses to the content of pesticides and other inedible chemicals.

In general, when the purchasing and selection process is complete, your actions should be as follows:

Using a soft brush or an ordinary clean, preferably a new kitchen sponge, thoroughly wash the potatoes from dust and dirt.
Without peeling the skin, cut the tubers into halves.

Now the resulting pieces need to be cut in half again.

Shape each quarter to the desired size. Usually it is enough to make just one transverse incision.

These are the resulting potato slices.

But the work doesn't end there. Place potato wedges in a flat-bottomed bowl and cover with cold water.

Let the straw lie there for 5-7 minutes. This will help rid the potatoes of excess and unnecessary starch.
Then transfer the slices to a paper towel.

After all the water has drained and been absorbed into the napkin, the potato straws are ready for further use.

Remember that any of the above options takes practice. It is unlikely that you will be able to create perfectly smooth blocks the first time. Usually, novice cooks have to spend a lot of free time and mountains of spoiled vegetables to achieve ideal results. We can only wish you further success!