'Dicing' is a method of
food preparation in which the
food item is cut into small blocks or
dice. This may be done for
aesthetic, or artistic, reasons or to create uniformly sized pieces to ensure even
cooking. Dicing is a desirable method of food preparation, due to the small nature of the pieces of food, which allows the spread of flavour and texture throughout the dish, as well as a somewhat faster cooking speed.
Technically there are three types of dicing: large, medium, and small. Large is usually a 3/4 in. cube, medium 1/2 inch, and small 1/4 inch. However, in home cooking most people understand dicing to just be any size cube, often the size of a regular set of
game dice.
Dicing usually applies to
vegetables prepared in this way but it can also apply to the preparation of
meat or
fish.
See also
★
Russian salad and
macédoine de légumes, foods based on cooked diced vegetables.