Mince

Mincing is cutting food into very small, fine pieces, smaller than a dice or a chop. You typically rock a chef's knife back and forth over the food, gathering and recutting the pile until the bits are tiny and roughly uniform. It is the standard treatment for pungent aromatics such as garlic, fresh ginger, shallots, chilies, and herbs, where you want the ingredient nearly dissolved into a dish.

Cooks mince ingredients so their strong flavors spread evenly and blend in without anyone biting into a big chunk. Minced garlic, for example, disperses its punch throughout a sauce far better than a coarse chop would. Because the pieces are so small, they also cook fast, so add minced aromatics with care to avoid burning them. A quick tip: a pinch of coarse salt on the board helps break garlic into a fine, almost paste-like mince as you work.