Chopping Salads

[gsweeney55]

I love eating salads in restaurants because the lettuce and all the ingredients are chopped and you don't even need a knife! Anyone know how they do that. I don't have a food processor -- could you chop salad in a food processor?

[sneezles]

I like eating salads in restaurants, too, because someone else has done all the work!! I make salads at home using a chef's knife and chop all the veggies myself. I don't think a FP would work for a salad though.

[sharris315]

Like Sneezles, I chop all of the vegetables--and tear the greens--into bite-sized pieces--all by hand. Easy and satisfying work ;).

Shar

[lsdesign]

I made a chopped salad for Thanksgiving that I got from Epicurious. It was simple but won rave reviews.

[ande]

Maybe you need one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000CDCKV/qid=1101746353/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3_etk-kitchen/104-5655010-0426338?v=glance&s=kitchen&n=284507

Seriously, has anyone tried it? I saw it in a kitchen gadget shop somewhere, but couldn't bring myself to pay $30 when I can chop salad myself. I might make it more often if it was easier, though.

ande

[BeachBum]

Welcome to the boards gsweeney55.

The reason that a food processor wouldn't be a good tool to use for the salad chopping is that it has a tendency to liquify the ingredients. There are some attachements that help prevent that problem, but just don't do the trick as far as I'm concerned.

[gsweeney55]

Thank you all so much for the advice. Now, another question. Does anyone have a salad shooter? Saw this on amazon.com -- It mentions carrots and celery but nothing about lettuce.

[VegasDramaQueen]

If you want to buy a salad shooter, go to any garage or yard sale in your community and you'll have your pick of dozens of them. You'll find them right next to the exercise equipment LOL. Apparantley no one thought much of them so they're avaialable at garage sales.

[Beth G.]

I chop salads in a wooden bowl with a chopper that was my grandmother's. I couldn't find the same type, but it's similar to this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000959EL/qid=1101845467/sr=1-20/ref=sr_1_20/103-2559441-1375824?v=glance&s=kitchen

You just have to be mindful of what your ingredients are -- put in things like carrots and peppers early, then add the soft things like tomato when you're almost finished.