Chop

A medium chop—about the size of a shelled peanut—is the most common cut and the first step in many recipes. When vegetables like carrots, celery, and onions are used in making soups and stocks, to be strained out later, a coarse or rough chop—the size of a small olive—is often used.

Dice

Whether a recipe refers to anything from a 1⁄4-inch to a 3⁄4-inch (square) dice, use a shelled pea as your size guide. Unlike the chop, this cut is notable for the uniformity of the cubes. If a recipe calls for something to be diced, as with potatoes in chowder or tomatoes in salsa, it usually means there is an emphasis on presentation.

Mince

The finest of cuts, mincing produces pieces roughly the size of a grain of cooked couscous. Getting onion or parsley to this size requires preliminary chopping. Then, keeping the tip of the knife down and moving the handle in a fanning motion from side to side, continue mincing until the pieces are uniformly grainlike.