I enjoy chopping things but have no notable knife skills, no tuck, no game, but no shame either. I’ve always found julienning fruits and vegetables to be difficult, just a lot of very precise cutting that’s not going to come easily to someone who didn’t mince their way through hours of knife skills class in cooking school. When a recipe wants me to julienne something, I sign, inwardly groan and usually take out either this slicer and then spend 32 minutes looking for the julienne blade or I use this peeler, which is fantastic but limited to long skinny strands.

Here’s my a-ha moment: If you can slice a vegetable, you can julienne:

Take any fruit or vegetable. Slice it thinly on the diagonal.

Stack a handful of the slices at a time and slice them thinly again into matchsticks — the long way for longer strips, the short way for shorter strips.

That’s it! It’s so quick, easy and requires not a single extra consideration when chopping that I don’t even bother with my julienne slicer anymore.

Now, go forth and make all of the