Gordon Ramsay cuts a bell pepper by standing it up and slicing around the seeds, then flattening the pieces skin-side down to cut clean strips. No seeds rolling around, no mess, and it is about twice as fast as the usual way.
He shows it in his Ultimate Fit Food video, and the trick is the order. You slice all the way around the seeds first, leaving a neat core he calls a perfect Christmas tree of seeds. You lift that out in one piece and bin it.
The bit that makes the strips easy is turning each piece skin-side down before you slice. The skin is tough and slippery, so the knife skids on it, but the soft flesh lets the blade glide straight through.
His method, step by step
- Pick a good one. Look for a pepper that is smooth and firm with no wrinkles, which is the sign it is fresh.
- Slice around the seeds. Cut the stalk end off, stand the pepper up, and run your knife down from the top, following the curve to slice the flesh away from the core. Keep going round until the walls are off.
- Bin the core. You are left with the seeds in one neat Christmas tree you can lift straight out, so nothing scatters over the board.
- Flatten skin-side down. Lay each piece on the board skin-side down, because the knife slides through the soft flesh far more easily than the tough skin.
- Julienne or dice. Slice straight down into thin strips for julienne. For a dice, line the strips up and cut across them.
Those clean strips are exactly what you want for a proper ratatouille, where the pepper needs to soften evenly, and they are the backbone of a good paella too.
FAQs
How does Gordon Ramsay cut a bell pepper without making a mess?
He never cuts through the middle, which is what sends seeds everywhere. Instead he stands the pepper up and slices down around the outside, cutting the flesh away from the core in clean panels.
That leaves all the seeds attached to the central stalk in one piece, his Christmas tree of seeds, which you lift out and throw away whole. The board stays clean and it is roughly twice as fast.
Why does he cut the pepper with the skin facing down?
Pepper skin is tough, shiny and slippery, so a knife tends to skid across it instead of cutting. The pale inner flesh is soft, so the blade bites straight in.
Lay each panel skin-side down on the board and slice through the flesh side. You get clean, even strips with far less effort and much less chance of the knife slipping.
How do you julienne a bell pepper?
Julienne is just the chef’s word for fine strips, about the size of a matchstick. Once your pepper panels are flat and skin-side down, slice them lengthways as thinly as you want.
His Ultimate Cookery Course sets it out the same way: lay the piece flat, cut into slices, then into matchsticks. For raw peppers in a gazpacho or a salad, thin and even is what you are after.
How do you pick a good bell pepper?
Gordon goes by feel and look. The pepper should be smooth and firm with taut skin and no soft spots or wrinkles.
He also points out they are just as good raw as cooked, so a firm, sweet one earns its place sliced into a salad or roasted down the same day.
