[schroca]

I love them. I want to be able to use them in my stew (I make a huge batch (about 16 L) and freeze it). BUT I cannot figure out how in the world I can cut them up! I can`t remember how my mother chopped them. I`m 74 years old and not very dextrous at all with knives, and my wrists are not all that strong. My son uses a machete (I am not joking here), but there HAS to be an easier way.

Any suggestions?

[Mezzaluna]

Hello Schroca and welcome to Chef Talk!

I totally understand your conundrum. What I'd do is to par-cook the whole root in the microwave or in boiling water. When it's soft enough to cut, you're good to go. I suppose you could even bake it in the oven. If the root has wax on it, you'd need to try and strip that off before par-cooking.

Let us know if this works for you. It was just a brainstorm of mine, nothing I've tried before.

[schroca]

Thanks, Mezzaluna. I had a feeling that was going to be the answer. I thought I would finish off the thread with instructions regarding par-cooking rutabags in case any other old ladies who are afraid of machetes are looking to use them, but alas I was unable to discover anything on the internet about how long one might par-cook a rutabaga (especially since all the associated instructions involved cutting it up FIRST), so I consulted my extremely dilapidated copy of The Joy of Cooking, which suggests boiling for half an hour (I don't have a microwave). So I will try that. It will be about three months before I do it though, because the current batch of stew is to be finished and frozen tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out if I can remember by then, or if not I guess someone could email me if they really wanted to know.

However, in my searching, I found this. Since there doesn't seem to be lot of rutabaga humor, I thought I'd pass it on. Not allowed to post links yet, but you can google The Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute.

I did know about the wax. My mother tried using a potato peeler once soon after they came out, but it proved not to be a good solution, and she went back to her trusty paring knife.

thanks again