Creating thin, matchstick-sized julienne and batonnet pieces isn't easy. Former CHOW Food Editor Aida Mollenkamp demonstrates this advanced technique.

Chopping is the best technique to use when shape doesn't matter. Former CHOW Food Editor Aida Mollenkamp demonstrates how to get rough and ready with your vegetables.

Dicing, the most commonly used cutting technique around, creates perfectly sized cubes. Former CHOW Food Editor Aida Mollenkamp shows you how it's done.

Cutting on the bias decreases the cooking time for vegetables in dishes such as a stir-fry. Former CHOW Food Editor Aida Mollenkamp gives us her slant on this technique.

Chiffonade means rags in French, because that's what you end up with. Former CHOW Food Editor Aida Mollenkamp demonstrates how to turn lettuce or herbs into an attractive garnish.

Harry Rosenblum, co-owner of the Brooklyn Kitchen, cleans out his cast iron pan by adding salt (which acts as an abrasive to get rid of bits of food, and will soak up oil), rinsing it, and then drying it over heat. A well-seasoned cast iron pan is something to be proud of, a history of meals cooked. A dirty, rusty cast iron pan is not something to be proud of.

Harry Rosenblum, co-owner of the Brooklyn Kitchen, says that rusty cast iron is easy to fix. Simply scrub the rust off with a Brillo Pad or sandpaper, wash the pan clean and dry it, cover it in a thin coat of oil, and bake it in an oven at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. Then turn the oven off, leaving the pan inside to cool slowly. This is a great tip to keep in mind when shopping at flea markets—old cast iron can be made good as new!

Taylor Erkkinen, co-owner of the Brooklyn Kitchen, warns cooks not to scrape their freshly chopped fruits and vegetables off the cutting board with the blade side of the knife. The blade is for cutting, not corralling.

Taylor Erkkinen, co-owner of the Brooklyn Kitchen, demonstrates proper honing technique and describes how and why it makes a difference to your knife—and, by extension, to you.

CHOW.com Senior Food Editor Jill Santopietro has a trick for home cooks who have trouble sizing parchment paper for a round cake pan. Instead of trying to guesstimate the radius of your circle, fold the paper into a smaller triangle and cut it to fit. That way, when you open the paper into a circle, it should match your pan perfectly.