Knobbly and light brown, ginger root is used widely in Chinese food for its sharp, peppery, spicy, slightly sweet flavor and is especially good with fish as a "de-fisher". Ginger, when used in cooking is sliced into 1/16 inch slices. The slices are usually not eaten. When used for dipping together with vinegar, it is in fine shreds or fine dots and as much of it as will stick to the dipping piece will be eaten. Fresh ginger is peeled before using. The younger, less pungent ginger is best used in stir fried or steamed dishes while the harsher peppery mature ginger is good for braised dishes. It can be obtained from many supermarkets and Asian markets and is best kept in the refrigerator vegetable compartment, tightly wrapped in a paper towel placed inside a plastic bag.
1) Cut off a piece of ginger to the length desired, then peel it using the back end of a knife or peeler. You can also use a spoon to easily scrap the skin.
2) Slice the ginger along the length into 1/16 inch thick slices
3) Turn these slices so that they are stacked up on each other. Slice them again along the length into 1/16 inch matchsticks. This is called cutting in julienne.
4) Hold all of these sticks together and cut them into tiny cubes of ginger. This method of cutting is called brunoise.
