Slicing cherry tomato prep time

Speedy takeout can help speed slicing in the kitchen too. Nick Mercogliano, a sous chef at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., turns plastic lids from takeout containers inside-out, places cherry tomatoes in between two lids, then draws a knife across the rows of tomatoes to halve them. “You can do 15 tomatoes instead of one at a time,” he says. 

Nick MercoglianoSous ChefRobert Wood Johnson University HospitalNew Brunswick, NJ