Spanish home cooks rarely use a chopping board to cut vegetables. Instead, they simply hold the vegetable in one hand and the knife in the other, then cut directly into a bowl or pan. It sounds funny, but this cutting technique affects the flavour and texture of the food. Take potatoes: the slight twisting motion of the knife causes the potato to break, leaving a rough and ragged surface, which allows more starch into the cooking liquid, and this in turn thickens the stock.
Kitchen
