How To: Chop chocolate

When a recipe calls for chopped chocolate, it can be hard to decide which tool to use for the job. Chocolate-breaking forks, sold in many specialty stores, may easily break chocolate into chunks, but they also punch holes in cutting boards and scratch countertops. Paring knives are too small for the task and, when working with a really big piece of chocolate, it's easy to ruin the blade of a chef's knife hacking into the dense, hard bar. The best tool for chopping chocolate is a 10-inch slicing knife, such as the one shown above. The grooves on the sides of the blade, called kullenschliff pockets, reduce friction on the chocolate, making it less likely to melt and stick to the knife while the length of the blade provides enough leverage to quickly and easily chop through a big bar