How to properly cut a bell pepper into strips

bell-pepperscuttingknife-safetyknife-skills

I often cut bell peppers up for uses in chili, stir-fry, salsas, salads, or any other similar use. What type of knife should I use and how should I cut it? I'm most interested in the techniques associated with efficiency and safety.

Here is an example of what I'm trying to achieve:
Bell Pepper Strips

Best Answer

For efficiency, I cut planks off of the outside of the pepper, then slice those planks into strips.

I've seen cooking shows where they take the top & bottom off to make a tube, and then slice it on one side, and slice that up ... and you do end up with straighter sticks that way. (no curved ends, other then when you cut up the bottom ... and maybe slice what you can off the top) ... but I find it slower overall.

The way I learned growing up was to but around the green bit on the stem end, and then pull the seeds out, and then start cutting -- but you waste way too much time dealing with the seeds that way.

update: for safety, it's better to cut the planks individually, and with the skin down.