Cut the watermelon in half across the middle, not top to bottom. That is the whole secret, and it took me years to figure out. Slice it the other way and you end up with long slippery wedges that fight you. Cut it around the equator and you get two stable halves that sit flat on the board.

Turn a half into cubes

Take one half, cut side down, and run your knife in a grid pattern from the rind side down to the board. First make vertical slices about an inch apart, then horizontal slices the same distance apart. You now have a checkerboard of watermelon on top of the rind.

1. Scoop out the cubes with a large spoon, working around the inside of the rind.
2. Drop the cubes into a big bowl.
3. Repeat on the other half.

That is it. No special gadget, no melon baller, no slippery mess on the counter. One watermelon gives me a huge bowl of cubes in about five minutes.

Two more things that help

Use a sharp knife. A dull one will mash the flesh and make the cubes ragged. If the knife sticks halfway through, that is a good sign the melon is dense and sweet, but switch to a rocking motion instead of pushing.

Keep the rind. I scrape the leftover pink off with a spoon and toss the rind pieces in a jar with water, lemon, and a little sugar for a light summer drink. My grandmother used to do the same thing, and it is one of those zero-waste habits that costs nothing.

For parties, I put the cubes in a bowl with a few mint leaves and a squeeze of lime. People disappear around the bowl fast. The cubes hold up better than wedges too, so they do not turn the table into a puddle.