I cut the ends off with a very large, freshly-sharpened chef's knife, trying to stay very close to the ends so as not to have the knife get stuck & have to whack it on the countertop as if I was chopping wood! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Tonguea.gif" alt="" /> Then I set it on one of the flat ends, fileting the wax & skin off all the way around, flip it over & get the parts I missed.

To chunk it up, it's easiest to slice downward while it sits on one of those flat cut ends, keeping the slices no thicker than about 1/2", also to avoid that stuck-knife thing mentioned above! Once you have it all sliced, lay the slices out one at a time & cut them into dice.

Yes, it's a PITA, and I'm not sure there's a better way.

I don't like to add too much sweet stuff to my veggies so I throw in some cut-up carrot when I cook the rutabagas and that seems to mitigate whatever little bit of bitterness they might have had without covering their flavor. It also leaves some nice little orange bits in the mash, which is pretty!