If you’ve found yourself getting more serious about the recipes you make in the kitchen lately, then you might need to brush up on your kitchen knife skills. Taking the time to learn and practice different cutting techniques will help simplify and perfect your cooking process. Continue reading to discover which kitchen knife skills you should learn first!
Brunoise (Fine Dice)
What Is a Brunoise cut?
Brunoise, pronounced “BROON-wahz,” is a French cooking term that means to cut a vegetable into small cubes of consistent measurement. A regular brunoise cut cube is about 3mm in size, while a fine brunoise features a cut that is 1.5mm in size. In many recipes, the fine brunoise is the norm. Learning the brunoise technique allows you to dice vegetables and fruit. Many brunoise-cut vegetables can be used in sauces, soups or as a garnish to add a heightened appearance and flavor to a dish.
How to Do a Brunoise Cut
- To properly do a brunoise cut, you must first peel and wash the fruit or vegetable. Then shape it into a square or rectangle, and assure that all the sides are squared off.
- Next, cut the food into 2-inch pieces. Then, cut each piece into ⅛-inch slices.
- Stack those slices and then cut lengthwise into ⅛-inch wide sticks.
- Stack three or four sticks on top of each other and slowly slice off pieces that are ⅛ inch wide. Doing so will give you your brunoise cubes.
Note: To perform an excellent brunoise cut, replace the ⅛-inch dimensions in the above directions with 1/16 inch.
What Foods Should You Brunoise Cut?
- Carrots
- Onions
- Leeks
- Celery
- Potatoes
- Tomato
- Bell Peppers
- Beets
- Turnips
Brunoise Cooking Tips
To ensure that your veggies don’t go to waste, use any leftover vegetable pieces in soups, stocks, chilis and sauces! While brunoise-cut vegetables can be added directly to a recipe, if you plan on using your brunoise cut as a garnish, then we recommend first blanching the cubed vegetable by boiling it, then putting it into salted ice water. Doing so will instantly stop the cooking process and leave you with the perfect vegetable garnish.
Chiffonade
What Is the Chiffonade Technique?
Chiffonade, pronounce “shif-oh-NOD,” is a cutting style that is commonly used to cut herbs and leafy vegetables like lettuce into thin strips. “Chiffon” meaning “little ribbons” on French, has been added as a term in the culinary arts world as “Chiffonade,” which, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means “shredded or finely cut vegetables or herbs used especially as a garnish.”
How to Chiffonade Cut
The easiest way to chop leafy herbs and vegetables is with a chiffonade cut. Herbs, when not cut properly, can quickly bruise and oxidize, causing them to lose a lot of their flavor. A chiffonade cut helps prevent this bruising and oxidation and is a reasonably easy cutting style to master. Just make sure you have a sharp knife and a touch of technique, and you’ll be a chiffonade master in no time!
- First, ensure that all your herbs have been properly washed. Upon washing, leafy herbs like mint and basil stack them on top of each other. When dealing with herbs that have "branches" like parsley and mint, it is easier to bunch them together.
- Next, delicately roll the herbs into a tube. If you have a large stack of herbs, it may be easier to split them into two stacks before rolling. If you’re using herbs that you’ve bunched together, try rolling the herbs around one another for a more compact bunch.
- Using a sharp knife, start with the point of the blade on the board. Next, slide your knife over the herbs and use a combination of a chopping and slicing motion to cut the herbs into thin slices. This will create the desired ribbon-like effect.
- Once your herbs have been cut, use them as soon as possible. Doing so will ensure that they keep all of their fresh flavors!
What Foods Should You Chiffonade?
- Basil
- Sage
- Mint
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Cabbage
- Parsley
Chiffonade Cooking Tips
While this technique is best suited for leafy green vegetables, it’s possible to chiffonade nearly any ingredient. Once you’ve mastered this cutting style, try to get creative with it. One of our favorite foods to chiffonade is crepes like these 7 Grain Crepes. Use them as a topping on ice cream, or add a more savory variety of crepe “ribbons” to your favorite soup.
The key to a successful chiffonade technique is always to use a sharp knife. Doing so will ensure that your cuts are smooth and precise. So grab your favorite cutting knife and try out this chiffonade technique while preparing your next meal. It might just become your new favorite cutting style!
Julienne Cut
What is a Julienne Cut?
Julienne, a French cooking term, is a cut used to slice vegetables, meat or fruit into thin strips. Many restaurants use the julienne method of cutting to slice vegetables and fruits to make a plate look more inviting. Remember, to a chef, the presentation of a dish is almost as important as the taste! Learning the julienne cutting style will not only improve your plating skills, but it will also provide you with a more controlled cooking environment.
How to Julienne Cut
The julienne cutting technique is commonly used to cut veggies into perfectly shaped matchsticks. Learning this basic cutting style is a must if you’re looking to perfect your knife skills in the kitchen. There are three common ways to approach this cutting style: The French method, the shortcut method, and the mandoline.
How to Achieve a Julienne Cut
- Comfortably hold a cutting knife in your dominant hand.
- Hold the vegetable you’d like to slice with your fingertips and bend your fingers so that they are parallel to the knife.
- Using your dominant hand to guide the knife, cut the vegetable into 2 to 3-inch lengths.
- Next, slice your veggies into uniform planks 1/16 to ⅛ inch across.
What Foods Should You Julienne Cut?
- Cucumbers
- Bell Peppers
- Zucchini
- Carrots
- Onion
- Celer
- Potatoes
- Jicama
- Capsicum
Cooking Tips
While a julienne cut is usually reserved for hard, crunchy vegetables like carrots, it is possible to slice softer foods like a tomato. To do so, begin with a quarter of tomato and lay it skin side down. Next, remove the seeds by running your knife between the flesh of the tomato and the seeds. Lastly, place the tomato skin side down and follow the steps above to cut into Julienne strips.
Mincing
What Is Mincing?
If you’re not a professional in the kitchen, then it can be quite easy to mix up all of the different ways to cut food. Now, before we discuss what it means to mince food, let’s first talk about chopping skills. While you’re probably familiar with the term "chopping," knowing how to chop appropriately is an essential step in learning how to mince. Chopping food simply means to cut food into pieces. While those pieces do not always have to be uniform, some recipes do call for finely chopped ingredients. That’s where knowing how to mince comes in handy! Mincing is essentially chopping food very finely—even smaller than a brunoise cut! While veggies and herbs are the most common foods that are minced, mincing is not limited to these foods alone. There are several recipes out there in which minced meat is the featured ingredient.
In this Grapefruit Avocado and Crab Couscous Salad minced shallot is used for added flavor!
How to Mince Foods
When it comes to cutting food, mincing is about as small as you can get. To mince your food, you must first learn how to chop your ingredients into tiny pieces. This cutting style is commonly used when creating garnishes, sautes and sauces. While nearly anything can be minced, garlic is the ingredient in which you’re likely to use this cutting style the most.
- If the food you’re mincing has a skin, like onion or garlic, then start by peeling the skin and any tough layers off of the food.
- Next, place the flesh side of the food down on the cutting board and slice the ingredient into long matchstick looking pieces.
- Lastly, make small, close together cuts across your long pieces to create small square pieces. About 2 millimeters on each side. The final result will be a finely diced food, great for adding to your favorite dishes.
What Foods Can You Mince?
- Onions
- Garlic
- Celery
- Meat
- Carrots
Now that you’re familiar with a few different cutting styles, it’s time to test out your kitchen knife skills! Whether you're working with a veggie dish or meat-based meal, knowing how to cut each ingredient properly will help you cook your recipe to perfection!
Are you a master chef yourself? We’d love to hear about your favorite cutting style in the comments below!
