The Mastering Class On Culinary Knife Cut: Comprehensive Culinary Course

It is good know the measurement and size of each culinary knife cuts, but it is not apply in practical. you work in the kitchen , you have more additional task, you can't cut the vegetables in accurate measure. The culinary knife cut which we are going to discuss in this lesson are strip, cubes, other knife cuts.

 Strip cut 

strip cut means long narrow cut of food commodities such as vegetable, fruits , meat and nuts. In this category, it has been defined about strips cut such as julienne, Batonnet, Batons and Jardinière.

 

1. Julienne

Julienne is a culinary knife cut in which vegetables are cut into long and thin strip, similar to matchstick. It is also known as allumette. The allumette is a French term, In English translation, it's meant matchstick. The vegetables and food which are suitable for this cut should be cylindrical shape, round, square and so on such as carrot, radish, This cut of vegetables is used for stir frying, garnishing and salads. The measurement of julienne is 3 mm x 3 mm x 3 cm-5 cm. It is also the starting point for brunoises.

2. Fine Julienne

It is same as julienne, There is no any exact measurement of this fine julienne, but the thinness of the fine julienne should be less than 3 mm. It is used for garnishing. It is also the starting point for brunoises.

3. Chiffonade 

chiffonade cut refers to the technique of rolling the leafy greens such as herbs and leafy vegetables like basil, spinach, cabbage and so on and cut into the long and thin strip. This method is also applied to thin omelets and crepes to produce strip. The width of chiffonade cut should be 4-10 mm.  

This above cut is chiffonade cut, not a chop because any leaves which we roll them first and chop or cut are knowns as chiffonade cut. chop mean cut or fine cut such like see in the below chop parsley picture.

4. Jardinière

The word jardinière is a French term meaning to cut a vegetables into thickest batons  cut is slightly bigger than julienne cut, The roughly dimension of jardinière is 5 mm x 5 mm x 5 cm.

5. Battonnet

Battonnet is a French word which means 'little stick' in English. 6mm x 6mm 5-6 cm.

6. Batons

The word baton is French term which means thick stick in English. In the strip cut, The batons is the largest of the stick cuts as compare to julienne, jardinière and batonnet.  The dimension of the baton cut is 2 inches by 1/2 inches by a 1/2 inches | roughly 2cm x 2 cm x 5 cm.

Cube Cut 

Cubes cut is also know as dice cut. It refers to food such as vegetable, fruits and so on cut into equal size and shape form each side. In this category, it has been defined about cube cut such as large, medium, small and brunoise cut.

1. Large dice

large dice cut is a cutting technique in which suitable vegetables, fruits and meats cut into the large cubes. The cutting dimension is approximately 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm. The French term for large dice is macedoine. The macedoine cut is used for preparing salad, sauté vegetable, soup and stocks.

2. Medium dice

Medium dice cut is a cutting technique in which suitable vegetables, fruits and meats cut into the little smaller than large cubes. The cutting dimension is approximately 9 x 9 x 9 mm. This  cut is used for preparing salad, sauté vegetable, soup and stocks.

3. Small dice

small dice cut is a cutting  technique in which suitable foods cut into the small cubes. The cutting dimension is approximately 6 x 6 x 6 mm.

4. Brunoise 

 Brunoises is a French word in English it is known as fine dice | cube cut. It can be  obtained from julienne. The dimension of this cut is roughly 3 mm or less, depends upon the recipe or chef.  It is used for garnishing.

Payasanne cut

Payasanne is a French word. It is a cutting technique in which vegetables or fruits are cut into the geometrical shape such as circle, square, triangle, diamond, oblique, diagonal, barrel.

1. Rondelle 

Rondell cut is a culinary knife cut of any cylindrical fruits and vegetables. food that can be suitable for rondels cut are lemon, carrot, radish, cucumber, turnip, orange, banana and so on. It is also  called full moon, round and circle cut. Rondelle can be cut into desire thickness between 3-19 mm. The uses of this cut is for roasting, bake and grill.

2. Halfmoon 

Halfmoon cut is basically obtained by cutting between from the round cut. food that can be suitable for rondels cut are lemon, carrot, radish, cucumber, turnip, orange, banana and so on. It is also  called half round cut. Halfmoon  can be cut into desire thickness between 3-19 mm. The uses of this cut is for roasting, bake and grill.

3. Quarter 

Quarter cut means cut any thing into four parts | portion. for example if you have whole tomato ,cut it into four parts. quarter cut is also obtained by cutting from the between of halfmoon. It can be cut into desire thickness between 3-19 mm. The uses of this cut is for roasting, bake and grill and frying too. It is kept in mind that the thickness of the vegetables should be more if it is especially for roasting and grilling.

4. Parisienne

Parisienne is a kind of cutting in which food is cut like a round small ball like shape. The size of the round can be made as per the recipe or desired. The uses of this cut is for salad, poaching and boiling. To make a Parisienne from the firm and tender vegetable or fruits, you have to use a pairing knife. for the soft fruits and vegetables such as water melon, honeydew,  avocado, banana and pumpkins , you can use scoop instead of knife for getting prefect ball.

5. Tourne 

Tourne is pronounced (tour-nay). Tourne is also know as Noisette, toulenee, turned and barrel cut. Tourne means turning the vegetables into barrel shape. The word Tourne is a French word which English word is turned. The term refers to a method of cutting and peeling root vegetables such as potato, sweet potato, turnip, radish and so on into oblong, seven-sided football like shape. Turning vegetable is a classical technique used in French cuisine. vegetables are turned in order to form exactly the same barrel shape. The size of barrel depends upon your desire or the recipe.

6. Lozenge

Lozenge is a a geometrical cut, so it comes under the payasanne cut. It is also called diamond and rhombus shape cut. The dimension of this cut is 10 mm x 10 mm x 3 mm.

 

7. Diagonal 

Diagonal cutting is a simple Chinese cutting technique that can be apply with many veggies like on long and round  piece of food such as carrot, radish , parsnip and cucumbers. cutting vegetables on the diagonal exposes more of the  vegetables surface area to the heat. The diagonal cut is also known as oval cut. Cut the suitable vegetables at 45 degree angel and the thickness can be cut as per the desired and the purpose. The uses of this cut foods is for salad, sauté and stir fry. The image credit to suzannelandey.com.

8. Oblique cut

oblique is an another knifes cutting technique in which food is keep rolling  and cut at 40 - 45 degree angel to get both sides two same angel. This cutting is applied on long, round piece of food such as carrot, parsnip, cucumbers and radish and so on. This cut of vegetables is used for roasting, frying and so on. The image credit goes to americastestkitchen.com. 

Additional cut  

In this category, it has been defined the cuts which aren't came under those three category of strip, cube and geometrical cut such mirepoix, mince, split, zest, crushing and wedge cut.

1. Mirepoix 

A roughly cut of vegetables such as carrot, onion, parsnip, celery are called mirepoix. It is often used in stock and sauce for flavoring. 

2. mince

Mince is  fine chop, smaller than the brunoises cut. There is no measurement for this cut, just roughly fine chop the meat, vegetables and so on to get mince. The means cut is basically used for stuffing. 

3. Split

split cut is a simple and easy knife cut. Any suitable whole vegetables and fruits except leafy vegetables such as green chili, tomato, grapes, strawberries cut into two parts, such types of cut is a split cut.  

4. Zest

zest is a food ingredient  which is prepared by scrapping the outer colorful skin | peel of citrus fruits such as lemon, lime, orange, citron and so on. obtain from the peels | skin of citrus fruits. Zest is often used for adding flavor to different foods such as pastries and sweets such as pies, cookies, cake, candy, biscuits and chocolates.  It is also used in salad, sorbets, sauces marmalades. zest is also sued in some cocktails not only for flavor and aroma but also for garnishing. It can be simply used for garnishing.

5. Crushing

crush means press something hard so that it is broken. It is often used with garlic clove crushing from knife.

6. wedge cut

wedge cut is often work with some vegetables and fruits such as tomato, lemon and so on which has round shape. for producing lemon wedge, cut the lemon in half and then cut it again from the middle line to make quarter. you can also get smaller wedge by cutting the quarter from the center. wedge cut such as lemon is used for garnishing and side food. 

7. Lardons

Lardons is the fancy name for Bacon cut. A slice of bacon cut into little long wide strip in such a way to get meat-fat both in the pieces such like shown in the below picture. There is a appropriate  measurement for lardons cut about 1/4 inches thick and 1 inch long. you can use smoked bacon or raw bacon to cut into lardons. A little information about Bacon, Bacon is the cure-meat of pork taken from the pig's belly, back or sides, actually from anywhere that has high contain fat. Belly parts has contain high fat.

Note

There are many information you can get in the internet regarding the culinary knife cut and its measurement, but you will not get same  dimension at all. However i have research and learnt many books to find out the almost appropriate measurement of all the cutting which you can apply in your chef life. An another thing is that chef doesn't produce the same exact measurement of each cutting because it takes time to get exact cut. It just be a roughly cut. However you have to know the proper  culinary knife cutting measurement for your knowledge.

Measurement Information 

There some terms is used in the cutting such as lengthwise and crosswise.

lengthwise 

It is also known as longwise and longways. It means cut in the direction of the longest side and the thickness depends on you. The example are Halve the zucchini lengthwise, slice or cut zucchini lengthwise.

Crosswise  

Just cutting in the other direction, or circumnavigating a sphere, is what is meant by the term "crosswise." When you wish to create rounds of uniform thickness, such as onion rings or tomato slices for a bagel, crosswise cuts are often required.

Measurement calculation

• 1 centimeter (cm) - 10 millimeters (mm).
• 1 inch - 25.4 millimeters (mm).
•  1 inch - 2.54 centimeter (cm).
• Dimension measuring comes in order Length x Width x Height. 

Terminology 

Dimension : The measurement of length, breadth, depth or height of something. 

Roughly cut : cut vegetables without considering any size and measurement.

Zest : The outer color skin part of citrus fruits are called zest.

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Contact Information
Content Writer : Chef BBS
page : Culinarian Institute

Email : culinarianinstitute@gmail.com