Chef Secrets: The Basic of Knife Cuts

Chef Secrets The Basic of Knife Cuts
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Every exact recipe has an ingredient list that permits you to put together your mise en place and have all of your ingredients measure out, peeled, sliced and cut before you even start cooking. But while the recipe requires the carrots to be julienned and the basil to be made right into a chiffonade, it could throw you for a loop.

There are some fundamental varieties of knife cuts used in lots of recipes and every produces a standardized piece of meals. This is important, specially in restaurant kitchens, due to the fact cooking times in recipes are written with the scale of the cuts in mind. Uniform cuts aren’t only brilliant for presentation, but additionally they make certain that every piece of food cooks evenly together.

Here are a number of the slicing terms that you’ll discover in recipes:

1. The Julienne cut

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-julliene-cut
Dimensions: 2mm X 2mm X 4cm (1/16in X 1/16in X 2in)
Image by francoscaramuzza

The julienne is a type of cut that is stick-shaped and very thin. Cut from a squared off item, you will then slice that item length-wise at a thickness of 1-2mm (1/16 in) leaving you with thin rectangular cuts. Then, take the thin slices and apply the same technique. You will end up with Julienne (Or matchstick) cuts!

2. The Brunoise Dice / minced

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-brunoise-cut
Dimensions: 2mm X 2mm X 2mm (1/16 in X 1/16 in X 1/16 in)
Image by actuallyfnm

The Brunoise dice is the smallest dice you can have. While you can mince to a smaller dimension, this method refers to the smallest uniform size available for dicing. This method is simple and only adds an additional step to the Julienne method. Take your julienne cuts and bunch them up with your hand. Then cut the julienne into equally shaped dice.


3. The Small Dice

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-small-dice
Dimensions: 3mm X 3mm X 3mm (1/8 in X 1/8 in X 1/8 in)
Image by amascateringexperience

The small dice are similar to the brunoise, but it is slightly larger. Start by following the steps to Julienne your item. You want to slice your squared-off item at a thickness of 3mm. Now it’s only a matter of finishing off the dice as you would the Brunoise!

4. The Batonnet

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-batonnet
Dimensions: 6mm X 6mm X 6cm (1/4 in X 1/4 in X 2 in)
Image by cheflerin_dunyasi_10

Batonnet is no different, and we are aiming for a larger stick-cut. The batonnet is used when serving a larger potion of an item such as a vegetable side, to gain height in your dish, or to provide imposing linear appeal to an otherwise linear-absent dish.

5. The Medium Dice

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-medium-dice
Dimensions: 6mm X 6mm X 6mm (1/4 in X 1/4 in X 1/4 in)
Image by chef_christopherward

The medium dice type of cuts are derived from the Batonnet and the only added step is slicing the batonnet to produce cubes. This size is called a Medium Dice.

6. The Baton

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-baton-cut
Dimensions: 12mm X 12mm X 6cm (1/2 in X 1/2 in X 2-1/2 in)

The baton type of cuts are the largest stick-cut you can cut. It is used for crudites and for presentation purposes. While not used as much as the rest, it is the foundation for the more common Large Dice.

7. The Large Dice

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-large-cut
Dimensions: 12mm X 12mm X 12mm (1/2 in X 1/2 in X 1/2 in).

The large dice types of cuts are primarily used for stews, long-cooking dishes and for mirepoix in stocks. The large dice is important, because it is relatively quick, has a great imposing nature and looks professional. When cutting a large dice, you will tend to have a higher waste when trying to get nicely cut pieces using the method describing how to square off your item. Remember when doing any cutting or dicing to use the method best suited for your dish.

8. A Paysanne Cut

The paysanne types of cuts are included here to show you that while cubed items are common, sometimes you would prefer a slimmer, flat, square item. This is called the Paysanne. This is achieved by creating your desired stick-cut size, then slicing thinly to produce a thin square. Typically used for larger cuts, this method can be applied to smaller cuts and dices as well.

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-paysanne-cut
Dimensions: 12mm X 12mm X 3mm (1/2 in X 1/2 in X 1/8 in)
Image by adrinehsf

9. The Chiffonade

lutong-pinoy-basic-knife-cutting-chiffonade-1

The chiffonade types of cuts are used when slicing very thin items such as herbs or leaf vegetables such as spinach. Start by stacking the items you are looking to slice. Then roll up the items, producing a cigar-shaped roll. Once it’s rolled, start slicing to produce a nice chiffonade suitable for garnishing and other purposes.

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Looking for other Lutong Pinoy Recipes to try on? Feel free to check out our pork recipes, chicken recipes and desserts.



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