A few kitchen knife cut types

We love the French. But, we don't really know how to pronounce a bunch of their words. That holds true for their various slice types too. We thought we'd clear things up a bit with a simple diagram. 

French cooking cuts via knife

The bottom row is cut first in all cases. The top row is made from the bottom row pieces. Thick pieces are on the right. Thinner pieces are on the left. Easy. Going counter clockwise:

  • Small Dice carrots, made from Batonnet carrots
  • Brunoise carrots, made from Julienne carrots
  • Fine Brunoise carrots, made from Fine Julienne carrots

Batonnet

It's more than just a funny word. This one means "little stick." That make sense. These are commonly 1/4 inch sticks. The Small Dice are then 1/4 squares.

Julienne

In french this is something like "match stick." It's thinner than a little stick in that it's typically an 1/8 inch. The Fine Julienne is in the same style but 1/16 of an inch.

Brunoise

Fine Brunoise and Brunoise are built from Julienne sticks and are cubes in length and width, like the Dices are. 

And there we have it. Three core cut types and their names that chefs and recipes throw around with ease. You may see these terms used for nearly anything, not just carrots. And now you'll be more ready to handle 'em.


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