Six Whimsical Knife Cuts to Make Your Dishes Look a Little Grown-Up
Adults have high demands, such as how to cut ingredients with sharp objects and cook for themselves (besides microwave popcorn). The pressure from that giant knife block your mom gave you can be overwhelming. One of the best ways to gain confidence in your culinary skills is to understand and try out the different ways of cutting with a knife.
This is part of Skillet’s Kitchen for Adults series designed to answer your most basic culinary questions and fill in any gaps that your home culinary education may be missing.
Not only will this change the look of your food, but cutting ingredients into different shapes can change the taste of a dish and even indicate how best to eat it.
Julien
This is one of the more carefully made incisions, but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to make. The julienne is shaped like a long thin matchstick (sometimes called one) with sharp edges. Hard root vegetables or strong fruits such as beets, apples, potatoes or carrots hold this shape best.
To make julienne cuts, start by making thin planks (you can read about that here in our first issue of basic knife cuts ). Then cut the board across in parallel motions to make thin, long rectangles. You can make them any size, but technically the julienned ingredients are quite small, two to three inches long and one-eighth of an inch thick.
Because of their delicate appearance, the julienned ingredients are typically served raw or quickly fried to keep their shape. Slow cooking, sautéing, or simmering destroys the structure and you lose vegetables to the sauce. Add julienned beets and carrots to salads or deep-fry them for crunchy haystacks.
Chiffonade
One of my favorite styles is chiffonade. This cut is incredibly easy to make and can turn some of the humblest of ingredients into something quite elegant. Leafy greens and broad grasses usually fold into a graceful ball of tumbling strips. Think of it like a bunch of ribbons, except it’s much easier than making a bunch of twisted ribbons.
To make chiffonade, roll leafy vegetables into a tight tube, like a sleeping bag or a cinnamon roll, before cutting it open. I like to start with the pointed end of the sheet so that it is in the center and doesn’t open easily. Using a sharp knife to minimize bruising, cut the opening of the tube in straight downward strokes. You can make the chiffon with thin stripes, or you can make the cuts more apart to make wide ribbons. The cuts will first come off in large rings. When you’re done cutting, take the ring and shake it, letting each ribbon fall from your fingertips to separate and loosen.
Chiffonade mint or basil leaves will decorate fruity summer desserts. If they are sliced this way, their powerful flavors will be released more than if they are left whole. Try chiffoning the main ingredient of a dish for dramatic effect, like chard for an elegant salad.
Here are some basic tools you will need for slicing:
Reliable Knife: Henckels 6″ Classic Chef Knife
Good cutting board: Epicurean All-in-one series
Knife sharpener: 12 inch black steel for sharpening carbon steel knives
Batonnet
Sleek matches and flowy ribbons aren’t for everyone, for those who want their chunky veggies to stand out, consider the club cut option. This cut is similar in shape to julienne, but in comparison it has gigantic dimensions. It all starts the same way, with a firm fruit or vegetable cut into a board, but instead of cutting it down to an eighth of an inch, you technically double the size to a quarter of an inch. I say “technically” because unless your kitchen is a fine dining establishment, you don’t need to strictly adhere to these rules. Chop to an even bigger size, and if someone gives you trouble, just call them clubs.
A baton is a great shape for raw food because the shape, essentially a bite-sized stick, is easy to pluck with your fingertips. Use the firm batonnet cut for lightly sautéed vegetables, tender stir-fry or light snacks.
Brunoise
In case you haven’t noticed, many of these “advanced” knife cuts are basic cuts, like a plank, but with another notch. Brunoise is no different. The purpose of this cutting is to make the ingredient look like perfect miniature cubes. You can prepare different sized brunoise ingredients by taking a stick, club or julienne one step further. Just take any of these cuts, rotate it 90 degrees, and cut it across to make a cube. Make a big brunoise if you want to keep more texture, such as in stews or stews. Medium brunoise will make a refined salsa, releasing more flavors, aromas and natural juices. Use fine brunoise for maximum flavor, or make a strong sauce.
Rondel
The next two cuts are some of my favorite and most used ones. Not because of how cool I feel when I say that fancy name, but because it’s fast, less waste (because you don’t have to make something round square) and works with the type of food I usually cook. To make a roundel, cut straight down, perpendicular to the direction of the fruit or vegetable. Use long, round ingredients like carrots, zucchini, cucumbers or turnips and simply cut them into quarter or half inch thick discs. I love zucchini rondelle for a stir-fry, eggplant for its namesake parmesan, and banana for my overnight cold brew oatmeal .
Peisanne
The paysanne cut has a more rustic shape. As with the rondel, you don’t have to trim the round sides to get square edges. This cut shows the natural roughness of the vegetable, and therein lies its beauty. Ready-made slices of peyzanne will look like pizza cut in half or into quarters.
To cut Paysanne, cut the ingredient in half lengthwise. Lay the halves on the flat side and cut them in half lengthwise again, so you now have four long quarters. (If you want a crescent moon, you can skip step two.) You can line the pieces together to make cutting more efficient. Rotate them 90 degrees, then cut straight down, perpendicular along the lengthwise cuts. You can cut them one-eighth of an inch or even a quarter of an inch thick. I like to use thick slices for mushrooms in stir-fries or thin slices of carrots in soups.