The Basics "Knife Work"

I understand that all of us come from different backgrounds and I use Kitchen Language or technical terms that maybe not everyone is familiar with so I have composed this series of posts to show what I am saying. That way I don't have to reference Wikipedia when I use culinary language.



I am working with a few terms today the first is Batonett; that is basically a "French Fry Cut" a Batonnet is 1/4" X 1/4" X 2 " it is one of the basic cuts. First this potato is cut into planks about 1/4" thick then those are broken down further into the Batonnet strips.

A correctly made Batonnet cut is just a little bit bigger than the rivets on the handle of your knife and if done properly can stand on its end when done.

Once that is done you can cut a "Small Dice" that is 1/4" X 1/4" X 1/4"

Nothing complicated there... to take it a step further Julienne is a cut 1/8" X 1/8" by 2" The process is the same; 1/8" planks are broken down to Julienne strips.

Once you have the Julienne cuts they can be taken down another step to make a Brunoise cut that is 1/8" X 1/8" X 1/8" Most of the time when a recipe asks for Julienne cut it means something more casual that doesn't require a ruler to get right.