![Knife cuts Greece French](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Knife_cuts_Greece_French.jpg)
There are a number of regular
knife
A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...
cuts that are used in many recipes, each producing a standardized cut piece of food. The two basic shapes are the strip and the cube.
Strip cuts
* Pont-neuf; used for fried potatoes ("thick cut" or "steak cut" chips), pont-neuf measures from to
* Batonnet;
French for "little stick", the batonnet measures approximately . It is also the starting point for the small dice.
*
Julienne; referred to as the allumette (or matchstick) when used on potatoes, the julienne measures approximately . It is also the starting point for the brunoise cut.
The first reference to Julienne occurs in François Massialot's Le Cuisinier Royal in 1722.
* Fine julienne; measures approximately , and is the starting point for the fine brunoise cut.
*
Chiffonade Chiffonade () is a slicing technique in which leafy green vegetables such as spinach, sorrel, or Swiss chard, or a flat-leaved herb like basil, are cut into long, thin strips. This is accomplished by stacking leaves, rolling them tightly, then slic ...
; rolling leafy greens and slicing the roll in sections from 4-10mm in width
Cube cuts
Cuts with six even sides include:
* Large dice; (or "Carré" meaning "square" in French); sides measuring approximately
* Medium dice; (
Parmentier); sides measuring approximately
* Small dice; (
Macédoine
Macedonia or macédoine is a salad composed of small pieces of fruit or vegetables. Fruit Macedonia is a fresh fruit salad and is a common dessert in Greece, Romania, Spain, France, Italy and South America. Vegetable Macedonia or ''Macédoine de ...
); sides measuring approximately
*
Brunoise
Brunoise () is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is first julienned and then turned a quarter turn and diced, producing cubes of about or less on each side. In France, a "brunoise" cut is a smaller 1 to 2 mm. Some typical vegetab ...
; sides measuring approximately
* Fine brunoise; sides measuring approximately
Other cuts
Other cuts include:
* Paysanne;
* Lozenge;
diamond shape
In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The ...
,
* Fermière; cut lengthwise and then sliced to desired thickness
* Rondelle; cylindrical vegetatables cut to discs of desired thickness
* Tourné; long with seven faces usually with a bulge in the center portion
*
Mirepoix
A mirepoix ( ; ) is a flavor base made from diced vegetables cooked—usually with butter, oil, or other fat—for a long time on low heat without coloring or browning, as further cooking, often with the addition of tomato purée, creates a dark ...
;
* Rough Cut; chopped more or less randomly resulting in a variety of sizes and shapes
* Mincing; very finely divided into uniform pieces
*Wedges; round vegetables cut equally radially, used on tomato, potato, lemon, cut into four or six pieces or more
References
{{Cutting techniques (cooking)
Food preparation techniques
Cutting techniques (cooking)