Mince, dice, julienne, and chiffonade

I have been plugging through lesson after lesson of knife skills in the kitchen I am working at. Every time a cook or chef tells me to chop something they don't just say chop it they say could you chiffonade the basil and I stand there and look at them with wide eyes trying to remember exactly what kind of cut that is. In all reality once you get down the basic cuts your job, or my job as basically a prep cook, is a whole lot easier.

I would love to come to each and everyone of your homes and show you how to do all of these different cuts, because I am beyond excited that I have actually learned how to do them, but since that would be very hard and time consuming I will try my best to describe them and hope you will take a few minutes while you're preparing those sausage sandwiches to consider how you are cutting up the onions and peppers.

Mincing is a nice way of saying make it small, really really small. When I mince parsley I take it on the cutting board and start going through it with my knife. If you've ever watched a cooking show where the chef chops and chops at something and never really seems to be paying much attention they are mincing it. When I mince I hold the knife at the handle and put my other hand towards the end of the blade as I go across the board finely chopping the parsley or basil or garlic or whatever is being chopped.

I have been given instructions about various sizes of a dice. Normally when I am doing onions I am told medium dice. To dice an onion I cut off both ends, peel the onion, and cut the onion in half. I then go vertically into the onion about a third of the way up and I cut till I've almost cut it straight through but not quite. I go in again at about 1/2 way between my first cut and the top, and I go in one last time at about half way between my second cut and the top. This whole thing takes some practice because onions are slippery and you have to be careful that your knife does not go into your hand. I then cut horizontally almost the same way getting close to the end but not quite there. Depending on the size of the onion I normally end up with about 5 horizontal cuts. Now comes the fun part. You get to cut through all of the pieces you've prepared by making the initial cuts and you will have perfectly diced onions.

Julienne was a word I knew before even entering the kitchen I work in now. To me julienne was an illusive phrase that spoke of knife skills far above my imagination. Snap into reality and the julienne cut is actually rather easy. To julienne onions you have to cut either end, peel the skin, and cut horizontally straight through the onion. This is the cut you'd use for those peppers and onions you're going to fry up for the sausage sandwiches. I learned how to julienne on a green pepper. You first chop off the top of the pepper. You don't want to chop too much or you'll waste a lot of the pepper and if you're using red peppers at $3.99 a pound, you probably don't want to be wasting too much of that pepper. Chop off the nubs on the bottom and take out the center of the pepper with all of the seeds and stuff with your knife. Cut open the pepper and cut it into 2 or 3 pieces so it's easier to work with. Carefully hold the pepper and with a sharp french knife (I probably should have said this earlier, but please don't try to do these cuts with anything smaller than a french or chef's knife. You will hurt yourself.) Cut horizontally. The key is not to have the thinnest peppers in the world, but to have uniform cuts. Something that is cut uniformly will cook at the same time, so you won't get mushy peppers and raw onions or some mushy peppers and some crunchy ones. Take your time with the julienne. It does not take a culinary degree to master it, but learning slowly with be better than trying to chop chop chop like a pro.

The final cut that I have learned is the chiffonade. The only thing I have ever had to chiffonage was basil. You can practice by taking a few big leaves of basil, rolling them up and cut them in thin segments. You'll end up with pretty strands of basil that you can use as garnish over your pasta.

All of these cuts and techniques might seem like a waste of time to learn, but really they are all about getting a good end product. Perfectly diced onions will be a uniform size and will cook evenly. Julienned peppers look very impressive on a vegetable tray. Practice up and learn the cuts. Your prep time in the kitchen will drop drastically and your end product will be much more appealing and more perfectly cooked.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily