Whether you are working at being a chef, or want to improve your skills in the kitchen, mastering the most common culinary arts knife cuts will bring you one step closer to creating impressive-looking, evenly cooked, delicious meals. Learn what the basic cuts are, such as small dice, batonnet, julienne, brunoise, and more.
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Large Dice
The large dice is a culinary knife cut measuring 3/4 inch × 3/4 inch × 3/4 inch. This square cut is often used for vegetables like potatoes, and sometimes fruits such as watermelon.
Batonnet
The batonnet (pronounced bah-tow-NAY) is creating a rectangular stick that measures 1/2 inch × 1/2 inch × 2 1/2 to 3 inches. It is also the starting point for another cut, the medium dice.
Medium Dice
The medium dice measures 1/2 inch × 1/2 inch × 1/2 inch, and is a smaller version of the large dice. This is generally a good choice when recipes don't specify the size of the dice and the ingredient list just says "diced tomatoes."
Allumette
Measuring 1/4 inch × 1/4 inch × 2 1/2 to 3 inches, the allumette is sometimes referred to as the "matchstick cut." It's also the starting point for the small dice.
Continue to 5 of 11 belowSmall Dice
The littlest of the dice cuts, the small dice measures 1/4 inch × 1/4 inch × 1/4 inch and is produced by slicing the allumette into 1/4-inch sections.
Julienne
The julienne cut measures 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 2 1/2 inches and is basically the allumette cut once more lengthwise. You will often use this cut for carrots, celery, or potatoes, and see the thin strips used as a garnish.
Brunoise
The brunoise knife cut (pronounced BROON-wahz) measures 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch, which makes it the smallest of the dice cuts. Brunoise is usually used for garnishes.
Fine Julienne
The fine julienne knife cut measures 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch × 2 inches. It is also the starting point for the fine brunoise cut. This cut is often used for garnishes.
Continue to 9 of 11 belowFine Brunoise
The fine brunoise knife cut (pronounced BROON-wahz) measures 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch. It sure is tiny!
Mince
Smaller than a fine brunoise, the mince is less precise since it is supposed to be finely cut. We often mince garlic, or other aromatics, when we want the flavor to be distributed more throughout the dish.
Chiffonade
The chiffonade cut is mainly used for vegetable leaves and fresh herbs, in particular, basil. The leaves are stacked, rolled, and then sliced perpendicularly, creating thin strips.