Knife Cuts Every Cook Should Know: Julienne, Brunoise and Chiffonade

The classic knife cuts taught in culinary school. Julienne is thin matchsticks and batonnet thicker sticks; brunoise is a tiny dice cut from julienne; paysanne, thin flat squares; chiffonade, herbs or leaves rolled and sliced into ribbons; rondelle, round coins; oblique, angled roll cuts; lozenge, diamond shapes; and tourné, the seven-sided barrel shape that tests a chef's patience.

Dice, chop and mince complete the list, from rough to fine. Chiffonade, at 10 letters, is the longest word.

Detailed Knife Skills Vocabulary: 12 Words to Find

Words run across, up and down, and diagonally; 5 of the 12 read backwards. The longest word is Chiffonade, with 10 letters.

Batonnet: A knife cut into sticks about 6 mm thick, like thick French fries.
Brunoise: A tiny dice, about 3 mm, cut from julienne strips.
Chiffonade: Leafy herbs or greens stacked, rolled and sliced into thin ribbons.
Chop: To cut food into pieces, roughly or evenly.
Dice: To cut food into small, even cubes.
Julienne: Thin matchstick strips about 3 mm thick.
Lozenge: A diamond-shaped knife cut.
Mince: To chop food as finely as possible.
Oblique: A roll cut: angled slices made by turning a vegetable a quarter turn between cuts.
Paysanne: Thin, flat squares or triangles, a rustic knife cut for soups.
Rondelle: Round slices, or coins, cut from cylindrical vegetables like carrots.
Tourne: Tourné: a seven-sided barrel shape cut from potatoes or carrots.

How to Solve the Detailed Knife Skills Word Search

"Julienne" has the only J, "oblique" the only Q and "lozenge" the only Z. "Chiffonade" is the longest word, with a double F, and reads normally across; it shares CH with "chop". Look for the double N in "batonnet", "julienne" and "paysanne".

Knife Skills Practice for Culinary Students

Practice julienne, brunoise and chiffonade on a carrot and a few basil leaves.
Order the cuts from largest to smallest.
Match each cut to a dish: brunoise in a sauce, chiffonade on a salad.