Knife cuts is specific methods of preparing vegetables. Knife cuts are essential skill in the kitchen for chefs who want prepare foods that cook evenly. If a person dont use consistent knife cuts when preparing vegetables, then some piece of food will cook faster than other pieces of food that have been prepared with the same recipe.
Additionally, some pieces of food may end up becoming mushy while other pieces of food remain hardly. Using consistent knife cuts ensures that every piece of food will cook at the same time. Many cook use French techniques to learn about knife cuts.
Basic Vegetable Knife Cuts
The French techniques provide an understanding of the texture of the food that the recipe should prepare and how long it will take for the food to cook. Cube cuts are knife cuts used specifically to create vegetables that are cut into cubes. To make cube cuts, a chef must first square the vegetable.
Then the chef will cut the vegetable into planks. After cutting into planks, the chef will then cut the planks into strips. Finally, the chef will cross-cut the strips into cubes.
The size of the resulting cubes will determine the name of the cut that the vegetable will have. Additionally, the size of the cubes will also provide information for chefs about the way the food will behave during the cooking process. For example, small cubes will release their flavor quick from the cooking process.
Small cubes are used for soups like consommé. Larger cubes will hold the shape of the vegetables during long cooking processes like stews. Strip cuts are similar to cube cuts.
Strip cuts go through the same process as cube cuts without the last step of cutting strips into cubes. Strip cuts are useful for stir-fries where chefs want vegetables to remain crisp. Strips are also used for creating salads where vegetables will tangle together.
Thin strips will wilt faster than thicker strips. For example, fine julienne strips are the thin strips used as garnishments on dishes. Batonnets are thicker strip used for side dishes.
Certain knife cuts do not follow the same patterns as the cubes and strips. These are considered to be flat cuts or specialty shapes. One example of a specialty cut is the chiffonade used for herbs.
This cut is made by rolling the herbs to avoid bruising them. The paysanne cut is another specialty cut into which vegetables has irregular edges. This cut is used for rustic soups.
The tourné cut is a specialty cut into which seven equal side are carved onto a vegetable with a paring knife. This cut is more difficult and not used for cooking purposes but for decoration on food. As a result of the difficulty of the tourné cut, it is cut separately from the cut of cubes and strips.
A grid can be used to compare and contrast knife cuts with the vegetables used for knife cuts and cooking methods. The grid allows chefs to understand which knife cuts work well with specific vegetables. Additionally, the grid can show which cooking methods are appropriate for specific sizes of knife cuts.
For example, medium dice works well for roasting vegetables but may not be appropriate for use in a fine brunoise. The grid also allows chefs to see the level of skill required to master each knife cut. This information can help a beginner chef understand which knife cuts require more practice than others.
Chefs need to use proper technique when utilizing knife cuts. Two of the proper techniques include using the claw grip and squaring the vegetables. The claw grip protects the chef’s fingertips and allows the chef to use the knuckles to guide the knife to create even pieces of food.
Squaring the vegetables before cutting is a necessary step so that the vegetables do not have rounded edges that may cause the pieces of vegetables to not cook even. Keeping the chefs knife sharp is also essential in creating even knife cuts. A chef must ensure that the knife does not crush the vegetables but instead cuts through the food.
This is especially important when preparing delicate vegetables like tomatoes. A chef will use different knives to perform knife cuts. Each knife has a specific shape and size that allows it to perform certain knife cuts more easily.
For example, chefs use chef knives with a long blade to rock a knife through a stack of vegetable planks. Paring knives are small and used for the tourné cut. Additionally, the chef can use a santoku knife to push the knife through vegetables with a flat belly.
Using the correct knife for each knife cut reduces the chef’s effort. Additionally, if the chefs match the shape of the knife to the cut, the chef will experience less fatigue during the cooking process. Vegetables have different behaviors when using knife cuts.
For example, carrots have many knife cut uses. They hold their shape well when diced into coins or barrel carved pieces. Onions have many dice sizes and minces.
These vegetables naturaly separate with a knife. Finally, fresh herbs have limited knife cuts to the chiffonade and mince because their cells will collapse with other knife cuts. A chef must make the correct choice of knife cut for the vegetables they are preparing.
For instance, rough chops are used for stocks because the cook will strain the vegetables from the stocks. For dishes like salsa, small diced vegetables will allow the dressing to coat each piece of vegetable evenly. Using these choices will create a better tasting meal that the chef can prepare with their knife cuts assisting in the cooking process.
They’re choice of cut should of been made earlier.