Basic Techniques for Professional Culinary Arts Knife Cuts

Whether you are working at being a chef, or simply 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. 

The large dice is a culinary knife cut measuring 3/4 inch × 3/4 inch × 3/4 inch. This square cut is most often used for vegetables like potatoes, and sometimes fruits such as watermelon.

The batonnet (pronounced bah-tow-NAY) is basically 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.

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."

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.

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.

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 most often use this cut for carrots, celery, or potatoes, and see the thin strips used as a garnish. 

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.

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.

The fine brunoise knife cut (pronounced BROON-wahz) measures 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch. It sure is tiny!

Smaller than a fine brunoise, the mince is less precise since it is supposed to be finely cut. We most often mince garlic, or other aromatics, when we want the flavor to be distributed more throughout the dish. 

This 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.