Food - Drink
What The Brunoise Knife Cut Is And When To Use It
By CYRENA GOURDEAU
Cutting ingredients while cooking isn't really a difficult task, but learning some basic knife skills is a great step towards more efficient, tasty, and professional-looking meals. Even more impressive are lesser-known techniques like the brunoise knife cut, a French method for dicing vegetables into small, perfectly even pieces.
This technique from the Brunoy commune in France cuts sturdy veggies into cubes of 3mm (regular) or 1.5mm (fine). Common veggies to slice this way include onions, carrots, and celery, which come together to form mirepoix, an aromatic base used in countless French and western dishes; you can also cut fruit this way for a garnish.
To try the brunoise cut, cut your veggies into broad slices, then julienne them, meaning you'll cut them into long, thin strips. Hold the strips tightly together and dice them, cutting off small cubes, to finish your brunoise-cut veggies; then, use them in a flavor base, where they'll soften quickly due to the increased surface area, or as a garnish.