Cooking 101: Julienne and Batonnet

September 5, 2008

This post is part of a series called Cooking 101, which introduces the basics of cooking. The series follows the book Culinary Fundamentals, with supplements from The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America. Check out the previous posts here.

Unit 8: Basic Knife Skills

Part 4: Julienne and Batonnet

Precision cuts are a combination of measurements and uniformity. And yes, that means your small dice can be the wrong size (assuming you’re cooking at the CIA – your family probably won’t call you on it at home). I’d also like to point out that getting these things uniform is harder than I imagined. I’ll be more impressed the next time I see a brunoise on my plate.

The Sticks

For most precision cuts, you are going to start by cutting what I like to call “sticks.” In proper terms, this means a fine julienne, julienne, batonnet, or other size stick that will get you the cut you want. Begin by creating the largest rectangle possible out of whatever food you are cutting. This means you’ll need to trim off some sides. I know this seems like a waste, but try saving the scraps for a soup, stock, salad, puree, etc.

If your finished product will be a stick (julienne or batonnet), then cut your rectangle into pieces as long as you want your finished product. According to the Culinary Institute of America, a fine julienne and julienne should be 1 to 2 inches long, while a batonnet is 2 to 2 1/2 inches. If your finished product will be a dice, paysanne, or lozenge, feel free to leave your rectangle long, as long as it is not too big to work with.

Now, determine how thick your finished product will be. Here’s the chart:

Fine Julienne: 1/16 x 1/16 x 1 to 2 inches
Julienne: 1/8 x 1/8 x 1 to 2 inches
Batonnet: 1/4 x 1/4 x 2 to 2 1/2 inches
Fine Brunoise: 1/16 x 1/16 x 1/16 inch
Brunoise: 1/8 x 1/8 x 1/8 inch
Small Dice: 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 inch
Medium Dice: 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 inch
Large Dice: 3/4 x 3/4 x 3/4 inch
Paysanne: 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/8 inch
Lozenge: Diamond shape, 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/8 inch

Let’s suppose you are making a julienne. You should have a rectangle that is 1 to 2 inches long. Lay it flat and cut 1/8 inch thick (the thickness of a julienne) strips from the side.

julienne cut1

You should now have a rectangle that is 1/8 inch thick and 1 to 2 inches long, with any size width. Cut these strips all the way through the rectangle.

julienne cut2

Stack your new strips back up, but not so high that your can’t control and cut them precisely. To finish your julienne, you actually want to make the same cut as you did when making your strips. Make 1/8 inch cuts parallel to the long side and you’ll end up with a julienne that is 1/8 x 1/8 x 1 to 2 inches.

julienne cut3

julienne cut4

I know, it’s ugly. All of the following cuts follow or start with this same pattern. You cut a rectangle, cut slices to your desired thickness, restack the slices and cut again to the desired thickness. The only different between a batonnet, julienne, and fine julienne is the thickness and length.

Julienne:

Here is my attempt at a julienne:

julienne cut4

1/8 x 1/8 x 1 to 2 inches

Batonnet:

Here is my attempt at a Batonnet:

batonnet cut1