Knife Skills: 5 Cuts Every Home Cook Should Know

Five cuts cover nearly every recipe: brunoise (3 mm cubes), small dice (6 mm cubes), julienne (3 mm by 3 mm by 5 cm sticks), batonnet (6 mm by 6 mm by 5 to 6 cm sticks) and chiffonade (thin ribbons of leafy herbs). Learn the first four as one system. Square the vegetable, cut planks, cut the planks into sticks, then cut the sticks into cubes. Pieces the same size cook at the same rate, and that's the whole point.

Most home cooks don't have a speed problem. They have a size problem: a pan of carrots where the small bits scorch while the big ones still crunch.

Uniform size is heat control, not neatness.

Before any of the cuts work, the setup has to. Hold the knife with a pinch grip, thumb and index finger on the blade just above the bolster, the other three fingers around the handle. Curl the fingertips of your guiding hand into a claw so the flat of the blade rides against your knuckles. That's how you stop nicking fingertips, and it doesn't slow you down once it's automatic.

The five cuts and what each is for

Notice the pairs. A julienne cut crosswise becomes brunoise. A batonnet cut crosswise becomes small dice. Get the sticks right and the cubes take care of themselves. Brunoise shallots are what you want melting into a pan sauce, and small dice is the standard size for a mirepoix that cooks down with the dish.

There's a sixth cut you'll use constantly without thinking about it: the rough chop. For stock vegetables and anything that gets strained out, size barely matters because you're after surface area, not looks.

How to cut planks, sticks and cubes

1. Check the edge. Hone before each session. A dull blade needs more force, slips more often and crushes vegetables instead of slicing them. If honing doesn't bring back the bite, sharpen it. For most home cooks that's every few months.
2. Anchor the board. Lay a damp towel flat under it. A board that slides is a safety problem and wrecks your rhythm.
3. Square it off. Slice a thin strip off one side of anything round so it sits flat and can't roll. For dice you'll see in the finished dish, trim all four sides into a rough rectangle.
4. Cut planks. Slice the block lengthwise into planks, 3 mm thick for julienne and brunoise, 6 mm for batonnet and small dice. This step sets every other dimension, so take your time here.
5. Stack and cut sticks. Stack two or three planks and slice them into sticks the same width as their thickness. Cut the sticks to about 5 cm long.
6. Gather and cross-cut. Line the sticks up in a tight bundle and slice across at the same width to get cubes.
7. Roll the leaves. For chiffonade, stack six to eight herb leaves, roll them tightly into a cigar and slice across into thin ribbons. Do it right before serving, since cut basil darkens as it sits.

Onions break the plank rule because they're built in layers. Halve the onion through the root and peel it. Make a few horizontal cuts toward the root without cutting through it, then vertical cuts down toward the root, then slice across. The root holds everything together until the last stroke. For garlic, the same idea gets you to a fine mince.

Speed comes from rhythm, not effort. Use a rocking motion where the tip stays on the board and the heel rises and falls as you feed the ingredient under it. Stand close with your elbow near your body and let your shoulder do the work. Go slowly until the cuts come out even, because rushing before the mechanics are set just trains in the sloppy version.

Related: Mise en Place: The 10-Minute Prep Habit Before You Cook

Is restaurant precision worth it at home?

On a brigade line, a brunoise that drifts to 5 mm gets noticed and redone, and every carrot gets squared into a clean rectangle no matter what it's for. That makes sense when one cook preps for a hundred covers and every plate has to match. At home, it's mostly waste.

Square off fully when the cut stays visible and cooks fast, as in a sauté, salad, garnish or quick sauce. Skip the trimming for soups you'll purée, long braises that soften everything anyway, and stock, where a rough chop is correct. Keep the trimmings in a bag in the freezer for your next stock so squaring off costs you nothing.

If you only practice one thing, make it the plank. When your planks come out an even 6 mm, the batonnet and small dice follow on their own.

Related: The 3 Sharpening Angles That Fix a Dull Knife Fast