18 January 2009

Techniques

I just realised that i might have used cooking terms people might go, "huh" at. So here is some explanataion.

Chiffonade is a cooking technique in which herbs or leafy green vegetables (such as spinach and basil) are cut into long, thin strips. This is generally accomplished by stacking leaves, rolling them tightly, then cutting across the rolled leaves with a sharp knife, producing fine ribbons. "Chiffon" is French for "rag" referring to the fabric-like strips that result from this technique. To chiffonade simply means to turn into rag like strips as seen in the picture.

Julienning is a method of
food preparation in which the food item is cut into long thin strips. Common items to be julienned are carrots for carrots Julienne, potatoes for french fries, or celery for Céléris Remoulade.

With a sharp knife the raw vegetable is sliced on four sides to create a thick rectangular stick, then cut lengthwise into approximately 3 mm (1/8 inch) slices. Stacking these slices and again cutting lengthwise into strips creates thin uniform square sticks. Julienne usually applies to vegetables prepared in this way but it can also be applied to the preparation of meat or fish, especially in stir fry techniques.

Once julienned, turning the subject 90 degrees and dicing finely will produce brunoise.


This is an image of chiffonade with sage.
You might wonder what the differene between the two terms really is. Well the biggest difference is just that to CHIFFONADE, the final product should have finer strips. And to JULIENE, the strips can be a bit more course. They are also supposed to be fine. Okay. I am being vague. There is a fine difference, but its a fine fine line ...

2 comments:

treen said...

Perfect. Because Adam and I were just talking earlier today that we did not know what "chiffonade" means. Now we do!

Unknown said...

Ha. Glad to be of service. I am full of useless information (but you already know that). I can't change my cars oil but I can tell you the definitions and origins of food techniques. I am a dork!