KITCHEN ESSENTIALS

&
BASIC FOOD PREPARATION
(HRM 026)
Topics:
A. Butchering Operations
1. Pork cuts
2. Chicken cuts
3. Beef cuts
Topics:
B. Chopping Techniques
1. Mincing
2. Macedoine
3. Batonnet
4. Julienne
5. Squared-Off
6. Brunoise
7. Paysanne
8. Large Dice
9. Medium Dice
10. Small Dice
11. Chiffonade
CHICKEN CUTS AND PARTS
HOG CUTS AND PARTS
HOG CUTS AND PARTS
BEEF CUTS AND PARTS
BEEF CUTS AND PARTS
Doneness of Steak
SEAFOOD
CHOPPING TECHNIQUES
What is Chopping?
• Chopping means to cut food into (more or
less) bite-sized pieces using the quick, heavy
blows of a knife.
• If a recipe calls for something to be finely
chopped, the pieces should be smaller than
bite sized,
 Mince
•  Mince means foods
are generally cut into a
finer size.
• A minced ingredient is
at most 1/8 of an inch,
and doesn't require a
uniformity of shape.
 Macedoine
• A Macédoine is a French
cooking term meaning a
mixture of vegetables, or
fruit, or both, cut or
chopped up, and served
raw or cooked, cold or hot.
• For a fine vegetable
mixture, the vegetables
should be chopped into
cubes 4 mm x 4 mm x 4
mm (1/6th inch each
side.)
 Batonnet
• A French vegetable cut
with a precise meaning.
• It means a vegetable cut
into batons or sticks.
• Batonnet or baton is a
matchstick knife cut. The
precise dimensions are a
1/4 inch by 1/4 inch and
then roughly to 2 to 2
1/2 inches long.
 Jullienne cut
• Julienne, or allumette, is
a culinary knife cut in
which the food item
is cut into long thin
strips, similar to
matchsticks.
• The julienne
measures approximately
1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 1-2
inches (3mm × 3mm × 3
–5 cm).
 Squaring Off
• Squaring Off or “Parer” is
the French term, is the
first step for creating
most of the classic cuts.
• The first step in squaring
off is to cut your product
into roughly 2 to 2 ½ inch
segments.
 Brunoise
• Brunoise is the finest dice and is
derived from the julienne.
• Any smaller and the cut will be
considered a mince.
• To brunoise, gather the julienned
vegetable strips together, then dice
into even 3mm cubes.
• A brunoise references a 1/8-inch-
square dice that is exactly half the
size of the larger macédoine dice.
This dice is achieved by first cutting
your firm vegetable into a julienne
and then dicing into cubes.
 Paysanne
• Paysanne is a French cooking
term used to describe a style
of cutting vegetables which
means “country-style.”
• Cutting a vegetable paysanne-
style is to slice it thinly, but
according to its natural shape,
without squaring it off.
• The paysanne cut consists
in slices of vegetables about
1 mm thick.
 Large dice

• Large Dice is a culinary knife

cut measuring ¾ inch × ¾
inch × ¾ inch.
MIDTERM- QUIZ 1 & 2
 Medium dice

• 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.
 Small dice
• The small
dice measures ¼ inch
× ¼ inch × ¼ inch and
is produced by slicing
the allumette into ¼
inch sections.
 Chiffonade
• Chiffonade which
means “little ribbons” in
French, is a slicing
technique used on delicate
leafy vegetables and herbs
like basil, parsley or
lettuces, not tougher herbs
like rosemary or thyme.
• To achieve a chiffonade,
leaves are stacked and
tightly rolled before being
thinly sliced to produce
long, delicate strips.
THANK YOU 