The document outlines essential knife skills for cutting vegetables and herbs during a family consumer science annual meeting. It details various cutting techniques such as chopping, dicing, chiffonade, and julienne, including guidelines for preparing vegetables prior to cutting. Additionally, it describes specific cuts like batonnet, paysanne, and oblique for different types of vegetables.

1. Basic Knife Skills
Family Consumer Science
Annual Meeting

2. Holding the Knife
• The thumb grips the knife around the top of
the blade, with the hand wrapped around the
bolster of the knife
• The index finger and thumb should be
opposite each other on either side of the
blade while the remaining three fingers are
sort of loosely curled around the handle.

3. Holding the Knife

4. Cutting Vegetables and Herbs
• Basic Knife Cuts Include:
Chopping, Chiffonade, Dicing, Diamond,
Mincing, Julienne and Batonnet, Paysanne,
Rondelle, bias, oblique, or roll cuts

5. Standard Vegetable Cuts
• Before chopping or cutting, remove roots, cores,
stems, ribs, and/or seeds
• Cut a slice from each side and both ends of the
vegetable to make an even rectangular solid or
cube

6. Mincing/ Chiffonade and Shredding
• Finely mince the herbs by continuing to cut until
the desired fineness is attained
• Green onions and chives are sliced very thin rather than
minced
• The chiffonade cut is used for leafy vegetables
and herbs
• Make parallel cuts lengthwise to produce a shred
• For greens with large leaves, such as romaine, roll
individual leaves into cylinders before cutting crosswise

7. Julienne and Batonnet
• Long rectangular cuts
– Difference between the cuts is the final size
– Square off the vegetable, then slice the vegetable
lengthwise, making cuts of even thickness
– Stack the cut slices, aligning the edges, and make
even parallel cuts of the same thickness for batonnet
– Thinner slices in both directions make julienne
– To dice, gather batonnet or julienne and cut them
crosswise into even intervals

8. Other Vegetable Cuts
• Paysanne style used in dishes for rustic appeal
– Square off vegetable, make large batnonet- make even parallel
cuts crosswise to produce paysanne cut
• Rounds are cutting cylindrical vegetables crosswise
• Oblique cuts are used primarily for long, cylindrical
vegetables such as parsnips or carrots
– Roll vegetable a quarter turn slice through it on the same
diagonal-forming a piece with two angled edges