Culinary Cutting Terms

• If you've never spatchcocked a chicken or chiffonaded your herbs, you are not alone. While many people are familiar with the more basic culinary cutting terms such as chop or dice, several lesser known techniques can improve a meal's flavor and add visual interest to a dish.

Chop, Dice or Mince

• Chopping, dicing and mincing all require a similar technique and can be accomplished by using a food processor or a sharp knife. Chopped foods are left in chunks, diced ingredients are in smaller pieces and minced ingredients are cut into fine, small pieces.

  Chop food by cutting it into smaller, usually irregularly sized pieces. Refer to your recipe prior to beginning; many recipes will specify an approximate size to chop the ingredients.

  Dice food by cutting it into tiny pieces, usually between 1/4 and 1/2-inch.

  Mince food by repeatedly dicing it until it is in very small pieces.

Grate

• Foods such as hard cheeses, citrus fruit peels and other firmly-textured foods can be successfully grated by rubbing them firmly against a grater. Graters have sharp hole that create fine particles or shreds. The technique is best performed on firmer foods; soft foods may clump.

Score

• To score an ingredient, use your knife to make a series of small and shallow cuts. The cuts are frequently made in a diamond-shaped pattern. The purpose may be for decoration, tenderizing tougher cuts of meat, enhancing fat drainage during cooking or enhancing flavor absorption. Scoring is most frequently done on foods such as breads, meats and fish, according to the Epicurious website.

Julienne

• The term "julienne" was introduced by French chef, Jean Julien, according to What's Cooking America. Vegetables are frequently julienned. The technique calls for food to be into even slices and then cut into thin strips with a mandolin or knife. Food that has been julienned resembles a matchstick.

Chiffonade

• In French, the term chiffonade translates to "made of rags." This is appropriate since the technique involves cutting lettuce, herbs or other leafy vegetables into thin slices or shreds that resemble rags or ribbons. To chiffonade a bundle of basil leaves, stack the leaves together, roll them tightly and thinly slice the stack.

Spatchcock

• A chicken that has been spatchcocked will cook in nearly half the time and retain moisture throughout the cooking process, according to What's Cooking America. The technique came from France. Use a sharp knife or use a sharp set of poultry shears or kitchen scissors to cut along the side of the bird's backbone. Once you've cut along one side, proceed to cut along the other before removing the backbone.