The proper use of knives is a fundamental cooking skill. One of the things that sets home cooks apart from chefs are their knife skills. In this post, you’re going to learn about the chiffonade cut, a decorative cut that is excellent for turning leafy vegetables and herbs into attractive garnishes and soup ingredients.
The word chiffonade means “made of rags” and turns leaves into thin ribbons. The basic procedure is this:
- Take your leaves and stack them into a neat pile. About ten will do. If you’re cutting a large leafy vegetable like kale, cut out the center stem first.
- Roll the leaves into a tight cigar shape, then roll it so the seam is against the cutting board
- Take your sharpest knife and slice across the rolled leaves. The finer the slices, the finer the final garnish will be. If you’re cutting for soup, go with larger slices.
- Fluff up the chiffonade and use immediately.
Chiffonade vegetables and herbs are best used immediately. The cutting technique causes the edges to quickly darken. The technique is best suited for broad-leaved plants that can roll well. It would be very difficult to try this cut with something like parsley, which has a very irregular leaf. You can even chiffonade unexpected things like crepes. This goes great in savory soups as an unexpected treat.
The key to a good chiffonade is good rolling and thin slicing with a sharp knife. If you need a knife or a sharpener, well, you know where to turn to! Take a look at our stock at Restaurant Supply.
