Home cooks only need a handful of knife cuts to handle almost every recipe: the dice, julienne, chiffonade, and mince, plus the batonnet as a stepping stone to a clean dice. Each one controls how fast food cooks and how it looks on the plate, and picking the right cut matters more than knife speed.
What Each Basic Cut Is For
| Cut | Approximate size | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| Small dice | 1/8-inch cubes | Salsas, garnishes, delicate soups |
| Medium dice | 1/2-inch cubes | Stews, sautés, most everyday cooking |
| Large dice | 3/4-inch cubes | Roasting, stocks, dishes that cook a long time |
| Batonnet | 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch by 2 to 3 inches | Fries, crudités, the setup cut before a small dice |
| Julienne | 1/8-inch by 1/8-inch by 2 inches | Stir-fries, slaws, garnishes |
| Chiffonade | Thin ribbons | Leafy herbs and greens like basil or mint |
| Mince | Smaller than a small dice, almost paste-like | Garlic, ginger, shallots |
How to Hold the Knife and the Food
Grip the knife by pinching the blade just above the handle between your thumb and index finger, with your remaining fingers wrapped around the handle. This gives you far more control than gripping the handle like a hammer, especially for rocking cuts.
Your other hand holds the food using a claw grip: fingertips curled under, knuckles facing forward, so the flat of the knife blade rests against your knuckles as you cut. Your fingertips stay protected behind your knuckles the entire time. It feels awkward at first, but it becomes automatic within a few sessions.
How to Dice an Onion Step by Step
- Cut the onion in half through the root end, and peel off the skin.
- Place one half flat side down, and make horizontal cuts toward the root without cutting all the way through it.
- Make vertical cuts from the top of the onion down toward the root, again stopping just short of cutting through.
- Turn the onion and slice across your first cuts, letting it fall into even pieces.
- Repeat with the other half, adjusting your spacing between cuts for a smaller or larger dice.
Keeping the root end intact through steps 2 and 3 is what holds the onion together and makes the final cuts land evenly.
How to Julienne and When to Use It
To julienne, first square off the sides of a vegetable like a carrot or bell pepper so it sits flat, then cut it into thin planks, stack the planks, and slice them into thin matchsticks. The goal is uniform thickness, since that's what makes the pieces cook at the same rate.