Okuzeka
Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Knife Skills & Cuts

Julienne

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/ˌdʒuːliˈen/nounCommon term

In culinary arts & cooking, julienne means: A classic knife cut of thin, even strips like matchsticks, about 2–3 mm thick and 5 cm long. Also used as a verb: to julienne carrots.

In Turkish: jülyen, kibrit çöpü doğrama

How it is used

Used for carrots, peppers, leeks, ginger and citrus peel in garnishes, salads and stir-fries. Cutting a julienne first is also the first step to a brunoise. Chefs judge a commis by how even their julienne is.

Example sentences

  1. Cut the carrots into a fine julienne for the spring rolls.

  2. Your julienne needs to be more even; some pieces are twice as thick.

Common collocations

  • fine julienne
  • julienne of vegetables
  • cut into julienne
  • julienne strips
  • brunoiseA very fine dice of vegetables, about 3 mm cubes or smaller, made by cutting a julienne across into tiny even squares.
  • diceTo cut food into small, even cubes. As a noun, dice also means the cubes themselves, as in a fine dice of carrot.
  • chef's knifeA large all-purpose kitchen knife with a broad, slightly curved blade, usually 20 to 25 cm long, used for most chopping, slicing and dicing.
  • garnishA small item of food, such as herbs, a slice of lemon or a sauce dot, added to a dish to make it look and taste better. As a verb, to garnish means to add this.

More terms: Knife Skills & Cuts

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: