Brunoise and Bandaids

Le Cordon Bleu “Lexique” or glossary defines Brunoise as “Vegetables cut into very small regular cubes, about 2 x 2mm”. Unfortunately it doesn’t explain why you would want to cut vegetables to .08 square inches. Therefore, most students surmise it is simply a form of chef’s torturing students. I suppose you could say it looks petite and pretty, but at my age, I need reading glasses to decide if this is true.

Frankly, I think it’s another French way of using vegetables as garnish and avoiding actually having to eat them. I make this limited and nutrition-centric observation after 6 weeks of boiling vegetables to al dente texture, straining them through colanders so only the juice essence remains or turning 1 kilo of vegetables into a handful of decorate vegetables.

Here’s evidence of the effect of brunoise, so you decide: 1) a picture of Chef's beef stroganoff with rice and a brunoise of zucchini, haricot verts (beans) and carrots versus: 2) a picture of my fingers after trying to clean my knife of obnoxious brunoise particles that attach to the knife when cutting them (plus one bandage for a blister due to cleaning a hot stove). Here’s a site that summarizes brunoise and several other French cutting / torture techniques. http://www.lacaterer.com/knife-skills.html