the.com/julienne
proof that turning food into matchsticks counts as a culinary credential
means To cut vegetables or other food into long, thin strips resembling matchsticks, or the strips themselves.
from From French, where it appears in cookbooks by the 18th century, likely derived from the personal name Jules or Julien — though exactly which Julien earned the honor is lost, leaving us with a knife technique named for a man nobody can quite identify.
- size spec
- roughly 2mm thick, sliced into thin sticks
- french name
- named for a cook, lost to history
- chiffonade cousin
- stack, roll, slice leafy greens into ribbons
- speed gear
- mandolines do it without sacrificing fingertips, usually
- first record
- appears in a 1722 French cookbook
for instance
julienne potatoes — thin matchstick-cut potatoes, classic french frite preparation
julienne vegetables — thin 2mm strips of carrots, celery, leeks in french cuisine