Julienne

Julienne is the French way of cutting food into thin sticks of equal length. In the glossary of the 1907 English edition of his guide, Escoffier explains that cutting “julienne-fashion” means cutting a product into match-shaped rods. Besides this meaning, the Larousse dictionary lists a soup cooked and served with vegetables cut in this way; Escoffier counts consommé Julienne among the clear soups.

Larousse derives the word from the first name Julien, but does not explain why the cut is so called. Exact dimensions vary between schools. A chart from the Culinary Institute of America gives julienne a cross-section of 1/8 × 1/8 inch (about 3 × 3 mm) and a length of 1–2 inches (about 2.5–5 cm), and the thinner “fine julienne” 1/16 × 1/16 inch (about 1.5 × 1.5 mm) at the same length. A Utah State University Extension handout gives julienne as 1/8 × 1/8 × 2½ inches (about 3 × 3 mm × 6 cm).