KITCHEN PRACTICE 2 — Julienne, Then Brunoise
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Chapter: French Cookery 2 — Knife Skills & Mise en Place

TASK
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Square off a carrot and cut it into a clean julienne, then turn the
julienne into a brunoise. Aim for genuinely even, consistent sizes
throughout.

WHAT TO DO
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1. Peel a carrot and trim both ends flat.
2. Trim the rounded sides off to square the carrot into a rough
   rectangular block — you'll lose some carrot to trimmings, and
   that's expected and normal.
3. Slice the block into thin, even planks, roughly 3mm thick, using
   a steady, consistent pressure for each cut.
4. Stack a few planks at a time and slice lengthwise into thin
   matchsticks, roughly 3mm × 3mm in cross-section — your julienne.
5. Gather the julienne strips together and cut straight across them
   at roughly 3mm intervals, turning the julienne into a fine,
   even brunoise dice.

WHAT TO EXPECT
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- The julienne strips should look genuinely uniform when laid side
  by side — noticeably different lengths or thicknesses usually
  trace back to the planks in step 3 not being cut evenly.
- The resulting brunoise should look like small, roughly cube-shaped
  pieces, all close to the same size — if some pieces are clearly
  larger or smaller than others, it's worth practicing the plank and
  matchstick stages again before worrying about the final dice step.
- Expect this to take real, deliberate time the first several
  attempts — evenness comes from repetition, not from rushing.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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Squaring off the carrot first is what makes every cut after it
possible to do safely and evenly — a round, unstable vegetable gives
you nothing flat to rest against the cutting board, which is exactly
what makes the first cut on a round vegetable the most dangerous one
in the whole sequence. Once the block is square, every following cut
is simply repeating the same motion at a consistent interval, which
is the entire secret behind why brunoise doesn't need its own
separate technique — it really is just a julienne, turned and cut
again.