What does the term ‘brunoise’ refer to?

You are most likely to see the term ‘brunoise’ on a restaurant menu as ‘vegetables brunoise’. It is French for small cubes and is the culinary knife cut where vegetables are diced into small cubes of precise and uniform measurement.

A regular brunoise gives you cubes 3 mm (1/8th inch) in size; a fine brunoise gives you cubes 1.5 mm (1/6th inch) in size. In France, the fine brunoise is the standard.

Brunoise-cut vegetables are most often used in sauces or as garnishes. They are a standard garnish for consommé.

Items to which a brunoise cut is commonly applied include carrots, celery, leeks, onion, potatoes, tomato and turnip. It is more difficult on the softer vegetables such as tomatoes.