Cookery Skills, Techniques and Processes (National 5) Unit This includes the cuts of vegetables and cookery techniques required at National 5

Cuts of vegetables Julienne:- Cutting into long, thin, matchstick-sized strips, usually 20 mm in length and 1mm in thickness.

Cuts of vegetables Brunoise:- Cutting of vegetables into small dice. If used for soup, size would normally be 2mm x 2mm x 2mm, but for a garnish would be smaller 1mm x 1mm x1mm.

Cuts of vegetables Jardiniere:- Cutting of vegetables into batons, usually 3mm x 3mm x 18mm in size.

Cuts of vegetables Macedoine:- Cutting of vegetables into small cubed dice, usually 5mm x 5mm x 5mm in size.

Cuts of vegetables Paysanne:- Cutting of vegetables into thin slices of 1cm diameter or side, according to shape. Normally triangles, squares and rounds are cut, depending on the vegetable being used.

Cuts of vegetables Chiffonade:- A knife technique used for cutting herbs and leaf vegetables such as lettuce into thin strips or ribbons. Used as a garnish.

Food Preparation Techniques Segment:- To cut or divide a fruit into segments.  

Food Preparation Techniques Blanche:- Blanching is a cooking technique in which food is briefly immersed in boiling water or fat. Green vegetables are often blanched to help retain their natural green colour or tomatoes are blanched to make it easier to peel them.  

Food Preparation Techniques Concasse:- To roughly chop any ingredient usually vegetables. This term is particularly applied to tomatoes, where tomato concasse is a tomato that has been peeled, seeded (seeds and skins removed), and chopped.  

Food Preparation Techniques Puree:- To rub food (normally fruit or vegetables) through a strainer or process (food) in a blender to make a smooth pulp.  

Food Preparation Techniques Marinade:- A liquid mixture, usually of vinegar or wine and oil with various spices and herbs, in which meat, chicken, fish, or vegetables are soaked before cooking. Helps to tenderise the meat and give the food flavour.

Food Preparation Techniques Strain:- To remove undesirable particles from a liquid, or to separate liquid from other solids. When a food item is strained, the contents are poured through a sieve, a perforated utensil or fine-meshed cheesecloth.  

Food Preparation Techniques Pass:- To pass a food though a sieve e.g. used to remove the seeds from raspberry puree when making a Coulis Sauce.  

Food Preparation Techniques Pane:- A culinary term meaning 'To pass through flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs'.  

Food Preparation Techniques  Shape:- To mould or shape a food into a specific shape e.g round fish cakes or burgers.  

Food Preparation Techniques Bake blind:- To bake blind means to partially or completely bake the pastry case before filling it.  

Food Preparation Techniques Pipe:- To force icing or whipped cream through a piping tube or nozzle to decorate a cake or biscuit. The shape of the nozzle determines the design. Savoury foods such as mashed potatoes can also be piped.