Japanese culinary culture is one of the most worth learning cultures, not only because of their choices in ingredients but also their ways of preparing and slicing vegetables.
Depending
on what types, what recipes, and what the best looking angle are, vegetables
are sliced in different ways. A simple example is potato. For French fries, we
do batonet; for soup, we dice them in cube; for American style snack, we thinly
chip them; and for baking, we can chop them into 2, 4, or 8 pieces.
The sophistication in Japanese way of life is well reflected in their
culinary philosophy. For instance, with the same simple vegetable soup recipe,
various methods of cutting vegetables can be used, not only for them to be
cooked easily but also to retain their flavors and nutrition values. Photo of Pinterest
What
shapes we slice vegetables into is as important as how even we slice them
because that’s the tip to cook them evenly, helping the cooks to control
cooking time, and beautifying the dish when it is displayed. Of course a nice
and neat dish is much more professional looking than ordinary ones.
There
are so many slicing styles since there are different culinary cultures in the world.
For instance, Vietnamese cuisine is obviously influenced by French. With
Japanese, preparing and slicing vegetables require more skills and more rules
to fit in diverse types of food cooking, and the following is the most basic
types:
Usugiri (薄切り) –
Thinly slicing
- Apply for cucumbers, eggplants, ginger, onions,
scallion, garlic, and other types of vegetables.
- Thin slices maintain the crispiness of fresh
vegetables.
- Used for stir-frying, salads, pickling, or simmering
dishes.
Nanamegiri (斜め切り)
– Diagonal slicing
- Apply for scallion, leeks, asparagus, and other
vegetables with small diameters.
- Slicing agains grain/fiber diagonally.
- Used for grilling, sautee-ing, or quick stir-frying
dishes.
Naname Usugiri (斜め薄切り) –
Thinly diagonal slicing
-
Apply for scallion, celeries, or green beans.
-
Used for salads or garnishing.
Wagiri (輪切り) – Round cut
-
Apply for all types of cylinder vegetables as cucumbers, daikon, carrot,
eggplant, zucchini, lotus root, or tomato.
-
The thickness of slices depends on recipes’ requirements. Simply peel then cut
along objects.
-
Used for simmering dishes.
Koguchigiri (小口切り) – Thinly round cut
-
Apply for all types of round vegetables.
-
The thickness of slices depends on recipes’ requirements but usually ranks from
2 – 3mm.
- Used for quick cooking, quick pickling dishes and
salad.
Rangiri (乱切り) – Random cut
-
Apply for thick and hard vegetables and fruits with big diameters, such as
carrot, daikon, eggplants, cucumber…
-
Cut into random shape, but the same size.
-
Create more surface so it will cook faster.
Kushigatagiri (くし形切り) – “Comb shape” cut
- Apply for spherical vegetables and fruits like onions,
tomatoes, or citrus.
- Cutting in half and divine each part into even pieces.
-
This is the fastest way to divine spherical vegetables and fruits.
Hangetsugiri (半月切り) – Half moon cut
-
Apply for all types of solid cylinder vegetables as cucumbers, daikon, carrot,
zucchini, or lotus root.
-
Cutting in half then slicing along objects.
-
Used for soup and simmering dishes.
Ichogiri (いちょう切り) – Quarter cut
-
Apply for all types of solid cylinder vegetables as cucumbers, daikon, carrot,
zucchini, or lotus root.
-
Simply divine the half-moon slices.
-
Used for soup and simmering dishes.
Hyoshigiri (拍子 木切り) – Batonnet cut
-
Apply for all types of solid vegetables and potatoes.
-
Cut in pieces with 5 cm length and 1cm width.
-
Good for stir fry and simmered dishes.
Hosoghiri (細切り)
– Slender/ Julienne cut
-
Apply for all types of long vegetables as scallion, chive, leeks, bell peppers,
daikon, carrot, and yam…
-
Generally, 4-5 cm x 3 mm.
-
Used for stir-frying or salads.
Sainomegiri (さいの目切り) – Dicing
-
Apply for thick and solid vegetables as carrot, daikon, and all types of
potatoes.
-
Cut evenly into cubes, width 1cm.
-
Used for soups or salads.
Sengiri (千切り) – Thousand cuts
-
Apply for all types of vegetables with proper thickness.
-
Chopping into 6 – 7cm pieces with 1 – 2mm thickness.
-
Good for salads.
Mijingiri (みじん切り)
– Mincing
-
Apply for all types of vegetables with proper thickness as scallion, onions,
ginger, garlic…
-
Simply chopping along thousand cut pieces.
Zakugiri (ザク切り) – Rough cut
-
Apply for all types of vegetables with proper thickness.
-
Trimming and slicing along objects into 3 – 4cm pieces in random shapes.
-
Good for stir-frying or hot pot.
Butsugiri (ぶつ切り) – Chopping
-
Apply for slim vegetables as scallion, leeks, celeries, carrot…
-
Chopping along objects into 3cm pieces.
-
Used for hot pot or simmering dishes.
Tanzakugiri (短冊切り) – Rectangular cut
-
Apply for solid vegetables and roots as daikon, carrot, potatoes…
-
Cut the vegetables into 2 inch lengths.
Then cut crosswise into ½ inch pieces.
Lastly slice them thinly into rectangles of ¼ inch thickness.
-
Used for quick cook or salads.
Sasagaki (ささがき) – Bamboo cut
-
Apply for firm and long vegetables as leeks, carrots, or asparagus.
-
Shave off the skin with the back of a knife; make a lengthwise cross-shape
incision about 1 ½ inch deep at one end.
Cut it from that end as if you were sharpening a pencil while constantly
rotating with the other hand. Soak in
the water or vinegar water to prevent from changing color.
- Used for quick cooking dishes and
pickling.
Sogigiri (そぎ切り) – Angle cut
-
Best for thick part of vegetables, such as mushroom or nappa.
-
Hold the knife diagonally, nearly parallel to the cutting board, and then slice
meat/vegetable.
-
This method gives the ingredient more surface area so that it cooks faster and
soaks up flavor quickly.
Hana Renkon (花レンコン) – Flower cut
-
Apply for firm, cylinder shape vegetables as carrots, daikon, or lotus root.
-
Trimming the whole root to shape it in flower-like then slicing along objects
with proper thickness.
-
To expand more surface area so vegetables can be cooked faster, more even, and
works in decoration, too.
* Note: The texture of the vegetables will be different based on the direction
you cut. If you want to leave nice crisp
texture, cut the vegetables in the same direction as the grain. If you want to make the vegetable tender,
then cut across the fibers.
If you cut parallel
to the fibers/grain, the vegetable will be less wilted when being cooked.
By Thu
Pham