The Knowledgebase

Cuts

Where every cut comes from and what to do with it — primal and subprimal meat cuts, poultry and seafood breakdown, and the classic knife cuts — across global butchery traditions.

249 cuts documentedBeef cut map Doneness The Canon

Every entry · by category

249

Knife Cuts — Regional & Global

Ají Cleaning & Seeding (Vein Removal for Heat Control)
The Peruvian technique of splitting, seeding, and scraping the white inner veins from ají peppers to calibrate capsaicin heat while preserving the flesh's vivid color and fruity flavor.
Avocado Fan Cut
Lengthwise slices cut in a halved, pitted, and peeled avocado, then spread into a fan for elegant plating — a fundamental restaurant garnish technique.
Banana Blossom — Quarter & Soak Cut
Quartering the pale inner heart of the banana blossom and soaking immediately in acidulated water to halt rapid enzymatic browning.
Beet Rouelle
A thick (roughly 1 cm) circular cross-section of beet — the rouelle — cut for roasting, braising, or plating with consistent depth and a full-diameter face.
Bias-Cut Green Onion (Jeonpyeon-ssagi)
Thin diagonal slices of green onion cut at a 45-degree angle, the standard garnish and flavoring cut in Korean cuisine.
Cauliflower Steak Cut
A thick vertical slab cut straight through the center of a cauliflower head, retaining the core to hold the florets intact for high-heat roasting or grilling.
Chili — Seeded Slit vs. Paste Grind
Two foundational approaches to chili preparation — a whole slit for slow, diffused heat or a seeded grind for concentrated paste.
Coconut — Scraped vs. Grated
Two approaches to reducing fresh coconut flesh — a serrated grater that produces long, moist shreds for curries, and a box grater that yields fine, fluffy crumbs ideal for chutneys and desserts.
Cucumber Score-and-Press Cut for Quick Pickles
Scoring a cucumber lengthwise before cracking it with the flat of the blade to shatter the flesh into jagged pieces that absorb brine in minutes rather than hours.
Curry Leaf — Sprig vs. Torn
Whole sprigs release aroma gradually into hot oil; individual torn leaves expose more cell surface for an immediate, sharper hit.
Daikon Julienne for Tsukemono
Razor-thin daikon sheets peeled on a mandoline or by katsura-muki, then stacked and cut to fine matchsticks for Japanese pickles where brine penetration and snap-crunch texture are paramount.
Desveinado (Deveining Dried Chiles)
The Mexican technique of splitting dried chiles lengthwise, then stripping out veins and seeds to control heat and bitterness before toasting and rehydrating.
Drumstick (Moringa) Finger Cut
Cutting Moringa oleifera pods into 5–8 cm fingers and scoring the skin so diners can scrape the tender flesh and seeds directly from the fibrous shell.
Eggplant — Thai Wedge Cut (Pea, Round & Long)
Three Thai eggplant varieties each demand a distinct cut: pea eggplants used whole, round eggplants quartered into thick wedges, and long eggplants cut on the diagonal into bite-sized chunks — each matched to the cooking time and texture the variety requires.
Fennel Frond vs. Bulb Separation
The systematic dismantling of a fennel plant into its three distinct culinary components — fronds, stalks, and bulb — each used differently, each carrying a different intensity of anise flavor.
Galangal — Coin Cut vs. Paste Mince
Two opposed galangal preparations: thick coins dropped whole into Thai soups to perfume without being eaten, and a fine mince pounded to a fibrous paste for curry bases where the flavour must dissolve entirely into the dish.
Ginger Fine Mince (for Lacto Pastes & Aromatics)
Spoon-peeled fresh ginger sliced thin across the fiber, then rocked to a fine mince — the foundational aromatic prep for kimchi paste, curry bases, and fermented lacto blends.
Green Chili — Split vs. Slit
A full longitudinal split exposes and removes seeds for milder, even heat; a shallow slit keeps the chili intact for infusing flavored oil with restrained, aromatic warmth.
Green Papaya Julienne (Som Tum)
The coarse, irregular julienne of unripe green papaya produced by scoring and raking a cleaver across the peeled flesh — the defining technique behind Thailand's som tum salad.
Jackfruit Breakdown — Raw vs. Ripe
Two entirely different cutting strategies for the same fruit: raw jackfruit is sectioned for its fibrous, meat-like flesh; ripe jackfruit is opened for sweet arils — each demands latex management and a different knife approach.
Juliana (Spanish / Peruvian Julienne)
The Iberian and Latin American counterpart of julienne — long, uniform vegetable strips essential to sofrito, lomo saltado, and nopales preparation.
Kkakdugi Cube (Radish Donut Cut)
A precise ~2 cm cube cut from Korean radish (mu) that provides uniform surface area for even salt penetration and consistent lactic acid fermentation throughout the batch.
Leek Cleaning & Fine Ring Cut
Split, fan, rinse, then slice: the two-step process of purging grit from leek layers before cutting them into fine rings or rough rounds for any application.
Lemongrass — Bruise, Knot & Thin Slice
Three distinct Thai preparations of a single stalk — bruising for infusion, knotting for slow-simmers, and paper-thin cross-slicing for pastes and raw salads — each calibrated to how deeply the volatile oils should be released.
Mushroom Planks
Thick vertical slabs cut from large portobello or king oyster mushrooms, designed to withstand direct grilling or searing as a plant-based centerpiece.
Mushroom Tear-Cut for Banchan
Hand-tearing oyster or shiitake mushrooms along their natural grain, a Korean technique that produces irregular, sauce-holding surfaces superior to knife cuts for banchan.
Napa Cabbage Cross-Cut for Kimchi
Halving, quartering, and optionally cross-cutting napa cabbage maximizes brine penetration, salting efficiency, and paste adhesion for baechu kimchi.
Onion — Thin Half-Moon Rings
An onion halved root-to-tip then sliced crosswise into thin crescents — the workhorse cut for sumac salads, Persian stews, and garnish work.
Parsley — Chiffonade vs. Rough Chop for Tabbouleh
Two competing knife philosophies for tabbouleh parsley — the ultra-fine chiffonade causes bruising and water release; the traditional Levantine rough chop preserves cell integrity, color, and the salad's required dryness.
Plantain — Green Coin, Diagonal & Lengthwise Cuts
Three distinct knife cuts of the plantain, each matched to ripeness stage and culinary destination — thick coins for tostones, angled slices for West African frying, lengthwise strips for sweet maduros.
Rajas (Roasted Chile Strips)
Roasted, peeled, and stripped chile peppers — a Mexican cut-and-prep technique that transforms raw heat into sweet, smoky depth.
Rodajas (Coin Cuts)
Uniform round cross-sections cut perpendicular to a cylindrical vegetable's length — the foundational slice of Latin American and Caribbean vegetable cookery.
Roll Cut / Oblique Cut (Chinese Gun Dao Qie / Lob Gok)
A rotating diagonal cut that produces irregular multi-angled chunks with maximum surface area — built for braising and stir-frying root vegetables.
Tasajo Butterfly Accordion Slice
A continuous, back-and-forth butterfly cut that unfurls a whole beef muscle into a single long, thin, flat sheet ready for salt-drying — the defining technique of Oaxacan tasajo.
Thin-Slice for Koji Cure (Shio Koji Contact Surface)
Slicing proteins to 1–2 cm thickness — or butterflying thicker cuts — to maximize surface area for koji enzyme penetration during a shio koji marinade.
Tofu Block Breakdown — Slabs, Cubes & Crumbles
Three fundamental tofu cuts — slabs, cubes, and crumbles — each calibrated to the protein's firmness and the dish's cooking demands.
Yam — Peel-and-Cube vs. Cylinder Cuts
Rough cubes maximize starchy surface area for boiling and pounding; smooth cylinders produce uniform, visually refined rounds for soups and decorative presentations.

Cuts

Every entry · by category

Knife Cuts — Regional & Global

Fish — Fabrication & Breakdown

Beef — Primal & Subprimal

Pork — Primal & Subprimal

Regional Meat Cuts

Knife Cuts — Classical French

Lamb & Goat — Primal & Subprimal

Poultry — Breakdown & Cuts

Knife Cuts — Japanese

Seafood & Shellfish Breakdown

Offal & Variety Meats

Japanese Fish & Sashimi Cuts

Cheese & Dairy Cuts

Charcuterie & Cured Meat Cuts

Veal — Primal & Subprimal

Bread Scoring

Pasta & Dough Cuts

Coffee Grinding