Culinary Fundamentals and Techniques
Cuts, building blocks and heat
Know knife cuts by dimension: julienne 1/8 × 1/8 × 2 inches; brunoise a 1/8-inch cube; small dice 1/4 inch; medium dice 1/2 inch; large dice 3/4 inch; batonnet 1/4 × 1/4 × 2–2½ inches; chiffonade produces ribbons of leafy herbs or greens. The five mother sauces are béchamel (milk thickened with white roux), velouté (white stock), espagnole (brown stock, brown roux and tomato), hollandaise (emulsified butter and egg yolk) and tomato.
Thickening and emulsions
Roux is equal parts flour and butter by weight, cooked to white, blond or brown. A slurry (starch plus cold liquid) and beurre manié (equal parts soft butter and flour) thicken without a cooked roux. An emulsion disperses fat in liquid; hollandaise and mayonnaise are temporary emulsions stabilized by lecithin in yolk, and they break when heated too fast or held too cold.
Moist and dry heat
Dry-heat methods include roast, broil, grill, sauté, pan-fry and deep-fry. Moist-heat methods include poach (160–180°F), simmer (185–205°F) and boil (212°F). Braising and stewing combine both: sear, then cook covered in liquid. Searing browns food through the Maillard reaction but does not seal in juices - a classic trap.
Worked example
To correct a too-thin velouté, make a fresh blond roux, cool it slightly, whisk it into a small amount of the hot sauce, then return that mixture to the pot and simmer to cook out the raw starch flavor. Rule of thumb: about 1 pound of roux thickens 1 gallon of liquid to nappe, a coating consistency.