Julienne slice (French cut)

A Julienne slice is essentially match sticks, but it’s a handy cut to know.

It comes in handy for a number of uses including chips and dicing,

While cutting chips is the same principle, a julienne slice tends to be much thinner but I’ve just done a fairly rough cut in the examples.

Trim the edges

Something you should never ask a cockney Gardner to do, unless you want to come back to no hedges, first we need to trim the edges so we have flat surfaces to work with.

Depending on the size of the carrot, cut it in half and the down 1 of the long sides cut about 5-10mm in, so you end up with a flat edge along one side. Then turn the carrot flat side down and repeat with the other 3 sides, so you’re left with a rectangle of carrot.

1.cut a manageable size then trim the edges

Slice into sticks

Now for the julienne slice, you can make them as thin as you like, but 2 slices on the top and 2 on the side is usually a good place to start.

Put the carrot flat on the chopping board and make 2 cuts lengthwise, then turn these 90° and stack them up again and make 2 more lengthway cuts. (In the example I only made 1 slice on the second cuts because it’s a small carrot)

3.lengthway slices to make sticks,
or a julienne slice

What about the leftovers?

With the 4 slices the remain from the edge of the carrot you can either add them to a stock/soup, use them for a carrot purée/mash or cut them into more julienne slices for cooking, eating or dicing.

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How to dice a carrot

To finish up, dicing. I find this always looks like a lot of manual work has been done but it’s really not that hard.

Diced carrot cooks a lot quicker as it’s smaller in size so can be handy if you’re in a rush, though you should never rush good food!

To start with cut the carrot julienne into sticks, then just bunch them together and slice to get a dice, the finer the julienne the smaller the dice will be.

So there you have it.

Hopefully this guide will speed up your carrot prep!

Keep an eye out for more prep guides and recipes coming soon.

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Slicing carrots, whole, halves and quarters

Probably the most common way of cutting a carrot, slicing is a quick and easy way to prep a carrot.

Make sure your knife is nice and sharp as carrots are fairly dense. Lay the carrot flat on the chopping board and hold the large end with your hand and put the tip of the knife on the board and slice along the carrot.

For halves, simply cut it in half, for quarters cut a half in half.

You can also cut them at a 45° angle for a slightly fancier effect.

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Prep guide: How to prep carrots

The Welsh for carrot is a moron, which is funny, but I like to eat them.

Vivid orange and natural sweetness are the first things that come to mind, but knowing how to prepare one (or 1000) is always a good thing to learn!

In this guide I’ll cover;

How to peel a carrot (see below)
Slicing carrots, whole, halves and quarters.
Julienne slice (French cut)
How to dice a carrot

You can grate them too, like in coleslaw, but that’s pretty self explanatory (I hope?)

Let’s get to it!

How to peel a carrot

Before getting a knife involved (unless you peel it with a knife) you need to get the skin off.

When I’m making soups or stocks I leave the skin on, and sometimes when roasting, but otherwise I’d generally advise to peel before prepping.

The Best bit of equipment for this is the trusty speed peeler, but any veg peeler (should) work. You can use a knife, but you’ll probably lose a lot more carrot unless you scrape the skins off rather than slicing them off.

You spin me root (vegetable) round baby, right round

Anyway! First thing to do is hold a carrot and get the hang of spinning it round 360° in your hand, like this;

You don’t have to practise this, but it’s easier if you get the hang of it first, rather than dropping the carrot all the time while you try to peel it.

Time to peel

Now get your peeler and peel from top to bottom, turning the carrot about 20-30° as the peeler reaches the bottom, return to the top and repeat around the whole carrot. Be sure to hold it firm enough as you peel, or you’ll drop it.

Top and tail

Now to top and tail, which simply means cutting the ends off (the top and the tail) now we have a carrot ready to prep 🥕

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