Day 6

In production today we worked on more knife cuts.

The term "tournes"  is based on the verb tourner  which literally means "to turn" and it describes a method of trimming vegetables and fruits into various sized oval shapes (usually 2 inches long with 7 facets) that end up resembling something like a blunt-ended football.

In order to properly execute a tourne [pronounced tour-nay] cut you need a tourne knife which is a small pairing knife (see below) with a curved blade, also known as a "bird's beak" knife.

Within the general category of "tournes" (turned vegetables) you have olivette, cocotte, anglaises, and chateau cuts which are four different olive-shaped sizes ranging from 1/2 inch to 2 1/2  inches long and 1/4 inch to 1 1/2 inches thick.

The term fondantes describes yet another potato cut where you leave a flat bottom on your potato and then you give it 5 facets which creates a sort of dome shape. 

We had to produce tournes with a potato, a zucchini, and a celery stick which was so much harder than I thought it was going to be:

Word on the street is that we are going to attempt the same cuts again tomorrow in hopes of showing great improvement overnight....right. 

Highlight of the day you ask?

My chef instructor was born and raised in Nebraska and can therefore be considered an expert when it comes to farm cuisine (IE biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, etc). He introduced us to a new kitchen slang term today: GBD aka golden brown & delicious. I had never heard it before but after doing some research when I got home today I discovered it is an Alton Brown-ism. Love him. 

This term can be used when describing any fried or grilled food item. 

 For example... 

When making a grilled cheese sandwich, place buttered bread in hot pan and grill until GDB.