Today’s main focus was on a style of cutting which is referred to as “a variety of Taillage”. Tournage which is cutting the vegetable into a faceted oval shape with blunt ends ranging in sizes from Buquettiere which is 3 cm long, Cocottes are 5 cm, Vapeur 6 cm, Chateau 7.5 cm, and Fondant being the biggest at 8-9 cm.
This was a very intricate lesson and really took a lot of fumbling around with the pairing knife to get the hang of. The classic Tournage has 7 faceted sides but 5-6 is acceptable. This is mainly for decorative purposes. While I do appreciate the technique, there is no real practical use for it in a restaurant (maybe for that occasional special?).
Tomorrow were doing stocks!!
“Stocks are to cooking what foundations are to a house.”
-Auguste Escoffier
