The Chiffonade

Hello Lovelies, sheathe your swords and ready your cooking knives, for today I shall guide you adventurers on how to charm a Queen with the art of Chiffonade. This delicate and elegant cut is perfect for large-leaf herbs such as sage, basil, and mint, as well as sizable greens like spinach, chard, and lettuce. Many chefs favor this technique to initiate a fine mince, create garnishes, or prepare shredded salads. The best part for you novices is that it's surprisingly straightforward in practice. Today, you're in for a treat—a personal demonstration by yours truly, allowing you to learn this technique in the comfort of your kitchen.

This way, you can dazzle not only nosy neighbors and critical relatives but also royalty. And if you lack large leaves for practice, fear not—you can pluck some from your local tree, just refrain from consuming them. Without a medic present and lacking expert survivalist knowledge, attempting to do so would be unwise.

Before we jump into the fun demonstration, let me imbue you with some culinary wisdom so you can impress your friends with this impressive skill at gatherings. Like many fancy and long named techniques, the chiffonade hails from France. Initially intended for delicate garnishes, it has since evolved into a cut for any leafy green big and flexible enough to stack and roll, which people use in salads, soups, and any dish you want enhanced by soft ribbons of greens.

You might wonder why bother with this when you could simply tear the leaves or chop them aggressively to the desired size. Well, this is the royal blog, where we embrace elegance. More practically, for larger leaves like kale and chard, it's an effective method to tenderize them. It's more aesthetically pleasing than tearing and results in a more uniform appearance and bite. Moreover, when cooking, all pieces will finish at the same time due to their consistent size. For smaller leaves used for aromatics like herbs, it increases the surface area, releasing more aromatic flavors to permeate more effectively throughout your dish.

As you can see, I carefully stack the leaves, the best way to do this is from largest to smallest to make the next step easy. This keeps if from falling apart during the rolling step. It is best to use a nice sharp knife to keep from smashing the herbs and leaving you with nice crisp shreds.

Now based on all this information I have bestowed upon you, grab your cutting board and try it out for your salads, garnishes, soups, mocktails, or any other dish that could use a pretty shred or a burst of flavor. And here's a personal hydration tip: infuse a gallon of water with a blend of cut sage and basil (amounts as shown in the video) for a refreshing drink that has the subtle, delightful taste of tea. Just remember, only consume leaves that are safe to eat.

That concludes this week, everyone. Just remember, whatever you do, do it with elegance.