While looking up a zucchini carpaccio recipe on Avec Eric, i came across a cooking term that i had never heard of before...Chiffonade! I instantly knew it's french and comes from the french word "chiffon" which means rag...but didn't understand what a rag had to do with cooking? A quick peek in the dictionnary and turns out that "chiffonade" means "made of rags". So in the cooking world, chiffonade is a technique used to cut up any flat, leafy food into long and thin rag-like strips. (Ah...now i get it!) According to Chef Eric, delicate herbs like basil and parsley actually get bruised using the regular chopping method and their flavour changes (i would have never thought of that). So you don't chop....you chiffonade them, keeping their flaour intact! The "chiffons" are great for garnishing dishes and for salads as well.
To chiffonade something, start by stacking the leaves, then rolling them tightly, and finally slicing them thinly into long ribbons. It works great for herbs like flat parsley, basil, mint, and sage. Also good for greens like spinach, kale, lettuce etc.
To chiffonade something, start by stacking the leaves, then rolling them tightly, and finally slicing them thinly into long ribbons. It works great for herbs like flat parsley, basil, mint, and sage. Also good for greens like spinach, kale, lettuce etc.
Photo by Flickr user: Lifeflix.Source of photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeflix/1121555106/
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