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> Unfortunately, in Japanese cooking, there are approximately 100 times more cutting techniques and names. And then proceeds to identify and name them using En

> Unfortunately, in Japanese cooking, there are approximately 100 times more cutting techniques and names. And then proceeds to identify and name them using English cutting techniques and names. There aren't "100 times more names". Every language will have those names.

wavefunction 4y ago
You're telling me "julienne" is an English cutting technique? That's obviously French.
- cinntaile 4y ago
  It's just that the French name got associated with the act of cutting fine sticks in English, it sounds cooler than cutting fine sticks. Probably popularized by some famous chef that wrote books or did tv shows. It doesn't make the cutting technique French.
- OJFord 4y ago
  You're right of course but it's not really the point is it - it's an adopted English term, these 'techniques' are used the world over including by amateurs. And I don't know Japanese, but it doesn't even seem like they have a plethora of more descriptive terms for it than 'finely diced', 'roughly diced' etc. when they're both something-kiri too, for example.
  - wavefunction 4y ago
    I was mostly poking fun at the commenters on this article at the time and their absolutist literalist reading of the article headline. Japan didn't invent these techniques necessarily, but they are a part of the defined culture of Japanese cuisine. Like French cuisine, there are defined processes for how a vegetable is treated for a specific context, whereas an amateur or other cuisine might not make a big point of dicing vs chopping for example. From my imperfect understanding of Japanese cuisine, there is usually "a way to prepare a dish" and deviation from that way can be unwanted or problematic, a bit of a social faux pas.
    - OJFord 4y ago
      That's probably much stronger in Japanese culture sure, but to continue the Julienne example, 'properly' done it's not simply matchsticks - it's thicker and shorter than people often think/would do to show off their knife skills. But yes sure, deviate in France and you might get some bad reviews, be labelled avant-garde, but it's probably fine, and you might be on the way to greatness. I'm pretty ignorant of Japanese culture (not that I'm French either, just spent many holidays there and none in Japan) but I can believe there'd be a stronger visceral reaction to that sort of thing. Boycott the insauspicious restaurant or whatever.
bardworx 4y ago
Maybe I can help with some context. Broadly speaking, there is a Western style (French) and Eastern style. The big difference is that French cooking is very systematized, Escoffier took inspiration from his time in the army, as such, we have cooking “brigades”. In Eastern style, especially in Japanese/Sushi culinary world, you still julienne a veg similar to all other culinary cultures but Sushi requires special modification for each dish. It’s not saying it’s superior or whatnot, it’s just that sushi requires 5-7 different “types” of julienne, that all have a specific name, as an example. Some of those techniques are so specific, they aren’t translated or practiced outside of sushi preparation and may not have a “name”. At least that’s how I took that statement.
- dmitriid 4y ago
  > that all have a specific name, as an example. Are these "special names" like the "100 names of snow" and actually are literally "dice diagonally", "slice laterally", "make small cubes" etc.?
  - bardworx 4y ago
    Yeah, you can think of it as condensing information. For example: in French terms, you’d have to explicitly say “julienne the scallions across and dump them in an ice bath”. For sushi, that’s an explicit technique. The cut, length, trim, and preparation can be conveyed in one word. So lots of terms but no ambiguity. Edit: “western” techniques do this too. Braising vs blenching X provides a lot of context that isn’t explicitly stated.

wavefunction 4y ago

You're telling me "julienne" is an English cutting technique? That's obviously French.

cinntaile 4y ago
It's just that the French name got associated with the act of cutting fine sticks in English, it sounds cooler than cutting fine sticks. Probably popularized by some famous chef that wrote books or did tv shows. It doesn't make the cutting technique French.
OJFord 4y ago
You're right of course but it's not really the point is it - it's an adopted English term, these 'techniques' are used the world over including by amateurs. And I don't know Japanese, but it doesn't even seem like they have a plethora of more descriptive terms for it than 'finely diced', 'roughly diced' etc. when they're both something-kiri too, for example.
- wavefunction 4y ago
  I was mostly poking fun at the commenters on this article at the time and their absolutist literalist reading of the article headline. Japan didn't invent these techniques necessarily, but they are a part of the defined culture of Japanese cuisine. Like French cuisine, there are defined processes for how a vegetable is treated for a specific context, whereas an amateur or other cuisine might not make a big point of dicing vs chopping for example. From my imperfect understanding of Japanese cuisine, there is usually "a way to prepare a dish" and deviation from that way can be unwanted or problematic, a bit of a social faux pas.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    That's probably much stronger in Japanese culture sure, but to continue the Julienne example, 'properly' done it's not simply matchsticks - it's thicker and shorter than people often think/would do to show off their knife skills. But yes sure, deviate in France and you might get some bad reviews, be labelled avant-garde, but it's probably fine, and you might be on the way to greatness. I'm pretty ignorant of Japanese culture (not that I'm French either, just spent many holidays there and none in Japan) but I can believe there'd be a stronger visceral reaction to that sort of thing. Boycott the insauspicious restaurant or whatever.

bardworx 4y ago

Maybe I can help with some context. Broadly speaking, there is a Western style (French) and Eastern style. The big difference is that French cooking is very systematized, Escoffier took inspiration from his time in the army, as such, we have cooking “brigades”. In Eastern style, especially in Japanese/Sushi culinary world, you still julienne a veg similar to all other culinary cultures but Sushi requires special modification for each dish. It’s not saying it’s superior or whatnot, it’s just that sushi requires 5-7 different “types” of julienne, that all have a specific name, as an example. Some of those techniques are so specific, they aren’t translated or practiced outside of sushi preparation and may not have a “name”. At least that’s how I took that statement.

dmitriid 4y ago
> that all have a specific name, as an example. Are these "special names" like the "100 names of snow" and actually are literally "dice diagonally", "slice laterally", "make small cubes" etc.?
- bardworx 4y ago
  Yeah, you can think of it as condensing information. For example: in French terms, you’d have to explicitly say “julienne the scallions across and dump them in an ice bath”. For sushi, that’s an explicit technique. The cut, length, trim, and preparation can be conveyed in one word. So lots of terms but no ambiguity. Edit: “western” techniques do this too. Braising vs blenching X provides a lot of context that isn’t explicitly stated.