Allumette

Definition

A thin, matchstick-like knife cut measuring 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 2-3 inches, positioned between bâtonnet and julienne in size. Honestly, at this point you're just cutting differently sized sticks.

Example Usage

Cut the potatoes into allumette for the most delicate fries.

Origin

French 'allumette' (matchstick), directly referring to the thin stick shape

Fun Fact

It's basically a thinner version of bâtonnet—because French cooking apparently needed three different stick sizes.

Source: French culinary knife skills

Related Terms

Beginner

thicken

To increase viscosity or density, turning a liquid into something more gelatinous—the culinary version of plot thickening. Whether you're using cornstarch, gelatin, or a reduction, it's the difference between soup and sauce.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Beginner

pesticides

Chemical assassins for insects, weeds, and other organisms that dare to exist where humans don't want them. The agricultural industry's solution to 'nature keeps trying to eat our crops' involves spraying synthetic compounds that make environmentalists weep. Modern farming's paradox: can't live with pests, probably shouldn't live with quite so many pesticides either.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Beginner

brelunchinner

A magnificent meal consumed when day-time sleeping has left you in a chronological gray zone, combining breakfast comfort, lunch portions, and dinner variety into one glorious feast.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Intermediate

sharking

When servers or runners hover around the kitchen window like predatory sharks, waiting to pounce on any available food regardless of which table it's intended for. The bane of organized service.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Intermediate

Sous Chef

The second-in-command in a professional kitchen, directly below the head chef. They do approximately 90% of the actual work while the head chef takes 100% of the credit and does interviews. It's middle management but with sharper knives and more burns.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Advanced

squab

A baby pigeon served as food, because apparently 'pigeon' sounds too much like the birds that defecate on your car. Fancy restaurants charge premium prices for this delicacy, banking on diners not making the connection. It's the culinary world's most successful rebranding since 'Chilean sea bass' (formerly 'Patagonian toothfish').

🍳 Food / Culinary

Translate This Term

See “Allumette” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on X Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Beginner

Sauce

In online forums, users sometimes use the word sauce in place of "source." Most often, users do this when asking for or ...