Preparing Vegetables the <i> Brunoise </i> Way Can Prove Dicey

Recently a recipe being prepared by Times Test Kitchen Home Economist Donna Deane called for a brunoise of red and yellow peppers. The cooking term is used so infrequently, it seemed a likely candidate for this column.

According to Larousse Gastronomique (Crown, 1961) and Larousse Gastronomique--The New American Edition (Crown: 1988, $50), edited by Jenifer Harvey Lang, the word brunoise may mean the following:

--A method of very finely dicing vegetables, then cooking in butter or other fat.

--A name for the resulting mixture of vegetables (such as carrots, onions, leeks, celery and sometimes turnips) used in soups, forcemeats, sauces and stuffings.

--A mixture of vegetables cut into small dice and used as an aromatic element for crayfish and other dishes.

Dicing is the key word. This cutting of vegetables into small cubes differentiates brunoise from simple chopping.

Peppers are cut in half (Step 1) and the seeds and membranes removed (Step 2). Slice into thin strips (Step 3), then stack and cut into a very fine dice (Step 4).

This technique is even better demonstrated using a larger vegetable such as an eggplant. Remove the stem, then holding the eggplant with the fingertips, cut lengthwise in thin slices (Step 5).

Stack several slices on top of each other and cut into square sticks (Step 6). Turn the sticks and cut across to form very small cubes (Step 7).