# What is a Tranche Board?



## lisbet (Dec 30, 2004)

I know that Tranche is a French term, but what, exactly, is a Tranche Board when it comes to making pastries. In a Napoleon recipe there was the following in the instructions...."Using a Tranche Board as a guide, trim very little off the edges". I think that "tranche" means to portion or segment in French, but exactly what is a "Tranche Board" when it comes to baking and pastries??


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## jbd (Mar 17, 2008)

From what I can tell tranche means slice. I am assuming a tranche board would be a cutting board or even a cake board.

In your recipe the tranche board is being used as a straight edge for which I would think a cutting board would be too heavy but a cake board would work just fine. I wonder iof the use of thranche board was a poor translation???


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## lisbet (Dec 30, 2004)

jbd......Many thanks for your post. That explains it to me! Wasn't sure if I had been missing something, but now know that in France a Tranche Board is an ordinary cutting board. 

Thanks again.....please know that you have made one more friend in this forum !


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## [email protected] (Mar 16, 2008)

Here is an example of a cake that used a tranche board...


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## lisbet (Dec 30, 2004)

After searching all over, for two days, I finally got the "bright-idea" :blush: of Why Not Ask the French Chef ???? This is the answer I received:

Lexan or Plexiglas make a good tranche board. Very valuable tool in pastry
making. I made mine out of 1/4 inch thick Lexan, 4" x 14"

In a pinch you can cover a stiff piece of cardboard with foil or paper.

Hope this helps. Chef Blair


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## luc_h (Jun 6, 2007)

As a French Canadian I can try to enlighten you on French wordings and translation but maybe not on pastry terminology:

<Tranche> is a noun that does indeed mean slice. <Trancher> is a verb which slicing is the English equivalent.

<Planche> means board. In French, <planche à trancher> translates to cutting board. Tranche board literally translated would be <slice board> not <slicing board>. For some reason the term you are using just seems like a bad translation but I am often amused how much French-like words are often woven into English cooking terminology.

regardless, Lisbet found the answer for you. I am inclined to believe that the explanation is correct (only as a French speaking individual not as a pastry chef)

Luc H.


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## lisbet (Dec 30, 2004)

Thank You Everyone, for the responses to my query. Think anyone who likes French cooking and pastries needs to have a French dictionary on the shelf along with the cookbooks. Luc H is right....poor or very loose translation! The English language is a composite of many European words. I already have German and Italian, but not (as yet) French lexicons!

Thank Goodness for websites such as ChefTalk !!!!


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Oops. Sorry. The answer was where I didn't look. I'm embarassed.


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