CULINARY TERMS

1. Acidulate – To make a dish slightly sour or acidic in order to bring out other flavors, or to make the dish more tender. Usually done by adding a small amount of lemon juice or vinegar.

2. Al dente – Pasta that has been cooked tender but slightly firm, but not hard. Italian for ‘to the tooth’.

3. Bake -To cook in an oven. Cakes, pies and cookies are baked.

4. Bake blind – To bake an empty pie, tart or flan shell so the pastry is partially cooked before the filling is added, or to cook completely if the filling isn’t to be cooked with the shell.

5. Barbecue -To cook food by grilling it over a wood or charcoal fire. Usually some sort of marinade or sauce is brushed on the item during cooking.

6. Baste -To moisten food during cooking with pan drippings, sauce, or other liquid. Basting prevents food from drying out.

7. Batter -A mixture of flour and liquid, sometimes with the inclusion of other ingredients. Batters vary in thickness but are generally semiliquid and thinner than doughs. Used in such preparations as cakes, quick breads, pancakes, and crepes

8. Beat– To mix the food hard and fast with a spoon or beater. Beating takes out the lumps

9. Blanch – To plunge fruits or vegetables briefly in boiling water to lock in colour and flavor. They are then refreshed

10. Blend-To mix two or more ingredients together.

11. Braise – To cook gently in a small amount of liquid in a covered pan

12. Brown –To partially cook the surface of meat to help remove excessive fat and to give the meat a brown color crust and flavor.

13. Brush-To spread something over the food. It might be melted butter or egg yolk. You can use a special cooking brush for this, or you can use a spoon.

14. Caramelize – The process of browning sugar. Granulated sugar can be caramelized in a pan until it turns brown and takes on a nutty flavor. Fruit and vegetables can also be caramelized by cooking them slowly in a small amount of fat until they are brown and shiny.

15. Chiffonade – a preparation of shredded or finely cut leaf vegetables or herbs (such as basil), used as a garnish for soup

16. Chill -To keep food in the refrigerator until it gets cold

17. Combine -To mix ingredients together.
18. Cream -To beat butter or something until it is soft. Sometimes you cream butter with sugar.

19. Core -Take the middle core out of a piece of fruit, usually an apple.

20. Cream -Mix or beat ingredients until soft, smooth and creamy; often a solid fat (usually butter) and sugar are creamed together.

21. Crumb – To coat uncooked food in a breadcrumbs or other crumbs (such as cereal), before frying or baking to give it a crisp, crunchy texture

22. Crush -Smash with a spoon or press, then chop finely

23. Cube or dice – Cut into squares the same size. Dice is smaller than cube.

24. Cut-in -To mix shortening into flour. in the shortening with two knives or with a fork. A pastry blender works best, if you have one.

25. Deseed – To take the seeds out of a fruit or vegetable, for example, a chilli or tomatoes.

26. Devein – The process of removing the black thread-like tract from the back of a prawn with a small knife.

27. Dilute – Thinning a liquid or reducing the intensity of flavour by adding liquid.

28. Dice -To cut food into very small squares.

29. Dot -To drop small pieces of food over a dish. A fruit pie may be dotted with butter. A casserole might be dotted with cheese.Drain -To pour off any water or juice from the food

30. Dredge-To coat food with a dry ingredient such as flour or bread crumbs.

31. Dry-fry – to cook food in a dry frying pan (usually non-stick) without any oil; this method is usually used for sausages, bacon, nuts and seeds.

32. Dust -Lightly coating with a powdery ingredient such as flour or confectioners’ (powdered) sugar.

33. Egg wash– A mixture of beaten eggs (whole eggs, yolks, or whites) and a liquid, usually milk or water, used to coat baked goods to give them a sheen.

34. Essence -A concentrated flavoring extracted from an item, usually by infusion or distillation. Includes items such as vanilla and other extracts, concentrated stocks, and fumets.

35. Emulsify – To put two or more liquids together that do not usually mix into one another – like oil and vinegar. The process involves whisking one liquid very slowly into the other.

36. Flour -To put flour on the sides and bottom of the pan. First, you put butter on the pan, then you add flour. The flour sticks to the butter. Shake out any flour that does not stick.

37. Fold -To mix two ingredients together in a careful way. First, push a rubber scraper down through the food at one side of the bowl. Then, bring the scraper across the bottom of the bowl. Bring it up and over the top at the other side of the bowl. Do this until the ingredients are mixed. Turn the bowl a little as you work.

38. Fry -To cook on top of the stove in hot fat

39. Garnish -To add something to a dish to make it look nice. Parsley is used to garnish dishes.

40. Glaze -To give an item a shiny surface by brushing it with sauce, aspic, icing, or another appareil. For meat, to coat with sauce and then brown in an oven or salamander.

 

 

 

41. Grate -To cut food into bits by rubbing it on a box or flat grater

42. Grease– To cover the sides and bottom of a pan with butter or shortening.

43. Grill -A cooking technique in which foods are cooked by a radiant heat source placed below the food. Also, the piece of equipment on which grilling is done. Grills may be fueled by gas, electricity, charcoal, or wood.
44. Infusion -Steeping an aromatic or other item in liquid to extract its flavor. Also, the liquid resulting from this process.

45. Julienne – Vegetables, potatoes, or other items cut into thin strips; 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch by 1 to 2 inches/3 mm by 3 mm by 25 to 50 mm is standard. Fine julienne is 1/16 inch by 1/16 a inch by 1 to 2 inches/ 1.5

46. Knead -To fold dough back and push it forward with your hands. You knead the dough when making bread.

47. Macerate – To soak fruit in a flavored liquid mixture.

48. Marinate -To soak food in a liquid before cooking. Meat may be marinated. Marinating adds flavor and tenderizes meats and poultry.

49. Melt -Heat slowly in a pan until the ingredient becomes a liquid.

50. Mise en place– Literally, “put in place.” The preparation and assembly of ingredients, pans, utensils, and plates or serving pieces needed for a particular dish

51. Mince -Chop very fine.

52. Mix – Usually with a spoon, whisk or electric mixer, until very smooth and well-blended.

53. Parboil /Parcook – To boil a food, usually a vegetable, until it is partially cooked.

54. Pare – To cut the skin off a fruit or vegetable with a small knife, to ensure you lose as little of the flesh as possible.

55. Poach – To cook a food by placing it in a pot of seasoned simmering liquid.

56. Reduce/Reduction – To thicken and intensify the flavour of a liquid by boiling it till the liquid reduces in volume, so the flavour is concentrated.

57. Melt -To heat a solid until it turns into a liquid. Recipes often tell you to melt butter.

58. Meringue – Egg whites beaten until they are stiff, then sweetened and possibly baked until stiff. Types include regular or common, Italian, and Swiss.

59. Mince– To cut or chop food into very small, fine pieces. Cut it as small as you can.

60. Pare– To cut off the skin of a fruit or vegetable. You can pare apples or potatoes.

61. Pastry bag -A bag-usually made of plastic, canvas, or nylon-that can be fitted with plain or decorative tips and used to pipe out icings and pureed foods.

62. Pit -To take the seeds out of fruit. Cherries and peaches have pits.

63. Reduce– To decrease the volume of a liquid by simmering or boiling; used to provide a thicker consistency and/or concentrated flavors.

64. Reduction -The product that results when a liquid is reduced.

65. Roll out – To spread dough thin with a rolling pin.

66. Rub– A combination of spices and herbs applied to foods as a marinade or flavorful crust. Dry rubs are generally based upon spices; wet rubs (sometimes known as mops) may include most ingredients such as fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruit juice or broth if necessary to make a pasty consistency

67. Saute -To cook food in a small (usually a tablespoon or two) of fat ( such as butter, olive oil or vegetable oil) in a frying pan.

68. Scald -To heat milk until a skin forms on the top.

69. Score – To make narrow cuts in a diamond-shaped pattern on the surface of a food. This may be done to allow the food to absorb more flavor, to tenderize the dish or simply to decorate it

70. Sear– To brown the surface of food in fat over high heat before finishing by another method (for example, braising or roasting) in order to add flavor

71. Season -To add salt, pepper, or other spices or herbs.

72. Shock or Refresh-To plunge an item into, or run it under, cold water after blanching to prevent further cooking.

73. Shred -To cut or tear food into long thin pieces.

74. Sift -To shake flour through a sifter. Sifting makes the flour soft and fine.

75. Simmer -To cook food on top of the stove at a low temperature. Do not let the food boil.

76. Steep – To stand a food in water that is just below boiling point to allow the flavors to emerge.

77. Stew -To cook food over low heat for a long time. The food is cooked in water or another liquid.

78. Stir – To mix with a utensil the whole contents of a bowl or saucepan, for example, to combine ingredients completely or to keep the mixture moving so that it heats evenly as it cooks.

79. Stir-fry – Food that is cooked over a high heat with a small amount of oil and is constantly tossed in the pan or wok. The food is usually cut in small pieces to ensure quick cooking.

80. Toast -Lightly brown in the oven or toaster.

81. Toss -Mix lightly and gently.

82. Whip -To beat food fast to put air into it. The air makes it bigger. Egg whites and cream are two foods that you can whip

83. Whisk – Using a fork, wire whisk or beater, to incorporate as much air as possible into the mixture so it is light and airy.

84. Zest– The thin, brightly colored outer part of citrus rind. It contains volatile oils, making it ideal for use as a flavoring.