Cooking Terms

The Home Ec 101 glossary of cooking terms takes the guessing out of cooking and includes commonly used words and phrases that you will find in recipes.

Cooking terms on white background with oils and spices

Cooking Terms – A to Z

Al Dente – this term is used with pasta and some vegetables. It literally means to the tooth. Al dente generally implies firm but not mushy.

Aromatic Vegetables – A general term for vegetables often used as a flavor base in some dishes. These vegetables are usually sweated or sauteed to draw out the flavor before the recipe continues. The usual suspects are onions, celery, and carrots (these three are often called mirepoix), bell peppers (in Cajun or Creole cooking, mirepoix uses bell peppers and is called trinity), garlic, leeks, shallots, and other peppers.

Au Gratin – (or all rotten, in my house) is usually a vegetable dish like potatoes or turnips with a browned or crusted top, usually with cheese, bread crumbs, and a rich sauce.

Bake – to cook foods by surrounding with hot, dry air as in an oven. It’s very similar to roast, but generally refers to bread, pastries, vegetables, and fish.

Batter – a semiliquid mixture used while making cakes or bread OR for coating an object to be deep-fried.

Bechamel – a white sauce made by thickening milk with a roux. Since this sauce can be altered for so many recipes, it’s a great technique for new cooks to master.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term Bechamel:

Blanch – a process by which foods, usually vegetables, are plunged briefly into boiling water and then into ice water to stop the cooking process. This method is often used to break down an enzyme that would negatively affect the texture of some frozen vegetables. Blanching can also be used to remove strong bitter flavors or brighten some vegetables’ colors.

Boil– To cook in liquid, usually water or salted water, at 212°F or 100°C at sea level. The boiling temperature of water is lower at higher altitudes, and recipes must be adjusted to compensate. The boiling state is easily identified because the bubbles break the surface. If the bubbles do not break the surface, the liquid is simmering.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term boiling:

Braise – a cooking method, usually meat, involves first searing in fat over dry heat and then cooking slowly with moist heat in a dutch oven or crockpot. This method is utilized because the first step creates a deep flavor through the caramelization of sugars, known as the Maillard reaction, while the second step breaks down tough connective tissue. This makes braising the preferred method for tough cuts of meat. When this method is mentioned in reference to vegetables, the first step is usually omitted.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term braise:

Brunoise– a dice of 1/6″ per side.

Caramelization – a distinct process in cooking that produces a nutty flavor and a brown color. It’s very similar to the Maillard Reaction but doesn’t need amino acids to occur.

Cruciferous vegetables – vegetables of the family Brassicaceae. These vegetables are widely cultivated for food production, such as cauliflower, cabbage, garden cress, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts and similar green leaf vegetables.

Dice – to cut foods into cubes. Dicing ensures foods are of a uniform shape and size, which makes even cooking easier. A small dice is typically 1/4 inch or 6mm, medium dice is 1/2″ or 12mm, and a large dice is 3/4″ or 2cm on a side. When referring to onions, the dice is assumed to be small.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term dice:

Dredge – to drag or roll a wet food through a dry topping. You’ll mostly see this term in reference to breading foods in preparation for frying. It can also refer to the flour or coating itself.

Dutch Oven – a type of heavy, lidded pot. Usually, dutch ovens are made of a heavy material like cast iron, stainless steel, or enameled cast iron. These pots are used for recipes with long, slow cook times like stew. The thickness of the pot helps keep food from scorching. If a recipe calls for a dutch oven, it may easily be adapted to a slow cooker or crockpot.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term dutch oven:

Emulsion – A mixture of two liquids that don’t normally mix, such as oil and water. Some emulsions are temporary and separate quickly, like vinaigrettes others have a stabilizer like lecithin from an egg yolk that keeps droplets suspended and lasts longer, like mayonnaise.

Evaporation – The process by which a liquid becomes a gas. In cooking, the process of evaporation is sped up with the application of heat. Evaporation is closely related to the terms reducing and reduction.

Herb – The flavorful leaves of certain plants. If you’re American, you drop the h while our friends across the pond pronounce it. Both are acceptable.

Maillard Reaction – A reaction in cooking that is partially responsible for the browning of cooked foods. The Maillard Reaction and caramelization are very similar but distinct regarding the actual chemistry involved. The main difference is that the Maillard Reaction involves amino acids while caramelizing does not. For example, the Maillard reaction can only occur at high temperatures in the presence of reducing sugars, glucose, and fructose.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term Maillard Reaction:

Mince – To chop into fine pieces of similar shape and size. This is much smaller than a dice. Garlic, onions, shallots and some herbs are often minced or processed.

Mise en Place – French for putting in place. It is the process of setting up your ingredients and tools prior to getting started. This technique is extremely helpful for any new recipe. Read the recipe through once, and gather your ingredients and tools. Read through the recipe once more, check to ensure you have everything, and then begin.

Reduce – To concentrate/intensify the flavors of a liquid (sauces, stocks, etc.) by simmering or boiling in an uncovered pan.

Reduction

Render – refers to the point at which fat separates from other organic materials. This term is often used when cooking a product like bacon ex: Cook until the bacon begins to render. It simply means the point at which the fat melts away from the bacon. It has little to do with the meat itself, although bacon will not become crisp until some of the fat has rendered, at which point it will fry in its own fat.

Roux – a cooked mixture of flour and fat, equal parts, by weight. Roux is often used as a base for gravy, bechamel, cream soups, and my personal favorite, etouffee. Yes, as in shrimp etouffee.

Sauce – a thickened, flavorful liquid used to enhance another dish. A sauce is thickened, usually through reduction or the addition of another starch, sometimes in a slurry.

Saute – To cook quickly, over medium heat, in a small amount of fat.

Sear – to brown the surface of food quickly at a high temperature. This does not seal in the juices of meat, but it does create flavor through the Maillard Reaction.

Helpful article related to the cooking term sear:

Simmer – To cook in liquid just below the boiling point. The bubbles formed should not break the surface. If the bubbles break the liquid’s surface, it has reached its boiling point. Simmering is most often the desired state for cooking food in liquid, except for starches like pasta and some vegetables.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term simmer:

Skillet – Another term for a frying pan. When used on this site, the term skillet generally applies to a straight-sided saute pan. This pan is used for sauteing, browning, pan or shallow frying, and reducing sauces. Skillets have wide bottoms and short sides. Cast iron skillets should be used when even heating is especially desirable.

Stock – A clear, unthickened liquid flavored by substances extracted from meat, poultry, fish, and bones. Vegetables and seasoning also flavor stock. Vegetable stocks lack the gelatin found in non-vegetarian stocks and have a slightly different feel and less protein.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term stock:

Sugar -In cooking, the term sugar most often refers to sucrose or table sugar. Sucrose is a molecule of glucose and fructose, both simple sugars linked. Digestion breaks sucrose down into its components.  Recent developments have also given us sucralose, aka Splenda, which is chemically close enough to react similarly in baked goods but is not processed by the human body in the same way.

Helpful articles related to the cooking term sugar:

Sweat– a method of cooking that involves low heat and a little fat. The pan is often covered, and the method is used to extract as much flavor as possible, usually from aromatic vegetables.

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