BAKE: To cook in the oven, thereby surrounding it with dry heat.
BASTE: To brush or spoon liquid fat or juices over meat during roasting. Adds flavor and will prevent it from drying out.
BEAT: To stir rapidly in a circular motion. Generally, 100 strokes by hand equals about 1 minute by electric mixer.
BIND: To stir any of a variety of ingredients (eggs, flour and butter, cheese, cream, etc.) into a hot liquid, causing it to thicken.
BLACKEN: A popular Cajun-style cooking method in which seasoned foods are cooked over high heat in a super-heated heavy skillet until charred on the outside.
BLANCH: To plunge food into boiling water briefly, then into cold water to stop the cooking process. Blanching is used to firm the flesh, to loosen skins, and to heighten and set color and flavor.
BLEND: To mix or fold two or more ingredients together, to obtain equal distribution throughout the mixture.
BOIL: To cook food in heated water or other liquid that is bubbling vigorously.
BRAISE: A cooking method by which food (usually meat or vegetables) is first browned in fat, then cooked, tightly covered, in a small amount of liquid at low heat for a lengthy period of time. The long, slow cooking develops flavor and tenderizes foods by gently breaking down their fibers.
BROIL: To cook food directly under or above the heat source.
BROTH: A liquid resulting from cooking vegetables, meat, or fish in water. The term is sometimes used synonymously with bouillon.
BROWN: To cook quickly over high heat, causing the surface of the food to turn brown while the interior stays moist. This method not only gives food an appetizing color, but also a rich flavor. Browning is usually done on top of the stove, but may also be achieved under a broiling unit.
BUTTERFLY: To split a food down the center, cutting almost but not completely through.
CARAMELIZE: To heat sugar until it liquefies and becomes a clear syrup ranging in color from golden to dark brown (from 320° to 350°F on a candy thermometer). Granulated or brown sugar can also be sprinkled on top of food and placed under a heat source, such as a broiler, until the sugar melts and caramelizes. A popular custard dessert finished in this fashion is crème brulee. Caramelized sugar is also referred to as burnt sugar.
CHOP: Using quick, heavy blows of a knife or cleaver to cut food into bite-size (or smaller) pieces.
COMBINE: To blend two or more ingredients until they do not separate.
CORE: To remove the non edible centers of fruits such as pineapples.
CREAM: To beat an ingredient or combination of ingredients until the mixture is soft, smooth and "creamy." Often a recipe calls for creaming a fat, such as butter, or creaming a mixture of butter and sugar. When creaming two or more ingredients together, the result should be a smooth, homogeneous mixture that shows neither separation nor evidence of any particles (such as sugar).
CURE: To treat food (such as meat, cheese or fish) by one of several methods in order to preserve it. Smoke-curing is generally done in one of two ways. The cold-smoking method (which can take up to a month, depending on the food) smokes the food at between 70° to 90°F. Hot-smoking partially or totally cooks the food by treating it at temperatures ranging from 100° to 190°F. Pickled foods are soaked in variously flavored acid-based brines. Corned products (such as corned beef) have also been soaked in brine — usually one made with water, salt and various seasonings. Salt-cured foods have been dried and packed in salt preparations. Cheese curing can be done by several methods, including injecting or spraying the cheese with specific bacteria or by wrapping the cheese in various flavored materials. Some of the more common cured foods are smoked ham, pickled herring and salted fish.
DEGLAZE: After food (usually meat) has been sautéed and the food and excess fat removed from the pan, deglazing is done by heating a small amount of liquid in the pan and stirring to loosen browned bits of food on the bottom. The liquid used is most often wine or stock. The resultant mixture often becomes a base for a sauce to accompany the food cooked in the pan.
DICE: To cut into tiny cubes.
DRIPPINGS: Used for gravies and sauces. Drippings are the liquids left in the bottom of a roasting or frying pan after meat is cooked.
FILLET: To remove the bones from meat or fish for cooking.
FOLD: A technique used to gently combine a light, airy mixture (such as beaten egg whites) with a heavier mixture (such as whipped cream or custard). The lighter mixture is placed on top of the heavier one in a large bowl. Starting at the back of the bowl, a rubber spatula is used to cut down vertically through the two mixtures, across the bottom of the bowl and up the nearest side. The bowl is rotated a quarter turn with each series of strokes. This down-across-up-and-over motion gently turns the mixtures over on top of each other, combining them in the process.
FRY: To cook food in hot cooking oil, usually until a crispy brown crust forms.
GARNISH: A decorative piece of an edible ingredient such as parsley, lemon wedges, croutons or chocolate curls placed as a finishing touch to dishes or drinks.
GLAZE: A thin, glossy coating for both hot and cold foods.
GRATE: To reduce a large piece of food to small particles or thin shreds by rubbing it against a coarse, serrated surface, usually on a kitchen utensil called a grater.
GREASE: To coat a pan or skillet with a thin layer of oil, butter, or shortening to prevent sticking.
GRILL: To prepare food on a grill over hot coals or other heat source. The term barbecue is often used synonymously with grill.
KNEAD: A technique used to mix and work dough in order to form it into a cohesive, pliable mass. During kneading, the network of gluten strands stretches and expands, thereby enabling a dough to hold in the gas bubbles formed by a leavener (which allows it to rise). Kneading is accomplished either manually or by machine — usually a large mixer equipped with a dough hook (some machines have two dough hooks) or a food processor with a plastic blade. By hand, kneading is done with a pressing-folding-turning action performed by pressing down into the dough with the heels of both hands, then pushing away from the body. The dough is folded in half and given a quarter turn, and the process is repeated. Depending on the dough, the manual kneading time can range anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes (or more). Well-kneaded dough is smooth and elastic.
MARINATE: To soak a food such as meat, fish or vegetables in a seasoned liquid mixture called a marinade. The purpose of marinating is for the food to absorb the flavors of the marinade or, as in the case of a tough cut of meat, to tenderize. Because most marinades contain acid ingredients, the marinating should be done in a glass, ceramic or stainless-steel container — never in aluminum. Foods should be covered and refrigerated while they're marinating. When fruits are similarly soaked, the term used is macerate.
MASH: To crush a food (such as cooked potatoes) into a smooth, evenly textured mixture.
MERINGUE: Very simply, a meringue is a mixture of stiffly beaten egg whites and granulated sugar. In order for the sugar to dissolve completely (and therefore produce an absolutely smooth meringue), it must be beaten into the whites a tablespoon at a time.
MINCE: To cut food into very small pieces. Minced food is in smaller pieces than chopped food.
MIX: To beat or stir two or more foods together until they are thoroughly combined.
MOISTEN: This term is often used in baking recipes to instruct that only enough liquid be added to flour and other dry ingredients to make them damp or moist, but not wet.
PAN FRY: To cook in a hot pan with small amount of hot oil, butter or other fat, turning the food over once or twice.
POACH: To cook food gently in liquid just below the boiling point when the liquid's surface is beginning to show some quivering movement.
PRESSURE COOKING: A cooking method that uses steam trapped under a locked lid to produce high temperatures and achieve fast cooking time.
PUREE: To grind or mash food until it's completely smooth. This can be accomplished by one of several methods including using a food processor or blender or by forcing the food through a sieve.
REDUCE: Culinarily, to boil a liquid (usually stock, wine or a sauce mixture) rapidly until the volume is reduced by evaporation, thereby thickening the consistency and intensifying the flavor. Such a mixture is sometimes referred to as a reduction.
ROAST: To oven-cook food in an uncovered pan, a method that usually produces a well-browned exterior and ideally a moist interior. Roasting requires reasonably tender pieces of meat or poultry. Tougher pieces of meat need moist cooking methods such as braising.
ROUX: A mixture of flour and fat that is used as a thickener after being cooked slowly over low heat.
SAUTE: To cook food quickly in a small amount of oil in a skillet or frying pan over direct heat.
SCORE: To make shallow cuts (usually in a diamond pattern) in the surface of certain foods, such as meat or fish. This is done for several reasons: as a decoration on some foods (breads and meats); as a means of assisting flavor absorption (as with marinated foods); to tenderize less tender cuts of meat; and to allow excess fat to drain during cooking.
SEAR: To brown meat quickly by subjecting it to very high heat either in a skillet, under a broiler or in a very hot oven. The object of searing is to seal in the meat's juices.
SHRED: To cut food into narrow strips, either by hand or grater or food processor fitted with a shredding disk. Cooked meat can be separated into shreds by pulling it apart with forks.
SIFT: To pass dry ingredients through a fine-mesh sifter so any large pieces can be removed. Sifting incorporates air to make ingredients lighter.
SIMMER: Cooking food gently in a liquid at a low enough temperature that tiny bubbles just begin to break the surface.
SKIM: To remove the top layer from a liquid (cream from milk, foam and fat from stock, soups, sauces, etc.).
STEAM: Cooking where the food is placed on a rack or in a steamer basket over boiling or simmering water in a covered pan.
STEEP: To soak dry ingredients such as tea leaves, ground coffee, herbs, spices, etc, in liquid until the flavor is infused into the liquid.
STEWING: Browning small pieces of meat, poultry or fish, then simmering them with vegetables or other ingredients in enough liquid to cover them, usually in a closed pot on the stove, in the oven, or with a slow cooker.
STIR-FRY: To cook quickly by cutting small pieces of meat and vegetables and stirring constantly in an oiled wok or frying pan over high heat.
STOCK: In the most basic terms, stock is the strained liquid that is the result of cooking vegetables, meat or fish and other seasoning ingredients in water. A brown stock is made by browning bones, vegetables and other ingredients before they're cooked in the liquid.
THIN: Add liquid in order to reduce thickness.
WHIP: To beat to a froth with a utensil (whisk, fork, etc.) in order to mix air into the batter and cause expansion.
WHISK: To mix by using a rapid, sweeping stroke.
ZEST: The thin outer part of the rind of citrus fruits. Use a grater to get the zest of a fruit.
For more information, please refer to the following link:
http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary
