Basic Cooking Terms
Spice: Aromatics utilizing seeds, stems, roots, and bark from
plants, roots, and trees.
Examples...Ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, white pepper, nutmeg, mace, cloves.
Herbs: Aromatics utilizing the leaves from plants.
Examples...Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano, Sage, Bay Leaves.
Tri-Mix: Combination of salt and spices used for general seasoning.
Common ingredients...Salt, Pepper, Granulated or Powdered Garlic.
Defatted: To remove as much visible fat as possible.
Mire poix: combination of carrots, celery, and onions used
to flavor stocks, roasts, soups, and stews. Vegetables are cut depending upon
cooking time. The longer the cooking time, the larger the cut Shorter cooking
time, smaller the cut.
Oven Temperatures: These are the oven temperatures referred
to in all recipes.
Cool oven- 300*
Standard Oven- 350*
Hot oven- 400*
Very hot oven- 425+
Non-Stick Pan: A cooking surface lined with a non-stick coating,
often Teflon. These are essential for low fat cooking and well worth the investment.
Reduce: To simmer a liquid until the volume evaporates to desired
level or consistency. Stocks are often
reduced. Wines in sauces are often reduced also.
Skim: To remove impurities from a stock or sauce while keeping
the remaining liquid. These impurities are often fat related and this is an
important step to making a stock.
Demi-Glace: Classic brown sauce.
Béchamel: Classic white sauce
Roux: Equal amounts of flour and fat, used for thickening stocks
and sauces. These are cooked for varying
amounts of time to give different flavors and colors. Not very healthy.
White Wash: Mixture of cold Water and a starch like cornstarch
or flour. Alternative to roux.
Julienne: To cut in thin, uniform strips. A common dimension
is 1/8"x1/8"x3".
Dice: To cut into small uniform pieces. A common dimension
is 1/8"x1/8"x1/8" or 1/4"x1/4"x1/4".
Mince: To cut into very small pieces. Uniformity is not an
issue.
Caper: Small pickled berry from the caper bush of the Mediterranean area. Very salty and piquant.
Chiffonade: This strips of a leafy vegetable or herb used
as a garnish or flavoring. Generally done by rolling many leaves up and slicing
down to form fine ribbons. Mint, Basil, and lettuce are common for this cut.
Puree: To liquefy a food product, usually after cooking. More
common with vegetables and starches.
Coulis: To liquefy a food product, usually before cooking.
More common with fruits and berries.
Marinate: To add flavor to a product by immersing into a flavored
liquid, often with an acid.
Dry Heat Cooking
Bake: To cooking in an oven, heat source from all sides. Generally
referred to when talking about breads and sweet goods.
Roast: To cooking in an oven, heat source from all sides. Generally
referred to when talking about meats, poultry, seafood, and vegetables.
Broil: To cook using intense heat from above the food. Excellent
for browning or finishing a food product.
Grill: To cook using intense heat from below. Often the is
down with an open flame utilizing charcoal or gas. Great way to add lots of
great flavor with little added fat.
Sauté: To cook utilizing a pan and heat source from below the
pan and VERY LITTLE OIL, usually electric or gas elements. When sauteing, food
is moved around constantly, hence sauté means "to jump". The success to sautéing
is to preheat your pan and use very little oil.
Stir Fry: Similar to sauté utilizing a wok and intense heat
source from below the pan and very little oil. Commonly used when referring
to Asian Cuisine
Sear: To cook utilizing very intense heat to form a crust around
a food product. Can be done by grilling, broiling or sautéing. After placing
the food item into the heat source, the food is not moved to form a rich color
and crust. This will not usually cook the food item all the way through.
Blacken: Similar to searing. Generally done in a cast iron
pan with very intense heat utilizing Cajun or Creole spices. The idea is to
form a heavy crust and the food item almost turning black.
Deep Fry: To submerge in oil at a high temperature. Not considered
the most healthy cooking method. It does add plenty of flavor but that is its
only good quality. This will not be mentioned on this site very often.
Pan Fry: To fry in oil utilizing a skillet and oil. Not considered
the most healthy cooking method. Oil depth is usually 2-3 inches. Commonly used
for frying chicken. This will not be mentioned on this site very often.
Moist Heat Cooking
Steam: To cook using the steam from a liquid while under cover.
Very healthy cooking technique. Very painful if exposed to direct steam.
Boil: To bring a liquid to 212* and to immerse a food product
in this liquid for the purpose of cooking.
Simmer: To bring a liquid to 180* and immerse a food product
in this liquid and to maintain a gentle boil for soups and stews.
Poach: To cook a food produce in a combination of liquid and
acid (lemon juice, vinegar, lime juice, etc.).
Scald: To bring milk just to the boiling point.
Combination Cooking
Braise: To cook a food product utilizing several cooking methods.
There is a general formula to follow.
1. Brown food item well on all sides and place into a deep roasting pan. (Browning
can be done in the oven as well)
2. Cover food item with liquid. (Commonly Demi-Glace of Brown Sauce)
3. Add a tomato product (Crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, stewed
tomatoes, etc.)
4. Cover
5. Place into a standard or hot oven and roast until desired effects are achieved.
Often done with larger, tougher cuts of beef, veal, or poultry.
This breaks down the muscle fibers and helps make the meat tender.
Stew: Similar to braising. but generally done with smaller
cuts of meat.
Other Methods
Cure: To cook by removing moisture from a food product using
salt, sugar, or combination of both.
Commonly done to Salmon (Gravalox, Lox)
Smoke: To cook by introducing smoke to the cooking environment.
There are three types of smoking; cold, hot, and chemical.
Cold Smoking- To add smoke to a product with out a direct heat source. Product
must be cooked after cold smoking.
Hot Smoking- To add smoke with a direct heat source.
Chemical Smoking- To add artificial smoke flavor. Liquid smoke.
Conversion Chart
| 3 tsp | = | 1 Tbsp | = | 1/2 oz. | ||||||||||
| 2 Tbsp | = | 1 oz | = | 6 tsp. | ||||||||||
| 1 cup | = | 8 oz | = | 16 Tbsp. | = | 48 tsp. | ||||||||
| 1 pt. | = | 2 cups | = | 16 oz. | = | 32 Tbsp. | = | 96tsp. | ||||||
| 1 qt. | = | 2 pts | = | 4 cups | = | 32 oz. | = | 64 Tbsp. | = | 192 tsp. | ||||
| 1/2 gal | = | 64 oz. | = | 2 qts. | = | 4 pts. | = | 8 cups | = | 64 oz. | = | 128 Tbsp. | = | 384 tsp. |
| 1 gal | = | 128 oz. | = | 4 qts. | = | 8 pts | = | 16 cups | = | 128 oz. | = | 384 Tbsp. | = | 1152 tsp. |
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