Cooking Dictionary

Practical Meal Planning's Cooking Dictionary - A Simple List of Popular Cooking Terms

PMP Cooking Dictionary A – C

Al dente: Italian term to describe pasta and rice that are cooked until tender but still firm to the bite. The pasta is cooked until tender but still has a firm, chewy texture.

Baine - marie ( ban' ma ree' ): A container filled with hot water that is used either during the cooking process, as with a custard, or for holding a finished product, such as with a Hollandaise.

Baste: To brush liquids such as fat, meat drippings, marinade, water or juices over meat during roasting to add flavor and to prevent it from drying out.

Blanch: To blanch food immerse fruit or vegetable in boiling water for a minute or so, remove and place in a bowl of ice water. This is often used before freezing fruits or vegetables. Or you can blanch a fruit or vegetable such as tomatoes or peaches to remove their skins. Blanching also brightens the color of some vegetables.

Bouquet garni: A bundle of several herbs tied together with string for easy removal, placed into pots of stock, soups and stews for added flavor. A few sprigs of fresh thyme, parsley and bay leaf are used.

Braise: Browning meat, poultry, or vegetables in a little hot oil or fat, and then adding a little liquid, like broth or wine. The pan is covered to contain the moisture and the heat lowered for the duration of the cooking time. This is great cooking method for tough cuts of meat, because the longer cooking time tenderizes the meat.

Bread: To coat it with bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, or other crumb mixture before cooking an ingredient.

Caramelize: To cook sugar slowly until it melts and turns deep brown. The term is also used when cooking other foods, like onions, when they are caramelized using their own sugar content or with added sugar.

Clarify: To make a liquid clear by removing sediments and impurities.

Cream: Mixing butter, shortening or margarine with sugar until smooth and creamy.

PMP Cooking Dictionary D – J

Deglaze: After cooking or roasting meat you add liquid such as cream, wine, broth or water to dissolve the juices stuck to the bottom of the pan. Often deglazing is used when making a gravy.

Dredge: To lightly coat food with flour, bread crumbs or cracker crumbs.

Glaze: To brush or coat food with a liquid that will give the finished product a glossy appearance.

Infuse: To steep foods in a liquid until the liquid absorbs their flavor.

Julienne: To cut an ingredient, e.g., vegetables and processed meats into fine strips like matchsticks.

PMP Cooking Dictionary K – P

Macerate: To stand fruit in a syrup, liqueur or spirit to give added flavor.

Marinade: A flavored liquid, into which food is placed for some time to give it flavor and to tenderize. Marinades include an acid ingredient such as vinegar or wine, oil and seasonings.

Parboil: To boil until partially cooked. The food is then finished by some other method.

Poach: Cooking food in a simmering liquid, such as water or chicken broth.

Purée: Food turned into a soft, smooth paste either by a food processor or by forcing it through a sieve or ricer.

PMP Cooking Dictionary Q – Z

Roast: To cook, uncovered, with dry heat, either in an oven or near a fire.

Roux (Pronounced "roo"): A mixture of flour and fat blended over low heat. A roux is the first step in all sauces in which flour is the thickening agent.

Sear: To apply heat directly to the food, usually meat, to quickly develop a outer crust. This hardens the outside and prevents the inside of the meat from losing moisture.

Simmer: To cook in a liquid, usually water or broth, at a temperature slightly below boiling. The surface of the liquid is shimmering, and bubbles are coming to the surface, but it is not as hot as a rolling boil.

Sweat: To cook sliced onions or vegetables, in a small amount of butter or oil in a covered pan over low heat, to soften them without browning.

Toss: To mix food gently.

Umaini: The fifth primary element of taste, accompanying yet independent of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Umami is the Japanese word for 'delicious' or 'savory'. It is most common in Asian foods, soups and stews, mushrooms, tomatoes and aged meats and cheeses.

Water Bath: To cook a dish that is set in a larger pan. The larger pan holds boiling water.

Zest: To remove the outer part of citrus fruits with a small grater. When zesting, be careful only to use the skin and NOT to include the white pith under the skin, which is bitter.