Kitchen Dictionary
Just A Few Helpful Terms
Bake: Cook in oven.
Baste: Spoon a liquid over food during
cooking to keep it moist.
Beat: Mix ingredients vigorously with a
spoon, hand beater or electric mixer until smooth.
Blanch: Plunge food briefly into boiling
water to preserve color, texture and nutritional value or
to remove skins from fruits or nuts.
Blend: Mix ingredients until they are very
smooth & uniform.
Boil: Heat until bubbles rise continously
and break on the surface; for rolling boil, the bubbles
form rapidly.
Carmelize: To melt sugar slowly over low
heat until it becomes brown in color.
Chop: Cut into irregular pieces.
Coat: To cover food evenly with crumbs or a sauce.
Cube: Cut into cubes 1/2 inch or larger with knife.
Cut In: Distribute solid fat in dry
ingredients by chopping with pastry blender or knives.
Dash: Less than 1/8 teaspoon of an ingredient.
Deep Frying: cooking in enough Oil to
submerge or suspend food. Use a deep fryer or
deep saucepan.
Dice: Cut into cubes smaller than 1/2 inch.
Fold: Combine ingredients lightly using
two motions: the first cuts vertically through the mixture,
the second slides the spatula or wire whisk across the
bottom of the bowl and up the side, turning the mixture
over. Rotate the bowl 1/4 turn with each series of strokes.
Glaze: To brush or drizzle a mixture on
a food to give it a glossy appearance, hard finish or
decoration.
Grate: Cut into tiny particles using small
holes of a grater or food processor.
Julienne: To cut fruits, vegetables or
meats into thin match-like strips.
Marinate: Let food stand in a savory
(usually acidic) liquid for several hours to add flavor or
to tendorize.
Mix: Combine ingredients in any way that
distributes them evenly.
Panfry: Beginning with a cold skillet, to
fry in little or no fat.
Browning and sauteing are forms of pan frying. Use large
heavy skillet or electric skillet.
Pare: Cut off out covering with knife or
vegetable parer, as for apples or pears.
Poach: Cook in hot liquid kept just below
the boiling point.
Reduce: Boil liquid uncovered to evaporate
liquid and intensify flavor.
Roast: Cook meat in oven uncovered on rack
in shallow pan without adding liquid.
Saute: Foods cooked in hot oil or
margarine over medium-high heat with frequent tossing and
turning motion.
Scald: Heat liquid to just below the
boiling point. Tiny bubbles form at the edge.
Score: Cut surface of food about 1/4 inch
deep with knife to facilitate cooking, flavoring, or
tenderizing.
Shallow Frying: cooking in enough Oil
to partially cover food only, not to suspend or
submerge food. Use large heavy skillet or electric skillet.
Simmer: Usually done after reducing heat
from boiling point, continue to heat to just below boiling.
Bubbles will rise slowly and break just below the surface.
Soft Peaks: Egg whites beaten until peaks
are rounded or curl when beaters are lifted from bowl, but
are still moist and glossy.
Stiff Peaks: Egg whites beaten until peaks
stand up straight when beaters are lifted from bowl, but are
still moist and glossy.
Stir: Mix ingredients with circular or
figure-eight motion until of uniform consistency.
Stir-Fry: An Oriental method of cooking
uniform pieces of food in small amount of hot oil over high
heat, stirring constantly.
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~ Peggy's Family Home Of Love Tour guide ~
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