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Taking the Mystery Out of Cooking Terms
By Danielle Chapman
For those of us who never really learned their way around a kitchen, it’s a lovely experience when you finally get up the nerve to try out a recipe, only to find a food or cooking term that sounds like it’s either a new species of howler monkey or possibly some sort of medieval torture device. Don't get discouraged! Here's some help for the wayward kitchen traveler/visitor!
- Al dente: from the Italian phrase "to the tooth", pasta cooked until it is firm to the bite, tender not mushy, chewy but not crunchy
- Bain-marie: also called a water bath, a technique for cooking delicate dishes like custards by putting a baking dish or individual custard cups in a larger baking pan and pouring hot water halfway up the height of the custard cups or baking dish. Can also be used to keep cooked foods warm.
- Blind bake: to precook pie crusts before filling them to ensure that they cook thoroughly and to control shrinking
- Braise: to cook food by first browning it in a little fat, then by adding liquid to the pan, covering it and finishing the cooking over moist low heat
- Broil: to cook food directly under the heat source (like grilling: only the food is below the heat source)
- Caramelize: slowly dissolving sugar in water and heating the resulting syrup until it turns caramel brown
- Fold: to incorporate a lighter mixture, such as an egg white, into a heavier mixture by gently lifting from underneath with a rubber spatula or spoon
- Puree: to finely blend and mash food to a lump free consistency
- Reconstitute: to bring dried food back to its original consistency by adding liquid
- Reduction sauce: a sauce that uses, the pan juices that are created from stove top cooking or oven roasting meat, fish, poultry or vegetables as its base
- Render: to cook a food over low heat until it releases its fat
- Sauté: French for "jump", sauté means to cook food in fat or butter until nicely browned. To dry-sauté, also called pan-grilling, is to cook food over high heat with no oil at all
- Sear: to cook meat quickly over intense heat so as to form a crust
- Shuck: to peel off or remove the shell from oysters or clams or the husk from an ear of corn
- Steam: to cook food in a closed vessel over-not in- simmering liquid
- Steep: to soak in boiling water for a few minutes
- Stew: to gradually cook food in liquid in a tightly covered pot or pan
- Strain: to remove particles through liquid by pouring through a sieve or cheesecloth
And now for some food terms and their definitions:
- Arugula: a strangely flavored type green, possessing a distinctive, hot muddiness of flavor
- Baba ghanoush: a mixture of eggplant, tahini (definition below), olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, served as a dip or spread
- Baguette: a long, narrow loaf of bread with a crispy crust and soft, chewy interior
- Balsamic vinegar: vinegar made from the juice of white Trebianno grapes
- Basmati rice: a white or brown aromatic long grain rice
- Bok choy: cabbage that looks like oversized white celery stalks with big flat green leaves
- Bulgur: soft wheat that has been steamed, hulled, dried and then cracked
- currant- tiny, tart, grape-like berries that are red, white or black
- Endive: sharp crunchy greens that come in two varieties: Belgian and curly
- Hummus: thick puree of mashed chickpeas seasoned with tahini, garlic lemon juice and other spices
- Kimchi: fiery cabbage, seasoned heavily with garlic and chile
- Leeks: a member of the onion family, looks like a big fat green onion
- Pectin: used as a thickener in jams and jellies
- Plantain: a cooking banana, used in sautés, braising or stewing
- Prosciutto: salt-cured, air dried ham, cut into paper thin slices for appetizers
- Rice paper: edible paper made from rice to wrap dumplings or other Asian foods
- Scallion: a green onion, an immature onion with a white base and long green leaves
- Scallop: a mollusk with a creamy texture and distinctive flavor
- Soba noodles: buckwheat noodles, brown, flat and usually served in soup
- Tahini: creamy paste of toasted sesame seeds, used in hummus or baba ghanoush
- Tofu: bean curd, bland custard like food made from soybeans
- Wasabi: Japanese version of horseradish
- Zest: the outermost colored peel of lemons, oranges and other citrus fruits
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Studying cooking terms is a great way to familiarize yourself with recipes.
Learn the terms in your cookbooks and you could be studying French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Thai or Japanese.
Cooking opens up a world of languages, taking you around the world without having to leave home.
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