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Cooking Terms Dictionary

Some Basic Cooking Terms and the Language Used in Recipes

It can be very frustrating when you are trying to follow a recipe, but you don’t understand the cooking terms used. Sometimes even instructions on a packet of pasta can confuse you – what does cook until “al dente” mean? So, let’s have a look at some basic cooking terms and the language used in recipes:-

Al dente – This term is often used with pasta and literally means “to the tooth/bite”. Boil the pasta until is is tender but still has some “bite”, not soggy and falling apart. Packet pasta usually takes 5-10 minutes in boiling water.

Baste – This term is often used when roasting chicken or cooking meat in a marinade. You will need to regularly “baste” the meat with the juices or sauce to keep it moist. You can use a spoon to spoon the juices or sauce over the meat or you can use a “baster” which is a bit like a syringe or bulb.

Beat – A term often used in cooking or baking. You may be instructed to beat and egg – simply crack an egg into a bowl and beat (stir rapidly) with a fork or whisk to combine the yolk and white. In cake recipes, you may be instructed to beat the margarine and sugar together – use an electric whisk or beater for ease.

Blanch – A recipe may call for blanching vegetable. This simply means to plunge them into boiling water for about a minute.

Chop – self explanatory but use a good sharp knife and try to chop vegetables etc. so that bits are uniform in size and thickness. Onions often have to be chopped finely so chop them as small as you can.

Cream – Cake recipes often instruct you to cream the butter or margarine with the sugar. Beat them together either with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until they are well combined and the mixture has turned a paler colour.

Dice – If you are instructed to dice meat or vegetables, it means that you should chop into uniform squares.

Fillet – This word can either be used as a noun or a verb. A meat fillet is a good quality piece of meat which has been “filleted”, had the bones removed. If a recipe asks you to fillet a piece of meat or fish, it means you need to remove the bones. This is tricky so buy fillet meat or ask your butcher or fishmonger to do it for you.

Fold – Cake recipes often tell you to fold in the flour after creaming the margarine and sugar and adding eggs. Add the flour a bit at a time using a metal spoon and a figure of eight movement to “fold” the flour into the mixture while retaining the air added by creaming or beating.

Julienne – This term is used with vegetables. Julienne carrots are carrots which have been chopped into matchsticks or strips.

Marinate – To coat a piece of meat or fish in a sauce usually overnight or for a few hours in the fridge. The meat will take on the flavours from the sauce.

Pare – Remove the skin from fruit or vegetables.

Peel – Remove the skin from fruit, vegetables or prawns.

Poach – To cook in liquid. Poached eggs are cooked in boiling water and poached fish is often cooked in hot milk.

Puree – To puree a vegetable or fruit is to blend it until it is as smooth as baby food. Use an electric blender.

Saute – You can saute vegetables and this means to fry in hot oil over a high heat for a short amount of time.

Season – To flavour with salt and pepper.

Simmer – This term is often used with sauces or recipes like curry or chilli. It means to bring a sauce to boiling and then turn down to a level where the sauce is bubbling but not boiling.

Stiff peaks – If you are instructed to beat cream or egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, then you need to whisk or beat until the mixture forms peaks which do not collapse and you could even turn the bowl upside down without the mixture immediately falling out.

Stir-fry – To stir-fry is to cook meat and/or vegetables in a wok at a high temperature. Stir-fry packs can be found in supermarkets and all you have to do is fry them briefly in hot oil in a wok, add sauce or spices and serve with noodles or rice.

Whisk – Use an electric whisk or a hand whisk to beat something like cream.

Hopefully these explanations will help you to feel more confident when using recipes.

About the Author

www.atkins-diets-recipes.com

www.cooking-chinese-style.com

Know any references for kitchen design/culinary basics?

Hi Summer, found these links for you, hope they can help you,

This site has a great photo gallery with contemporary, old world, traditional, country, outdoor kitchens as well as a lot of other useful info

http://www.kitchens.com/

http://www.hgtv.com/designers-portfolio/kitchens/index.html

http://kitchendesignsremodeling.com/

The sites I visit regularly for cooking:

I recently joined allrecipe.com, it’s free of charge & has some great recipes. I also receive a daily recipe via mail.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Main.aspx

This is a South African site, with easy, tasty meal ideas

http://whatsfordinner.co.za/

Have a look at this site, there are many links that are provided. Anything from breads to gourmet cooking. You are sure to find what you looking for.

http://bestcookingsites.com/recipes.html

This is one site I cannot live without, called The Cook’s Thesaurus. It’s a cooking encyclopedia that covers thousands of ingredients and kitchen tools. There are pictures, descriptions and substitutions.

http://www.foodsubs.com/

The Rookie Cook: Understanding Cooking Terms Part 1

The Rookie Cook: Understanding Cooking Terms Part 2

French Cooking Terms – Make Cooking Romantic With The Language

Anyone who enrolls for French cooking lessons will find that learning the Cooking terms in French is one of the hardest things to do. These French cooking terms are one of the most difficult things to do. But all students have to essentially learn these terms as they are an important aspect of French cooking. All exclusive schools devoted entirely in specializing French cooking expect their students to learn these terms as part of their degree. It is advisable that all students who wish to excel in French cooking learn these terms and here are a few tips which could be helpful to you if you are not fluent in the French language.

The first thing you need to do is learn what the term stands for. You can equate the term with some word which has a similar meaning in the English dictionary. Or you can find out terms which are difficult and find out their root words and then look for meanings in English which are quite similar. When you learn the meaning of an unknown term it will be very helpful for you to remember the same.

Make sure that you have enough practice. These days you will find that there are excellent software designed exclusively to help people to learn the French cooking terms. These software programs are inexpensive and can be used easily. With some practice it is possible to learn these terms easily and memorize them too. You can also look for online tutorials that have been deigned to help teach you the French terms right at home. The internet is the best place for you to search for such courses.

The next best thing to do if you want to master the terms would be to use them regularly. Make sure that whenever you are making the recipes or learning how to prepare them that you use the terms and make sure to remember them. It is only through practice that anyone can learn French cooking terms and be more familiar with them.

Though it is difficult to learn the terms used in French cooking it can also be quite confusing at times. It is important to spend time to learn how and when to use the terms correctly and this will enable you to master it effectively in a short period. This will enable you to use the term in sentences that you speak giving you the satisfaction that the effort that you put in to learn all the difficult terms have were well worth working for. It is recommended that you start learning these French cooking terms right away as part of your education.

About the Author

Abhishek is really passionate about Cooking and he has got some great Cooking Secrets . up his sleeves! Download his FREE 88 Pages Ebook, “Cooking Mastery!” from his website http://www.Cooking-Guru.com/770/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

Cooking New Zealand….

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