Al Dente: "Tender crisp". Refers to the consistency of pasta and some vegetables when they are properly cooked
Antipasto: A dish of cold meats, hors d'oeuvres and vegetables, which is served before the pasta.
Aspic: A clarified jelly used to cover cold foods. Also a gelatin salad.
Au Bleu: Fresh fish lightly poached in court sbouillon
Au Gratin: Foods garnished with grated cheese. The finished dish is usually browned under the broiler so that the cheese forms a crust over the food.
Au Jus: Foods served in their natural juices, usually roasted meat.
B
BainMarie: Simply a water bath. It consists of placing a container of food in a large, shallow pan of warm water, which surrounds the food with gentle heat. The food may be cooked in this manner either in an oven or on top of a range. This technique is designed to cook delicate dishes such as custards, sauces and savory mousses without breaking or curdling them. It can also be used to keep foods warm.
Bavarois: A creamy molded custard, also known as a Bavarian Cream.
Bechamel: A creamy white sauce which is made by adding hot liquid to a roux of equal parts fat and flour.
Beiqneto: Another name for a fritter or fried doughnut dough containing fruit.
Beurre Blanc: A rich sauce containing white wine, vinegar, shallots and butter.
Beurre Manie: A paste of butter and flour which is used to thicken sauces
Beurre Noir: Browned butter flavored with parsley, seasonings and vinegar, used as a sauce for fish.
Beurre Noisette: Browned butter with lemon juices and seasonings.
Bisque: A creamy soup made with seafood, game or poultry.
Blanch: To briefly plunge food into boiling water, and then into cold water to stop cooking. Blanching is used to loosen skins of fruits and vegetables, or to prepare them for more cooking by another method.
Blanquette: Stewed or poached meats served in a velvety white sauce.
Blind Bake: To bake a pie crust without the filling. Metal weights or dried beans are usually used to keep the pastry from bubbling.
Bouchee: A small pastry shell.
Bouquet Garni: A mixture of herb seasonings, often placed in a cheesecloth pouch and immersed in stocks during cooking.
Bouquetiere: Foods, such as steaks, served with a garnish of several vegetables.
Braise: A method in which food is first browned, and then cooked in a tightlycovered pan with a small amount of liquid. It is cooked at low heat for a long period of time.
Break/Separate: When two or more ingredients fail to hold together in one uniform state. Hollandaise, for example can break or separate from a smooth sauce into one that is oily and curdledlooking.
Braise: Foods which are browned, then cooked in a tightly covered pot with a small amount of liquid.
Brine: A salt water solution used to preserve foods.
Brunoise: A very fine dice usually applied to vegetables. All of uniform size
Buffet: A vast array of hot and cold foods, often elaborately garnished.
Butterfly: To split food down the center, cutting almost through. The halves are fanned open and laid flat to cook. The fan resembles a butterfly.
C
Caramelize: All meat and vegetables contain some sugar (in the form of carbohydrates). Under intense dry heat, as in roasting or sauteing, these sugars break down. The result is the brown color and rich flavor called caramelization
Carlonnade: A beef stew cooked largely with beer.
Charcuterie: French term for preserved pork products.
Chateaubriand: A thick slice of beef from the heart of the tenderloin, grilled or sauteed and simply sauced. Many restaurants claim their chateaubriand to be the head of the tenderloin, cut for two, which is roasted and carved table side.
ChaudFroid: Meat or fish that has been poached or roasted, chilled and served cold, masked with a thick sauce and glazed with aspic. The whole preparation was once quite popular and used consistently on elaborate buffets. Modern tastes have moved away from this style of food, opting for cleaner, less adulterated flavors
Chiffonade: [shihfuhNAHD] This is a French word meaning "made of rags." It refers to thins strips or shreds of vegetables and herbs. Several leaves are staked on top of each other and rolled tightly like a cigar. Thin slices are made across the leaves while holding the roll tightly.
Chop: To cut food into relatively uniform bite size or smaller pieces.
Choucroute Garni: Alsation disk made with pork, sauerkraut and sausages.
Chowder: A milk based soup, usually containing seafood.
Chutney: An Indian relish made with cooked or uncooked fruits, vegetables and spices.
Clarify: To remove impurities from stocks and soups.
Cobbler: An American fruit dish, baked and served with whipped cream or ice cream.
Cocotte: An ovenproof dish used to bake egg dishes.
Compote: Spiced fruits which are cooked in syrup.
Concassée: [konkaasSAY] Its root word means to roughly chop or pound a food. Concassée is usually made from chopped tomatoes.
Consomme: A clarified broth used as a base for sauces and soups.
Coulis: A puree of fruit or vegetables, used as a sauce or flavoring agent to other sauces or soups. As sauces, they are thinned down just enough to reach the proper consistency, but not so much as to alter the intense flavor of the puree.
Courgette: The French word for zucchini.
CourtBouillon: A well seasoned cooking liquor, sometimes made with broth, used to poach fish and shellfish. Court bouillons mainly consist of wine, water, herbs, and onion. Vinegar is sometimes added to the bouillon to help set the fish and enhance its white color. Truite au bleu is a perfect example of this technique.
Croquette: A thick patty made up of cooked foods. These patties or balls are breaded and fried or sauteed. Vegetables, fish, or meat may be used in croquettes.
Croustade: Meat or chicken served in pastry shells.
Croutons: Cubed pieces of bread fried in butter.
Cryovac: A registered trademark for a process in which meat is sealed in plastic, and all the sir is removed by a vacuum pump.
Cube: To cut food (such as meat or cheese) into uniform 1/2" cubes.
Curd: Coagulated substance which is produced when milk is soured.
Cut-In: To mix a solid fat (butter or shortening) into a dry ingredient using a pastry blender, two knives, a fork, or fingers until fat particles are the desired size..
D
Deglaze: A process of adding liquid to a hot pan in order to collect the bits of food which stick to the pan during cooking. This is most common with sauteed and roasted foods. Wine, stock, and vinegar are common deglazing liquids.
Demi Glace: A rich brown sauce comprised of espagnole sauce, which is further enriched with veal stock and wine and reduced to proper consistency. This is a very long procedure and requires constant skimming. A quick version of this involves reducing brown veal stock to which has been added mirepoix, tomato paste, wine, and brown roux. The latter recipe saves time, but never reaches the intensity of flavor as does the former method. Due to the quantity and length of time required to prepare it, it is not usually made in the home. However it is available for home gourmands.
Devein: To remove the dark brownish black vein that runs down the back of a shrimp. The vein is really the intestinal tract of the shrimp. In smaller shrimp, the vein can be eaten, but in larger shrimp, the vein contains grit and should be removed.
Dice: To cut food into uniform tiny (1/4" or smaller) cubes.
Dijonnaise: This is a name given to dishes that contain mustard or are served with a sauce that contains mustard.
Dock: To pierce pastry dough before baking to allow steam to escape and prevent blistering of the dough.
Demiglace: A thick, intensely flavored, glossy brown sauce that is served
with meat, poultry, or fish or used as a base for other sauces. It is made by thickening a
rich veal stock, enriching it with diced vegetables, tomato paste and Madeira or sherry, then reducing it until concentrated.
Double Boiler: Like a bain marie, a double broiler is a method of cooking without using direct heat. It usually consists of two saucepans that fit together. The bottom sauce pan is filled with water and the top one with the mixture (custard, chocolate, etc.). The saucepans can be made from stainless steel, aluminum, and glass.
Dredge: To lightly coat food with dry ingredients like flour, cornmeal, or bread crumbs. A usual preparation for frying to help brown the food.
Dress: To prepare poultry for cooking. To add dressing to a salad
Dry Aging: A process usually referring to beef. This process not only adds flavor but tenderizes the beef through enzyme action. Maximum flavor and tenderness is acheived in 21 days
Duchess: The name for potato puree that is enriched with cream, then piped into decorative shapes and browned in the oven. They are often piped around the rim of a platter onto which a roast or whole fish may be served.
Dumpling: A starchy mixture or dough which is poached in and served with a stew.
Duxelle: Finely chopped mushrooms that are cooked in butter with shallots and wine. When cooked dry, duxelle make a good filling for omelets, fish, and meat. They may also be moistened with wine or broth and served as a sauce. Duxelle are also flavored with fresh herbs and brandy or Madeira.
E
Emincer: To cut fruit into thin slices, shorter than for julienne. This term is most often used when referring to meats, but it also applies to fruits and vegetables.
Emulsify: [ehMUHLsuhfy] The process of binding hard to combine ingredients, like water and oil. The final blended product is called an emulsion which can last from a few minutes to a few days depending on the emulsifier and the item that binds the two ingredients. Common emulsifiers are mustard and egg yolks.
En Groute: Food baked in pastry such as pate.
Entrecote: A steak cut from the rib section of beef. It is boneless and has a very thin layer of fat. Though steaks cut from the loin ends of the rib are a finer quality steak, the whole rib may be used for entrecote. The term is sometimes used referring to a strip steak. This is not an accurate description. This cut of beef is called the fauxfilet or contrefilet.
En Papillote: Food prepared and served in a paper casing.
Entree: A single prepared dish served before the main meat item.
Escabeche: A highly seasoned marinade used to flavor and preserve food. Fish and chicken are the most common foods used for escabeche. First the meat is fried and placed in a dish large enough to hold all of the food in one layer. Then a marinade made of onions, peppers, vinegar, and spices is poured over the food while hot. The whole dish is then allowed to rest overnight and served cold.
Escalope: A thinly sliced food similar to a scallopine. This may consist of meat, fish, or vegetables.
Espagnole Sauce: This is the foundation of all of the brown sauces. A number of modifications have been made of this sauce since its conception. The sauce is now made of a rich brown veal stock thickened with a brown roux. The sauce is then simmered with a mirepoix, bouquet garni, and wine. The long, slow cooking help to purify and concentrate its flavor. It is finally strained through very fine muslin. Demiglace and glace de viande are all structured around a fine espagnole sauce.
