Paella: Spanish dish containing rice, shellfish, ham and chicken
Parchment Paper: A silicon based paper that can withstand high heat. It is especially nice to use with sugar and chocolate because they do not stick to the paper at all. Parchment paper can often be reused several times.
Pate: Finely chopped meat or game, baked and served cold.
Paupiettes: Thinly sliced meats wrapped around fillings.
Poach: To cook food gently in hot liquid that's just below the boiling point. Liquids can vary from broths, to water, to syrups.
Potage: French for soup.
Pot au Feu: French dish of meat and vegetables cooked in broth. The broth is consumed first as a soup.
Praline: A confection containing nuts and syrup.
Printaniere: Made with young vegetables.
Proof: In short, swelling. Yeast proofs when it swells and becomes bubbly. And a dough proofs when it swells and rises to twice its original size.
Puree: To press through a sieve or put in a blender.
Q
Quadrillage: [kwadrillahz] From the French word quadrille, meaning marked with squares or rectangles. In cooking, it refers to the square charred marks that are the result of a grill's hot grate "branding" the food.
Quenelleo: Dumpling containing finely chopped fish or meats.
Quiche: A pastry shell containing a custard mixture and meat or vegetable fillings.
R
Ragout: A stew made from poultry, game, fish, or vegetables cut into pieces and cookedwith or without first having been browned in a thickened liquid, generally flavored with herbs and seasonings. There are two basic types of ragout: brown and white. For a brown ragout, the meat is first browned in fat, then sprinkled with flour, cooked a little, and finally moistened with clear stock or water (or thickened meat juices, if the meat has not been floured). For a white ragout, , the meat is cooked until firm, but not colored, then sprinkled with flour and diluted with stock.
Ramekin: [RAMihkihn] A small ceramic or earthenware baking dish. The bottom should be rough (unglazed) to prevent suction from forming in water bath between ramekin and pan..
Reduce: Applied to cooking, this means to boil a liquid until its volume is reduced by evaporation. This thickens the liquid and intensifies the flavor.
Reduction: A process used to increase and intensify the flavor of a liquid. This is done by rapidly boiling a liquid to decrease its volume through evaporation. This concentrates the flavor, so season a reduction after it's made not before.
Render: The melting of animal fat over low heat so it separates from any connective tissue. This tissue turns crisp and brown (known as crackling) and the clarified (clear) fat is further processed by straining. To cook fatty meats, such as bacon or spare ribs, until the fat melts.
Resting: Heat drives meat's juices from the surface when it cooks. Letting meat "rest" before slicing lets these juices seep back towards the surface (liquids always take the path of least resistance). The result is a more flavorful piece of meat.
Ribbon: When a sauce thickens enough that when lifted, it falls in wide bands. Also, when sauce is thick enough that while stirred with a whisk, it leaves trails that expose the bottom of the pan or mixing bowl.
Ricer: A kitchen gadget that looks like a big garlic press. This device, also called a potato ricer, forces cooked foods like turnips and potatoes through tiny holes, resembling rice.
Royale, a la: Literally "in the royal style". Usually poached fish or poultry in a veloute sauce ( a white sauce of stock and cream thickened with butter and flour) with truffles.
Roulades: Rolled slices of meat or pastry which are stuffed with cheese.
Roux: A mixture of flour and fat used to thicken sauces, soups, and stews. Though usually made with butter, rouxs are also made with bacon or poultry fats, margarine, and vegetable oil. The mixture is cooked for a brief time to remove the raw taste of the starch from the flour. Longer cooking results in a darker color, which is favorable in Creole cooking where rouxs are cooked for long periods until they reach a dark brown color.
S
Sabayon: A frothy custard of egg yolk, sugar, and wine that is made by whisking the ingredients over simmering water. Served warm as a dessert or sauce
Saute: [sawTAY] In French, saute means "to jump." That describes this method of cooking in which food is cooked quickly in a small amount of butter or oil. The food "jumps" as it is either rapidly stirred or shaken over heat.
Scald: To heat milk almost to the boiling point just until tiny bubbles begin to form around the inside edge of a pan.
Score: To make shallow cuts into meats before cooking. This process cuts the connective tissues and makes the meat more tender.
Sear: To fry meats quickly so as to seal in their juices.
Simmer: To keep a liquid at just below the boiling point.
Skim: To remove substances from the surface of cooked or cooking liquids.
Season: To coat a pan or other metal cooking surface (notnonstick) with oil and then heat it. This prevents sticking by sealing tiny pits in the metal. Soap and water can negate this effect.
Smorgasbord: A Swedish buffet of many dishes served as hors d oeuvres or a full meal. Similar buffets are served throughout Scandinavia, as well as the Soviet Union. Common elements of a smorgasbord are pickled herring, marinated vegetables, smoked and cured salmon and sturgeon, and a selection of canapés.
Steam: To cook foods in perforated metal containers by suspending them overboiling water.
Stew: Lengthy cooking in a covered pot using liquid.
Stir Fry: quickly to fry chopped meats or vegetables over high heat. The food is stirred to prevent burning and sticking.
Stock: A flavored broth from meats, fish, shellfish, and vegetables. These are the basis of sauce and soup making.
Sweat: When foods, usually vegetables, are cooked over low heat in a small amount of fat (usually butter), drawing out juices to remove rawness and develop flavor.
T
Tart: Covered or uncovered pastry filled with fruit.
Temper: To slowly add a hot liquid to eggs or other foods to gradually raise their temperature without making them curdle.
Terrine: Pottery dish used to bake pates.
Timbale: [TIHMbuhl; tihmBAHL] A highsided, drumshaped mold that can taper toward the bottom. The food baked in the mold is usually a custardbased dish. It's unmolded before serving.
V
Velouté: A sauce of various stock bases thickened with a roux. This is used as a base for other more complex sauces, though it may be used alone
W
Whisk: (a.)A mixing tool designed so its many strands of looped wire make it effective for beating. (b.)To beat with a whisk until well mixed.
Z
Zest: The zest is the colored portion of the skin (not the white pith) of citrus fruits. The aromatic oils in the citrus zest are what adds so much flavor to food. Use in cooked and raw foods
