Key Cooking Terms Defined

Definitions of Top Cooking Terms

For beginner cooks, learning key cooking words and phrases can help make recipes and cooking directions easier to understand. We've arranged an alphabetical list of key cooking terms to help you in your quest to make Treasured Recipes for your family and friends.

1. A la: In the matter of: a la Creole means in the Creole tyle, a la maison, in the style of the house or "the house specialty."

2. Al Dente: An Italian phrase meaning "to the tooth," used to describe spaghetti or other pasta at the perfect stage of doneness; tender but with enough firmness to be felt between the teeth.

3. Antipasto: An Italian cooking term, meaning "before the meal." Antipasto is the food, usually tart or biting, served before the main course.

4. Aspic: A clear gelatin made from vegetable or meat broth.

5. Au gratin: A cooking term meaing topped with crumbs and/or cheese and browned in the oven or broiler.

6. Bake: To cook, uncovered, in the oven in dry heat.

7. Barbecue: To roast meat or other food, basting often with a highly seasoned sauce; until the food is fully cooked.

8. Bard: To wrap meat or fowl in thin sheets of fat to prevent it from drying out during roasting.

9. Baste: To ladle drippings, marinade or other liquid over food as it roasts.

10. Batter: A flour-liquid mixture thin enough to pour.

11. Beat: To stir vigorously with a spoon or to beat with an egg beater or electric mixer.

12. Beurre noir: A French term for "browned" (literally black) butter.

13. Bind: To add egg, think sauce or other ingredients to a mixture to make it hold together.

14. Bisque: A smooth, creamy soup, often made with a shellfish base.

15. Blanch: To scald quickly in boiling water.

16. Blend: To mix two or more ingredients until smooth.

17. Boil: To cook in boiling liquid. You will know that the liquid is boiling when you see bubbles forming in the center.

18. Bombe: A frozen dessert of two or more flavors layered in a fancy mold; this term can also be used to refer to the mold itself.

19. Bone: To remove bones from meat or fish.

20. Bouillon: A clear stock made of poultry, beef or veal, vegetables and seasonings.

21. Braise: To brown in butter or olive oil, then to cook, covered, in a small amount of liquid.

22. Bread: To coat with bread crumbs.

23. Brochette: The French term for skewer.

24. Broil: To cook under or on a grill by direct dry heat.

25. Broth: a clear meat, fish, fowl or vegetable stock or a stock made of a combination of them.

26. Brush: To apply melted butter, marinade or other liquid to food with a pastry brush.

27. Canape: A small, decorative, open-face sandwich served with cocktails.

28. Canape a la fromage: A small, decorative open-face sandwich heavily garnished with cheese.

29. Chapon: A cube of bread saturated with olive oil and garlic toasted with green salads to impart a delicate garlic flavor. It is removed before serving.

30. Chop: To cut into small pieces.

31. Clairify: To make stock, aspic or other liquid crystal clear by adding egg white; also to clear melted butter by spooning off the milk solids.

32. Clove of garlic: One segment of a bulb of garlic.

33. Coat: To cover with flour, bread crumbs, cracker crumbs or other dry ingredients.

34. Coat the spoon: A cooking term used to describe egg thickened sauces when cooked to perfect degree of doneness; when a custard coats a spoon, it leaves a thin, somewhat jelly-like film on a silver spoon.

35. Coddle: To simmer gently in liquid.

36. Combine: To mix together two or more ingredients.

37. Compote: A mixture of sweetened, cooked fruits.

38. Consomme: Clarified stock or bouillon.

39. Core: To remove the core.

40. Court bouillon: A delicate broth, usually fish and vegetable based, used for poaching fish.

41. Cream: To beat butter or shortening alone or with butter until light and fluffy.

42. Crepe: A very thin French pancake, often filled with ingredients and then rolled up.

43. Crimp: To flute the edges of a pie crust for decorative effect.

44. Crisp: To warm in the oven until crisp.

45. Croustade: A toast case used for serving creamed meats, fish, fowl or vegetables.

46. Croutons: Small fried cubes of bread, often served in salads.

47. Crumble: to break between the fingers into small, irregular pieces.

48. Cube: To cut into cubes.

49. Cut in: To work shortening or other solid fat into a flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles the texture of coarse meat.

50. Deep fry: To cook in hot, deep fat.

51. Demitasse: A French term for "half cup," thus, small cups used for serving after-dinner coffee and the strong black coffee served in them.

52. Devil: A cooking term meaning to season with mustard, pepper, paprika and other spicy condiments.

53. Dice: To cut into small, uniform pieces.

54. Dot: To scatter bits or butter or other seasoning over the surface of a food to be cooked.

55. Dough: A mixture of flour, liquid or other ingredients stiff enough to knead.

56. Draw: To remove the entrails, to eviscerate. Also, to melt butter.

57. Dredge: To coat with flour prior to frying.

58. Dress: To eviscerate. Also, to add dressing to a salad.

59. Drippings: The juices that cook out of food, usually meat, fish or fowl, during cooking.

60. Drizzle: To pour melted butter, marinade or other liquid over the surface of food in a thin stream.

61. Dust: To cover tightly with flour, confectioners' powdered sugar or other dry ingredient.

62. Entree: The main course of the meal.

63. Eviscerate: To remove the entrails.

64. Fillet: A thin, boneless piece of meat or fish.

65. Flake: To fork up a food, salmon or tuna, for example, until flaky.

66. Flambe: A French word, literally meaning set a fire.

67. Flute: To crimp the edge of a pie crust in a fluted design.

68. Fold in: To mix a light, fluffy ingredient, such as beaten egg white, into a thicker mixture using a gentle over and over motion.

69. Frappe: A mushy frozen fruit dessert.

70. French fry: To deep fry.

71. Fricassee: To brown a food, then to cook, covered, with some liquid or sauce.

72. Frizzle: To fry bacon or other thinly sliced meat over intense heat until the edges ruffle.

73. Fromage: The French word for cheese.

74. Frost: To cover with frosting; also to chill until frosty.

75. Fry: To cook in a skillet in a small amount of fat.

76. Garnish: To decorate with colorful and/or fancily cut small pieces of food.

77. Giblets: The heart, liver and gizzard of fowl.

78. Glace: Candied.

79. Glaze: To coat the surface of a food with honey, syrup or other liquid so that it glistens.

80. Goulash: A stew.

81. Granite: A mushy, frozen dessert, based in water rather than milk or cream.

82. Grate: To cut into small pieces with a grater.

83. Grease: To rub butter or other fat over the surface of a food or container.

84. Grill: To cook on a grill.

85. Grind: To put through a food chopper.

86. Gumbo: A Creole stew made with tomatoes and okra and thickened with gumbo file (ground, dried sassafrass leaves).

87. Hors d'oeuvre: Bite-sized appetizers served with cocktails.

88. Ice: To cover with icing. Also, a frozen, water-based fruit dessert.

89. Julienne: Food cut into uniformly long, thin slivers.

90. Junket: A milk dessert thickened with rennet, also another name for rennet.

91. Knead: Manipulating dough with the hands until it is light and springy.

92. Lard: Creamy-white rendered pork fat, also, the act of inserting small cubes (lardoons) of fat in a piece of meat prior to roasting.

93. Leaven: To add leavening (baking powder, baking soda or yeast) to bread or a cake to make it rise.

94. Line: To cover the bottom, and sometimes sides, of a pan with paper or sometimes thin slices of food.

95. Lyonnaise: Seasoned in the style of Lyon, France, meaning with parsley and onions.

96. Macedoine: A mixture of vegetables and fruits.

97. Macerate: To allow food to steep in wine or spirits.

98. Marinade: The medium in which food is marinated.

99. Marinate: to let food steep in a piquant sauce prior to cooking.

100. Marzipan: Almond paste.

101. Mash: To reduce to pulp, such as in mashing mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving Dinner.

102. Mask: To coat with sauce or aspic.

103. Meringue: Stiffly beaten mixture of sugar and egg white.

104. Mince: To cut into fine pieces.

105. Mix: To stir together.

106. Mocha: A coffee-chocolate flavoring.

107. Mold: To shape into a mold.

108. Mousse: A rich, creamy frozen dessert; also a velvety hot or cold savory dish, also rich with cream, bound often with eggs or if cold, with gelatin.

109. Mull: To heat a liquid (often cider or wine) with spices so that it becomes spicy.

110. Panbroil: To cook in a skillet with a very small amount of fat; drippings are usually poured off as they accumulate.

111. Parboil: To boil until about half done; vegetables to be cooked en casserole are usually parboiled.

112. Parch: To dry out or brown without the addition of any fat.

113. Pare: To remove the skin of a fruit or a vegetable.

114. Pasta: The all-inclusive Italian word for all kidns of macaroni or spaghetti.

115. Paste: A smooth, creamy mixture of two ingredients.

116. Pastry: A stiff flour-water-shortening dough used for pie crusts, turnovers or other dishes.

117. Petits fours: Tiny fancily frosted cakes.

118. Pilaf: Rice cooked in a savory broth often with small bits of meat or vegetables, herbs and spices.

119. Pipe: To squirt frosting, whipped cream, mashed potatoes or other soft mixture through a pastry tube.

120. Pit: To remove pits.

121. Plump: To soak raisins or other dried fruits in liquid until they plump up.

122. Poach: To cook in simmering liquid.

123. Pot roast: To brown, then to roast, covered, with some liquid.

124. Pound: To flatten by pounding.

125. Preheat: To bring oven or broiler to recommended temperature before cooking.

126. Prick: To make holes over the surface of pastry using the tines of a fork.

127. Puree: To reduce food to a smooth, velvety medium by whirling in an electric blender or pressing through a sieve or food mills.

128. Ragout: A stew.

129. Ramekin: A small individual-size baking dish.

130. Reduce: To boil uncovered until quantity of liquid reduces.

131. Render: To melt solid fat.

132. Rennet: Material from a pig or calf's stomach used to curdle milk.

133. Rice: A cooking term meaning to press through a sieve.

134. Rissole: A small, savory meat pie fried in deep fat.

135. Roast: To roast in an oven by dry heat.

136. Roe: The eggs of fish.

137. Roll: To roll out with a rolling pin.

138. Roux: A mixture of fat and flour that is used in making sauces.

130. Saute: The French word for pan fry.

131. Scald: To heat a liquid almost to boiling, until bubbles form around the edge of the pan.

132. Scallop: To bake small pieces of food en casserol, usually in a cream sauce.

133. Score: To make criss-corss cuts over the surface of a food with a knife.

134. Scrape: To remove vegetable peeling by scraping it with a knife.

135. Sear: To brown under intense heat.

136. Seed: A cooking term meaning to remove the seeds.

137. Shirr: To cook whole eggs in ramekins with cream and crumbs.

138. Shortening: The fat used to make cakes, pastries, cookies and breads flaky and tender.

139. Shred: To cut into small, thin slivers.

140. Sieve: A cooking term meaning to put through a sieve.

141. Sift: To put flour or other dry ingredients through a sifter. Flour should always be sifted before it is measured.

142. Simmer: To cook in liquid just below the boiling point.

143. Skewer: Long metal or wooden pin on which food is impaled before being grilled; also the pin itself.

144. Skim: To remove fat or oil from the surface of a liquid or sauce.

145. Sliver: To cut in long, thin pieces.

146. Soak: To let stand in liquid.

147. Spit: To impale food on a long road and roast over glowing coals.

148. Steam: To cook, covered, over a small amount of boiling water so that the steam circulates freely around the food making it tender.

149. Steep: To let food soak in liquid until liquid absorbs its flavor, as in steeping tea in hot water.

150. Stew: To cook, covered, in boiling liquid.

151. Stir: To mix with a spoon using a round and round motion.

152. Stock: Meat, fowl, fish or vegetable broth.

153. Strain: To pull through a strainer or sieve.

154. Stud: To stick cloves, slivers or garlic or other seasoning into the surface of a food to be cooked.

155. Stuff: To fill the body cavity of fish or fowl.

156. Thicken: To make a liquid thicken, usually by adding flour, cornstarch or egg.

157. Thin: To make a liquid thinner by adding liquid.

158. Timbale: A savory meat, fish, fowl or vegetable custard.

159. Toss: To mix as for a salad by gently turning ingredients over and over in a bowl, either with the hands or with a large fork and spoon.

160. Truss: To tie fowl into a compact shape before roasting.

161. Whip: To beat until frothy or stiff with an egg beater or an electric mixer.

162. Zest: Oily, aromatic colored part of the skin of citrus fruits.