When baking, follow directions.
When cooking, go by your own taste. – Laiko Bahrs

Terms

Aubergine- European name for Eggplant.

Ballontine- Poultry that has been de-boned, possibly stuffed, rolled, tied, and roasted.

Beurre- Butter (French)

Beurre Monté- Mounted butter. A mix of butter and flour in equal parts. Used as a thickener in some sauces as a replacement for roux.

Boil- See simmer, and turn up the heat.

Bouquet Garni– a bundle of fresh herbs usually tied together with string.  Used to prepare soup, stock, and stews.  The bouquet garni can include many different combinations, but often is parsley, thyme and bay leaf.  The bundle is often wrapped in cheese cloth, but a coffee filter makes an easy substitute.

Brunoise- cut into fine dice. Usually vegetables. They are first julienned then turned and cut cross-ways to form very small dice, typically 1/8″ in size.

Burning- A technique for ruining food by putting it on the heat and then walking off to do something else. Cooking requires paying at least moderate attention.

Buttermilk- Real buttermilk is difficult to find. Most of the supermarket stuff is created from regular milk that has an acid (similar to vinegar) added to it. Get a can of Saco Cultured Buttermilk Powder. It’s real buttermilk without the water. Mix with water and add to recipes in the same quantity as that funny stuff from the store.

Chef Potato- Large Russet or Idaho potato. Starchy with low moisture content, making for fluffy, baked potatoes or french fries. Also called Baking Potato.

Clarified Butter- Butter that has been heated to a liquid and cooled. As it cools the milk solids settle to the bottom. It is then separated and strained. Has a 500F smoke point. Can be stored at room temperature.

Courgette- European term for Zucchini.

Creamer Potato- Small potatoes harvested before fully mature. Usually Yukon Gold or Red Potato. They are small and tender. Low starch, suitable for boiling.

Cutlet- Derived from côtelette, côte (“rib”). A thin slice of meat from veal, pork, mutton, chicken or turkey. Cutlets are often thinned with a meat mallet. Cutlets are also called Cotoletta (Italian), Escalope (French), Katsu (Japanese), Kotleta (Russian), Milanese (Italian), Paillard (French), Scaloppini (Italian), Schnitzel (German).

Demi-Glace– French for half-glaze, is a rich, thick sauce traditionally made from reduced veal stock mixed with an equal amount of sauce espagnole. You probably don’t want to make either of these, they are a career in themselves. If you really want to give your own demi-glace a try, check out this video.  Demi-Glace Gold® and Better Than Bouillon are good brands. They’re available in some stores or online.

Dice– Cut into small cubes, i.e., dice. Typically 1/2 inch in size, this usually refers to vegetables. Also small dice, 1/4 inch and large dice, 3/4 inch.

Dorure- French term for dough glue. Usually a mix of water and flour that is painted onto dough to glue it together. Not needed for most things, but for larger items like seams on a Wellington are helped by the extra holding ability.

Flambé- 🔥 Adding alcohol to food and lighting it on fire 🔥. Used to add flavor and “show” to the preparation. Never add alcohol from the bottle and never while the pan is on the burner! Pour the needed amount into a measuring cup, remove the pan from the burner and pour in the alcohol. Return to the burner and light the alcohol with a match or lighter (or, if you have a gas range, carefully tip the pan towards the flame). It will flame hot and high 🔥, often 2 to 3 feet above the pan. It will also burn off quickly. Shake the pan around gently to make sure most of the alcohol burns. It won’t all burn off. Ignoring the fact that liquors are 70-100 proof, they are only 35-50% alcohol and only 80% of the actual alcohol will burn off. Never lean over the pan while lighting it!

Fond- French for base or foundation. Primarily an American term, in France the term “sucs” is used. These are the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan when you cook meat and poultry. This is really important stuff and shouldn’t be wasted. It dissolves readily in boiling liquid. A little stock or wine does wonders for this and turns fond into sauce. Most chefs recommend scraping with a wooden spoon; avoid metal utensils, but any hard silicon (temperature-safe) plastic will usually work. If you do decide to waste the fond, then a great way to clean it off, is to… Oh, never mind. If you waste fond figure it out for yourself.

Galantine- Poultry that has been de-boned and poached or boiled.

Garlic- Use fresh. I cheat and buy the jarred stuff. It has great refrigerator life, but it really isn’t as potent as fresh. You may need to bump up the quantity if you use jarred. I do. If fresh garlic is starting to bud, i.e., has a green shoot sticking out the end, you want to remove that. Use a paring knife and split the garlic clove and pull out most of the green. It can be very bitter when cooked. Best to avoid it. Garlic salt, garlic powder and granulated garlic are for special use and should only be used if specifically called for.

Holy Trinity- Cajun and creole version of mirepoix. Onions, celery and bell pepper.

Jacquard or Jaccard– Meat tenderizer. Cuts through the fibers in meat to help absorb marinades and tenderize the meat.

Julienne– cut into matchsticks. Usually vegetables.

Kitchen Bouquet- A brand name sauce additive available in most supermarkets. Has a rich meat flavor and dark color which turns any gravy darker.

Mirepoix- An aromatic mixture of onions, celery and carrot cooked in butter or oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Used as a flavor base for dishes, the standard ratio is 2:1:1 by weight of onion, celery and carrot, but check your recipe for specific amounts. The vegetables are chopped to the same consistency

Mise-en-place- French phrase which means “putting in place”, i.e., be prepared. In cooking it means get everything cut, prepared, measured, ready before you start cooking.

Nam Pla– is a Thai fish sauce. It is a basic ingredient of Thai cooking. Most often made from anchovies, water and salt that is fermented for 12 – 18 months.

NFB– Not for beginners. You can take this as a challenge if you want.

Oil- Oil comes in many varieties. Lots of it is next to useless. Some of it is special purpose like grape seed oil or walnut oil.

Avocado oil has become popular due to its 500°F smoke point and heart-healthy oleic acid content.

Canola oil is my go-to oil for general use in cooking. It has a fairly high smoke point and adds no flavor of its own.

Grape seed oil has a very high smoke point so it is useful for certain frying and sautéing. It’s expensive though so not for normal use.

Olive Oil comes in various grades, Use extra virgin for most things including cooking if you don’t run the heat too high. Gourmet olive oils are used for final flavoring and added after the food is cooked.

Peanut oil has a higher smoke point, but also will be a problem for anyone with nut allergies.

Potato Flakes– A magic thickener that you can use to instantly thicken sauces. Add a big pinch at a time, stir in and repeat until you get the desired thickness.

Rapeseed oil is more commonly known as Canola oil.

Sesame oil is for cooking and flavoring Asian food.

Walnut oil is for flavoring, mostly salads.

Pan Roast– Start the cooking in a sauté or fry pan. Brown on one side, then flip the food and put the pan in the oven. Oven temperature is usually on the high side, 425-450°F. Sauté and fry pans are usually rated for 450°F.

Panade– A mixture of bread and milk used to make meatballs and meatloaf tender. A small amount of milk is added to bread that has the crusts removed and is torn up or cubed. It adds moisture to the meat and the starch coats the proteins to keep them from binding as tight. The excess milk is squeezed from the bread before being added to the meat.

Parchment– Oven safe paper used for roasting and baking. Available in rolls and pre-cut sheets.

Pepper– Always use fresh ground. Pre-ground pepper is a complete waste of money. Ground pepper is full of volatile oils that evaporate in a day. If you often need a lot of pepper get a spice grinder. Don’t grind it too fine. Fresh ground pepper should be coarse enough to actually fall into a hot pan or grill. Too finely ground pepper will blow away and make you sneeze.

Pounding– A.k.a. beating your meat. Meat here means any protein you need thinner than normal. Use a heavy aluminum mallet or a medium sized heavy sauce pan. When I first started cooking the technique was to use wax paper on either side of the meat, next it was plastic wrap. Alton Brown spritzes plastic wrap with a little water. Now I use freezer bags. They work great. I usually don’t bother with any water; there is usually enough juice on whatever I’m pounding. The bag also helps contain splatter and it is a lot thicker than plastic wrap.

Protein– Chef-speak for meat, poultry and seafood. Generally the most expensive item in the dish.

Rest– After cooking, most proteins (meat, poultry) need to rest before being cut. Cover loosely with foil or a spare pan lid and let sit for at least 5 minutes. 10 minutes is better. (A large roast may need 15 minutes.) The meat cools slightly and reabsorbs the juices. If you cut it too soon all that juice will run out making a mess and leaving you with dryer meat.

Roux– Flour cooked in fat to remove the raw flour taste. Roux is the starting point for gravy and many sauces. The rule of thumb is equal parts flour and butter, but other fats can be used. Cook stirring almost constantly for 3-5 minutes for a quick roux. 1½ TBS of each will thicken 1 cup of stock to gravy consistency. Roux is cooked longer for some uses. Dark brown roux, for instance, is cooked about 45 minutes as the base for gumbo.

Sachet– In French baking terms this translates to a little over 2 teaspoons.

Salt– Salt comes in all sorts of styles now, Kosher, table, sea, Hawaiian, pink, black. The mind boggles. Use Kosher salt for the recipes in this book unless they specifically call for something else.

Sauce Salt– Not real salt but it contains lots of it. Near the end of making a sauce you should be tasting and adjusting the seasoning, i.e., adding more salt or pepper. Bouillon granules add more flavor than plain salt. Use chicken bouillon granules for a chicken sauce. Beef bouillon granules for beef and pork sauces. How much to use is basically guess work, not by measuring spoons; just add pinches of bouillon granules until it tastes good.

Sauté- French for fry actually, the past participle of “to jump”. Webster’s says “to fry (food) in a small amount of fat”. In cooking it means the cook is shaking the pan to keep the food moving. The food isn’t just lying there. Part of the idea is to keep the pan hot because the food isn’t in constant contact. You can sauté with a spatula if you’re not comfortable flipping food over the traditional way. (If you want to learn to sauté food by shaking the pan, use a cold pan and put a handful or two of dried beans or rice in the pan and practice. To be a real pro use your non-dominant hand.)

Sauté Pan– Strangely, a sauté pan has straight, i.e., vertical sides. If the sides are sloped at an angle it is a skillet or fry pan. See whats the difference sauté pan? for more information.

Simmer– If it was any hotter it would be boiling. A few bubbles are OK, but generally you want it right on the brink of boiling without actually boiling.

Silpat– A Non-stick silicone baking mat. Turns a sheet pan into a non-stick sheet pan. Oven safe to 475°F. Aimed at baked goods, these work great for everything.

Soffritto– Italian version of mirepoix using onion, celery, carrot, cooked in extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Literally, “under fried”.

Sofrito– Spanish version of mirepoix using onion, garlic, paprika, peppers, and tomatoes cooked in olive oil. Some recipes add bay leaves. Cuban versions of sofrito do not include tomatoes.

Soy Sauce– Sauce made from soybeans, wheat flour, sugar, salt and water brewed together. It is a staple of Asian dishes. There are many types, but the principal types are regular, light, dark and gluten-free. Most name brand soy sauce is regular.

Soy Superior is a dark soy sauce, thicker, richer and often sweeter than regular.

Superior Soy is regular soy sauce, sometimes labelled premium and referred to as light soy in Asian cooking.

Tamari is a gluten-free Japanese style of soy sauce.

Stock– Comes in cans and concentrate. You can make your own if you have enough freezer space to store it. I have used both Better Than Bouillon and Knorr stock concentrate. Each Knorr packet makes 3½ cups, so it’s easy to get more than you need. You can make the whole packet and freeze the leftovers. Once opened, the packets keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator sealed in a snack bag. My current favorite is to keep jars of Better Than Bouillon in the refrigerator. You can mix it into hot water to make any quantity you need. (In a dire emergency you can use bouillon granules in water. It’s better than none, but really loaded in salt. See Sauce Salt above.)

Sugar– Sweet crystals of deliciousness. Easy to confuse for salt unless you taste it, which explains some major cooking disasters. Comes in a confusing array of styles.

Table sugar is the white crystal just mentioned, standard sugar bowl filler.

Brown sugar comes in light, medium or dark-brown – is granulated sugar with molasses added back.

Caster sugar is the British term for superfine sugar.

Confectioners’ sugar is a very fine powder also called milled, icing or powdered sugar. Usually contains a small amount of anti-caking agent such as cornstarch.

Demerara sugar is a large grain sugar that is less refined than table sugar. It has some remaining molasses giving it a pale amber color. Sometimes called “Raw” sugar.

Muscovado sugar is partially refined dark brown sugar slightly coarser and stickier than normal dark-brown sugar. It has a high molasses content and flavor.

Pearl sugar (or Swedish sugar) is small pearl shaped sugar used for decorating.

Sanding sugar is courser than table sugar, but still fine like sand. It is used as an edible decoration that will not dissolve when subjected to heat. It is sometimes called pearl or decorating sugar.

Sparkling sugar is course white crystals that sparkle to add eye appeal. It is primarily used on pastries and desserts.

Super fine sugar is finer grained table sugar used in beverages, room-temperature liquids and meringues. Called Caster Sugar in the UK.

Turbinado sugar is less processed than brown sugar and has a light caramel flavor. It is also called “Raw” sugar. Made from the first pressing of the sugar cane.

Sweat– Is a cooking technique for vegetables at low heat to evaporate excess moisture without browning them. Usually done at medium to low heat, the idea is to soften the vegetables prior to cooking in liquids like soups, sauces and stews.

Swiss– A method used to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. It means to pound the meat to break down fibers. See Pounding above. Swiss Steak is an example of a finished dish.

Treacle– European for molasses.

Water– Use cold, preferably filtered, unless otherwise directed, then heat as needed. Don’t use hot tap water unless you have one of those fancy instant-heat water taps. The tank of your hot water heater tends to build up a bunch of crud over time ̶ minerals, particles, rust that give hot water an off taste that will show up in your food.

Zha Cai / 榨菜 (Sichuan Preserved Vegetable)– The pickled, rather strange looking stem of a special kind of mustard cabbage from Sichuan. Very spicy.