TERMS USED TO DESCRIBE THE METHODS OF
PREPARATION product is frozen.
 Al Dente- this Italian expression meaning ‘’ by
the tooth’’ describes pasta cooked shorter time
so that it has slight resistance when chewed.
 Bake- to cook in the oven with dry heat.
 Barbecue- to cook on a rack or split over hot
coals or some other source of heat.
 Blanch- to scald or parboil in water or steam.
 Bone- to remove bones from fowl or meat.
 Baste- to moisten the surface of meat or other
food while roasting to add flavor and to prevent
drying of the surface.
 Beat- to make a mixture smooth or to introduce
air in a mixture by using a brisk regular lifting
motion.
 Béchamel- one of the grand sauces, white sauces
made of milk thickened with a light roux and
flavored with onion.
 Blend- to mix two or more ingredients
thoroughly.
 Boil- to cook in liquid that is bubbling rapidly.
 Bouquet Garni- aromatics that are tied together
in a small bundle that consists of fresh herbs,
parsley stems, thyme and bay leaves.
 Bread- to coat breadcrumbs or alternately with
breadcrumbs and slightly beaten egg or
evaporated milk.
 Broil- to cook by direct heat.
 Brunoise- vegetable that are cut into very small
diced to garnish soups and sauces (1/8’’ x 1/8’’x
1/8’’).
 Candy- to cook in a sugar syrup until coated or
crystalized.
 Caramelized- to heat sugar until a brown color
and characteristic flavor develop.
 Chop- to cut into small pieces.
 Cure- to treat food by a variety of methods in
order to preserve it over a long period of time
from bacteria.
 Coat- to thoroughly cover a food with a liquid or
dry mixture.
 Clarify- to make a liquid clear by removing
solid particles.
 Crepe- a thin pancake make with egg and batter,
used in sweet and savory preparations.
 Coddle- to cook below boiling point, usually
applied to eggs by pouring boiling water over
them.
 Coagulation- the change from a liquid state to a
thickened mass, jelly curd, or clot due to heat or
agents.
 Deep fry- to cook in a large amount of hot fat.
 Devein- to remove the large black or white vein
in along a shrimp’s back.
 Drain-to remove liquid from a product.
 Deglaze- to remove drippings from cooking
utensils to use in a gravy or sauce.
 Dehydration- a method of food preservation
wherein most of the water from the food is
removed, generally by heated air in mechanical
dryer.
 Dehydro-feezing- a process of food
preservation, which combines dehydration and
freezing. Heated air is used to remove about half
of the original moisture from the food before the
 Dice- to cut into cubes, usually less than ½ inch.
 Dot- to scatter small bits over the surface of the
food.
 Dredge- to sprinkle or coat with flour or other
fine substances.
 Emulsify- to make an emulsion. When small
drops of one liquid are finely distributed in other
liquid, and emulsion is formed
 Escallop- a small, thin slice of meat, fish or
poultry.
 Essence- a concentration of particular flavor.
 Evaporate- the removal of water as water vapour
commonly accelerates by heating or vacuum.
 Elevate- to lift a food off the floor of a
microwave oven to allow microwaves to
penetrate the food from the bottom as well as
form the top and side.
 Flake- to break fish into small pieces with fork.
- To separate food in layers like cooked
chicken or fish that divides naturally.
 Flambé- to ignite a sauce or other liquid so it
flames, liquors such as brandy are essential to
flambé since the ignite easily.
 Fry-to cook in a small amount of hot fat.
- To cook in fat.
 Fold- to incorporate delicate mixture into a
thicker, heavier mixture with a whisk or rubber
spatula using a down, up, over motion so the
finished product remains light.
 Fricassee- to cook pieces of meat or poultry in
butter and then in seasoned liquid until tender.
 Fabrication-butchering and trimming of meat,
poultry and fish.
 Fillet- a boneless of cut meat, fish or poultry.
 Filter- separating solids from liquids by passage
of the mixture through a fine meshed material as
in filtering fruit juices through cheesecloth.
 Freezing- a method of preserving food by
cooling it very rapidly to a low temperature
usually 10° F or below and maintaining it at a
temp. below 0° F.
 Fumet- a concentrated fish stock.
 Garnish- to decorate foods by adding other
attractive and complementary foodstuffs to the
food or serving dish.
 Glaze- to apply a liquid that forms a glossy
coating.
- To rub fat on the surface of a cooking
utensil or on a food itself.
 Grate- to reduce a food into small bits by
rubbing it on the sharp teeth of a utensil.
 Grill- a cooking technique in which food is
cooked by a radiant heat source placed below
the food. It maybe fuelled by charcoal, wood,
electricity or gas.
 Grind- to reduce to fine particles by cutting,
crushing or grinding.
 Jardinière- a mixture of vegetables.
 Julienne- vegetable cut into thin strips: 1/8’’ x
1/8’’ 1-2’’ is standard. Fine julienne is 1/6’’
square.
 Jus- natural juice from a roast.
 Jus lie- natural juice thickened lightly with
cornstarch.
 Knead- to manipulate with a pressing motion
accompanied by folding and stretching.
 Mash- to break a food by pressing it with the
back of a spoon, a masher, or forcing it through
a ricer.
 Melt- to change from solid to liquid through the
application of heat.
- To liquefy by heat.
 Leavener- any ingredients or process that
produce air bubbles and causes the rising of
baked goods.
 Legume- seed of certain plants including bean
and peas, which are eaten for their earthy flavors
and high nutritional value: also the French term
for vegetable.
 Lie- to lightly thicken.
 Liaison- a mixture of egg yolk and cream used
to thicken and enrich sauces.
 Liqueur- an alcoholic drink flavoured with fruit,
spices, nut, herbs and seeds usually sweetened.
 Marinade- an apparel used for cooking to
moisten and flavour foods; maybe liquid or dry.
Dry marinades are usually salt-based. Liquid
marinades are usually based on an acidic
ingredient, such as wine or vinegar.
 Marinate- to let food stand in marinade.
 Mince- to cut or chop into very small pieces.
 Mirepoix- a mixture if carrots (25%), celery
(25%) and onions (50%) used for flavouring
culinary preparations.
 Mise en place- ‘’ to put into place’’. The
preparations and assemble of ingredients, pans,
utensil and plate or serving pieces needed for
particular dish or service period.
 Mix – to combine ingredients in any way affects
distribution.
- To combine two or more ingredients into
one mass.
 Pan-fry- to cook in a skillet with a small amount
of fat.
- To cook in a small amount of fat.
 Pit- to remove the seed of a fruit or vegetables.
 Pan-broil- to cook uncovered on a hot surface,
usually a fry pan. The fat is poured off as it
accumulates.
 Pan-boil- to boil partially cooked. The cooking
is usually completed by another method.
 Parch- to brown by means of dry heat; applied to
grains as corn.
 Pare-to cut off the outside covering.
 Pasteurize- to preserve food by mild heating
sufficiently to destroy a certain microorganisms
and arrest fermentation. The temperature
commonly ranges from 140°- 180 °F, but it
varies with the food.
 Paysanne- peasant-style vegetables cut into
small square 1/8’’ x ½’’x ½’’.
 Peel- to strip off the outside covering.
 Plank to cook or serve a food usually fish or
steak on a hot wooden board called ‘’plank’’.
 Poach- to cook in a hot liquid with precautions
to retain shape.
 Pot roast- a term applied to cooking larger cuts
of meat by braising.
 Press- to separate liquid portions by applying
pressure, as in making cider from apples or
extracting coconut milk from shredded coconut.
 Puree- food that is processed in a blender or
food processor or put through a food mill to
make a smooth paste.
 Purse- to press fruit or vegetable through a fine
sieve.
 Pre-heat- to heat an appliance to a desired
temperature about 5-8 minutes before it is to be
used.
 Quenelle- a small, oval-shaped dumpling made
of forcemeat, used for garnish.
 Quarter- to cut into 4 equal pieces.
 Ragout- a stew
 Reduce- to boil down or concentrate.
- To decrease the quantity of a liquid in a
flavor.
 Render- to remove fat from connective tissues
by slow heating.
 Refining- to remove impurities from materials as
in refining sugar.
 Roast- to cook by dry heat, uncovered. The term
is usually applied to meats but may refer to other
food like corn and chesnut. It is usually done in
an oven but occasionally under coals or on
heated stones or metals.
 Roux- a thickening agent made from flour and
butter.
 Sauté- to brown or cook in a small amount of
fat.
 Scald- to heat milk to just below boiling point or
to dip in boiling water, like blanching.
 Scallop-to bake food usually cut in pieces, with
liquid or sauce. Top may be covered with
crumbs.
 Sear- to brown the surface of meat by a short
application of intense heat.
 Shred- to cut or tear food in long narrow pieces.
 Simmer- to cook in a liquid just below the
boiling point. Bubbles form slowly and collapse
below the surface of a liquid.
 Skim- to remove particles of impurity from the
surface of a liquid.
 Strain- to pass a liquid through a sieve or screen
to remove particles.
 Section-to separate into parts.
 Separate- to remove one part from another, as
the yolk from the white of an egg.
 Shape-to form.
 Shell- to remove from an outer covering.
 Skin- to remove a substance from the surface
of a liquid.
 Slice- to cut into thin, flat pieces.
 Sprinkle- to scatter drops of liquid or a particles
of powder over the surface of a food.
 Sterilize- to make free from micro-organism.
 Stir- to mix with a circular motion.
 Stir fry- to cook food quickly in a small amount
of fat over high heat while stirring constantly.
 Toss- to make lightly.
 Unmold- to remove from a form.