A La King: Food heated in a rich white sauce, cream sauce or sherry-flavored sauce.

A La Mode: Literally, in the fashion, or manner of; this phrase is loosely used in American

cookery; can mean food which has been soaked, and sometimes cooked in a marinade;

also pie served with a heaping mound of ice cream on it; or any dessert having ice cream on top.

Back to Top

Appetizer: Food or beverage served before the first course of luncheon or dinner.

Back to Top

Aspic: Almost any type of dish, except dessert, which has been thickened with gelatin,

or covered with it. Formerly meant meat, chicken or fish stock, sometimes including bits

of meat and vegetables, boiled down so that when cold it thickened with its own gelatin.

Back to Top

Au Gratin: Food in a sauce, the top covered with bread crumbs and butter; or cheese;

or both crumbs and cheese, baked or broiled until browned crust is formed on top.

Back to Top

Barbecue: To roast meat, poultry or fish over coals or on a spit, basting frequently with

a highly seasoned sauce; to prepare such food in a sauce on the range or in the oven.

Back to Top

Baste: To pour liquid by spoonfuls over a food while it is cooking to keep it from drying

out and to add flavor; either liquid from the pan in which the food is cooking or other liquid is used.

Back to Top

Batter: A semi-liquid mixture of flour, liquid and other ingredients,

to which heat is to be applied.

Back to Top

Beat: With a spoon, fork, whisk or wheel (rotary) beater to introduce

air throughout any food mixture. Stirring in rapid regular, round-and-

round or over, under and over strokes with a spoon or beater.

Back to Top

Bisque: A rich cream soup: formerly only shellfish cream soups

were called besques. Also frozen whipped cream or cream desserts.

Back to Top

Blanch: To immerse food in boiling water for a brief period of

time then drain and rinse it in cold water immediately.

Back to Top

Boil: To cook in a liquid heated until it is bubbling. A full rolling boil

is one which cannot be smoothed down by stirring with a spoon.

Back to Top

Botulism: Poisoning by a bacillus which may infect preserved food especially

canned meat and vegetables. This toxin is destroyed by heating 212 degrees F.,

for 5 minutes. After cooling, the high temperature is repeated once or twice.

Back to Top

Bouillon: A clear brown stock made either by boiling meat with water and

seasonings, or from commercially prepared bouillon cubes. When served

as soup it is called bouillon; combination stock (meat and poultry) is consume';

fish stock is called court bouillon. But there is no uniformity of practice in the use of these names.

Back to Top

Braise: To cook in low moist heat with fat and water or fat and other liquid; usually used

for meats. The method is to brown the food quickly in the fat, add the liquid and seasonings

if used, cover the pan tightly and keep the heat low until the food is cooked.

Back to Top

Breaded: To cover or coat food with bread crumbs; food which is

breaded is usually dipped in liquid first to make the crumbs stick.

Back to Top

Bread Crumbs: Fine or dry bread crumbs are made from dry bread or toast

rolled or ground to a course powder. Soft bread crumbs are made by removing

the crust from the bread, then cutting or breaking the central section into small bits.

Back to Top

Broil: To cook food by direct exposure to radiant heat, rather than live coals, flame or

electric heating unit. The term is also used for pan-cooked food when no fat is added to the pan.

Back to Top

Broth: Thin soup; or liquid in which meat, poultry, fish or vegetables have been cooked.

Back to Top

Brown: To give the outer surface of a food brown color by

sautéing, frying, toasting, broiling or baking.

Back to Top

Canapé: An appetizer consisting of fried or toasted bread or crisp crackers

topped with seasoned spread of fish, meat, cheese or salad combinations.

Back to Top

Capon: Castrated male chicken; large, tender meat.

Back to Top

Caramelize: To melt sugar and heat it until it becomes a golden brown

liquid; this caramel liquid is used to flavor soups, vegetables and other

dishes; also used in cakes, icings, candy and sauces.

Back to Top

Chop: To cut in small pieces with a knife or chopper; a cut of meat.

Back to Top

Chowder: A half-soup, half-stew of vegetables, fish or other foods.

Clarify: To make liquids such as coffee or soups completely transparent by the addition of

egg white or other agent; after several minutes heating the egg white in the liquid, the white

coagulates, collecting solids in it; this portion can be strained off, leaving a completely clear liquid.

Back to Top

Cobbler: Form of deep fruit pie; may have top crust only or top and bottom crust.

Back to Top

Cocktail: Beverage, alcoholic or made of fruit or vegetable juices, served as appetizer

before meal; also a cup of chopped fruit, or of seafood dressed in a tart sauce, served before a meal.

Back to Top

Confectioners' Sugar: Finest form of cane or beet sugar; used for frostings and

confections. Do not confuse with powered sugar which is coarser and not so sweet.

Back to Top

Compote: Cooked, sweetened fruit, usually two or more

kinds mixed; served as dessert or with meat or poultry.

Back to Top

Condiments: Seasonings such as salt, pepper, paprika, including spices and herbs;

also used to refer to sauces such as Tabasco, Worcestershire, A-1, and similar bottled seasonings.

Back to Top

Consommé': Clear soup made of meat and chicken, or as used today, any clear soup.

Back to Top

Core: The fruit's core is the stem running through it surrounded by seeds. To core an

apple or pear is to remove its core; the cylindrical knife for this purpose is called a corer.

Back to Top

Cream: To soften fat by beating it with a spoon or beater until it can be whipped almost

like very thick cream; also means to blend fat and sugar smoothly together.

Back to Top

Creole: The addition of tomatoes, green peppers, spicy seasonings and sometime

chopped okra or corn to a sauce or dish; in the style of New Orleans cookery.

Croquettes: Food, raw or cooked, hashed fine, held together by a thick sauce or egg,

shaped into small forms (balls, cylinders, cones, cubes) and cooked in deep, hot fat.

Back to Top

Croutons: Tiny cubes of bread fried in fat or toasted, and

served as garnish on soups and other dishes.

Back to Top

Cut in: To work fat or shortening into flour or corn meal with the fingers, or with two

knives or a pastry blender until the mixture has the texture of very course meal.

Back to Top

Cut & Fold: Usually applied to adding stiffly beaten egg whites to a liquid or other mixtures;

the cutting is done by turning the spoon sideways as it goes into the mixture from bottom of

the bowl, then fold it over the top portion, and repeat till the two mixtures are combined.

Back to Top

Cutlet: A piece of meat from the leg or rib; also croquet mixture shaped like a chop or meat cutlet.

Back to Top

Deep Fat Frying: To fry in a large kettle nearly full of liquid fat,

which has been heated so that the food floated in it browns quickly.

Back to Top

Demitasse: Literally half cup; the small cup of after dinner coffee.

Back to Top

Deviled: Highly spiced food. Chopped, ground,

or whole mixture that is served hot or cold

Back to Top

Dice: To cut into small cubes or pieces.

Back to Top

Draw: Used in reference to poultry, means to cut the foul open and remove (draw out) the entrails.

Back to Top

Dredge: To coat food such as meat by dipping it into and completely covering it with fine,

powdery mixture of flour and seasonings or seasoned crumbs; or to sprinkle flour and other

mixtures over a food; fruit is dredged in sugar or with sugar.

Back to Top

Dressed: Referring to poultry, means that feathers, but not the head, feet or entrails,

have been removed; meaning varies in different markets and communities.

Drippings: Fats and juices which cook out of beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton or poultry while

they roast or broil; fat left in frying pan where bacon or chops or other meat has cooked.
 

Back to Top

Entree: Today, the main dish of a simple meal; in more elaborate menus an interesting "made"

dish served between soup and meat; or fish and meat or with the meat or main course.

Back to Top

Escallop: More usual term is scallop, meaning to bake any food with a sauce and topping if crumbs

or crumbs and cheese; sometimes baked in a scallop shell or shell-shaped dish, hence the name.

Back to Top

Espagnole: Spanish-style; similar to Creole in cookery since it often means the

addition of tomatoes or tomato paste, onion and spicy seasonings.

Back to Top

Eviscerate: To remove entrails from fowl or game.

Back to Top

Fat: Butter, margarine, shortening, lard, oils, fat from fowl and meat.

Back to Top

Filet Mignon: A piece of chicken, fish or meat from which bones have been r

emoved, or which originally contained no bones.

Back to Top

Flake: To break into small sections or pieces with a fork or spoon.

Back to Top

Flour, Browned: Flour heated in an un-greased skillet over low heat until browned; stir to avoid burning.

Back to Top

Fondue: Applied to baked cheese and crumb mixtures, or cheese and wine rarebits, Swiss-style.

Back to Top

Frappe': A mixture of fruit or juices frozen to a mush, but not solid;

cordial or liqueur poured over cracked ice.

Back to Top

French: Of lamb chops, to trim away the meat from the end of the bone.

Of beef tenderloin, to flatten with a cleaver. Of green beans, to cut lengthwise

into thin slivers. Of frying, to immerse food in deep hot fat until the surface is browned.

Back to Top

Fricassee: To cook meat, poultry or game cut in small pieces, in liquid and fat.

Food covered with batter, or mixed with batter, and fried in deep, hot fat, or in a pan.

Back to Top

Frost: To spread icing or frosting over a cake, cookies or other foods.

Back to Top

Garnish: To add decorative color to a dish with parsley, fruit and other foods.

Back to Top

Giblets: The heart, liver and gizzard of poultry.

Back to Top

Glaze: The shiny coat given to foods: glazed ham has a sugar-and-fat glaze or

one of aspic or gelatin; glazed carrots are coated with sugar and butter.
 

Back to Top

Grate: To break or scrape foods into small pieces by rubbing them over a

utensil known as a grater or on various small grating devices.

Back to Top

Gravy: Sauce made with the juices of meat, poultry or fish in the pan in which

they cooked, with other added liquids and seasonings and possibly flour for thickening.

Back to Top

Grease: To rub the inside surface of a dish with fat so that food put into the dish

will not stick to the surface; to rub a baking pan or mold with oil or fat.

Back to Top

Grill: To cook food on a wire or metal rack under or over heat.

Back to Top

Hors d'oeuvre: The French version of appetizers, served before a meal: olives,

celery, pickled beets, pickled mushrooms, sardines and other foods.

Back to Top

Ice: A fruit juice mixture frozen until firm and smooth; to ice means to chill either in the refrigerator or on

the ice; or the addition of ice to the food or drink itself. Also means to apply icing or frosting to a cake.

Back to Top

Infusion: Tea, coffee, herbs, steeped by the addition of boiling water,

which is poured off and served as a beverage.

Back to Top

Irradiate: To add vitamin D to foods by exposure to ultraviolet rays.

a' l'italienne: In the Italian style; garnished with Parmesan cheese or

Italian tomato paste; or cooked in olive oil or all three.

Back to Top

Jelly Test: Dip a spoon into boiling jelly and let juice run off the edge of the spoon.

If it runs into two separate streams, the jelly is not done. When the last few drops run

off the spoon in a single sheet rather than in two or more separate streams the jelly is done.

Back to Top

Julienne: To cut into long slender pieces; usually applied to vegetables, sometimes to meat or cheese.

Back to Top

Knead: To work dough, usually with the hands, until it is a smooth, pliable mass.

Back to Top

Lard: To insert thin layers of fat between the fibers of thin meat; gashes may be cut in the

meat and slender strips of salt pork or bacon introduced in the openings, then the meat is

sewed or pressed together to cover the added fat. To enrich the food as it cooks with fat or lard.

Back to Top

Leaven: To raise; some leavening agents are baking powder, soda, eggs.

Back to Top

Legumes: Vegetables of the pea or pod family, including beans, lentils and peanuts.

Back to Top

Liquor: The liquid in which food is packed, as oyster liquor, or the liquor

from canned fruits; pot liquor is the liquid in which vegetables have been boiled,

either alone or with meat. Term used for all alcoholic beverages.

Back to Top

Lukewarm: A temperature about 100 to 110 F.

Back to Top

Marinate: To cover food with any liquid to give it flavor. French dressing is often

used to marinate vegetables and meat, as is vinegar and lemon juice-various

seasonings may be added; fruit juices, wines, milk are used; the liquid in which

a food is thus treated is called a marinade.

Back to Top

Melt: To liquefy by heat; melting is usually done at low heat.

Back to Top

Meringue: A mixture of stiffly beaten egg whites and sugar; maybe cooked or uncooked.

Back to Top

Mince: To chop in very fine pieces.

Back to Top

Mocha: Coffee flavor; usually a mixture of coffee and chocolate.

Back to Top

Mousse: Frozen mousse usually contains whipped cream and gelatin, is flavored with

fruit, sweet sauces, wines or cordials and is frozen in a mold packed in ice; a cooked

mousse, such as ham mousse or fish mousse also contains gelatin and cream and is baked or steamed.

Back to Top

Pan Broil: To cook uncovered in a frying pan without fat, or just enough fat to keep food from sticking.

Back to Top

Pan Fry: To cook in a frying pan with little fat;

nearly the same as pan broil, although some fat is added for any pan frying.

Back to Top

Parboil: To cook to near tenderness in boiling water;

cooking is then usually completed by some other method.

Back to Top

Parfait: A smooth, rich ice cream containing eggs, frozen in small paper cups; or a tall

dessert glass filled with syrup or fruit, ice cream and whipped cream.

Back to Top

Pasteurize: To apply below-boiling heat for a given time to a food to kill bacteria; used

commercially for milk; used in the home in the preservation of fruit juices and other foods.
 

Back to Top

Pate': Paste usually of mashed, seasoned liver; pate' de foie gras is imported goose

liver paste containing chopped truffles.

Back to Top

Peel: To pare; also to remove the skins of oranges, tangerines, etc., with the finger;

to skin tomatoes and other thin- skinned fruits and vegetables.

Back to Top

Petits Fours: Small squares, rounds and fancy shapes of cake iced in colors.

Back to Top

Pipe: To force through a pastry tube; frostings, salad dressing or pureed vegetables

are sometimes piped on other foods for decorative effect.

Back to Top

Poach: To cook food gently in a simmering liquid so the food retains its shape.

Back to Top

Punch: Beverage composed of fruit juices, tea, carbonated drinks or any of these

combined with liquor of alcoholic content.

Back to Top

Puree: To force cooked food through a sieve, food mill, strainer or cheesecloth.

Back to Top

Ragout: French for brown stew.

Back to Top

Ramekin: Individual baking dish or casserole; formerly only of porcelain.

Back to Top

Render: To heat any solid animal fat to melting point; also called "to try out."

Back to Top

Rice: To force food through a ricer or course sieve; applied to mashed potatoes and other foods.

Back to Top

Roast: To cook by fry heat in an oven.
 

Back to Top

Roe: The paste which is the basis of all cream sauces, white sauces and gravies; it is

made by blending melted fat and flour; in brown roux, the flour is first browned in a hot pan.

Back to Top

Sauté: To cook food in a pan containing a small amount of fat.

Back to Top

Scald: To heat liquid to just below the boiling point; also to cover

fruits, meat, etc. with boiling water for a few minutes.

Back to Top

Scallop: See escallop. Also a shellfish.

Back to Top

Score: To cut halfway through; for example the fatty covering of ham is

scored before baking; the outer rind of a cucumber is scored with a fork.

Back to Top

Scrape: To remove outer skin or flesh of a vegetable or fruit, holding the knife with blade at

right angles against the food and moving it back and forth in a scraping, not a cutting, action.

Back to Top

Sear: To brown the surface of food, usually meat, by exposing it to

high heat for a comparatively short period of time.

Back to Top

Sherbet: See ice. White of egg or milk added to an ice mixture classes the ice as a sherbet.

Back to Top

Shortening: Fat used for baking.

Back to Top

Simmer: To cook just below the boiling point; only occasional bubble appears on the liquids

surface when it simmers; temperature at sea level for simmering is below 200 F.

Back to Top

Skewer: Long pin of metal or wood on which food is held while cooking; also smaller pins

used to flatten pieces of meat or sections of poultry together while cooking.

Back to Top

Skim: To remove fat or other materials that float on top of a liquid with a skimmer or spoon.

Back to Top

Skimmed Milk: Milk from which cream has been removed.

Back to Top

Spatula: Flexible, wide-blade knife with a rounded end, used to loosen cakes, etc. after baking.

Back to Top

Steam: To cook above, and surround by, steam rising from boiling water. Steamers usually

contain a rack on which the pan or mold of food rests while it cooks in the steam.

Back to Top

Steep: To allow a solid substance to stand in liquid just below the boiling

point, while color, flavor and other qualities are extracted from it; for example,

tea leaves are steeped in boiled water in making tea; see infusion.

Stock: Liquid in which foods have been cooked.

Back to Top

Toast: To brown by direct or oven heat; toasted bread.

Back to Top

Toss: To mix with light strokes, usually by lifting with a fork or spoon.

Back to Top

Truss: To fasten in position with skewers or twine, as to truss the legs and wings of a fowl for roasting.

Back to Top

Whip: To beat rapidly.

Back to Top

Whole Milk: Milk from which the cream has not been removed.

Back to Top