Cooking terms

French for 'in the English manner'. The two most common are crème anglaise (a thin pouring custard of egg yolks, sugar and milk) and pané à l'anglaise (a coating of seasoned flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs for shallow-frying).

Whip, sift or beat air into a mixture. Done with flour and confectioners' sugar through a sieve; with eggs, butter and cream by mechanical action. The added air is what gives sponges their rise and cakes their lightness.

Cook in a quick-heating countertop convection oven. Air frying is not actually frying - the fast moving hot air does the crisping, with no fat needed beyond what is already on the food.

Italian for 'to the tooth' - cooked but still firm to the bite. Used most often for pasta and rice, but applies equally to beans and some vegetables. Overshooting al dente is the most common pasta mistake.

French for 'amuse the mouth'. A single-bite, often complimentary course served before the meal proper, used by chefs to set the tone of what's coming. Always small, always bite-sized.

Ingredients such as herbs, spices and vegetables used to add flavour and aroma to dishes. Onion, garlic, ginger, celery and bay leaf are some of the most common; they typically go into the pan first to perfume the cooking fat.

A topping of breadcrumbs, grated cheese or both, browned under a hot grill or in the oven to form a golden crust. French for 'by grating' or 'with a crust'. Gratin dauphinois, cauliflower cheese and macaroni cheese are all gratins.

Served with the juices the meat gave off as it cooked. The juices are skimmed of fat and sometimes lightly thickened. Common with roast beef, lamb and prime rib.

Prepared or served with a generous amount of cracked black pepper, most often pressed into the surface of a steak before searing. Often finished with a cream-and-cognac pan sauce.

French for 'nearly dry'. A liquid reduced until almost all the moisture has evaporated and only a syrupy glaze remains. A standard step in sauce-making before stock or cream is added.

A water bath. The dish being cooked sits inside a larger pan of warm or hot water so the contents heat gently and evenly, without ever reaching a fierce direct heat. Used for delicate custards, terrines, panna cotta and cheesecake; also for chocolate over a pot of simmering water.

Cook food in an enclosed oven by surrounding it with hot dry air. Best for breads, cakes, casseroles and anything where you want even, gentle heat right through. Distinct from roasting in that the temperature is usually lower and the food tends to be batter, dough or covered.

Thirteen. The extra unit is said to have originated as a hedge against short-changing a customer at a time when underweight bread carried heavy penalties - giving thirteen guaranteed twelve worth.

A large, flat metal sheet such as a cookie sheet or sheet pan. Some are totally flat; some have rims. Rimmed versions double as roasting trays and keep juices from spilling into the oven.

Wrap a lean piece of meat or poultry in a layer of fat (often pork back fat or streaky bacon) before roasting. The fat melts as the meat cooks, basting it and keeping it moist. Common with venison, partridge, pheasant and other game.

Spoon, brush or pour fat, juices or marinade over food as it cooks. Keeps the surface moist, builds layers of flavour, and aids even browning. A roast chicken benefits from a basting every twenty minutes or so.

A pourable mixture prior to baking, often used for pancakes, muffins and quick breads. Wetter than a dough; it spreads on its own in the tin rather than holding a shape.

A French sauce made by emulsifying clarified butter into egg yolks reduced with white wine vinegar, shallots and tarragon. The classic partner to steak.

Mix ingredients vigorously with a spoon, whisk or electric mixer. Used when you want everything thoroughly combined, sometimes with air worked in - eggs are beaten, batters are beaten, butter is beaten with sugar.

A sauce made from a cooked flour-and-butter paste (a roux) and thickened with milk. One of the French mother sauces; the base of macaroni cheese, lasagne, moussaka and croque monsieur.

French for 'white butter'. A sauce of reduced white wine vinegar (or white wine) and shallots, with cold butter whisked in off the heat to make a thick, creamy emulsion. Classically served with fish.

French for 'kneaded butter'. Equal parts soft butter and flour kneaded together into a paste, whisked into a hot liquid at the end of cooking to thicken it. The butter melts as the flour cooks out, giving a smooth, glossy finish.

French for 'black butter'. Butter melted and cooked until the milk solids turn very dark brown, then finished with vinegar or lemon juice and sometimes capers. The classic dressing for skate.

French for 'hazelnut butter' - butter cooked until the milk solids brown to a golden, nutty colour but no further. Has a deeper, toasted flavour than melted butter; finishing pasta, gnocchi, fish or vegetables with it transforms the dish.

A smooth, creamy, intensely-flavoured soup. Classically made from the strained, blended broth of crustaceans (lobster, crab, langoustine) with cream and a touch of rice or roux for body. Modern usage extends to creamy vegetable soups.

Plunge food briefly into boiling water, then drop it straight into iced water to stop the cooking. Sets the colour of green vegetables, loosens tomato or peach skins, and takes the raw edge off without leaving anything soft.

Combine two or more ingredients so they become smooth and uniform in texture, losing their individual characteristics. Done with a blender, food processor or by hand. The endpoint is usually a single homogeneous mixture.

A blender with a powerful motor and a pitcher made of sturdy, shatterproof plastic. High-speed blenders can smoothly purée foods that regular blenders cannot - smoothies with whole fruit and seeds, hot soups, nut butters, frozen drinks.

Bake an unfilled pastry shell before adding its filling. The case is lined with parchment and weighted with ceramic beans, dried rice or pulses, then baked until set so the wet filling cannot collapse the walls or leave the base soggy. Essential for custard and fresh-fruit tarts.

Soften gelatine in cold liquid before melting. Powdered gelatine is sprinkled over cold water and left for 3-5 minutes; leaf gelatine is submerged for a similar time. Blooming guarantees an even set with no lumps. Agar agar is bloomed in cold water but must then be boiled for 5 minutes to activate.

Cook in liquid at a full rolling 100°C, large bubbles breaking the surface continuously. Used for pasta, rice and starchy vegetables. Harsh on delicate items, which usually want a simmer instead.

Remove the bones from a piece of meat or fish. Boning a chicken leg, filleting a fish, or boning out a shoulder of lamb all involve detaching the muscle cleanly from the skeleton. Specialist boning knives have narrow flexible blades for the work.

A classic French sauce reducing demi-glace with red Bordeaux wine, shallots, thyme and butter. Traditionally finished with poached bone marrow and served with steak.

A bundle of herbs - typically parsley stalks, thyme, bay leaf and sometimes peppercorns - tied with kitchen string or wrapped in muslin. Simmered in stocks, soups and stews to add aromatic flavour, then pulled out before serving.

A beef stew braised in red Burgundy wine with onions, mushrooms, bacon and herbs. Bœuf bourguignon is the canonical dish; the technique extends to other meats and game.

Brown food first, then cook it slowly in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot. Works tough cuts of meat into yielding softness and turns the cooking liquid into a built-in sauce.

Soak meat or poultry in salted water (and often sugar, herbs and spices) for a few hours before cooking. Seasons the meat all the way through and helps it hold onto moisture. Common with pork, chicken and turkey.

Cook with intense overhead heat, very close to the heat source. The American term for what UK and Australian kitchens call grilling - quick, high, and excellent for browning the top of a dish or finishing cheese. The food sits roughly 13cm or less from the element.

A flavourful liquid made from the bones and meat of animals or fish. Often the terms 'stock' and 'broth' are used interchangeably, though purists call the meat-and-bone version broth and the bones-only version stock.

Cook food until it becomes brown, but not burned. The browning reaction (the Maillard reaction) creates hundreds of new flavour compounds and is the difference between a stew that tastes deep and one that tastes flat.

A very fine French dice, usually 3mm cubes or smaller. Time-consuming but elegant; used as a garnish for consommés and refined dishes, or to fold into terrines.

Cut food open through the middle without slicing all the way through, then open it flat like a book. Used to even out a thick chicken breast for fast cooking, to stuff and roll meat, or to spread a leg of lamb for the grill.

A small bite of food, savoury, served at the start of a meal or with drinks. Usually a base (toast, blini, cracker) topped with a flavourful spread or morsel - smoked salmon, pâté, an olive.

Heat food until the sugars on its surface break down and brown. Onions caramelise slowly over 30-40 minutes to a sweet, dark jam; sugar caramelises in seconds; meat surfaces caramelise through the Maillard reaction during searing and roasting.

A circle of greaseproof or baking paper laid flat on top of the food in a pan, just touching the surface of the liquid. Stops liquid from evaporating too fast, keeps poaching food submerged, and prevents skins forming on sauces and custards.

A sturdy baking dish or pan. Also the name of the slow-cooked dish made in it, where meat and vegetables stew together in a small amount of liquid until everything is tender.

An all-purpose knife, typically with a blade 15-25cm long. The single most useful tool in a kitchen; chops, slices, dices and minces most ingredients. Worth investing in one good one and learning to sharpen it.

Stack leafy herbs or greens, roll them into a tight cigar, then slice across into fine ribbons. Used for basil, mint and shiso when you want pretty strips rather than chopped flecks.

A conical fine-mesh sieve used for straining stocks, sauces and soups to a silky, particle-free finish. The cone shape concentrates the liquid into a narrow stream and lets you push pulp through with the back of a ladle.

Cut food into rough, irregular pieces with no requirement for uniform size. Faster than dicing and fine for stews, soups and anything that will get blended. When a recipe asks for finely chopped, the pieces should be small enough to disappear into a sauce.

Separate the pure fat or liquid from solids and water. Clarified butter has the milk solids and water removed by gentle melting and skimming, leaving a high-smoke-point cooking fat; clarified stock is filtered through an egg-white raft to give an utterly clear consommé.

A liquid - typically a custard or sauce - thick enough to coat the back of a spoon without immediately running off. A finger drawn through it leaves a clear line. The classic test for a stovetop crème anglaise.

Cook gently in water held just below boiling point. Most often applied to eggs, in a small ceramic pot called a coddler set in a pan of barely-simmering water. The result is a much softer, more delicate egg than boiling.

A perforated metal or plastic bowl with handles, used for draining foods cooked in liquid. Bigger holes than a sieve, so it drains pasta and boiled vegetables fast without trapping them.

Roughly chopped, most often used of tomatoes. A tomato concassé is peeled, deseeded and cut into small even squares - the messy parts removed so the flesh can be used cleanly in a sauce or salsa.

Cook food slowly in fat at a low temperature, traditionally for preservation. Duck confit (legs cooked in duck fat at 90°C for several hours) is the classic; modern kitchens also confit garlic in oil, tomatoes in olive oil, and onions in butter.

A perfectly clear, deeply flavoured broth, clarified by raising a raft of whipped egg whites that trap impurities as it cooks. Served as a refined starter or used as a base for elegant sauces.

An oven with fans that circulate air for even browning and often faster cooking. Most modern ovens are convection (or fan-assisted); recipes written for conventional ovens usually want the convection setting reduced by 20°C or so.

A metal tool shaped like an ice-cream scoop, used to portion cookie dough and other scoopable foods. Gives uniform cookie size (and uniform bake time) without any weighing.

A sturdy wire rack to set hot baked goods on so they cool evenly. Air circulates underneath the food, so the bottom does not steam itself soggy against a solid surface.

Remove the central core of a fruit or vegetable - the woody bit of an apple, the dense centre of a pineapple, the seedy chamber of a pepper. Specialised corers exist; a paring knife works for most.

Beat solid fat (often shortening or butter) with sugar until lightened in texture and very well combined. The first step in many cake and biscuit recipes; the sugar's sharp edges aerate the fat as it works in.

Spread dangerous bacteria from one food, such as raw chicken, to another, such as raw vegetables, by using unwashed cooking tools and surfaces for both. Always wash boards and knives between raw meat and anything that will be eaten without further cooking.

Raw vegetables served whole or sliced as an appetiser, usually with a dip - aioli, tapenade, a vinaigrette. The French original of the dip-and-stick platter.

Break a whole spice, garlic clove or nut into smaller pieces by pressing rather than cutting. Releases volatile oils that a clean knife cut leaves locked inside. Done with the flat of a knife, a mortar and pestle, or a rolling pin.

Cut into chunky regular squares, typically 1.5-2cm on each side. Larger than dice. Good for stewing meat or roasting vegetables where you want the centre to stay tender.

When a mixture separates into clumps and liquid. Happens to custards heated too fast, to milk added to acidic mixtures, to creamed butter overloaded with cold eggs. Sometimes deliberate (paneer, ricotta), usually a sign something went wrong.

Preserve food without heat, by packing it in salt (and sometimes sugar, herbs and spices) until the salt draws out moisture and concentrates the flavour. Cured gravlax, bacon and bresaola all start this way.

Work cold solid fat into flour in small pieces, using a pastry blender, two knives or fingertips, until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with pea-sized lumps. The base of shortcrust pastry, scones and biscuits; those lumps melt into pockets of flake during baking.

A small, slope-sided cylindrical mould, used for individual desserts (panna cottas, jellies, sponges) and savoury timbales. Holds about 100ml; the gentle slope helps the dessert unmould cleanly.

Cook food by fully immersing it in hot fat, typically at 170-190°C. The food cooks through quickly and the surface dehydrates into a crisp shell. A thermometer matters: too cool and the food soaks up oil, too hot and it browns before the inside cooks.

Pour liquid (wine, stock, water) into a hot pan you have just finished frying or roasting in, scraping up the browned bits stuck to the bottom. Those bits are concentrated flavour; deglazing turns them into the base of a sauce or gravy.

A multi-course tasting menu, typically eight or more small dishes served in sequence. The format favoured by ambitious restaurants for showing off range and progression. Also called a tasting menu.

A deep, glossy French brown sauce made by reducing equal parts espagnole sauce and beef stock by half. Forms the base of countless classical derivative sauces - bordelaise, chasseur, lyonnaise.

Remove the seeds from chillies, peppers or tomatoes before cooking. Cuts heat in chillies, prevents bitterness in peppers, and stops tomato sauces from going watery. Use the tip of a teaspoon for tomatoes.

Cut into uniform small cubes, usually 5-10mm. Finer than cubing, coarser than mincing. Used when the pieces need to cook evenly or distribute through a dish, like onion in a soffritto or carrot in a stew.

When a recipe calls for an ingredient that is divided, you add the same ingredient at two or more different steps. Read the method through before you start so you know how much to set aside.

A rough, round-ish spoonful of a soft food - yoghurt, whipped cream, mashed potato. The verb is what you do with it; the noun is what's left on the plate.

A cohesive unbaked mixture of flour and other ingredients that is too stiff to pour, and thicker than a batter. Doughs are shaped by hand or rolled; batters are poured into a tin.

Coat moist food (often meat or fish) with a dry ingredient - usually flour, sometimes seasoned breadcrumbs - before cooking. Gives a crisp, browned surface and helps a pan sauce thicken naturally. Shaking off the excess matters; clumps of dredge burn.

Two meanings. One: coat salad leaves or vegetables in a vinaigrette or sauce. Two: prepare a whole bird, fish or piece of game for cooking - plucking, drawing, sectioning, removing what isn't eaten.

The fat and liquid that drips out of meat as it roasts or browns. The basis of pan gravy, the fat for the next batch of roast potatoes, and the soul of a good Sunday lunch.

Cooking methods that do not use water or water-based liquid. Baking, broiling, grilling, sautéing, stir-frying and roasting all use dry heat. Interestingly, deep frying, which does not use water either, is also dry heat.

The ingredients in a recipe that do not contain moisture. Flour, sugar, salt and cocoa powder are all dry ingredients. Often whisked or sifted together before being added to a wet mixture, so leavening is evenly distributed.

Sprinkle lightly with a fine powder - icing sugar, cocoa, flour. A small sieve gives the most even coverage. Finished cakes get dusted with icing sugar; work surfaces get dusted with flour before rolling pastry.

A large cast-iron or enamelled metal pot with a lid. Originally for campfire cooking, with a recessed lid to hold coals; today most are made for indoor braises, stews and bread baking.

Top, tail and de-string green beans (mangetout, runner beans, French beans). The French verb for the prep step that turns raw beans into snap-ready pieces.

A homogenous mixture of two items, such as water and oil, that do not typically mix. Tiny droplets of one liquid are suspended in the other. Mayonnaise, hollandaise and ganache are all emulsions; improperly made, an emulsion can 'break' and separate back into two distinct liquids.

Cook food sealed in a parcel of parchment (or sometimes foil). The food gently steams in its own juices and the aromatics packed in with it. Classically for fish; works as well for chicken breast or summer vegetables.

A thin, flat slice of boneless meat or fish, often pounded out to even thinness. Cooks in seconds per side. Veal escalope, chicken escalope, salmon escalope - all variations on the same cut.

One of the classic French mother sauces. A deep brown sauce made from a dark roux, mirepoix, beef fond and beef stock. The starting point for demi-glace and many derivative sauces.

A savoury stuffing or forcemeat - ground meat, breadcrumbs, herbs and binders, packed into something else. Used in stuffed birds, terrines, sausages, and pasta fillings.

A boneless piece of meat or fish. Beef fillet (the eye of a tenderloin), chicken fillet (the breast), fish fillet (a side off the bone). Also a verb: to fillet a fish is to separate its flesh from its bones.

Break a cooked food gently into small pieces with a fork. Most often done with cooked fish for fish cakes, kedgeree or salads. The pieces should stay tender; if they crumble to mush, the fish was overcooked.

Set fire to alcohol added to a hot pan, burning off the harsher notes and leaving the flavour behind. The flames die when the alcohol is gone, usually in 15-30 seconds. Drama on a plate, but also a real technique - cognac in a steak sauce, rum in a crêpe.

Combine a light mixture (whipped cream, beaten egg whites) into a heavier one (custard, batter) with slow scooping motions from the bottom up. Stirring would knock the air out; folding preserves it.

A countertop appliance for puréeing, slicing, grating and chopping food. Faster than a knife for any task done in volume - large amounts of soffritto, pesto, pastry dough, breadcrumbs.

Strip the meat and fat from the ends of rib bones on a rack of lamb, beef or pork, leaving the bones exposed and presentation-clean. Decorative more than functional; a butcher will usually do it on request.

A French preparation halfway between sauté and stew: meat (chicken, veal) is browned, then braised in a white sauce of stock, cream and aromatics. Lighter than a brown stew, richer than a poached dish.

Cook in hot fat. Shallow-fry uses enough oil to come up the sides of the pan; deep-fry submerges the food completely; pan-fry sits in between. The fat does the heat-transfer; the food browns and crisps.

A smooth mixture of melted chocolate and cream (sometimes with butter). A liquid ganache can be used as a sauce or to glaze a cake; hardened ganache can be rolled or cut to form truffles, or whipped to make dessert fillings.

A shiny coating brushed onto food before or after cooking. Egg-wash glazes give pastry a golden lacquer; apricot jam glazes finish fruit tarts; reduced pan juices glaze a ham. The point is shine, sometimes sweetness, sometimes flavour.

Reduce food to fine shreds by rubbing across the holes of a grater. Coarse holes for cheese on pasta, fine holes for parmesan or zest, microplane for the finest results. Always work over the bowl you want the grated food to land in.

Coat a tin, dish or pan with fat (butter, oil, lard) so the food doesn't stick. A thin even film, not a puddle. Often paired with a dusting of flour for cake tins, or a lining of parchment for delicate bakes.

A flat, heated surface used for cooking. May be a dedicated appliance, a stovetop plate, or a cast-iron pan. Used for pancakes, fried eggs, bacon, dosas, naan and crumpets.

Cook over direct heat, typically from below, often over open flame or hot coals. Outside the US, also means cooking under a hot overhead element (what Americans call broiling). High heat, fast cook, lots of char.

Grill directly over the coals or flames. Best for quick-cooking foods, or for putting grill marks on foods that finish over indirect heat.

Grill food on a cool side of the grill rather than directly over the flames or coals. Best for foods that need to cook longer, such as whole chicken or pork ribs - the surrounding hot air does the work, like a barbecue oven.

Reduce a hard ingredient to smaller particles - whole spices, coffee beans, nuts, meat. Done in a mortar and pestle, a spice grinder, a coffee grinder or a meat grinder. Always tastes better than buying pre-ground.

Cut into two equal pieces, usually through the longest axis. For round fruit or vegetables, often a step before further cutting; for things like brussels sprouts or cherry tomatoes, sometimes the only knife work needed.

A sugar syrup at 121-131°C. A spoonful dropped into ice water firms into a hard but still slightly pliable ball. The stage for nougat and marshmallows.

A sugar syrup at 148-154°C. A spoonful dropped into ice water separates into brittle threads that snap. The stage for lollipops, brittles and pulled sugar.

A pot with a base sturdy enough not to overheat easily. Heat distributes better in pots with heavy metal bottoms, making food less likely to burn or stick. Cast iron and clad stainless steel both qualify.

A fundamental sauce in classical French cuisine, made of lemon juice and egg yolks emulsified into melted butter. Served over seafood, steaks and eggs Benedict. Notoriously fragile; gentle heat and patient whisking keep it together.

French for 'outside the work' - small bites served before a meal. Some are passed on trays at a drinks party; some sit on the plate as a first course. Smaller and lighter than a starter.

Remove the leafy green top of a fruit, most often a strawberry. A small paring knife or a dedicated huller does the job. Also used of seeds: hulling sunflower seeds means removing their outer shell.

A blender on the end of a stick-like appliance that can be inserted into liquid, so foods can be blended directly in the pot they were cooked in. Saves washing-up and avoids the splashy transfer of hot soup to a jug blender.

Let an aromatic sit in liquid, either hot or cold, so it can flavour the liquid. Tea bags, vanilla pods in cream, lemongrass in stock, garlic in oil - all infusions.

Pierce a piece of meat with many small holes (needles or a multi-blade tool) to break up muscle fibres and let marinade penetrate further. Also called needling. Common with tough cuts before grilling.

A French knife cut into thick batons, typically 5mm × 5mm × 5cm. Vegetables prepared this way - usually a mix of carrot, turnip, celeriac - cook evenly and look neat on the plate.

Cut into thin matchsticks roughly 3-5mm thick and 4-5cm long. Used for carrots, courgettes, peppers and other firm vegetables in salads, stir-fries and garnishes. Even sticks cook in seconds and look sharp on the plate.

A light sauce made from the juices a piece of meat gives off as it cooks. Sometimes left as is, sometimes lightly thickened with cornflour or arrowroot, sometimes reduced and enriched with butter. Cleaner than a gravy, more focused than a stock.

Meat juices lightly thickened, traditionally with cornflour or arrowroot rather than a roux, so the sauce stays glossy and translucent. The French answer to a gravy.

Work bread dough by pushing, folding and stretching it. Develops the gluten network that gives bread its chew. Ten minutes by hand or four to six in a stand mixer; the dough goes from shaggy to smooth and springs back when pressed.

Thread strips of fat (usually pork back fat) through a lean piece of meat using a long needle, so the fat melts as the meat cooks and bastes it from inside. Old-school technique for venison, veal eye-of-round and other lean roasts.

A mixture of cream and egg yolks used to thicken and enrich a sauce or soup at the end of cooking. Must not boil after the liaison goes in or the yolks scramble; gentle heat brings everything together into a velvety finish.

The ingredients in a recipe that contain moisture, such as molasses, milk and eggs. Usually combined separately from the dry ingredients before the two are brought together.

Soak fruit in a flavoured liquid (sugar syrup, alcohol, lemon juice) so it softens and draws out juices. Strawberries macerated in sugar release their own syrup; dried fruit macerated in brandy plumps and sweetens before going into a cake.

Soak food in a flavoured liquid (oil, acid, aromatics) for anywhere from minutes to overnight. Adds flavour, and acidic marinades tenderise. Long marinades suit firm cuts of meat; short ones are right for fish and vegetables.

A metal or plastic cup with a handle, used for measuring ingredients without moisture - flour, sugar, rice. Designed to be filled to the brim and levelled off with a flat edge.

A glass or plastic cup with a spout, used for measuring pourable ingredients such as water, milk or honey. Lines on the side let you read the volume at eye level without spilling.

Egg whites beaten with sugar until they are greatly increased in volume and form stiff peaks when the beaters or whip are lifted from the bowl. Used in pavlova, lemon meringue pie, mousses and macarons.

Chop very finely, smaller than dice, almost a paste. Used for garlic, ginger and herbs where you want them to disappear into a dish and release their flavour evenly. A mortar and pestle does this well, as does the flat side of a knife and salt.

The French aromatic base: finely chopped onion, celery and carrot, sweated in fat. The foundation of countless soups, sauces and stews. Italian soffritto and the Cajun trinity (onion, celery, bell pepper) are regional variants.

French for 'put in place'. Everything chopped, weighed, measured and ready in small bowls before the heat goes on. The single most important habit for cooking without panic - and the reason restaurant kitchens stay calm under pressure.

Coat a food with a thin, even layer of sauce. A spoon dragged through a sauce of nappé consistency leaves a clean, slowly-closing trail. The signal that a custard, a beurre blanc or a velouté is at the right point.

Inject fat, marinade or flavoured liquid into a piece of meat with a syringe, to season and moisten it from inside. Common with turkeys and lean roasts. Also a synonym for jacquarding.

Prepared in the style of Nice, on the French Riviera. Anchovies, black olives, capers, tomatoes and tuna are the calling cards; Salade niçoise is the most famous example.

A blunt, thin, flexible metal tool used to frost cakes and lift foods, such as pancakes and cookies, from cooking surfaces. The bend in the blade keeps your knuckles clear of the work.

Fry food by partially submerging it in several centimetres of hot fat. Often used for larger pieces of food such as chicken or fish, though sometimes for smaller foods like sliced shallots. Also called shallow frying.

A starch-and-liquid paste (bread soaked in milk, or breadcrumbs in buttermilk) mixed into ground meat for burgers and meatballs. Holds moisture, tenderises and keeps the patty from drying out as it cooks.

Coated in breadcrumbs ready for shallow- or deep-frying. The classic three-stage breading: dredge in seasoned flour, dip in beaten egg, press into breadcrumbs. Schnitzels, fish fingers and chicken kievs are all pané.

Cook food partway, to be finished or reheated later. Par-boiled potatoes before they go into the roasting tin, par-baked pizza bases, par-blanched green beans before the dinner rush. Time-saving and texture-preserving.

Partially boil a food, usually to head-start it before another cooking method. Roast potatoes get parboiled until just yielding before going into the oven; carrots get parboiled before being roasted alongside a Sunday lunch.

Paper in sheets or a roll, used to line baking sheets and pans to keep food from sticking. Foods can also be baked in parchment packets so they steam inside the packet (en papillote).

The French word for pastry in its various forms - pâte brisée (shortcrust), pâte sucrée (sweet shortcrust), pâte sablée (sandy, very crumbly), pâte feuilletée (puff). Each pastry has its own ratio of fat to flour and its own technique.

Ground, seasoned meat (often with offal) cooked into a smooth, spreadable paste. Served cold with toast, pickles and a glass of something. Country-style pâtés are coarser; pâté de foie gras is silky.

A thin slice of meat or fish flattened, spread with a stuffing, rolled up and cooked. Beef paupiettes, sole paupiettes, veal birds - same idea everywhere. The roll is often tied with kitchen string to hold its shape.

French for 'paving stone'. Used either for food cut into a thick rectangular shape (pavé of salmon, pavé of beef) or a layered square cake of sponge, buttercream and icing - dense, neat, often coated in chocolate or ganache.

Remove the outer skin of fruit, vegetables or other ingredients. A vegetable peeler is faster than a knife for most things; a small paring knife is better for ginger and garlic. Some skins (potato, apple) are optional; others (onion, garlic, citrus zest) require care to remove just the outermost layer.

A tiny finishing-touch sweet, served with coffee at the end of a formal meal. Genoise sponge dipped in fondant, miniature tarts, macarons, candied fruit, marzipan. French for 'small oven' - they were baked in the low residual heat after the main bake.

Preserve food in a brine, vinegar or fermented solution. Quick pickles take a few hours; long-cured pickles take weeks or months. The acidic environment stops bacteria, sharpens flavour and changes texture.

Cook gently in liquid at 70-80°C, just under a simmer, no bubbles breaking the surface. Right for delicate items: eggs, fish, chicken breast. The poaching liquid often becomes part of the dish or its sauce.

Cook using wet heat in a sealed pot, so pressure forms as it heats and the temperature rises above the normal boiling point. The high temperature accelerates cooking; a stew that takes three hours on the stove can be done in 45 minutes.

Let a yeasted dough rise. The yeast metabolises sugars, produces carbon dioxide and alcohol, and inflates the gluten network. A first prove (bulk fermentation) develops flavour; a second prove (after shaping) sets the final structure. Both want a warm, draught-free spot.

Blend into a smooth paste. Soups, sauces, baby food, hummus, dips and dressings all involve puréeing at some stage. A blender, food processor, or immersion blender all do the job.

Cut into four equal pieces, usually by halving twice. Used for fruit, soft vegetables and chicken legs (drumstick plus thigh becomes four pieces when split through the joint twice).

Return a dried food to something close to its fresh state by soaking it in warm water (or stock, wine, juice). Dried mushrooms, dried beans, dried fruit, dried chillies, dried noodles - all need reconstituting before use.

Simmer a liquid uncovered until some of the water has evaporated, leaving the remaining sauce thicker and more intensely flavoured. Use a wide pan for a faster reduction; never season fully until after, because the salt concentrates too.

Stop the cooking process instantly by plunging hot food into ice-cold water. Usually paired with blanching: the second half of the technique that locks in the colour and texture of green vegetables.

Slowly melt fat out of meat or skin using gentle heat. Bacon renders into crisp lardons; duck skin renders into golden crackling and a pool of fat for the next batch of roast potatoes. Patience is the only required skill.

Let cooked meat sit off the heat before serving. Juices that the cooking pushed outward redistribute back through the meat, so the first cut does not leak everything onto the board. Five minutes for a steak, twenty for a roast chicken.

The stage in baking when you beat whole eggs (alone or with sugar) until they become pale, fluffy, and a ribbon-like trail falls into the bowl when you lift the whisk above the mixture. The aeration here is structural - sponge cakes and génoise depend on it.

Cook in dry heat in an oven, usually at higher temperature than baking (200°C or more). Vegetables, whole birds, joints of meat: anything where you want exterior browning while the inside stays tender. Often paired with a tin of fat and frequent basting.

A large, deep pan made to hold large cuts of meat. Sides high enough to catch drippings; some have racks built in to keep the joint off the bottom.

A sturdy metal rack made to hold meat elevated above a pan, so the joint is exposed to heat more evenly and does not sit in its own drippings. The drippings collect underneath and can be used straight away for gravy.

A paste of flour and butter cooked together, used to thicken sauces, soups and stews. To properly thicken, a roux needs to be added to the liquid and simmered for a period. Some Cajun and Creole roux are made with oil or other fat and cooked until the flour browns, for extra flavour.

Work cold solid fat into flour with your fingertips, lifting the mixture so it falls back as it goes, until it looks like breadcrumbs. The fundamental pastry-making move; the same gesture as cut-in but done with the hands. Cool fingers and a light touch keep the fat from melting.

Similar to a chef's knife, a santoku is an all-purpose knife, typically 12-18cm. The blade shape originates from Japan, and the tip is less pronounced than a chef's knife. Excellent for slicing, dicing and mincing on a board.

A deep pan with one long handle on the side. Used for sauces, custards, small batches of soup, boiling eggs - any cooking where you want depth without a huge surface area.

Cook quickly in a small amount of fat in a wide shallow pan, moving the food often. The French verb means "jump", hence the pan-toss. Used for onions before a stew, mushrooms for a sauce, or vegetables to keep them crisp.

Gently heat a liquid, usually cream or milk, until it nearly reaches a boiling point. Scalding dairy changes the structure of its proteins and helps it perform better in custards, ice creams and yeasted doughs.

Make shallow cuts across the surface of a food. Scoring a duck breast helps fat render; scoring a loaf lets it rise without bursting; scoring a fish lets marinade penetrate and the skin crisp. Always cuts shallow, never through to the other side.

Hit the surface of meat or fish with very high heat for a short time to develop a brown crust. Does not seal in juices (a popular myth) but does add flavour and texture. Usually the first or last step in cooking, depending on what comes next.

Fry food in oil that comes up about halfway up the side of the food. Larger pieces - chicken thighs, fish fillets, breaded escalopes - cook through evenly while one face crisps at a time. Less oil than deep-frying and easier to manage at home.

Quickly stop cooking by immersing hot foods in an ice-water bath. The second half of blanching: the cold water arrests the cooking instantly so vegetables stay bright and crisp.

Blend and aerate dry ingredients by forcing them through a wire-mesh strainer or sifter. Breaks up lumps in flour and cocoa, and helps dry ingredients incorporate into batters more evenly.

A flexible, reusable mat used instead of parchment paper to keep foods from sticking to baking sheets. Silpat is the best-known brand. Good for biscuits, macarons and anything you bake repeatedly.

A tool with a heatproof, flexible head used for folding ingredients together and scraping thick foods and batters from bowls and pans. Replaces the older rubber spatula because the silicone version can sit on a hot pan without melting.

Cook in liquid at just below boiling, small bubbles barely breaking the surface, around 85-95°C. Gentler than boiling; right for stocks, stews, custards and anything that would seize or break at a rolling boil.

A large, shallow pan, typically with one long handle and no lid. Also known as a sauté pan or frying pan. Cast-iron skillets get a second life as bakeware - cornbread, frittatas, deep-dish pizza.

Remove scum or fat from the top of a pot of liquid using a spoon or skimmer. Cleans up stocks and broths so they finish clear; also how you defat a sauce or stew without separating.

Mix a powder (most often cornflour) with a little cold liquid to form a smooth paste before adding to a hot mixture. Slaking is the easy way to thicken a sauce or soup without lumps - the starch grains have already separated in the cold liquid before the heat hits them.

Cut into thin flat pieces. Thickness depends on the recipe: paper-thin for a salad of fennel, finger-thick for grilled aubergine, somewhere in between for most stir-fries. A sharp knife matters more here than for any other cut.

Braise in a slow-cooking appliance, such as a crock pot. Long gentle heat over many hours; ideal for tough cuts of meat and hearty stews that benefit from the collagen breakdown.

A loose mixture of flour or starch with cold water, whisked smooth and poured into a hot liquid to thicken it. The same idea as slaking, with a thinner consistency. Used in stews, gravies and quick pan sauces.

Infuse a food with wood smoke. Items may be hot-smoked, which cooks the food, or cold-smoked, which flavours it without cooking. Bacon, smoked salmon, briskets and pulled pork all involve smoking at some stage.

A sugar syrup at 118-120°C. A spoonful dropped into ice water forms a soft, pliable ball that flattens in your hand after a few seconds. The stage for fudge, fondants and Italian buttercream.

A sugar syrup at 132-144°C. A spoonful dropped into ice water forms firm threads that bend before they break. The stage for butterscotch, toffee and taffy.

Whipped cream or beaten egg whites that hold a shape but droop softly when the whisk is lifted out. The point just before stiff peak - and often the better stopping place for cream destined to be folded into a mousse or a soufflé base.

A classic French sauce made by adding cooked onion purée to a béchamel. Mild, creamy and gently sweet; the partner to roast lamb, eggs and white fish.

A light egg-based dish risen in the oven by beaten egg whites folded into a flavoured base. Can be sweet (chocolate, lemon, Grand Marnier) or savoury (cheese, spinach, crab). Must be eaten the moment it leaves the oven - it sinks within minutes.

Cooking method using water heated by an immersion circulator to cook food, often (but not always) sealed in plastic pouches. The water never goes above the target temperature, so the food cannot overcook - a 56°C steak can sit there an hour past time and still be medium-rare.

Cook by suspending food above (not in) boiling water. The hot steam circulates around the food without bringing anything water-soluble out of it. Excellent for fish, dim sum, green vegetables and anything where you want to preserve colour and nutrients.

Soak a dried ingredient in liquid until the liquid takes on its flavour. Tea bags in hot water, vanilla pods in cream, dried mushrooms in stock. The cousin of infusing - the words are mostly interchangeable, though steeping tends to imply dried solids and infusing implies aromatics.

Whipped cream or beaten egg whites that hold a firm, upright point when the whisk is lifted out. The stage for meringues and royal icing; one stage past soft peak, one stage before the cream starts to turn buttery.

Cook quickly in a wok or wide pan over very high heat, moving the food constantly with a spatula or by tossing. Vegetables stay crisp, meats sear without overcooking, sauces reduce in seconds. Prep everything before the heat goes on.

A flavourful liquid simmered with bones and aromatic vegetables. Often used interchangeably with 'broth', though some cooks distinguish: stock from bones, broth from meat-and-bones. The unsung backbone of most savoury cooking.

A large pot for cooking liquid foods such as stock, or for boiling pasta. Tall and narrow so simmering liquids do not evaporate too quickly; usually 8 litres or larger.

Pour cooked food through fine mesh, often to remove fibrous residue and create a smoother, more refined end result. Stocks are strained, custards are strained, infusions are strained when they have given everything they have to give.

Run your fingers down the stem of a herb against the direction of growth to pull off the leaves. Quick and easy for woody-stemmed herbs like thyme, rosemary and oregano. Also called pulling.

Cook vegetables gently in fat with a lid on the pan, so they release their own moisture and soften without browning. Onions for a soup, leeks for a tart, fennel for a risotto - all sweated, never fried. The pan stays modest in heat and the food turns translucent.

Two distinct meanings. Tempering chocolate is heating and cooling it through a specific temperature curve so the cocoa butter sets in stable crystals, giving glossy finish and a clean snap. Tempering eggs (or a cornflour slurry) is whisking a little hot liquid into the cold mixture first, so it warms up without scrambling when it goes back into the hot pan.

A heatproof thermometer marked with temperatures specific to the stages of candy making (thread, soft ball, hard ball, soft crack, hard crack, caramel). Meant to be left in liquids as they cook on the stovetop.

A thermometer, either dial or digital, with a probe to be inserted into cooked foods for a rapid temperature readout. Most instant-read thermometers are not ovenproof - take a quick reading and pull it back out.

An ovenproof thermometer meant to be inserted into meat and left there as the meat cooks. The dial sits outside the oven so you can read it through the door without opening up.

Cut a hard vegetable (potato, carrot, turnip, courgette) into a small barrel or rugby-ball shape with seven equal facets, using a small curved paring knife. Aesthetic, fiddly, and a classic test of French knife skill. Tourned vegetables also cook more evenly than rough-cut ones.

Cut away unwanted bits: excess fat from meat, the tough end of an asparagus stem, the root from a spring onion. Done before the main cooking; tidies the ingredient and removes pieces that would not cook well or eat well.

Tie a bird (most often a chicken or turkey) with kitchen string so the legs are held against the body and the wings tucked in. Helps the bird cook evenly, keeps the breast moister, and gives a tidy roast for the table.

Heat milk or cream to about 137°C for a few seconds then chill rapidly. Kills more bacteria than standard pasteurisation and extends shelf life considerably, at the cost of a slightly cooked flavour. Most long-life cream and milk on supermarket shelves has been UHT-treated.

Cut a zig-zag pattern around the equator of a fruit or vegetable - lemon, melon, tomato - so the two halves separate with a decorative crown edge. Garnish for plated dishes and old-school cocktail snacks.

A light French mother sauce. Made by thickening a light stock (chicken, fish or veal) with a blond roux. The base of suprême, mushroom, white-wine and Bercy sauces. Literally 'velvety'.

Cooking methods using water or liquid as the means of distributing heat. Boiling, steaming, poaching, cooking sous vide and all forms of pressure cooking use wet heat. Generally gentler on delicate foods than dry heat.

Incorporate air into an ingredient by beating rapidly, often with a whisk. Whipping cream doubles its volume; whipping egg whites can take them to eight times their original size.

Beat with a wire whisk to combine, aerate or emulsify. Whisking egg whites incorporates air; whisking oil into vinegar makes vinaigrette; whisking cream thickens it. Speed and direction do not matter as much as keeping the motion continuous.

Remove just the coloured outer layer of citrus skin, where the aromatic oils sit. The white pith below is bitter and should be left behind. A microplane or fine grater gives the cleanest result; a peeler works for strips that need to be chopped further.