what are five cooking terms

Glossary of Cooking TermsAl dente: In Italian it means, “to the tooth.” It is when pasta is cooked to just firm.Bake: To cook food with dry heat in an oven. … Barbecue: To cook food on a grill or spit over and open fire than is made from coals, wood, or a gas grill. … Baste: … Beat: … Bias: … Blanch: … Blend:

• Al dente: In Italian it means, “to the tooth.” It is when pasta is cooked to just firm.
• Bake: To cook food with dry heat in an oven. …
• Barbecue: To cook food on a grill or spit over and open fire than is made from coals, wood, or a gas grill. …
• Baste: …
• Beat: …
• Bias: …
• Blanch: …
• Blend:

R

Reduce: To boil or simmer liquid ingredients, such as sauces, so moisture evaporate and creates a thick mixture with less volume and more concentrated flavor.

Rest: To allow roasted or grilled meat to rest after cooking and before carving or slicing, so juices can redistribute throughout the meat. As meat rests, its internal temperature often goes up several degrees.

Ribbon stage: 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 or beater above the mixture.

Roast: To cook foods, often at high temperatures (400°F or more) in an oven. Roasted foods are intended to brown.

Roasting pan: A large, deep pan made to hold large cuts of meat.

Roasting rack: A sturdy metal rack made to hold meat elevated above a pan so the meat is exposed to heat more evenly and does not sit in the drippings it gives off.

Roux: A paste of flour and butter cooked together and used to thicken sauces, soups, and stews. For roux to properly thicken, it needs to be added to the sauce and simmered for a period. Some Cajun and Creole rouxs are made with oil or other fat, and are cooked until the flour browns to create extra flavor.

D

Deep fry: To cook food by fully immersing it in hot fat.

Deglaze: To add liquid, often stock or alcohol, to a pan or pot after cooking meat or vegetables in a small amount of fat. Deglazing releases the flavorful browned buildup from the bottom of the pan; often the liquid added is nearly cooked off until a thick, glaze-like mixture forms.

Dice: To chop food evenly into small pieces or cubes. Fine dice is 1/4”, medium dice is 1/2”, and large dice is 3/4”.

Divided: When a recipe calls for an ingredient that is divided, you add the same ingredient at two or more different steps of the recipe.

Dough: A cohesive unbaked mixture of flour and other ingredients that’s too stiff to pour, and thicker than a batter.

Drippings: The fat and liquid that drips out of meat as it roasts or browns.

Dry heat: Cooking methods that don’t use water or water-based liquid. Baking, broiling, grilling, sautéing, stir-frying, and roasting all use dry heat. Interestingly, deep frying, which does not require water, is also dry heat.

Dry ingredients: The ingredients in a recipe that do not have moisture. Flour, sugar, salt, and cocoa powder are all dry ingredients.

Dutch oven: A large cast iron or enameled metal pot with a lid. Originally, Dutch ovens were for campfire cooking and had a recess on the lid to hold coals, but today most Dutch ovens are made for the indoor cooking of braises and stews.

10 Cooking Terms Every Beginner Chef Should Know