

Basic Cooking Terms Defined

A Cooking Terms Glossary For Culinary Novices

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Nothing hits the spot like a home-cooked meal, but if the only appliance in the kitchen you’ve mastered is the microwave, you might feel more than a little intimidated. It’s easy to download basic recipes from the Internet, but how can you decipher all those cooking terms? Here is a basic cooking terms glossary for all of you culinary novices.

Bringing the Heat
Let’s start with some basic cooking terms. It’s important to note that there are many methods of cooking. Some methods involve cooking foods in water or liquid, others require nothing more than oil and a frying pan. The list compiled below is broken down by method rather than alphabetically.

Baking means to cook in an oven. Baking may also be a synonym for roasting; however, roasting usually implies that you are cooking something at a higher temperature in order to create a crust on the food while it cooks. These are typically dry forms of cooking (unless, for example, you are basting a roast).

Broiling is another dry form of cooking. This cooking term means you are using a heat source (such as a flame or an electric coil) positioned above the food to cook your dish. For example, garlic bread and nachos are typically made this way. You set your oven to “broil” and place the food on the top oven rack, closest to the electric coils.

Grilling, on the other hand, is the opposite of broiling. In grilling, the heat source is directly below the food. Usually, grilling also implies that you are cooking in the open air – as you have probably witnessed at many a backyard barbeque.
Braising is cooking a food in a small amount of liquid so that the flavor of the food can absorb into the liquid (which can later be used as a sauce). This is also known as stewing or pot roasting. This type of cooking can be done in a slow cooker.

If you’re going to be doing some crock pot cooking, you’ll need to know this next term as well.

Searing is a cooking term that involves browning the outside surface of a piece of meat by subjecting it to intense heat for just a few seconds. Many cooks recommend searing meat before you braise it to seal the outside and lock in the meat’s natural moisture and juices. Simply heat a pan on your stovetop on high then, once the pan has reached its desired temperature, add the meat. Have a pair of tongs handy so that you can easily flip the meat to sear all sides. It will only take a few seconds to brown each side, but be prepared for a little smoke!

There are also several cooking terms that describe methods of submerging food completely in water. Boiling means to cook a food submerged in boiling liquid. Parboiling is cooking a food that is partially submerged in boiling water. Poaching, on the other hand, is cooking a food submerged in water that is just under the boiling point, or simmering.

This method is most commonly used on fruits and vegetables in order to loosen their skin. Steaming uses water to indirectly cook food. To steam food, you must suspend it over boiling water in a covered container, trapping the hot steam so that it cooks the food.

Frying is a culinary term that refers to cooking food in hot oil or fat. Deep frying is cooking a food completely submerged in hot oil. This is the most common cooking method for French fries. Pan frying only uses a small bit of hot oil or butter to cook foods in a pan, turning the item only a few times. Sautéing is similar to pan frying, except that it involves cooking foods in a pan over very high heat and tossing the food often.

Sweating is the opposite of sautéing. To sweat foods, you cover them and cook them at a low temperature until they release their flavor and moisture. This culinary technique is a good way to get the flavor of meats and vegetables into sauces and soups. Cooking meat over low heat will also release its fat, which is known as rendering.

Spicing Things Up
Now that you know some basic terms for cooking foods, let’s go over some ways to enhance their flavor. There are a variety of ways to add spices and/or sauces to food while food is cooking to help your dishes maintain their moisture and taste.
If you are baking, roasting, grilling or braising a meat dish, you can baste it to add moisture throughout the cooking process. Basting involves spreading liquid – usually sauce or pan drippings – over the outside of the meat at regular intervals.

Marinating is another great way to add flavor and moisture to foods – especially meats! This culinary term involves soaking a food in some kind of liquid or spice mixture for an extended period of time so that the food absorbs a certain flavor. The longer the food is able to marinate, the richer the flavor becomes. Some recipes call for marinating a food (such as ribs) for several days!

It is extremely easy to make your own homemade marinade. Simply place your frozen or thawed food (chicken breasts and pork chops work especially well) in a plastic baggie. Then add any number of sauces or flavorful liquids, such as:

*  Italian salad dressing
*  Barbeque sauce
*  Soy sauce
*  Apple cider
*  A store-bought marinade

But great flavor doesn’t just have to come in liquid form!

Dredging is another popular technique to use with meat. To dredge a food, you coat it with breadcrumbs, flour or cornmeal before you cook it – a technique made famous by Shake ’n Bake. Dredging is also referred to as breading, especially when breadcrumbs are used.

Slicing and Dicing
When it comes to cutting up fruits, vegetables and other foods, there are about a dozen cooking terms that all sound frustratingly similar. Here is a basic breakdown: Slicing means cutting a food into a thin, flat piece. Chopping implies cutting a food into irregular pieces, while dicing is cutting a food into small cubes. Shredding is cutting a food into small strips. Like chopping, it does not have to be precise. To mince a food is to cut it into extremely fine pieces. Pureeing a food is cutting it up into such small bits that it becomes a liquid – a task best suited for a blender.

There are several culinary terms for mixing ingredients as well. Mixing involves combining ingredients together, either with your hands or with an electric mixer. Sometimes this is a simple process, such as tossing a salad. Other times, such as when you are mixing batter, the process is  more lengthy, as you need to mix until all the ingredients are blended together as a uniform whole.

Whipping, beating and whisking all refer to the same process of vigorously mixing ingredients together in a way that brings air into the mixture and makes it smooth and creamy.
You can do this the old-fashioned way, with a spoon and some muscle power or with a hand mixer. The term whisking is actually derived from a utensil specifically used to do the job – a whisk is a metal utensil made of wire loops.

At the other end of the mixing spectrum, you have folding. Folding is an extremely gentle process used to gradually and slowly incorporate ingredients together. This method of cooking is often best done by hand.

That wasn’t too hard, was it? Now that you can decipher simple recipes, you have no excuse for steering clear of your kitchen! Use this basic cooking terms glossary to bridge the gap between your regular takeout and TV dinners and a simple-yet-delicious home-cooked meal. You can also start watching cooking shows on the Food Network channel to get an idea of how these words are used in everyday, culinary jargon. With these first few cooking terms under your belt, you’re one step closer to becoming a master of your domestic domain.

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