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Cooking Glossary

A Dictionary of Culinary Terms

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Americano

An Americano is a single or double shot of espresso with hot water added to it. The hot water dilutes the strength of the espresso

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Arroser

Arroser is a French verb meaning “to baste”. It is a finishing technique involving the spooning of melted butter or fat over a piece of protein in the last 1-2 minutes of cooking. Often times, an herb is added to the butter/fat (e.g. thyme) in order to incorporate aromatics into the food.

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Cappuccino

A cappuccino is a single shot of espresso with textured milk. The ratio is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 foamed milk. The milk

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Caramelize

Caramelization is the browning of sugar to affect its flavour and appearance. Caramelization isn’t limited to granulated sugar. You can caramelize foods that have naturally

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Deglazing

Deglazing is a cooking method that involves adding liquid (e.g. wine or stock) to a hot pan to remove browned food residue (fond) from the

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Espresso

Espresso is a drink of Italian origin, and it is created by forcing hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans.  It is more

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Flavor

What’s the difference between flavor and taste? Flavor is a combination of taste and other senses (primarily, but not limited to, smell/aroma) that’s responsible for

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Fond

Fond is the brown bits that stick to the bottom of your pan when you are cooking. You can easily create a pan sauce by adding liquid (e.g. wine or stock) to your pan at the end of cooking, scraping up the fond, and reducing it into a sauce–a technique known as deglazing.

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Induction Cooking

Induction cooking technology differs from traditional cooking methods because it uses the direct induction heating of the cooking pan instead of radiation, convection, or thermal

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Knead

Kneading is a step in bread and pasta making where dough ingredients (flour and water) are mixed in order to strengthen the end product.  Kneading

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Latté

A latté is a single shot of espresso with textured milk. The ratio is 1/6 espresso, 4/6 steamed milk, 1/6 foamed milk.

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Macchiato

An espresso drink that can be served either short or long. Of all the drinks made from milk and espresso, the macchiato has the highest

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Mince

Mincing is a knife technique where ingredients are cut into fine uniform pieces. Mincing can be accomplished with a chef’s knife and is a finer

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Mirepoix

A mixture of diced vegetables (usually two parts onions,  one part carrots, and one part celery). This mixture is sautéed over medium-low heat in order

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Poach

Poaching is a cooking method where you cover your food in moderately hot liquid (160–180 °F). Poaching liquids include water, milk, wine, and broth. technique

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Ristretto

A ristretto is an extremely short  espresso. When pulling the shot, the same amount of coffee beans are used as a normal shot; however, they

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Sauté

Sautéing is a cooking method where one quickly cooks small cuts of food in a small amount of oil or fat in a pan over

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Simmer

Lots of recipes ask you to simmer your food, but what exactly is a simmer? You can think of simmering as being between a boil

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Sous Vide

Sous vide is French for “under vacuum”.  It is a method of cooking that involves sealing food in a plastic bag and submerging the sealed

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Spatchcock

Spatchcocking is the removal of the backbone of poultry in order to open it up and allow it to lay flat for more even cooking.

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Umami

Umami is one of the five basic tastes (along with sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness). It’s often described as being “savoury” or “mouth-watering”. The taste is activated by glutamate taste receptors in the mouth.

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Zest

Zest is the outer colorful peel of a citrus fruit. It can be removed with a Microplane grater, pairing knife, or vegetable peeler, and it

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