Culinary Terms

Front 1

Au gratin

Back 1

A dish covered in sauce, breadcrumbs or cheese or a combination. The dish is browned under a hot grill or at the top of a hot oven.

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Bain-marie

Back 2

A roasting pan or similar containing boiling water in which food can be cooked gently or kept warm, separated from direct heat.

Front 3

Bard

Back 3

To tie fat bacon or pork fat round the breast of poultry, game or any lean meat to keep the food moist while cooking.

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Baste

Back 4

To spoon pan juices, fat or cooking liquid over the food during cooking to prevent the surface drying out.

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Beignets

Back 5

Fritters

Front 6

Beurre manié

Back 6

Equal quantities of butter and flour worked together to a smooth paste on a plate. Used as a thickening agent for sauces etc.

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Beurre noisette

Back 7

Butter which has been cooked to a nutty brown colour.

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Bisque

Back 8

A thickened soup made from shellfish.

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Blanch

Back 9

1. To place in boiling water, 2. To place in cold water and bring to a boil, 3. To place in boiling water to remove skins.

Front 10

Bouchées

Back 10

Small cases made from puff pastry and filled with a savoury mixture.

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Bouillon

Back 11

Stock.

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Bouquet garni

Back 12

A bunch of herbs tied together with string and used for flavouring stews etc. Parsley stalk, thyme and a bay leaf are always used and removed after cooking. Other herbs or flavourings may be added, such as celery stalk, according to the dish.

Front 13

Braise

Back 13

A method of cooking meat, poultry, fish and some vegetables on a mirepoix with a little stock in a covered pan.

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Canapé

Back 14

A small shaped slice of bread either fresh, fried or toasted used as a base for a savoury mixture and served as a savoury or aperitif accompaniment.

Front 15

Court bouillon

Back 15

Liquor for poaching fish.

Front 16

Croquettes

Back 16

Minced meat, poultry, fish or eggs coated in egg and breadcrumbs and deep fried.

Front 17

Croûte

Back 17

A slice of toasted bread on which meat or game is served. Food served 'en croûte' is enclosed in pastry.

Front 18

Croûtons

Back 18

Small dice or other shapes of bread, fried and served as a garnish for soup or savoury dishes.

Front 19

Crêpes

Back 19

Pancakes.

Front 20

Dariole

Back 20

Small mould used to cook steamed puddings, vegetable mixtures and garnishes for larger dishes. Truncated cone shape.

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Déglace

Back 21

To emulsify the fat and the cooking liquor at the bottom of a pan by adding wine, brandy or stock.

Front 22

Dégraisse

Back 22

To remove fat from the gravy or cooking liquor.

Front 23

Duxelle

Back 23

A savoury mushroom mixture used as a farce.

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Entrée

Back 24

A dish usually served before the main course but which is a complete dish in itself.

Front 25

Entremets

Back 25

Dishes served as sweets.

Front 26

Escalope

Back 26

A thin slice of meat or fish.

Front 27

Farce

Back 27

Forcemeat or stuffing for meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, crêpes etc.

Front 28

Flame

Back 28

1. To pour spirit into a dish and set light to it, 2. To singe - as in poultry.

Front 29

Flan

Back 29

An open pastry tart cooked in a flan ring.

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Fleurons

Back 30

Crescents of puff pastry used as a garnish.

Front 31

Florets

Back 31

Small pieces of cauliflower or broccoli broken off the main stalk.

Front 32

Fonds de cuisine

Back 32

Foundation sauces and stocks.

Front 33

Frappé

Back 33

Iced.

Front 34

Fumet

Back 34

Liquor in which fish has been poached and which has been reduced.

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Galette

Back 35

A round flat cake.

Front 36

Garnish

Back 36

Additional vegetables, croutons, etc used to give extra colour and flavour to savoury dishes.

Front 37

Glace de viande

Back 37

Brown stock reduced to a syrupy consistency used for flavouring and colouring.

Front 38

Glaze

Back 38

To brush with syrup, melted jam or glade de viand.

Front 39

Gratiner

Back 39

To brown the top of a dish in the top of a hot oven or under the grill. See 'Au gratin'.

Front 40

Hachoir

Back 40

A curved chopper usually with a handle at each end.

Front 41

Hors d'ouevre

Back 41

Sometimes a single dish served at the beginning of a meal, more often a variety of small dishes composed of vegetables, fish, egg, fruit etc.

Front 42

Julienne

Back 42

Small strips of fruit and vegetables approximately the size of a matchstick used as a garnish.

Front 43

Jus

Back 43

Gravy.

Front 44

Jus lié

Back 44

Thickened gravy.

Front 45

To lard

Back 45

To thread pieces of bacon fat through very lean meat, poultry or game. A special needle is used with a claw like end.

Front 46

Lardons

Back 46

Small strips cut cross-wise from a rasher of bacon.

Front 47

Liaison

Back 47

A binding or thickening added to sauces, soups etc at the end of the cooking time. Egg yolks, cream, beurre mania or blood may be used.

Front 48

Macédoine

Back 48

A mixture of various vegetables or fruit cut into dice.

Front 49

Macerate

Back 49

To ask fresh or crystallised or dried fruit in syrup, wine or spirit or liqueur.

Front 50

Marinade

Back 50

An acidic mixture containing flavouring and herbs in which meat, game or fish are soaked before cooking to tenderise and improve the flavour. The liquid is often used in the finished dish.

Front 51

Mirepoix

Back 51

The foundation of diced vegetables for a braised dish.

Front 52

MIs-en-place

Back 52

The french term for all the operations carried out in a restaurant prior to serving the meal (service). In the dining room this constitutes laying the tables. In the kitchen it means setting out the ingredients, utensils, chopping, stocks, meat preparation, desserts etc.

Front 53

Monter

Back 53

(To mount) To add butter to a sauce just before serving to give a good shine to add volume to an ingredient such as cream or egg white by whipping in air.

Front 54

Noisettes

Back 54

Boneless pieces of lamb cut from best end of loin.

Front 55

Panada

Back 55

A thick mixture of butter, flour and liquid, the basis of soufflés, croquettes etc.

Front 56

Papillottes

Back 56

Paper cases in which individual portions of meat or fish are cooked and served.

Front 57

Pass

Back 57

1. To strain through a sieve or vegetable mill, 2. To dip in seasoned flour.

Front 58

Pâte

Back 58

Basic mixture used in pastries, cakes, batters, meringues, yeast mixtures etc.

Front 59

Pâté

Back 59

A fine savoury mixture made from offal, meat, game, fish, vegetables etc.

Front 60

Pâtisserie

Back 60

Sweet pastries and cakes.

Front 61

Paupiettes

Back 61

Fish or meat spread with a farce, rolled up and tied with fine string which is removed after cooking.

Front 62

Pot-au-feu

Back 62

Famous french broth.

Front 63

Praline

Back 63

Sugar and nuts cooked to caramel. When cold this crushed and used as a flavouring.

Front 64

Purée

Back 64

A thick, smooth mixture obtained from food by sieving, liquidising or blending in a food processor.

Front 65

Quenelles

Back 65

A very finely minced and sieved mixture made from fish or white meat with the addition of egg whites and cream. These are usually made into egg shapes and poached.

Front 66

Ragoût

Back 66

A stew.

Front 67

Ravioli

Back 67

A thin pasta filled with a savoury mixture, cut into squares, poached and served with a sauce.

Front 68

Réchaufée

Back 68

A reheated dish.

Front 69

Reduce

Back 69

To boil a liquid to reduce it by evaporation thus intensifying the flavour. The original liquid must not have been over-seasoned.

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Répere

Back 70

A flour and water paste used to seal lids of pans to ensure long and slow cooking.

Front 71

Rissole

Back 71

A minced meat mixture enclosed in thin pastry and fried in deep fat.

Front 72

Rissoler

Back 72

To toss in hot butter until brown.

Front 73

Roux

Back 73

Melted butter to which flour has been added, the basis of a sauce.

Front 74

Salamander

Back 74

An iron used red hot to brown the surface of dishes. The modern equivalent is a grill.

Front 75

Sauter

Back 75

To cook in hot butter or oil in a sauté pan.

Front 76

Slake

Back 76

To mix flour our arrowroot with cold water to form a thin paste to add to soups, sauces, gravies, etc.

Front 77

Sweat

Back 77

To cook food - usually vegetables - very gently in melted fat so that the fat is absorbed and the flavour is drawn from the vegetables. This process prevents a layer of fat on the top of the finished dish. The food should be covered with greaseproof paper and the lid of the pan to prevent steam from escaping.

Front 78

Tammy

Back 78

A cloth through which sauces etc are passed.

Front 79

Timbale

Back 79

A dish which is either cooked in a special mould or is served in a pyramid shape.

Front 80

Tournedos

Back 80

A slice of fillet of beef.

Front 81

To 'Turn'

Back 81

1. To roll and fold as in pastry, 2. To shape vegetables in olive shapes, 3. To peel an olive in a spiral fashion, leaving the stone, allowing the olive to spring back into shape, 4. To cut a decorative design on mushrooms.

Front 82

Vandyke

Back 82

To decorate fruit and vegetables with a zigzag pattern.

Front 83

Vol-au-vent

Back 83

A case made of puff pastry similar to a bouchée but much larger.

Front 84

Zest

Back 84

The coloured outside skin of a citrus fruit removed without any pith.