GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Baste: To moisten food that is being cooked with either its own juices or a sauce, to add extra flavour and to prevent drying out
Beat: To stir rapidly to make a smooth mixture, using a whisk, spoon or mixer
Blanch: To cook briefly in boiling water to seal in flavour. Often used for vegetables or fruit to ease removing skin
Braise: To cook first by quickly sautéing or searing on a high temperature, then gently simmering covered in a liquid over low heat
Caramelise: Caramelisation happens when sugar is introduced to heat. To caramelise is to cook food until it turns sweet, nutty and brown
Chop: Chopping refers to cutting food into pieces that aren’t necessarily even, usually about 1cm in size
Deep fry: To cook food submerged in hot fat, most commonly oil
Deglaze: To loosen brown bits from a pan by adding liquid, then heating while stirring and scraping the pan. Used for making gravy or sauce
Dice: To cut food into small cubes, usually about ½ cm in size. Dicing is consistent in size, neat in appearance
Dollop: A small amount of soft food, formed into a round(ish) shape
Dress: To coat food in sauce
Dust: To coat baked goods lightly with icing sugar or cocoa powder (or another powdery ingredient)
Fold: To combine light ingredients (such as whipped cream or beaten egg whites) with a heavier mixture. Folding is usually done with a rubber spatula, using a gentle over-and-under motion
Glaze: A thin layer of liquid that is spread onto food to form smooth and shiny coating
Grease: To rub a cooking dish or pan with oil or butter to prevent food from sticking to it
Infuse: To allow the flavour of an ingredient to soak into a liquid
Knead: To work dough into a soft and smooth texture by pressing it with your hands
Knock back: After dough has risen, it needs to have the excess air knocked out by punching or pressing down the dough. When the dough proofs again, the tiny air bubbles reform and this results in a smoother texture
Julienne: To cut food into long, thin strips that resemble matchsticks
Mince: To cut food into tiny pieces, about ¼ cm in size
Parboil: To partially cook by boiling. The food is usually cooked all the way through later on by using another method
Poach: Gentle way of cooking food by submerging it in a liquid over a low temperature
Reduce: Simmering or boiling a liquid, usually a stock or sauce, to intensify the flavour and thicken the consistency
Rough chop: To cut food into large chunks, roughly the same size. If chopping vegetables about 2cm in size, for herbs about 1cm
Roux: A flour and fat mixture cooked together, used to thicken sauces
Sauté: To cook food in a small amount of fat over relatively high heat, stirring
Sauté pan: A pan with straight sides. It has a larger surface area and is normally used for searing meat or reducing sauce
Sear: To quickly brown the surface of meat by cooking over high heat in order to seal in the meat’s juices
Score: To make shallow cuts on the surface of food, such as meat or bread
Shallow fry: To cook food in a small layer of hot oil (with the oil covering about third or no more than half of the food’s height). Food should sit undisturbed in a pan before flipping
Simmer: To cook food in a liquid just below the boiling point; bubbles form but do not burst on the surface of the liquid
Skillet: A pan with slanted sides. Commonly known as ‘frying pan’
Skim: To remove surface foam or fat from a liquid
Stew: To slowly cook food covered, usually in a liquid