If you’ve read a few recipes, you’ll no doubt encounter a few specific cooking terms that made you scratch your head. Recipes are littered with cooking terms that’s very specific to the kitchen – it’s own language to describe actions to be taken. Unless you’ve searched for a term, you may not have uncovered it’s true meaning.
Here is a list common cooking terms to put an end to all the confusion.
Glossary of Cooking Terms
| Cooking Term | Definition |
| Air fry | To cook in a quick-heating countertop convection oven. Air frying is not actually frying. |
| Al dente | Often found in pasta recipes. It means to cook the pasta just until it's done - not soft or overcooked. |
| Baste | Spooning or brushing food with a liquid - such as butter, broth, marinade or another cooking liquid to help food stay moist during cooking. |
| Beat | To mix ingredients vigourously. |
| Blanch | Placing food briefly in boiling water and then plunging in cold water to halt the cooking. Blanching loosens the skins of fruits and vegetables to help peel them more easily. |
| Blend | To thoroughly combine two or more ingredients, either by hand with a whisk or spoon, or with a mixer. |
| Braise | Slowly cooking browned foods in a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pot. |
| Broil | The same as grill. To cook in an oven with high heat using only the top heating element. The food is typically 10cm or 5" or less from the heat source. |
| Broth | A flavourful liquid made from the bones and meat of animals or fish. Often the terms “stock” and “broth” are used interchangeably. |
| Brown | To cook until brown in colour. For instance, you may brown the sides of a roast on the stove top before cooking in a slow cooker or oven. |
| Butterfly | Splitting meat, poultry or fish in half horizontally without cutting all the way through. When spread open, it will look like a butterfly. |
| Caramelise | To heat sugar until it liquefies and becomes a syrup ranging in color from golden to dark brown. |
| Core | To remove the seeds or tough woody centers from fruits and vegetables. |
| Cream | Rapidly mixing one or more ingredients with a spoon or mixer until smooth and creamy. When you cream butter, the mixture becomes fluffy because air is incorporated during the rapid mixing process. |
| Deep fry | To cook food by fully immersing it in hot fat. |
| Deglaze | Adding a liquid to a pan in which food has been browned, and heating it to loosen the cooked food particles. This liquid is usually thickened to make a flavoursome sauce. |
| Dice | To dice means to finely chop in a consistent size, and neat in appearance. It's the precision of the cut that distinguishes dicing from chopping. |
| 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. |
| Dollop | A spoonful of soft food such as whipped cream or mashed potatoes. |
| Dot | To scatter butter in bits over food. |
| Dredge | Coating a food lightly with flour, breadcrumbs or another dry ingredient. |
| Dust | To coat lightly in icing (confectioner's) sugar, cocoa, flour or another powder ingredient. |
| Fold | To combine light, air-filled ingredients, such as whipped cream or beaten eggs, into a heavier mixture, using a gentle over-and-under motion. |
| Garnish | A decoration put on food or drink (usually on top) in order to accentuate its taste and/or appearance. Examples would include herbs or a vibrantly-colored spice, such as paprika, sprinkled on top of a dish. |
| Glaze | To coat foods with glossy mixtures such as jellies or sauces. |
| Grease | To rub the inside of a cooking dish or pan with fat or oil, to prevent sticking. |
| Grill | To cook food on a rack under or over direct heat, as on a BBQ, or in the oven with high heat using only the top heating element. The food is typically 10cm or 5" or less from the heat source. |
| Immersion blender | A blender on the end of a stick-like appliance that can be inserted into liquid so foods can be blended directly in the pot they were cooked in. |
| Julienne | To cut a fruit or vegetable into matchstick strips about 2cm long. |
| Knead | To work a dough, like bread or pasta dough, usually with your hands by stretching, folding, and pushing. This is done in order to develop the gluten in the dough, which will add strength and texture to the final product. |
| Marinade | To take food and soak it in a mixture of spices, oil, and possibly vinegar to make a more tender and flavoursome. The marinading process can take half and hour, to days - depends on the recipe. |
| Poach | To cook gently over a very low heat in barely simmering liquid just to cover the item being poached. |
| Purée | To mash or grind food until completely smooth, usually in a food processor, blender, sieve, or food mill. |
| Reduce | Boiling a liquid in an uncovered pot or pan to evaporate some of the liquid. This reduces the volume, concentrates the flavour and thickens the mixture. |
| Roux | Flour and fat that has been cooked together to form a paste which will thicken a sauce. |
| Sauté | Cooking and stirring a food in a small amount of fat over direct heat. |
| Scald | To heat liquid almost to a boil until bubbles begin to form around the edge. |
| Score | To make shallow cuts in the surface of the food just before cooking or baking. |
| Sear | Using high heat to quickly brown the surface of the food to seal in the juices. |
| Shallow fry | To cook food in a shallow layer of preheated oil. |
| Shred | A method of cutting food into thin slices or pieces using a sharp knife, food processor or grater. Shred cooked meat by pulling apart into strips using two forks. |
| Simmer | Slowly cooking food in a liquid just below the boiling point. Tiny bubbles may break the surface. |
| Skillet | A large, shallow pan, typically with one long handle and no lid. Also known as a sauté pan or frying pan. |
| Skim | To remove a top layer of fat or scum that has developed on the surface of soups, stocks or sauces. |
| Slurry | A mixture of starch (usually cornflour or flour) and cold water that is whisked together and then used to thicken soups or sauces without causing lumps. |
| Steam | To cook food on a rack or in a steamer set over boiling or simmering water in a covered pot or pan. |
| Steep | Soaking dry ingredients in a hot liquid to infuse it with both flavour and colour. For instance, you steep tea and coffee grounds. |
| Stir fry | To cook quickly over high heat in a small amount of fat, all while constantly moving the food. Stir-frying is usually done in a wok, whose bowl shape helps the food on top steam as the food at the bottom of the wok cooks in the fat. |
| Strain | To pour cooked food through fine mesh, often to remove fibrous residue and create a smooth, more refined end result. |
| Sweat | Cooking food over low heat in a small amount of fat in a covered pot or pan so it ooks in it's own juices until soft, not browned. |
| Temper | The process of adding a small quantity of a hot liquid to a cold liquid in order to warm the cold liquid slightly. This is often be done before adding delicate ingredients to a hot mixture, where their format may be affected. An example of this would be adding eggs to a hot mixture – in order to prevent them curdling or scrambling you would add a little of the hot mix to the eggs and incorporate before adding the eggs into the heated mixture. |
| Whip | To beat food with a whisk or mixer to incorporate air and produce volume. |
| Whisk | To beat ingredients (such as heavy or whipping cream, eggs, salad dressings, or sauces) with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air. |
| Zest | The peel or coloured part of citrus fruit skin which contains flavoursome oils. The white pith is not part of the zest and has a bitter taste. |