Culinary Glossary
A plain-English glossary of the cooking terms recipes assume you already know, from al dente and bain-marie to roux, tempering, and umami.
Reference | SavorovaS Learn
Recipes are written in a shorthand that assumes a shared vocabulary. This glossary defines that vocabulary plainly, so a recipe that calls for deglazing, folding, and mounting the sauce is no harder to follow than one that says stir.
The terms, A to Z
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Al dente | Italian for 'to the tooth.' Pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firmness at the center. |
| Bain-marie | A water bath used to cook delicate items gently (custards, terrines) or to hold sauces warm without scorching. |
| Baste | To spoon or brush cooking juices, fat, or marinade over food as it cooks to keep it moist and build flavor. |
| Bias cut | Slicing food at a 45-degree angle, which increases surface area and shortens fibers. |
| Blind bake | Baking a pie or tart crust empty (weighted with beans or foil) before filling, so it stays crisp. |
| Bloom | To soften gelatin in cold water before dissolving it; also, to hydrate spices or saffron in warm liquid to deepen flavor. |
| Braise | To brown food, then cook it slowly, partially covered in liquid. The workhorse method for tough cuts. |
| Brunoise | A precise small dice, about 1/8 inch, used for refined vegetable garnishes. |
| Caramelize | To cook sugar until it browns and develops complex flavor; also, to brown vegetables slowly until their natural sugars deepen. |
| Chiffonade | Leafy herbs or greens rolled and sliced into fine ribbons. |
| Confit | Food cooked and preserved slowly in fat, classically duck legs in rendered duck fat. |
| Cure | To preserve or flavor food with salt, sugar, or brine, as with bacon, gravlax, or pickles. |
| Deglaze | To add liquid to a pan of browned cooking bits (fond) and scrape them into a sauce. |
| Demi-glace | A rich, concentrated brown sauce, reduced stock fortified and thickened. |
| Dredge | To coat food lightly in flour or seasoned starch before sauteing or frying. |
| Emulsify | To bind liquids that normally separate, like oil and vinegar or egg yolk and butter, into one stable sauce. |
| Fold | To combine a light mixture (whipped egg whites, cream) into a heavier one gently, preserving air. |
| Julienne | To cut into thin matchstick strips, about 1/8 inch by 2 inches. |
| Mince | To chop as finely as possible, so flavor distributes evenly and quickly. |
| Mise en place | French for 'everything in its place.' Prepping and measuring all ingredients before cooking begins. |
| Mirepoix | The classic aromatic base of 2 parts onion, 1 part carrot, 1 part celery. |
| Mount | To finish a sauce by whisking in cold butter off the heat for gloss and body. |
| Nappe | The consistency of a sauce that coats the back of a spoon in an even layer. |
| Parboil | To partially cook in boiling water, finishing by another method. |
| Poach | To cook gently in liquid held just below a simmer, ideal for eggs, fish, and fruit. |
| Reduce | To simmer a liquid to concentrate flavor and thicken it by evaporation. |
| Render | To cook fatty food slowly to melt out the fat, as with bacon or duck. |
| Roux | Equal parts fat and flour cooked together, the classic thickener for sauces and gumbo. |
| Sauté | To cook quickly over high heat in a small amount of fat, keeping food moving. |
| Scald | To heat milk just below the boiling point, to the first whisper of steam and small bubbles. |
| Score | To cut shallow lines into food, so fat renders, marinade penetrates, or skin crisps evenly. |
| Sear | To brown food hard and fast over high heat, building crust and fond for sauce. |
| Simmer | To hold a liquid just below the boil, with lazy bubbles. The default setting for stocks, braises, and soups. |
| Sous vide | Vacuum-sealed food cooked in precisely controlled water, then finished with a hard sear. |
| Sweat | To cook vegetables in fat over low heat until soft and translucent without browning. |
| Temper | To slowly warm a cold or egg-based mixture by adding hot liquid bit by bit, preventing curdling; also, to bring ingredients to room temperature. |
| Umami | The savory fifth taste, strongest in mushrooms, aged cheese, tomatoes, and soy sauce. |
| Zest | The colored outer layer of citrus peel, full of aromatic oils, removed without the bitter white pith. |
Terms follow standard US professional usage. French terms are pronounced roughly as spelled, with a soft ending: mise en place (meez ahn plahs), julienne (joo-lee-EN), nappe (nap).
How to use this glossary
Technique words fall into a few families: knife cuts (brunoise, julienne, chiffonade), heat management (sear, sweat, simmer, poach), binding and thickening (emulsify, roux, mount, temper), and prep discipline (mise en place, cure, blind bake). Once you see the families, the individual terms stop being trivia and start being tools.
A good habit: when a new term appears in a recipe you are cooking, look it up once here, then cook it the same evening. Terms learned at the stove stay learned.