Like any career field, the culinary world has its own vocabulary. Part of any good culinary training program will address these terms – not only in the books and from an academic standpoint, but also in the kitchen as you work. After all, the best way to ensure that you remember the terms for the future is to put them to practice.
Before you get started in your culinary training, you may want to brush up on some of the more common terms. This will give you an edge in the kitchen and help you learn the techniques behind the terminology that much faster.
• Al dente literally means cooked “by the tooth.” It is used in reference to pasta that firm enough that it must be bitten into.
• Binding occurs when you stir key ingredients into a hot liquid to thicken it.
• Blanching is cooking food by dipping it in boiling water for a few seconds and immediately putting it in cold water. It is commonly done to vegetables to allow them to retain crispness and color.
• To Butterfly means to cut open a piece of meat or food item about halfway as a means to cook it faster, since it has been thinned and can be opened against the grill or pan.
• Clarifying is purifying a liquid. It is commonly used in reference to butter.
• When you Fillet a piece of meat or fish, you are cutting the bones out of it.
• To Julienne is to cut food into thin strips. It is often done to vegetables.
• Pan-broiling is cooking done in an uncovered frying pan using little or no fat. It is not to be confused with Parboiling, which means to boil a food item for a short period of time before it is cooked at length.
• Poached foods are cooked in a liquid that is kept just below the boiling point. It can be done in the oven or on top of the stove.
• The wings or legs of fowl can be Trussed, or tied with skewers or thread to hold its shape or contain a stuffing.
Of course, as you go through culinary school, you’ll learn a host of new words and new techniques beyond these ones. Over time, they’ll become second nature, and you’ll be able to fillet and truss a bird in the same amount of time it took you to learn the terms.
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