I tend to use a lot of actual kitchen terms as well as my own personal nomenclature for techniques and ingredients. As I was working on a recipe, it occurred to me explaining them once in a handy location and then linking to them in the recipe or post would probably be a good idea. It is by no means comprehensive.
This will be under construction until it isn't.
Last updated, March 8, 2024.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
A la minute: To cook something "on the fly" just prior to service.
Acid: Any liquid with a pH of 0 to 6. Usually sour. Lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar. I will often use the term "acid" in exchange for lemon juice or vinegar.
Acidulate: To treat something , usually water, with an acid to lower its pH. Most often for soaking fruit in to keep it from oxidizing.
Al dente: It means "to the tooth" and refers to a state of doneness that is firm and slightly resists being bitten through.
Albumin: Typically egg whites, though sometimes it will refer to, inaccurately, the fluid that will run out of a piece of meat while being seared that congeals on the pan.
Age (Dry): To keep meat, usually beef, just above freezing, to sublimate off moisture, concentrating the flavor and allowing naturally occurring enzymes to further break down and subsequently tenderize the meat.
Apple: I'm always referring to a Fuji apple. If I mean something else, I'll call it by its proper name.
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B
Bacon: American belly bacon.
Bake: To cook in a hot, dry space without direct contact with heat source.
Barbacoa: Technically barbacoa is a cooking method which involves digging a hole so I will never do it. When I say barbacoa, I'm typically referring to the slow cooked beef cheek that winds up on my tacos.
Barbecue (noun):
- In Texas, when we say barbecue, we usually mean smoked brisket (sliced or chopped) and grilled sausage links, served with beans, barbecue sauce, sliced onions, pickles, white bread, and occasionally banana pudding and potato salad. That's what I grew up with. Naturally the next generations have come along and over complicated it because they just can't seem to not fuck with a good thing.
- It can also refer to an outdoor gathering where various meats, usually chicken, ribs, burgers are grilled over open flame where copious amounts of beer are served, usually in celebration of something.
Barbecue (verb): A generic cooking term usually used to describe backyard grilling over open flame.
Basket Strainer: I'm usually referring to one of these.
Bench Flour: Flour used to keep dough from sticking to itself or a work surface.
Bevie: A drinkable fluid. Usually used with the word "adult".
Blanch: Wet cooking method used to just slightly cook (usually no longer than 60 seconds), ending the cooking process through shocking. Usually used with vegetables to keep their color/or texture and for easier removal of the skin.
Blood Eagle: Spatchcock.
Boil: To immerse in water heated to 212° F at sea level until done.
Bolillo: A Mexican bread roll I often use for serving Italian sausage or bratwurst. I'm all about the fusion. They are available fresh at most grocery stores down here and taste like magick. They kinda look like footballs, if the seam broke open.
Bouillon: Utilitarian bricks of salty animal flavor. Often referred to as "NotStock".
Braise: To sear and then cook covered in a small amount of flavorful liquid
Brine (noun): A solution of water, kosher salt, and other flavoring agents, used for flavoring meat at a cellular level by exploiting the laws of physics. (osmotic pressure, equilibrium)
Brine (verb): To submerge meat in a brine for the purpose of flavoring it at a cellular level.
Broil: Radiant, dry cooking method where ingredients are subjected directly to heat source. Can be from below (grilling) or above (broil setting on oven).
Broth: The liquid leftover after boiling food. Not the same as stock.
Brulee: To broil, usually under a salamader or with a blowtorch. Don't spring for the fancy kitchen on.
Buckle: Sometimes referred to as "NotCobbler". In Southern foodways, we will use the term cobbler (which is technically thick, sweetened bits of pie crust floating on sugary fruit goo) to refer to a buckle which is made by pouring sweetened batter onto sugary fruit goo and then baked. I only use the term because for whatever reason, my wife is very pedantic over it.
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C
Cab: Cabernet
Cabbage: Green cabbage. Any other cabbage will be referred to by its actual name or type.
Caramelize: To cook the sugars in an ingredient until they turn a brownish color and have a richer flavor.
Chile: Generic term for pepper
Chili: Short for "chili con carne". It does not contain beans.
Chili Powder: Pulverized dried chile's used for making chili.
Chorizo: I'm referring to Mexican chorizo which is a loose forcemeat made from all manner of meat by-products and spices and is really good mixed with potato and egg. If you really care how the sausage is made, here's a fun link.
Coagulation: When anything in a fluid clumps. When eggs thicken while cooking, that's coagulation. Usually the results of proteins or starches unfolding and intertwining, capturing liquid in between those "clumps" either trapping in fluid (ideal) or squeezing it out (over cooked).
Collagen: Connective tissue that breaks down in the presence of heat and moisture. It's where gelatin comes from.
Colloid: A substance where one is homogeneously dispersed throughout another substance in a stable form. Emulsions (mayonnaise) are colloids. So is Jell-o. Unless your Aunt Polyethylene tried to float fruit cocktail in it. That shit never disperses evenly.
Conduction: To transfer heat into food via direct contact with heat source. Frying is an off the cuff example.
Convection: To transfer heat into food by immersion in a moving, hot fluid. Boiling. Air Frying. Deep frying.
Confit: At its essence, a preservation technique where moisture is replaced with fat. Plastination for food.
Cooking Liquor: This is a term I use for any flavorful liquid added to a dish as a cooking medium. Mostly used when braising.
Cooking without Violence: I use this term mostly to refer to slow cooking, however, it also refers to using ingredients according to their nature, not forcing them into roles which robs them of what they actually are. For example, boneless, skinless chicken breast, the tofu of meat, should be appreciated for what it is, not over flavored to where it tastes like something else.
Cryovac: Commercial vacuum sealing. Worth noting that while the air is gone, meat, particularly beef, is "wet aging". That means the naturally occurring enzymes are still doing their thing, unless the cryovaced package is frozen.
Custard: Any mixture consisting primarily of heavy cream and egg intended to be cooked until a gentle colloid is formed. Flan. Creme Brule. Cheesecake. Pumpkin Pie.
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D
Dance of the Water Droplet: When a drop of water, hits a hot pan, balls up and skitters across the surface and vanishes.
Denature: When proteins strands begin to form, shorten, or break down due to heat or chemical reaction. Usually means "cooking", but not always.
De-glaze: To dissolve the particles stuck to the bottom of a pan with a flavorful liquid, usually containing alcohol.
Dispatch: The term I use when I break down food. Can also mean "do away with".
Dissolve: When the molecules of a given item break loose from each other and drive apart in some kind of solvent, usually water, but not always. Totally different from "melt".
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E
Escoffier: Auguste Escoffier, the Father of Modern French Cuisine. If I refer to someone as "Escoffier", It is not intended to be complementary.
Emulsion: I use this term to describe a condition where two fluids don't normally mix, but are evenly dispersed throughout each other and do not separate. Mayonnaise. Hollandaise.
Equilibrium: When opposing conditions are equal across a given medium. I use this a lot in cooking. You probably do too, though maybe not as intently. That's not a value judgment, it just is. When I'm doing the "Cooking without Violence" thing, you'll see it a lot. I set my source of heat to my desired final internal temperature and just wait as long as it takes. It's the "secret" behind good brisket and is the principal in sous vide cooking."
Evaporate: To heat water until it moves from the liquid to the gaseous state. It's how reductions work.
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F
Fascia: What many people call "silverskin". It is comprised of elastin and encases the muscles of lend critters. Unlike collagen, it does not break down into gelatin in the presence of heat and moisture. It draws in and turns into something between a rubber band and kevlar.
Flavoring Agent: This is an additive that alters, not enhances the Natural flavor of an ingredient. I do not usually use them unless I am dieting.
Fluid: Any substance that flows. Water. Melted cheese. Dry flour, even.
Foam Disks: Low calorie puffed rice disks I use when dieting. 15 calories each. They come in multiple flavors, though I stick with the original which I consider "paper flavored".
Forcemeat: The technical term for aground meat mixture. Seriously.
Freeze: To chill to the point where molecular motion slows down enough for a given material to move from the liquid phase of matter to the solid phase.
Frittata: Crustless quiche.
Fruit: Any seed bearing plant structure. Apples, oranges, even zucchini.
Fry (Deep): To quick method of cooking an item, usually breaded, by submerging in oil, heated way beyond the boiling point of water, typified with crunch, golden brown exterior and moist interior.
Fry (Pan): To cook in oil heated way beyond the boiling point of water, one side at a time.
Fry (Air): Honestly this is convection baking. You get the "fried" effect by brushing the food with a little bit of oil before sticking it in there.
Fry (Stir): An Asian method of cooking which is a hybrid between pan frying and sauteing. It requires very high heat, much higher than I can manage on my stove, a wok, and a significant amount of oil. Not as "low calorie" as people would have you believe.
Funk: An unpleasant taste or smell. A sensory wrongness. Usually means something has gone bad.
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G
Garlic Mayo: Aioli.
Gelatinize: When either starch or protein molecules become saturated with a liquid and easily bond with each other.
Grill: To cook over open flame.
Go-Go Juice: Coffee.
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H
Herb: The leaf, stem or combination of the two of a plant.
Homogeneous: A mixture of a material where everything is in equal quantities.
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I
Ignore: To walk away from and do not touch for a given amount of time. To let Nature do what it does with food given the circumstances arranged by the cook.
Infusion: A fluid created by soaking something in a fluid until the ingredient imparts its flavor or color or both into that fluid. I say fluid because I do it with oils, water and Ever Clear. Tea is technically an infusion. So is truffle oil.
Innards: Delicious meat by-products.
Integrate: Beyond mixing. It is to create a new, homogeneous mixture that stands a new item.
Integrity: When a dish is true to the Nature of the primary ingredient or all the items on the plate serve to support each other as a whole.
Intentional Cuisine: "Woo-woo" term I use to explain the emotion and thought I put into a dish to arrive at my desired outcome.
Italian Flat Leaf Parsley: Th only parsley.
Italian Seasoning: A blend of dried herbs, usually containing basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, savory and sage. You can make your own, but why?
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J
Juice (verb): To squeeze or ream or squeeze-n-ream the hell out of something until it bleeds.
Jus: see "Pot Liquor".
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K
Kill: Stop. End.
Kolache: We have this thing down here we mislabel as a kolache. It's essentially a glorified pig in a blanket.
Kosher: Refers to kosher salt. We're on a first name basis, though.
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L
Leavener, Biological: Yeast.
Leavener, Chemical: Baking powder, baking soda
Leavener, Mechanical: whipped egg whites, beer, carbonated water.
Lengua: Beef tongue,
Liquid: An aqueous (water based) fluid.
Lube (noun): Fat used for cooking, specifically. Not always for flavor, but can be.
Lube (verb): Also "lubricate". The act of applying fat to a pan or directly to an ingredient.
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M
Maillard Reaction: It's like caramelization, but it is a reaction between the sugars (there are some) and the proteins in meat. Browning or searing via direct heat, either by conduction or radiation. When I use the term, I'll say "get my Maillard going" (douchey) or "We must pay homage to Dr. Maillard."
Macerate: to soften a dried food in a liquid.
Mandoline: Evil, nasty dangerous kitchen tool one uses when they lack the knife skills or time to accomplish the desired goal and a fine way to remove fingertips or the palm of one's hand. It's not a fucking "Slap Chop". I use one similar to this when I'm feeling butch enough.
Marinade: A liquid, usually acidic, one marinates food in. Should not contain oil as the only things that absorb oil are fried foods being cooked at the wrong temperature.
Marinate: To soak an ingredient in a flavorful, often acidic (Not salty; that's a brine.) liquid to break down tissue and infuse with supporting flavors.
Melt: To become fluid due to exposure to heat.
Migas: A Tex-Mex dish utilizing leftover corn chips, scrambled with eggs. Some snobs will tell you fresh corn tortilla strips must be used, but I promise, they never worked a breakfast line.
Mire poix: A blend of chopped onions, carrots and celery used as a foundation in stocks and many French dishes. My proportions are two parts onion, one part celery, one part carrots. Your mileage may vary.
Mise: All of the ingredients required for the dish, dispatched and ready to go.
Mise en Place: French term meaning to get all your ingredients together and ready to go prior to cooking.
Mole: I almost always mean mole poblano. If I mean something else, I'll name it.
Mother: I'm referring to one of the classic French mother sauces: Espagnole, Tomate, Veloute, Bechamel, and Hollandaise. It's worth noting I may refer to them as Brown sauce, Tomato sauce, White sauce, Milk gravy and Emulsion as that's how I think of them.
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N
Naan: Hindu tortillas. Much better because they use the secret ingredient: calories.
Needle: A mechanical tenderization process where meat is smashed and poke with a bunch of tiny, sharp, pokey blades. I use this similar to this. It's vicious and only slightly less dangerous than my mandoline.
Neglect: Same as ignore.
Nipple Clamps: Spring loaded bag clips.
Nosebag: A meal.
Notcrab: Surimi. Immitation crab. Krab.
Notstock: bouillion cubes mixed with water and usually containing other supporting ingredients.
Nuke: To heat up in a microwave oven.
Nyquil: Ouzo, Pernod or Absinthe
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O
Offal: Giblets. But much worse. Not limited to foul. Also called "variety meats" in polite company or "meat by products" in dog food commercials.
Omelette: I'm usually referring to that folded egg custard puck filled with stuff. Should not be confused with a proper French omelette.
Onion Jam: How I refer to sandbagged caramelized onions. Usually made with a couple large onions, sliced thinly and caramelized in minimal fat and a lot of water, added a little bit at a time, to dissolve the sugars and prevent scorching. When the first bit of water goes away, add more. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Until you get the consistency and flavor your want.
Organic: Overpriced.
Orphan Sauce: Sauces like purees and starch thickened. Think electric red sweet and sour sauce. Or a roasted red pepper coulis.
Osmosis: This is a natural process by which you have two solutions separated by a semi-permeable membrane and over time, due to the osmotic pressure created by different items suspended (salt, sugar) in those solutions, the equilibrium kicks in and the solutions transfer across the semi-permeable membrane. It's how brining works.
Oxidize: A chemical reaction where free oxygen atoms bond with other atoms, often resulting in degradation. Think lettuce rust.
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P
Panna Cotta: Milk Jell-o.
Par Boil: To boil an item until halfway cooked, arresting the process in an ice-water bath (shocking).
Plastinate: My term for for confit.
Poach: To cook gently in a flavorful, simmering liquid.
Powdered Tortilla Man: An homage to Ren and Stimpy where I bake low-carb flour tortillas (I use Mission Carb Balance or my grocer's knock-off.) until they are dry enough to grind to a fine powder. I use them as a fat free roux substitute or filler to moderate success. They come in white, tan, and brown. One "Powdered Tortilla Man" or "PTM" is one tortilla. I realize that more than one would be Powdered Tortilla Men, but that's not how the recipe program works, so bugger off.
Pot liquor: The liquid (defatted) left in the pan after searing or roasting. The French call it "jus".
Prep (noun): Same as "mise". The results of your mise en place.
Prep (verb): To prepare ingredients for cooking. Roughly the same as "mise en place".
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Q
Quesadilla: Mexican grilled cheese sandwich.
Quick Bread: A baked good relying on chemical leaveners and short dough. American buttermilk biscuits. British scones. Irish soda-bread.
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R
Radiation: Heat transfer where heat transfers through the air via electromagnetic waves.
Ramen: I never mean anything beyond those cheap-ass fried and dried noodles with the salt based "chicken" flavor packet. So versatile.
Reconstitute: To rehydrate a dried item with water. Leftover liquid would be an infusion, by the way.
Reduce: To force the removal of water from a liquid either through evaporation or sublimation.
Reduction: A liquid where that has been reduced either through evaporation or sublimation.
Rest: To remove a cooked food from heat and ignore it so the pressures may equalize inside and internal liquids redistribute evenly.
Rice (verb): To smoosh a cooked starchy veg (usually potatoes) though an enormous garlic press resulting in a finer textured mash. Also a term used for chopping the bejeesus out of a vegetable (usually cauliflower) to simulate rice.
Risotto: Arborio rice, cooked slowly by gradually adding liquid until creamy. I've also successfully done it with Jasmine rice. But when I say "risotto" I'm referring to arborio.
Roast (noun): I large chunk of meat, usually cooked in an oven. Potroast notwithstanding.
Roast (verb): To bake at high temperatures.
Robo-Snatch: A cleaning product that looks like a wad of mechanical pubic hair when over used. Not the same as steel wool or a brillo-pad.
Rollermeat: Gas station food, usually hot dogs or sausage, presented on a roller grill.
Roux: Equal parts flour and fat cooked together used as a thickener in soups and sauces. The darker the roux, the less its thickening power. Usually comes in three classifications: Blonde, Brown and Brick. I tend to use more than 3 classifications.
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S
Satellite Dish: A basket steamer. Unfolds like a satellite dish.
Saute: To cook in a pan, quickly, over high heat with just a tiny amount of fat. The process is toss and ignore (to allow for browning) over and over until you're satisfied with the level of doneness.
Schnitzel (noun): A German device. Basically a thin meat cutlet, usually tenderized, seasoned, breaded with the usual, flower, egg wash, tasty stuff (crackers, breadcrumbs and then fried. It is the origin of Chicken Fried Steak, actually.
Schnitzel (verb): If I say "Schnitzel that bad boy.", I typically mean pound, bread and fry.
Season: I got this from one of my chef's in cooking school. All it means is bring out the flavor using only salt and pepper.
Sheet Pan: What most home cooks call a cookie sheet. It's not a cookie sheet. They are rather large (sized to fit a commercial oven or fit on a speed rack), aluminum and never every are coated with anything. I use half sheet pans here at the house.
Shellfish, Crustacean: Watermeat with segmented exoskeletons. Largely arthropods. Crabs, shrimp, lobsters, crawfish, prawns.
Shellfish, Molluscan: Watermeat contained within two part shell, (scallops, clams, oysters) or secreted shell growing larger over time (snails).
Shock: To stop the cooking process by immersing the ingredient in an ice-water bath.
Shot: 1.5 fluid ounces or 44 ml
Slurry: A mixture of water and a starch used to thicken.
Smoke (Cold): To expose a cured food (usually) to smoke at temperature below what would be necessary to cook it.
Smoke (Hot): To slow cook (basically to roast) exposed to smoke during the cooking process.
Smoke Point: The temperature at which cooking oils begin to break down, smoke, and taste awful.
Solve et Coagula: Alchemical term meaning to separate and bring back together. A staple technique in low calorie cooking. Dissolve something for the cooking, reduce it for the serving.
Solvent: A fluid medium in which substances dissolve.
Spice: The seed or bark of a plant usually used for enhancing the flavor of a dish.
Spirit of the Pan: It isn't as woo-woo as it sounds. It refers to the patina and flavorings that naturally accumulate in a piece of cast iron cookware over time.
Squash: Yellow squash
Stasis: To preserve something in its current or desired state.
Steam (noun): Really hot water vapor.
Steam (verb): Convection cooking method by immersing ingredients in water vapor. Hotter than boiling.
Stew (noun): A rather thick, chunky soup created by slow cooking an item, relying on the characteristics of the item to flavor and alter the texture of the cooking liquor instead of the other way around. Example. Chicken soup relies on chicken stock. Cream of Anything soup relies on cream. Beef stew relies on the beef breaking down and giving up its flavor and connective tissue to the cooking liquor.
Stew (verb): To slow cook something, usually tough pieces of meat, submerged in a liquid until it breaks down and gives up its essence to the dish.
Stock: Bones and connective tissue combined with mire poix and an acid and simmered over low heat until all meat particles have fallen off the bone and collagen has dissolved. Use as a base in stocks and sauces. There are as many different kinds of stock as there are critters, but they usually fall into tow categories; brown and white. Brown stocks start with roasted bones and mire poix. White stocks don't.
Strain: When you push to hard durin... oh, no wait. When you filter out solids from liquids.
Sublimate: To force water to move directly from solid phase to vapor. Freeze drying is an example of sublimation.
Surimi: Fake crab.
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T
Temp (verb): To take the temperature of a food with a probe thermometer.
Texmati: The trade name of Rice Select's primary product. Like a cross between Louisiana popcorn rice and Indian Basmati. My go to rice.
Time/Temperature Danger Zone: When I used to teach sanitation, it was betwen 40°F and 140° F for more than four hours. Pretty sure it has changed. Damn kids.
Toastilla: The dry toasted version of a mass produced torilla used to impart flavor and texture.
Trinity, The: Same as mire poix but ditch the carrots and replace with bell peppers.
Tubemeat: Sausage. Any sausage.
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U
Unctuous: I have a hard time with this word, because it can mean artificially cloying, but it can also refer to a sort of mouth feel - where flavor basically bonds with your palate and sense memory is engaged.
Utility Chicken: Boneless, skinless grilled or smoked chicken thighs, vacuum sealed into roughly 8 ounce portions for future use.
Utility Pig: Boneless pork loin cut, trimmed and cut into 6 to 8 ounce portions and vacuum sealed for future use. Unlike utility chicken, it remains raw until needed.
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V
Veg: Whatever vegetable I'm cooking at the moment.
Virgin Mary: Tomato juice.
VOC's: Volatile Organic Chemicals, scents and flavors, that release in the presence of specific solvents.
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W
Watermeat: What normal people refer to as "seafood". It doesn't account for fresh water fish, so here we are. Watermeat.
Whisk (verb): To mix, using a whisk, to integrate ingredients and incorporate as much air as possible.
Whiz: To blend or chop something in an electric blender/chopper/food processor.
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X
Yeah, I got nothing. Nothing I do starts with the letter X.
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Y
Yellow Potatoes: I unusually mean Yukon gold, if I can find them. More often than not, I just settle for generic yellow potatoes. Thin skin, nice blend of starchy & waxy.
Yogurt: I typically am referring to non-fat, plain, Greek style yogurt because it saves me the time required to strain it.
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Z
Zest (noun): The thin outer layer (the colored, tasty bit) of a citrus fruit. DO NOT STORE ORANGE ZEST IN STYROFOAM.
Zest (verb): To remove the thin outer layer (the colored, tasty bit) of a citrus fruit with a zestier or a microplane grater. It depends on what you need it for.