Recipes Dictionary

Tenderizing is the act of making food more chewable and tender. Your choice of pounding it with a mallet, braising or marinating the food.

If a recipe instructs you to “Deglaze” it is referring to adding a small amount of liquid to the browning residue in a pan.

If a recipe instructs you to use “Clarified Butter” it is referring to butter where the milk solids and water has been removed by melting it.

If a recipe instructs you to “Caramelize” as part of the steps it is referring to introducing sugar to heat on a lower temperature to create a syrup like texture with your ingredients.

If a recipe instructs you to “Chop” or suggest “Chopping” as part of the steps it is referring to fine cutting of ingredients with a knife.

If a recipe instructs you to “Dredge” an ingredient it is referring to a special technique where you lightly coat an ingredient with a dry substance before cooking it.

If a recipe instructs you to “blanch” or suggest “blancing” you are going to need both boiling and ice cold water.

If a recipe instructs you to “Braise” it is referring to a special technique for frying or searing.

In cooking terms to shred is to cut in to shreds or thin strips.

To julienne a vegetable means to cut it into small, thin pieces and it is also know as “french cut”.

In the Kitchen you Whip an ingredient to add / incorporate air into it to provide body and texture.

Broiling, also referred to as Grilling in some countries, is something you do in your oven to cook food with direct heat to charr and caramelize them for flavours and texture.