Vocabulary Development Content: Words Related to Kitchen – JSS1 English Lesson Note (Third Term)

Cooking terms are words that describe how food is prepared in the kitchen, such as baking, boiling, frying, chopping and grating. Knowing them helps students read and follow recipes and describe how food is made. This note lists the terms alphabetically, from al dente to whip, with the meaning of each.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• state the meaning of common cooking terms;
• tell the difference between cooking methods such as boil, simmer and poach;
• tell the difference between cutting terms such as chop, dice, mince and julienne;
• name the terms used for preserving food, such as cure and pickle;
• use cooking terms correctly in sentences.

What are the common cooking terms and their meanings?

Study the glossary below. The terms are arranged in alphabetical order.

Terms beginning with A and B

• Al dente: Italian term used to describe pasta that is cooked until it offers a slight resistance to the bite.
• Bake: To cook by dry heat, usually in the oven.
• Barbecue: Usually used generally to refer to grilling done outdoors or over an open charcoal or wood fire. More specifically, barbecue refers to long, slow direct-heat cooking, including liberal basting with a barbecue sauce.
• Baste: To moisten foods during cooking with pan drippings or special sauce to add flavour and prevent drying.
• Batter: A mixture containing flour and liquid, thin enough to pour.
• Beat: To mix rapidly to make a mixture smooth and light by incorporating as much air as possible.
• Blanch: To immerse in rapidly boiling water and allow to cook slightly.
• Blend: To incorporate two or more ingredients thoroughly.
• Boil: To heat a liquid until bubbles break continually on the surface.
• Broil: To cook on a grill under strong, direct heat.

Terms beginning with C

• Caramelise: To heat sugar to turn it brown and give it a special taste.
• Chop: To cut solids into pieces with a sharp knife or other chopping device.
• Clarify: To separate and remove solids from a liquid, thus making it clear.
• Cream: To soften a fat, especially butter, by beating it at room temperature. Butter and sugar are often creamed together, making a smooth, soft paste.
• Cure: To preserve meats by drying, salting and/or smoking.

Terms beginning with D

• Deglaze: To dissolve the thin glaze of juices and brown bits on the surface of a pan in which food has been fried, sautéed or roasted. To do this, add liquid and stir and scrape over high heat, thereby adding flavour to the liquid for use as a sauce.
• Degrease: To remove fat from the surface of stews, soups or stock. The liquid is usually cooled in the refrigerator so that the fat hardens and is easily removed.
• Dice: To cut food into small cubes of uniform size and shape.
• Dissolve: To cause a dry substance to pass into a solution in a liquid.
• Dredge: To sprinkle or coat with flour or other fine substance.
• Drizzle: To sprinkle drops of liquid lightly over food in a casual manner.
• Dust: To sprinkle food with dry ingredients. Use a strainer or a jar with a perforated cover, or try the good, old-fashioned way of shaking things together in a paper bag.

Terms beginning with F

• Fillet: As a verb, to remove the bones from meat or fish. A fillet (or filet) is a piece of flesh after it has been boned.
• Flake: To break lightly into small pieces.
• Flambé: To flame foods by dousing them in some form of potable alcohol and setting them alight.
• Fold: To incorporate a delicate substance, such as whipped cream or beaten egg whites, into another substance without releasing air bubbles. Cut down through the mixture with a spoon, whisk or fork, then go across the bottom of the bowl, up and over, close to the surface. Repeat the process while slowly rotating the bowl until the ingredients are thoroughly blended.
• Fricassee: To cook by braising; usually applied to fowl or rabbit.
• Fry: To cook in hot fat. To cook in a fat is called pan-frying or sautéing; to cook in a one-to-two-inch layer of hot fat is called shallow-fat frying; to cook in a deep layer of hot fat is called deep-fat frying.

Terms beginning with G

• Garnish: To decorate a dish both to enhance its appearance and to provide a flavourful foil. Parsley, lemon slices, raw vegetables, chopped chives and other herbs are all forms of garnishes.
• Glaze: To cook with a thin sugar syrup cooked to the crack stage; the mixture may be thickened slightly. Also, to cover with a thin, glossy icing.
• Grate: To rub on a grater that separates the food into various sizes of bits or shreds.
• Gratin: From the French word for “crust”. A term used to describe any oven-baked dish, usually cooked in a shallow oval gratin dish, on which a golden brown crust of bread crumbs, cheese or creamy sauce is formed.
• Grill: To cook on a grill over intense heat.
• Grind: To process solids by hand or mechanically to reduce them to tiny particles.

Terms beginning with J, K and L

• Julienne: To cut vegetables, fruits or cheeses into thin strips.
• Knead: To work and press dough with the palms of the hands or mechanically, to develop the gluten in the flour.
• Lukewarm: Neither cool nor warm; approximately body temperature.

Terms beginning with M

• Marinate: To flavour and moisturise pieces of meat, poultry, seafood or vegetables by soaking them in or brushing them with a liquid mixture of seasonings known as a marinade. Dry marinade mixtures composed of salt, pepper, herbs or spices may also be rubbed into meat, poultry or seafood.
• Meunière: Dredged with flour and sautéed in butter.
• Mince: To cut or chop food into extremely small pieces.
• Mix: To combine ingredients usually by stirring.

Terms beginning with P

• Pan-broil: To cook uncovered in a hot fry pan, pouring off fat as it accumulates.
• Pan-fry: To cook in small amounts of fat.
• Parboil: To boil until partially cooked; to blanch. Usually, this procedure is followed by final cooking in a seasoned sauce.
• Pare: To remove the outermost skin of a fruit or vegetable.
• Peel: To remove the peels from vegetables or fruits.
• Pickle: To preserve meats, vegetables and fruits in brine.
• Pinch: A trifling amount you can hold between your thumb and forefinger.
• Pit: To remove pits from fruits.
• Planked: Cooked on a thick hardwood plank.
• Plump: To soak dried fruits in liquid until they swell.
• Poach: To cook very gently in hot liquid kept just below the boiling point.
• Purée: To mash foods until perfectly smooth by hand, by rubbing through a sieve or food mill, or by whirling in a blender or food processor.

Terms beginning with R

• Reduce: To boil down to reduce the volume.
• Refresh: To run cold water over food that has been parboiled, to stop the cooking process quickly.
• Render: To make solid fat into liquid by melting it slowly.
• Roast: To cook by dry heat in an oven.

Terms beginning with S

• Sauté: To cook and/or brown food in a small amount of hot fat.
• Scald: To bring to a temperature just below the boiling point.
• Scallop: To bake food, usually in a casserole, with sauce or other liquid. Crumbs are often sprinkled over.
• Score: To cut narrow grooves or gashes partway through the outer surface of food.
• Sear: To brown very quickly by intense heat. This method increases shrinkage but develops flavour and improves appearance.
• Shred: To cut or tear into small, long, narrow pieces.
• Sift: To put one or more dry ingredients through a sieve or sifter.
• Simmer: To cook slowly in liquid over low heat at a temperature of about 180°. The surface of the liquid should be barely moving, broken from time to time by slowly rising bubbles.
• Skim: To remove impurities, whether scum or fat, from the surface of a liquid during cooking, thereby resulting in a clear, cleaner-tasting final product.
• Steam: To cook in steam in a pressure cooker, deep well cooker, double boiler, or steamer made by fitting a rack in a kettle with a tight cover. A small amount of boiling water is used, and more water is added during the steaming process, if necessary.
• Steep: To extract colour, flavour or other qualities from a substance by leaving it in water just below the boiling point.
• Sterilise: To destroy microorganisms by boiling, dry heat or steam.
• Stew: To simmer in a small amount of liquid for a long time.
• Stir: To mix ingredients with a circular motion until well blended or of uniform consistency.

Terms beginning with T and W

• Toss: To combine ingredients with a lifting motion.
• Truss: To secure poultry with string or skewers, to hold its shape while cooking.
• Whip: To beat rapidly to incorporate air and produce expansion, as in heavy cream or egg whites.

Evaluation

Study the terms above and their meanings. Then answer these questions:

1. What does “boil” mean?
2. Explain the difference between “chop” and “dice”.
3. Name two terms used for preserving food and explain each.
4. What is the difference between “simmer” and “poach”?
5. Which cooking term means to remove the bones from meat or fish?

Assignment

Choose five cooking terms from the glossary. Write the meaning of each and use each one in a sentence of your own.