Cooking Terms

Plunge food into boiling water for a brief time to preserve color, texture, and nutritional value or to remove skin from fruits/vegetables

• blanching
• steaming
• boiling
• grilling

Spoon or brush liquid over food during cooking to keep it moist and to add flavor.

• bake

• baste

• brown

• simmer

Cook in an oven

• bake

• roast

• broil

• boil

Tumble ingredients lightly with a lifting motion

• toss

• stir

• fold

• cut in

Combine ingredients with a circular or figure-eight motion until of uniform consistency.

• fold in

• cut in

• blend

• stir

Combine in any way that distributes all ingredients evenly.

• toss

• stir

• combine

• mix

Combine ingredients lightly using tow motioins: first cut vertically through mixture with a rubber scraper; next slide scraper across the bottom of the bowl, turnign mixture over. Continue down-across-up-over motion while rotating the bowl 1/4 turn with each series of strokes.

• cut in

• mix

• fold in

• marinate

Allow food or liquid to come to room temperature

• Tear

• cool

• blanche

• soften

Let food stand in a savory, usually acidic, liquid for several hours to add flavor.

• tear

• blend

• blanch

• marinate

Break into pieces, using your fingers.

• Tear

• Rip

• Saute

• Fry