Cooking term jargon busters!
What does that mean? Typical recipe terms busting! If you’ve been navigating a recipe recently have suddenly come across an un-familiar word like caramelise or dry fry, it can be intimidating or put you off the recipe all together.
But don’t worry, usually they’re just fancy terms for generally simple techniques.
To help, we’re pulled together a quick guide to popular recipe terms and decoded them for you.
Save this webpage or print it off and next time you see a un-familiar word pop up, refer to this guide for help!
Al Dente
An Italian term used to describe pasta that is ‘just’ cooked and not soft or soggy. The literal translation means ‘firm to the bite’. If you prefer your pasta a little more of the soft side, just cook until your fork easily goes through the pasta.
Bake
Baking describes cooking in the oven with dry air. Most commonly used for cakes, bread, biscuits, puddings!
Batch Cooking
This refers to cooking food in a large quantity, often so you can save or freeze some extra for another time. It’s a super economic way of cooking as it uses less energy and it saves time. Ideal dishes to cook and freeze include stews, bolognese sauce, cottage pies, soups and even bread.
Boil or Bring To The Boil
Cooking in liquid (usually water) that’s bubbling. Cover your ingredients in the boiling liquid to make sure they cook evenly. Most commonly used for vegetables, beans, pulses, pasta, rice; when making soup and to reduce some sauces.
Braise
A method of cooking cuts of meat and some veggies. You’ll need to place ingredients in a casserole dish or pan with a lid and only a little liquid. It partly roasts and partly steams the food. You can braise things in the oven or on the hob too. Make sure its cooked before serving, usually it requires a second step to make sure the food, particularly meat, is cooked.
Caramelise
When you need to caramelise something, you’ll need to cook the ingredient gently (on a low heat) and constantly stir to release natural sugars in foods such as onions, vegetables and meat. Caramelising food enhances flavour, but it’s important not to let it burn or it can leave a bitter taste.
Char grill
This is when you cook foods in a heavy iron pan on the stove top. Usually there are thick ridges on the pan which gives foods a distinctive charred stripe. Usually used when cooking steaks of meat or fish such as tuna, or for grilling vegetables such as peppers, courgette and aubergines.
Chop
Cutting ingredients into evenly sized pieces. Use a sharp knife so that ingredients are cleanly sliced and not crushed. Usually used for vegetables, tomatoes, salad and fruit.
Dry Fry
Dry frying is where you cook ingredients in a frying pan (usually a non-stick pan) with no oil added. This is a perfect method for heating up flat breads, toasting seeds, nuts or whole spices. You can also dry fry fatty meats like bacon (but grilled is healthier) or minced meat.
Flambe
Flaming food is where you cook it in a little alcohol, usually just before serving. Pour over a little bit of a spirit or liqueur with a least 37% alcohol, then set on fire. This burns the alcohol off but imparts flavour. Most often used on Christmas puds!
Fry
Similar to Dry Fry, but this time we’re adding a little oil. There are three types to be aware of:
Stir frying is the healthiest way to fry as you only use a little oil over a high heat.
Shallow drying is done in a frying plan with only a thin coating of oil on the pan. This is great for fish, meats and veggies like onions.
Deep-frying is the least healthy method of frying, when the food you are cooking is completely covered in oil. It is used for food like fish & chips, doughnuts and fried chicken.
Glaze
This technique is used to give a shiny, glossy coating to foods. You could glaze pastry or scones by brushing with milk or a beaten egg just before baking; or you could glaze roasted meats or vegetables in the last few minutes of cooking by drizzling with a little honey.
Grill
Grilling is another method of cooking either over or under a dry and high heat. Grill steaks of meat or fish, vegetables, sausages or cheese on toast.
Knead
Those ‘Bake Off’ fans will be familiar with this term! It’s a technique used on dough to activate the gluten, making the bread elastic.
Line
When a recipe asks you to ‘line’ your baking tray, it means use baking paper to stop things sticking. We recommend greasing your tray with butter before lying the baking paper onto the tray and then adding a little butter after to ensure your bakes come out whole.
Marinate
A great way to add flavour to your dishes, is through marinading before cooking. If you have time, you can make a marinade with liquids like vinegar, stock and herbs and your meat, vegetables or fish and leave for an hour or even overnight before cooking.
Par-boil
This is the method of partially cooking your veggies. Cook them until they’re a little tender, but not quite cooked and then finish them off in the oven to roast. A great way to cut down on cooking time and ensure a crispy end result.
Reduce
Boiling liquid to evaporate water, making it more concentrated. Use this technique when making sauces or gravy. Next time you cook veggies, keep the water they’ve been cooked in and reduce it down to about half to make a great sauce full of flavour.
Reheat
Essentially just heating up food that has already been cooked, either in a microwave, oven or in a saucepan. It's important to reheat food carefully as it can lead to food poisoning if not done properly. Here are some golden rules:
Leftover foods should always be refrigerated as soon as possible and kept chilled until you want to reheat them
Food should only ever be reheated once
Foods should be heated until piping hot, to at least 75c
When reheating in a microwave, always stir the food a couple of times during cooking to make sure there are no cold spots!
Certain foods, for example fish, meat and rice are considered high risk. Once cooked they should be chilled as soon as possible, not kept for more than two days and then reheated throughly and eaten straight away.
Roast
The method of cooking in an oven for an extended amount of time. Usually so you can get a crispy finish.
Rub in
A method of mixing fat into flour by rubbing the mixture between your finger tips to resemble breadcrumbs. Its mostly used when making cakes or crumble topping - yummy.
Saute
A very posh french word which essentially means to fry in a little oil over a medium to high heat in a frying pan. Slices of boiled potatoes may be sautéed to brown them and create a crispy exterior.
Steam
When a recipe asks you to steam something (usually vegetables or fish) it simply means to cook something rapidly above boiling water to cook the food. It’s important to not let the food touch the water and place a lid, tin foil or cover over the item to capture the steam. This is a really healthy way to cook food.
Whisk
Whisking is the action of beating air into an ingredient with a whisk or fork. Items that usually require whisking are eggs (to make scrambled eggs or omelette), cake mixtures or cream.
Zest
Using a grater, ideally one with smaller holes, take off bits of the outer layer peel of citrus fruit. Try not to ‘zest’ the white bit under the peel as this can taste a little bitter. This is a great way to introduce a tonne of flavour to cakes and sauces. We hope that busting these popular terms helps and good luck with your cooking! Looking for some inspiration? Check out our recipes… (or similar signpost).