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FOOD PREPARATION
FOOD PREPARATION
Food is one thing that links us all across time and cultures, which is all the more astounding when you consider that humans are the only species on the planet who do not devour the majority of their food as they find it.
We often prepare our food before eating it, sometimes out of necessity (as with certain meats) and sometimes simply to enhance flavor. Food preparation is a vast topic that encompasses all of the stages involved in getting raw ingredients to eating them. It's both simple and complex, everywhere and everywhere, personal and global.
SAFE FOOD PREPARATION
Restaurants aren't the only source of foodborne disease. In fact, they are frequently caused by poor household food preparation, serving, and storage. To keep your food as safe as possible, follow the suggestions below:
Hands and surfaces should be washed often with hot, soapy water. Before and after handling food or utensils, especially raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs, wash your hands.
Before eating, wash all fruits and vegetables.
Keep raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods separate. To avoid cross-contamination, keep raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs away from other foods.
Using a food thermometer, cook items to a safe temperature. Animal products that have been left uncooked or undercooked might be dangerous.
To avoid bacteria growth, keep hot foods hot (above 140 degrees) and cold meals cold (below 40 degrees). Foods should be refrigerated within two hours of purchase or preparation (one hour if the temperature is higher than 90 degrees).
If you're unsure, toss it out. Throw out food if you're not convinced it was properly made, served, or stored. Throw out food that has been left out for more than two hours. Cooked leftovers should be consumed within four days.
COOKING TERMS
AL DENTE
This cooking word is most commonly associated with the preparation of pasta and rice, although it also encompasses the preparation of vegetables and beans. The term "al dente" refers to something that has been cooked but still has a firm bite to it.
BARDING
Is a term used to describe the practice of before cooking, a layer of fat is applied to the meat to keep it moist and prevent it from overcooking.
BASTE
To keep meat or other food moist during cooking, sprinkle melted fat or liquid fluids over it.
BLANCH
A rapid method of cooking food, mainly green vegetables, that involves scalding the item in boiling hot water for a short time and then refreshing it in ice cold water. This helps the vegetable maintain its vivid green color and sturdy texture.
BROIL
Broiling is a cooking phrase that is commonly used in the United States. Essentially, you preheat the hot rod or grill at the top of your oven until it reaches an extremely high temperature. Place the food on an oven pan and cook it on the preheated grill until it is golden brown and bursting with flavor.
BRAISE
Braising is a traditional French meat-cooking process. It uses a mixture of dry and wet heat, with dry heat referring to searing the meat over high heat and moist heat referring to gradually cooking the meat in a liquid. With sinewy, harder types of meat, this approach is great.
BRINING
Brining is the method of pre-cooking meat by soaking it in a brine or severely salted water.
CONSOMMÉ
A transparent liquid that has been cleared by removing fat with the help of egg whites and flavoring stock.
CURE
A non-heated cooking method in which the food item is packed with a salt mixture and let to dry out.
CURDLE
When the protein in egg-based recipes is cooked too quickly, it separates from the liquids, resulting in a lumpy mixture.
CUT IN
A method of blending, usually for pastry, where a fat is combined with flour. The method often refers to using a pastry blender to mix butter or shortening into the flour until the mixture is the size of peas.
DICE
A knife skill cut – the exact measurement changes but the shape is always a small square.
DREDGING
To coat moist foods with a dry ingredient before cooking to provide an even coating.
DRESS
Dress has two definitions when it comes to cooking, firstly to coat foods (mostly salad leaves) in a sauce. It also refers to preparing poultry, fish and venison for cooking, which essentially is breaking them down off of their carcasses and sectioning the meat.
DEEP FRY
To cook food in a deep layer of hot oil.
DEGLAZE
To loosen bits of food that have stuck on the bottom of a pan by adding liquid such as stock or wine.
FLAMBÉ
The process of cooking off alcohol that’s been added to a hot pan by creating a burst of flames. The fumes are set alight and the flame goes out when the alcohol has burnt off.
FILLET
Most commonly known as a very tender cut of beef, but can also refer to the meat of chicken and fish.
FLAKE
Refers to the process of gently breaking off small pieces of food, often for combining with other foods. For example, you would flake cooked fish to combine with cooked, mashed potatoes to make fish cakes.
GRILL
Grilling food is applying dry heat to food either from above or below. In South Africa, grilling refers to cooking food under the grill in your oven (in the States this is called broiling) or can also refer to cooking food in a pan with grill lines.
GLAZE
A glaze is a sticky substance coated on top of food. It is usually used in terms of baking or cooking meats where a marinade will be brushed over the food continuously to form a glaze.
GREASE
Refers to applying a fat to a roasting tray or cake tin to ensure that food doesn’t stick.
GRIND
To break something down into much smaller pieces, for example, coffee beans or whole spices.
JULIENNE
Refers to a knife skill cut where the shape resembles matchsticks.
KNEAD
To work dough into a soft, uniform and malleable texture by pressing, folding and stretching with the heel of your hand.
LARDING
The process of inserting strips of fat into a piece of meat that doesn’t have as much fat, to melt and keep the meat from drying out.
MARINATE
To impart the flavor of a marinade into food; usually requires some time to allow the flavors to develop. Can also be used to tenderize a cut of meat.
MINCE
To finely divide food into uniform pieces that are smaller than diced or chopped foods.
MISE EN PLACE
This is the OG of kitchen cooking terms and means the preparation of ingredients, such as dicing onions, chopping veggies or measuring spices, before starting to cook.
PARBOIL
To boil food only slightly, often used to soften foods like potatoes before roasting them. Helps to speed up the cooking process.
POACH
To cook in gently bubbling liquids such as a stock or a broth.
PURÉE
Cooked food, usually vegetables, that have been mashed or blended to form a paste-like consistency.
PICKLE
The process of preserving food in a brine, which is a salt or vinegar solution.
ROAST
Technically defined as a method of dry cooking a piece of meat, where the hot air envelopes the food to cook it evenly and to allow it to caramelize nicely.
ROUX
A roux is a flour and fat mixture cooked together, which acts as a thickener in soups, stews and sauces.
SAUTÉ
Meaning ‘to jump’ in French, sautéing is cooking food in a minimal amount of oil over a rather high heat.
SCALD
To heat a liquid so it’s right about to reach the boiling point, where small bubbles start to appear around the edges.
SIMMER
Process of cooking in hot liquids kept just below boiling point.
SKIM
To remove a top layer of fat or scum that has developed on the surface of soups, stocks or sauces.
STEAM
Method of cooking food by using steam.
WHIP
The process of beating food with a whisk to incorporate air and to increase volume.
WHISK
The process of using a whisk to incorporate air into food or to blend ingredients together smoothly.
ZEST
Refers to removing the outer part of citrus (called the zest) either by using a grater, a peeler or a knife.
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