Cooking Terms Glossary

Au Gratin: foods with a browned or crusted top; often made by browning a food with bread crumbs, cheese and or topping under a broiler.

Allumette: matchstick cut 3 mm x 3 mm x 5-6 cm long (1/8 x 2 ½ in long)

Al Dente: “to the bite”, to cook pasta so that it is soft and not overdone.

Au Jus: with natural juices

Bain-Marie: hot water bath

Barding- process of wrapping lean meat with fat, such as bacon, before roasting

Base- powdered or concentrated form of stock

Batons: stick like cut ¼ x ¼ inch x 2-2 ½ inch (6 mm x 6 mm x 5-6 cm)

Beurre manie - a combination of equal parts by weight of flour and soft whole butter; it is whisked into the simmering sauce at the end of cooking process for quick thickening and added sheen and colour.

Bias: at an angle

Blanch: to parcook, parboil

Bouquet Garni: bouquet of herbs & spices

Brunoise: 1/8-in. dice, cut from julienne slices

Chiffonade: ribbons of leafy greens

Chinois: fine cone shaped strainer

China Cap: fine cone shaped strainer

Chop: to cut with knives into pieces that are not uniform

Clarified Butter: purified butter is melted and the water and milk solids are removed.

Cloute: studded with cloves

Concasse: peeled. Seeded, roughly chopped

Coring: process of removing seeds or the pit from a fruit or fruit vegetable.

Crouton: a bread or pastry garnish ,usually toasted or sautéed until crisp.

Cube: To cut into small or large cubes of uniform size

Demi-Glace: a mixture of half brown stock & half brown sauce reduced by half.

Deglaze: to swirl or stir a liquid (usually wine or stock) in a sauté pan or other pan to dissolve cooked food particles remaining on the bottom, resulting mixture becomes base for sauce.

Degrease: skim fat from the top of a liquid such as a sauce or stock.

Diagonals: elongated or oval shaped slices of cylindrical vegetables or fruits.

Dice: to cut into very small cubes of uniform size

Depouiller: to skim impurities/ grease

Dredge: to coat a food with flour or finely ground crumbs; usually done prior to cooking

Egg Wash: liquid of eggs & milk to coat a food product; used to coat dough before baking to add sheen

Fork-tender: without resistance

Flambé: to flame

Frite: 1/4x1/4x21/2 inch cut

Garnish: a food used as an attractive decoration; or a subsidiary food used to add flavour or character to the main ingredient in a dish (for example noodles in chicken noodle soup)

Grate: To rub a food against a grater to form small particles

Julienne- matchstick strips

Liaison: mixture of egg yolks and heavy cream to thicken and enrich sauces

Macedoine: ¼ in. dice

Marmite: stock pot

Mince: to chop very finely.

Mirepoix: roughly chopped vegetables, usually carrots, celery & onions

Mise en Place: Refers to preparation and assembly of all necessary ingredients and equipment.

Nappe- 1- the consistency of a liquid, usually a sauce, that will coat the back of a spoon

Nappe-2- coat a food with sauce

Puree: the thick pulp with juice obtained by putting food through a sieve, colander, blender or food processor. Reduction: evaporation of a liquid by boiling

Render: melt animal fat over low heat until it separates from the muscle tissue

Roast: A dry-heat cooking in which items are cooked in an oven

Rondelle: or rounds, disk-shaped slices of cylindrical vegetables or fruits.

Roux: equal parts of fat and flour to create a thicken agent. The end result is opaque in appearance.

Scald: To heat below the boiling point.

Sear: to brown quickly

Seasoned: using salt, pepper, herbs and spices

Segmented: membranes removed

Shingle: to overlap

Silverskin: a thin membrane

Slice: to cut an item into relatively broad, thin pieces.

Sweat: to saute under a cover

Temper: to equalize two extreme temperatures

Truss: to tie or secure

Whisk: to aerate with a whip

Baking Terms Glossary

Angel Food Cake: foam cake made from egg whites

Batter: semi liquid mixture that contains almost equal parts of dry and liquid ingredients, such as flour, eggs and milk

Bench Rest: short intermediate proofing stage for dough that allows the gluten to relax

Biscuit Method: method that involves cutting in fat with dries ingredients

Blending Method: mixing method that involves using oil or liquid fat to blend ingredients

Chiffon Cake: made by using whipped egg whites, or meringue, to lighten the mixture

Creaming Method: a mixing method in which ingredients like softened fat and sugar are combined until light and fluffy

Deflate: to lose volume in dough

Double Pan: place a sheet pan inside a second pan of same size to prevent burning the bottom or edges of the cookies before they are done

Dough: mixture that contains less liquid than batters, making it easy to work with your hands

Drop Batter: batters that are so thick they need to be scraped or dropped from a portion scoop to the cookware

Emulsified Shortening: type of fat that helps create a smooth consistency throughout a mixture

Emulsifier: and additive, such as egg yolk that allows unmixable liquids such as oil and water to combine uniformly

Extracts: concentrated liquid flavors they contain alcohol, such as lemon and vanilla that are used as flavorings

Fluting: a manner of decorating crust by making uniform folds around the edge of a pie

Genoise: European sponge cake that can be the basis for special desserts, with layers of jam, chocolate or fruit fillings

Gluten: a firm, elastic substance (proteins) that affects the texture of baked products

Glycogen: a storage form of glucose

Hard Lean Dough: type of dough that consists of 0-1% fat and sugar

Hydrogenation: process in which hydrogen is added to polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean oil, which changes into solid fat

Kneading: to work dough until it is smooth and elastic

Leavening Agent: a substance that causes a baked good to rise by introducing carbon dioxide or other gases into the mixture

Leavens: causes dough to rise as it fills with carbon dioxide bubbles

Meringue: a mixture of sugar and stiffly beaten egg whites

Molds: pans with a distinctive shape, ranging from small, round, ceramic pans to long narrow molds used for breads

Monounsaturated: fats, such as olive oil and peanut oils that are usually liquid at room temperature

Oven Spring: sudden rise and expansion of dough as the yeast reacts to the heat of the oven

Panning: process of placing shaped dough in the correct pan

Pate a Choux: special pastry made by combining flour with boiling water and butter. Eggs are beaten into this mixture. Also called Cream puff Pastry.

Pith: white membrane of a lemon

Polyunsaturated: fats such as corn, sunflower, and soybean oils that are usually liquid at room temperature

Portion Size: amount or size of an individual serving

Pound Cake: type of cake that serves as the basis for all layer cakes; contains a pound each of butter, flour, sugar and eggs

Pour Batter: a batter that varies in consistency; some are s thin they can be poured from the bowl into the cookware just like water

Proofing: fermentation stage that allows the leavening action of yeast to achieve its final strength before hot oven temperatures kill yeast cells

Yield: refers to how much you will have of a finished or processed product

Here’s a guide to common kitchen jargon

ON THE LINE

The “line” is the kitchen space where the cooking is done, often set up in a horizontal line. Being “on the line” means you are a “line cook”—an essential foot soldier in any functioning restaurant.

RUNNING THE PASS

The “pass” is the long, flat surface where dishes are plated and picked up by wait staff. The chef or high-level cook who “runs the pass” each night is in charge of letting the cooks know what they will be cooking as orders come in. They are in control of the watching the order tickets, monitoring the speed and rhythm of the coursing, and making sure each dish looks good before it goes out to the customer.

5 OUT

Coordination is essential for any busy kitchen where there are multiple cooks in charge of different dishes, components, and garnishes for every plate. When a cook yells “5 out” or “3 out on sirloin,” it signals to the other cooks that they will be ready to plate in said amount of time.

SOIGNE

Mostly used by wannabe fine-dining folk, soigne (pronounced “SWAN-YAY”) means “elegant” in French. It’s used to describe an exceptionally nice dish, or when you really nailed a plating presentation.

A LA MINUTE

A la minute is French for “in the minute,” and it refers to making a dish right then, from scratch. Instead of making a big batch of risotto during prep time and reheating portions of it hours later, a dish made “a la minute” is cooked from start to finish only when an order for it comes in.

MISE

Short for mise en place (French for “everything in its place”), this term refers to all of the prepped items and ingredients a cook will need for their specific station, for one night of service. E.g., Chef: “Did you get all of your mise done?” Cook: “I just need to slice shallots for the vin(aigrette), chef, then I’m ready.”

12-TOP/4-TOP/DEUCE

A “12 Top” refers to a table with 12 diners. A “4 top” has four diners. A “deuce” just two.

NO SHOW

A “no-show” is a kitchen employee who doesn’t show up to work.

ON DECK/ON ORDER

As tickets shoot out from the kitchen printer, the cook running the pass will let the cooks know what they have “on deck”—for example, “4 steak, 2 quail, 1 blue, on order”—so the cooks can mentally prepare and start setting up what they will be cooking throughout a diner’s meal.

FIRE

When a chef calls out “fire” or “pick-up,” a cook will start cooking that particular dish (e.g., “FIRE! 6 broco, 3 polenta side, 1 lamb”) “Order fire” means to immediately start cooking a certain dish because there is only one course on the ticket, much to the annoyance of the kitchen (because it forces them to restructure the entire pick-up). “Pick-up” can also be used as a noun, as in “I had to re-do my entire pick-up because someone order-fired a porterhouse.”

RUN THE DISH

When a dish of plated food that is ready to go out to the dining room, cooks will “run the dish.” Servers ask, “Can you run?”, when they are waiting to ferry the food out of the kitchen.

DYING ON THE PASS

Hot food that is ready to be run that has been sitting on the pass for an inordinate amount of time getting cold and losing its soigne character because waitstaff are either too slammed or too lazy to pick it up.

86’D

When the kitchen runs out of a dish, it’s “86’d.” Dishes can also be 86’d if the chef is unhappy with the preparation and temporarily wants it off the menu.

WEEDED/ IN THE WEEDS

Used when a cook is really busy, overwhelmed by tickets, and frantically trying to cook and plate dishes.

THE RAIL/THE BOARD

This refers to the metal contraption that holds all of the tickets the kitchen is working on. Once a ticket is printed, it’s stuck to “the rail” or “the board.” “Clearing the board” means the kitchen has just worked through a large set of tickets.

THE SALAMANDER/ROBOCOP/SIZZLE/COMBI

Kitchen equipment names often get abbreviated or nick-named. A “salamander” is a high-temperature broiler; a “robocop” is a food processor; a “sizzle” is a flat, metal broiler plate; “combi” is an oven with a combination of heating functions; “fishspat” is a flat-angled metal spatula good for cooking fish; a “spider” is a wire skimmer; “chinacap” is a cone-shaped colander; “low-boy” is a waist-high refrigerator. There’s a million of them…

VIPS/PPX/NPR

“Very Important Person,” “Persone Txtrodinaire,” and “Nice People Get Rewarded” written on a ticket signals to all staff that their work should be top-notch for these diners. It can be industry, celebrities, friends, or family—they all get hooked up.

FLASH

If a piece of protein is slightly undercooked, a cook will “flash it” in the oven for a minute or two to raise the temperature.

SHORT

To be missing a component of a dish or an ingredient, as in, “I’m one meatball short!”, or, “Landcaster shorted us again on cream.”

DUPE

Short for “duplicate.” When tickets are printed in the kitchen, they are usually printed on two- or three-ply color-coded paper which signify courses. This allows the person running the pass to keep track of and discard layers as courses leave the kitchen, as in, “Gimme that dupe, I gotta cross off the apps.”

⅛ PAN, ⅙ PAN, ⅓ PAN, HOTEL PAN

The standardized, stackable metal pans that cooks use to braise meat, carry vegetables, and roast things in are called “hotel pans,” which can be deep or shallow. There are many pans of different sizes and shapes that relate in volume to the hotel pan: three ⅓ pans can fit into a hotel, six ⅙ pans make up one hotel, eight ⅛ pans, etc.

BEHIND

In the fast-paced ballet of cramped kitchen spaces, cooks let their co-workers know they are moving behind them so there are no unnecessary collisions. When carrying knifes, heavy hotel pans, and pots of burning liquid, the usual call is, “HOT BEHIND!”

LEFT-HANDED SPATULA/BACON STRETCHER/LONG STAND/GRILL EXTENDER

These items do not exist. But tell a green cook to grab a “left-handed spatula” for you and watch the frantic search begin. Hilarious!

GETTING A PUSH

During service, work on the line usually comes in waves. When the tickets start printing faster and the restaurant is getting busier, the kitchen is “getting a push.”

TRAIL/STAGE

A “trail” is the kitchen equivalent to the second-interview. After interviewing with the chef, a cook will come in to “trail,’ to try out the kitchen, so the chef can see how the applicant works under fire. A “stage” is a longer-term trail for a designated period of time—a couple of weeks, or a month or two. It’s meant to be a learning experience for the cook, and free labour for the kitchen.

BURN THE ICE

Disposing of the ice in the ice machine, under your mise, or at the bar by pouring hot water over it.

SOS

Sauce on the side.

ALL DAY

This refers to the total amount of dishes a cook is cooking in one specific pick-up. It works as a clarification system between the chef and cook. The cook might say, “Chef, how many linguine am I working?!” or “Can you give me an all-day, Chef.” The chef would reply, “You’ve got 4 linguine, 3 spaghetti, 2 cappelletti, and 2 kids pastas, all day”

WAXING A TABLE

Giving a table VIP treatment.