08 Feb Cooking Vocab 101

If you caption enough cooking shows, you’ll pick up commonly used terms and become aware early on of the emerging buzzwords. Below are a few of our favourites.

beurre noisette

Browned butter used for cooking.

anti-griddle

A kitchen appliance that instantly freezes (or semi-freezes) food.

beurre blanc

A hot butter sauce made with white wine or vinegar and shallots. Prepared properly, the sauce does not separate. Tastes divine over fresh seafood.

courgette

Another word for zucchini.

crème fraîche

Cream thickened with the addition of bacterial culture. Differs from sour cream in that it is less tangy, higher in fat content, and not quite as thick.  It is also absolutely delicious over fresh blueberries.

dulce de leche

A sweet delight made by slowly heating sweetened milk. Try it warm over ice cream.

EVOO

Extra virgin olive oil. Use it only at room temperature. Heating EVOO destroys the unique flavour.

ganache

A mixture of cream and chocolate.

gelée

A jellied food. Connoisseurs would be horrified, but even humble Jell-O could be considered a gelée.

gluten

A protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and some other grains.

kaniwa

A grain similar to quinoa, but the seeds are about half the size. Gluten-free, it’s high in protein, fiber, iron, and calcium. Comes from  South America. Poised to become as popular and ubiquitous as quinoa.

mignonette

A condiment usually served with raw oysters. The traditional recipe consists of shallots, pepper, and vinegar.

pois mange-tout

Snow peas.

ponzu sauce

A traditional Japanese vinegar sauce. It is dark brown, tart, has the consistency of water, and is used as a dip or dressing.

roux

A cooked mixture of fat and flour (traditionally butter and flour, but may be made with a variety of other fats). Used as the basis for sauces.

sabayon or zabaglione

An Italian dessert made with egg yolk, sugar, and sweet wine. Move aside, tiramisu. Here comes sabayon.

sous vide

A cooking method. Food is sealed in an airtight plastic bag and submerged in a water bath or placed in a temperature-controlled steam chamber. The food cooks at a very low temperature for many hours (up to 96).

teff

A very fine (about the size of a poppy seed) African grain. Memorize this. It’s one of the hottest new grains.

torchon

French for “dish towel.” A foie gras torchon is prepared by wrapping foie gras in a dish towel, which is then poached in a multi-day process.

tuile

Made from either cheese or dough, a tuile is a thin, crisp wafer.

velouté

One of five classic French sauces. Velouté is made with a light-coloured meat stock (typically chicken or fish) thickened with roux.

yuzu

A citrus fruit from East Asia.