Acidulated water:
Cold water with a little lemon juice or vinegar added. Used for cut up fruits like apples to keep them from turning brown.

Aioli: (eye0oh-lee):
A garlic mayonnaise made in southern France.

Al dente (al den-tay):
Pasta or rice cooked to the point where your teeth can still detect some firmness.

Au jus (oh-zhu):
Unthickened cooked meat juices.

Bake blind:
Bake pastry such as pie crust before adding the filling.

Baking:
Cook food in the indirect , dry heat of an oven. The food may be covered or uncovered.

Bard:
Wrap meats (roast and game) in thin sheets of pork fatback to keep them moist during cooking.

Baste:
Pour liquid over food as it cooks. Usually the pan drippings. Adds flavor and keeps food from drying out. Use a baster or a spoon.

Bearnaise (bay-are-nez):
Tarraon flavored Hollandaise sauce.

Beurre manie' (burr mahn-yay):
Flour and butter paste used to thicken sauces.

Blanch:
Cook food in boiling water for a very short time to prepare for further cooking or freezing.

Boiling:
Heat liquids till bubbles form and rise in a steady pattern, breaking on the surface.

Braise:
Cook meat or vegetables by first browning in hot fat, then simmering in a small amount of liquid in a heavy, covered pot.

Broiling:
Cook food a measured distance from the direct dry heat of the heat source. A broiler also is used to brown or toast foods or melt cheese.

Brown:
Cook food until the surface browns, by sautein or placing under the broiler.

Clarify:
Remove solids from a liquid such a stock or melted butter, making it clear.

Court bouillon (koor bwee-yon):
Broth made with water, root vegetables, white wine or vinegar, hers and seasoning. Simmered and strained, then used to poach fish or veal.

Cream or cream together:
Work fat or fat and sugar until light and creamy in texture and color. Fat (oleo) for creaming should be soft and at room temperature.

Cut in:
Mix a fat like shortening or butter with flour using a pastry blender or two knives. The pieces of flour-coated fat become so small - size of small peas or texture of coarse crumbs.

Deep-Fat Frying:
Cook food in enough melted shortening or cooking oil to cover. The fat should be hot enough so that the food cooks without absorbing excess grease, but not so hot that the fat smokes or food burns.

Deglaze:
Pour water, stock or wine over brown and caramelized pan drippings in order to loosen them by stirring and scraping. The flavor-rich liquid is used for sauce.

Dice:
Cut into cubes 1/8" to 1/4" thick.

Dot:
Distribute small pieces of butter uniformly over tops of food before cooking or baking to keep surface moist and encourage browning.

Dredge:
Sprinkle food with flour, sugar, bread crumbs or seasoning. Easy method is put food in a bag with dry coating, close tightly and shake.

Emulsion:
Two substances that normally won't mix, usually oil and liquid, forced into a creamy suspension.

Espagnole (ess-pah-nyohl):
French for "Spanish" - generally referring to a sauce or style of cooking.

Fold:
Blend a delicate, easily damaged substance like beaten egg whites into a sturdier one like a batter or custard. Use a spoon, rubber scrapper or whisk. Dip, lift the mixture, and turn it over lightly to avoid crushing the fragile ingredient.

Gnocchi (nyo-kee):
Italian dumplings, generally made from semolina, potatoes or cream puff dough.

Grate:
Cut food such as cheese or cabbage into shreds, flakes or tiny particles using a tool with sharp-edged holes, a knife or a food processor.

Gratin:
A casserole with a topping of bread crumbs and/or cheese. Best cooked in gratin dish - a shallow, ovenproof baking dish, usually round or oval, that can tolerate being placed under the broiler.

Heavy cream:
Whipping cream.

Julienne (ju-lee-enn):
Cut food into uniform pieces about 1 inch long by 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch. Small julienne would be 1 inch long by 1/16 inch by 1/16 inch; large would be 2 inch long by 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch.

Leavening:
Anything that lightens and increases the volume of a batter or dough when heated; air beaten into egg whites, yeast, baking powder. Each adds gases that expand when they heat and make the substance rise.

Light cream:
Heavier than milk, lighter than whipping cream. In a recipe it usually means table or coffee cream. If you're watching fats use half and half, which is lighter.

Marbling:
Small white lines and specks of fat in the meat of animals - and sometimes fish. A lot of marbling insures moist, tender (and rich) meat.

Marinate:
Tenderize and flavor a food by soaking it in a seasoned acidic and/or oily solution.

Mince:
Cut food into bits about 1/8" thick (smaller than if you chopped them).

Pan-broil:
Cook meat briefly and rapidly in a pan with very little or no fat. To prevent sticking, salt is sometimes sprinkled into the dry skillet beforehand, or the warm skillet is rubbed with a piece of the meat's fat.

Pan juices:
The drippings, fat and browned, caramelized crust that accumulate in a pan which has been used to fry meat or poultry. See also Deglaze.

Parboil:
Cook food briefly in boiling water to prepare for further cooking by another method. Parboiling is similar to blanching but the cooking lasts slightly longer.

Phyllo (fee-lo):
Tissue-thin dough sheets used in Middle Eastern cooking.

Pinch:
Teeny amount you can hold between thumb and forefinger - about 1/16 teaspoon.

Poach:
Cook food in a liquid heated to just below the boiling point.

Puree:
Reduce food to a smooth, velvety pulp by pressing it through a sieve or food mill, or processing in an electric blender or food processor.

Render:
Slowly cook pieces of animal fat until they liquify and only crisp solids or cracklings remain.

Roux (roo):
A briefly cooked mixture of flour and fat used to thicken sauces.

Saute (so-tay):
French for "pan-fry". Means "to jump" so when you saute, you toss the food to keep it from sticking or burning.

Scald:
Heat a liquid such as milk to a temperature just below the boiling point. Tiny bubbles should just start to fizz around the sides of the pan.

Score:
Make shallow or deep cuts in a decorative pattern with sharp knife. Ham fat is often scored in diamond shapes. You score the thickest part of whole fish with 2 or 3 slashes so that part will cook as fast as the thin areas.

Sear:
Quickly brown the surface of food (usually meat) over or under very high heat to seal in juices and give a rich flavor.

Shred:
Cut or grate into long, even, thin strands.

Simmer:
The gentlest possible boil. A continuous stream of small bubbles should rise slowly to the surface.

Skim:
Remove fat or scum from the surface of a liquid. Meats cooked in water usually need this attention. Easiest done with a slotted spoon, ladle, or skimmer.

Steam:
Cook in steam, on a rack above (never touching) boiling liquid, in a tightly covered ontainer.

Steep:
Soak a food such as tea, mint leaves or saffron in liquid that is just under the boiling point, to soften the food or flavor the liquid.

Stew:
Cook food slowly in a simmering, well-seasoned liquid in a covered pan.

Stir-fry:
Saute small, uniform-sized pieces of food quickly over high heat in a Chinese wok or skillet, tossing the food constantly.

Stock:
A flavored broth made by simmering the bones, skin and scraps of meat, poultry or fish with vegetables in water. It is strained and used instead of water in soup, sauces, etc.

Sweat:
Cook sliced or chopped ingredients in a little fat and no liquid over very low heat, covered, until they ooze their juices and begin to brown. Often a preliminary step for stewing, braising, soup making.

Tabboulch (tah-boo-luh):
A Middle Eastern salad made with bulgur, parsley and mint.

Triticale (trit-ih-kay-lee):
A hybrid of wheat and rye.

Whip:
Incorporate air into a mixture by beating.

Whisk:
Whip using a wire whip or whisk.

Zest:
The outermost surface of the peel of a citrus fruit. Also, to remove that outermost skin in tiny strips.