Reference

Cooking Glossary

Essential cooking terms, techniques, and concepts — explained clearly for home cooks.

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Autolyse

Featured Terms

Techniques

Mise en Place

Mise en place is the French culinary term for "everything in its place": preparing and organizing every ingredient and tool before cooking begins, so the cook can focus on heat and timing instead of hunting for things.

Concepts

Maillard Reaction

The Maillard reaction is the browning that happens when amino acids meet reducing sugars under heat. It builds the crust on a seared steak and the smell of roasting coffee.

Techniques

Braising

Braising is a two-step cooking method: brown food at high heat, then simmer it covered in liquid that comes a third to two-thirds of the way up, until it is fork-tender.

Concepts

Fermentation

Fermentation is the metabolic process where bacteria, yeast, or molds convert sugars into acids, alcohol, or gases. It is the basis of bread, yogurt, kimchi, beer, and hundreds of other foods.

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter

A sourdough starter is a living culture of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, kept alive with regular feedings of flour and water, that leavens bread without commercial yeast.

Tools

Dutch Oven

A Dutch oven is a heavy, thick-walled pot with a tight-fitting lid, usually cast iron, used for braising, baking bread, soups and stews, and deep frying, on the stovetop or in the oven.

All Terms

Techniques

Al Forno

Al forno is an Italian cooking term meaning "in the oven": food baked or roasted, usually at 180-220°C (350-425°F), until the top is golden and bubbling, as in pasta al forno, lasagne al forno, and melanzane al forno.

Autolyse

Autolyse is an optional bread-making rest in which flour and water are mixed before salt and leavening, helping the flour hydrate and making the dough easier to mix and shape.

Bain-Marie

A bain-marie is a cooking technique that uses a water bath (max 100°C) to apply gentle, indirect heat to food — essential for custards, cheesecakes, melting chocolate, and emulsion sauces like hollandaise.

Basting

Basting is spooning or brushing hot fat, pan juices, or sauce over food as it cooks, to flavor the surface and help it brown. Butter-basting a steak takes 1-2 minutes; roast basting is mostly optional.

Beurre blanc

Beurre blanc is a warm French butter emulsion: a reduction of shallot, white wine and vinegar with about 225 g of cold butter whisked in. It tastes of butter sharpened by acid, holds between 50 and 60°C, breaks above about 70°C, and is not a mother sauce.

Biga

A stiff Italian pre-ferment with 50-60% hydration, used to add structure, flavor complexity, and a nuttier taste to bread and pizza doughs.

Blanch and shock

Blanch and shock is a two-step technique: briefly cook vegetables in boiling salted water, then plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking. Green beans take 2-3 minutes; the ice bath keeps them bright and crisp for meal prep, freezing, or finishing later.

Blanching

Blanching vegetables is a brief boil (30 seconds to 5 minutes) followed by an ice-water shock — used to set color, deactivate enzymes, and prep produce for freezing.

Boiling

Boiling is a moist-heat cooking method that cooks food in liquid at its boiling point, identified by bubbles rising rapidly and breaking across the surface.

Braising

Braising is a two-step cooking method: brown food at high heat, then simmer it covered in liquid that comes a third to two-thirds of the way up, until it is fork-tender.

Brining

Brining is the technique of soaking food in a saltwater solution (typically 5-8% salt) to season it deeply, improve moisture retention during cooking, and produce juicier results — especially effective for lean proteins like chicken breast and turkey.

Broiling

Broiling cooks food with intense direct heat from an oven broiler, usually from above, to brown or crisp the exposed surface quickly.

Brunoise

Brunoise is a knife cut producing tiny, even 3 mm cubes, made by first cutting food into julienne matchsticks and then crosswise into dice. It's the finest classic dice in French cooking.

Bulk Fermentation

Bulk fermentation is the first rise of bread dough after mixing: the whole batch ferments as one mass, typically at 24-26°C for 1-4 hours with commercial yeast or 4-10 hours with sourdough, before dividing and shaping.

Chiffonade

Chiffonade is a French knife cut that turns herbs and leafy greens into thin, uniform ribbons, usually 1-3 mm wide, by stacking the leaves, rolling them tightly, and slicing across the roll.

Cold Fermentation

Cold fermentation is the practice of retarding dough in the refrigerator (2–5°C) for 24–72 hours — slowing yeast activity while enzymes break starches into sugars for deeper flavor and better texture.

Confit

Confit is a French cooking technique where food is slowly cooked submerged in fat at low temperature (90-150°C / 200-300°F) — originally a preservation method from southwest France, it works for duck legs, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, and even egg yolks.

Curing

Curing is a preservation technique that uses salt, often with sugar, nitrite or nitrate, and sometimes smoke, to draw moisture out of meat and fish, hold back bacteria, and build concentrated flavor.

Deglazing

Deglazing is adding 120-240 ml of liquid (wine, stock, vinegar) to a hot pan after searing to dissolve the browned bits stuck to the bottom — the foundation of every pan sauce in under 5 minutes.

Dredging

Dredging in cooking is the technique of coating food in a dry ingredient like flour, breadcrumbs, or cornstarch before frying or pan-cooking, used to create a crisp crust and help the protein brown evenly.

Dry Aging

Dry aging is storing whole cuts of beef uncovered at 1-3°C with controlled humidity and airflow for 21-60 days, so enzymes tenderize the meat while moisture loss concentrates its flavor.

Duxelles

Duxelles is a finely chopped mixture of mushrooms, shallots, and herbs cooked in butter until dry and intensely flavored. A cornerstone of French classical cooking, it is the mushroom layer in beef Wellington, a base for sauces, and a versatile flavor concentrate.

Emulsification

Emulsification is the process of mixing two liquids that normally don't combine (like oil and water) into a stable, uniform mixture — used to make mayonnaise, vinaigrette, hollandaise, and pan sauces.

Folding

Folding is a gentle mixing technique that preserves air in delicate batters by cutting through and turning the mixture rather than stirring — used for soufflés, mousses, macarons, and high-hydration bread dough.

Gluten Window Test

The gluten window test (or windowpane test) is a hands-on technique for checking gluten development — stretch a small piece of dough thin enough to see light through it without tearing, the dough is ready.

Julienne

Julienne is a classical French knife cut that produces thin, uniform matchstick strips, about 3 mm (1/8 inch) square and 5 cm (2 inches) long in the American standard, used in stir-fries, salads, garnishes, and any dish where vegetables must cook evenly.

Lacto-Fermentation

A preservation method where lactic acid bacteria convert sugars into lactic acid, creating the tang in sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and yogurt — no vinegar required.

Levain

Levain is a naturally-leavened preferment built from a small amount of sourdough starter, flour, and water, mixed hours before baking to leaven a specific loaf of bread.

Marinade

A marinade is a seasoned liquid mixture of acid, oil, and aromatics used to flavor food before cooking — it denatures surface proteins and infuses flavor, but only penetrates 1-2 mm deep, so it works best for thin cuts marinated 30 minutes to overnight.

Mirepoix

Mirepoix is the classical French aromatic base of two parts onion to one part each of celery and carrot, cooked slowly in fat without browning, used to flavor stocks, soups, and braises.

Mise en Place

Parboiling

Parboiling is boiling food only until partially cooked, then finishing it another way: 8-10 minutes for potato chunks headed to a hot oven, 15 minutes for small whole potatoes, 10-15 for sausages bound for the grill.

Poaching

Poaching is a gentle cooking technique that holds food in liquid at 160-180°F (71-82°C), below boiling and with no bubbles breaking the surface, to protect the texture of eggs, fish, and poultry.

Poolish

A wet pre-ferment made with equal weights of flour and water plus a small amount of yeast, fermented 8-16 hours to develop flavor and make dough more extensible.

Pressure Cooking

Pressure cooking is cooking food in a sealed pot where trapped steam raises the boiling point to around 120°C (250°F), cooking food much faster than boiling or braising at normal pressure.

Proofing

Proofing is the final rise of bread dough after shaping (30 minutes to 16 hours), where the shaped loaf expands with carbon dioxide from yeast before baking — produces a light, airy crumb instead of a dense brick.

Reduction

Reduction is simmering a liquid uncovered to evaporate water — typically reducing volume by half in 5-15 minutes — to concentrate flavor and thicken consistency without adding starch.

Resting Meat

Resting meat is letting cooked meat sit before you cut it, usually 5 to 30 minutes depending on size, so the fibers relax and carryover cooking finishes the job instead of the juice finishing on the board.

Risotto Technique

Risotto technique is the Italian method of toasting short-grain rice, then cooking it in hot broth added a ladle at a time while stirring to release starch, and finishing off the heat with butter and cheese for a creamy, flowing dish without any cream.

Roasting

Roasting is a dry-heat oven cooking method (usually 350-450°F / 175-230°C) that caramelizes the exterior through the Maillard reaction while keeping the interior moist — used for meat, poultry, and vegetables.

Roux

A roux is a cooked mixture of equal parts fat and flour by weight used to thicken sauces, soups, and gravies — three types (white, blond, brown) differ by cook time (2 to 45 minutes), producing different flavors and thickening power.

Sautéing

Sautéing is cooking small or thin pieces of food fast in a wide pan over medium-high heat with a little fat, keeping them moving so they brown on the outside before they overcook inside.

Searing

Searing is high-heat cooking (230–290°C surface) that builds a deeply browned Maillard crust on meat, fish, or vegetables — for flavor and texture, not to seal in juices.

Simmering

Simmering is cooking food in liquid held just below boiling — 85-96°C (185-205°F) — where small bubbles rise gently without a full rolling boil, used for stocks, stews, sauces, and delicate proteins.

Sofrito

Sofrito is a family of aromatic cooking bases. Ingredients and treatment vary by cuisine, from Spanish onion-and-tomato preparations to Puerto Rican blends rich in peppers and herbs.

Sous Vide

Sous vide is a precision cooking method where food is vacuum-sealed and cooked in a temperature-controlled water bath at 50-85°C for 30 minutes to 72 hours — produces edge-to-edge even doneness impossible to achieve with conventional cooking.

Sweating

Sweating is a gentle cooking technique that softens vegetables over low heat in a little fat without browning, creating a mild aromatic base.

Tempering

Tempering is the technique of gradually changing an ingredient's temperature to prevent unwanted reactions — eggs (to prevent curdling at 85°C) or chocolate (to control cocoa butter crystals for gloss and snap).

Concepts

Al Dente

Al dente is Italian for "to the tooth" — food cooked so it offers a slight resistance when bitten, most often applied to pasta with a faint white starchy core still visible in the center.

Baker's Percentage

Baker's percentage is a notation system that expresses every bread or pizza ingredient as a percentage of total flour weight (flour = 100%) — making any recipe infinitely scalable.

Brew Ratio

Brew ratio is the weight of coffee grounds against the weight of water. Most filter coffee lands between 1:15 and 1:17, or about 15 g of coffee for a 240 ml cup.

Caramelization

Caramelization is the non-enzymatic browning reaction where sugars break down under heat (from about 110°C for fructose to 160°C for table sugar), creating new flavors, aromas, and golden-to-dark color. Unlike the Maillard reaction, it involves only sugars, no proteins.

Carryover Cooking

Carryover cooking is the temperature rise (typically 3-8°C / 5-15°F) that food continues to gain after being pulled from heat — pull meat below your target temperature to land on it after resting.

Crumb Structure

Crumb structure is the internal texture of bread defined by the size, shape, and distribution of air pockets (alveoli) — ranging from tight and uniform (sandwich loaves) to open and irregular (ciabatta, sourdough).

Dough Ball

A dough ball is an individual portion of pizza dough shaped into a smooth sphere after bulk fermentation. Each one becomes a single pizza, at roughly 200-250g for Neapolitan, 280-350g for New York, and 400-600g for Detroit or Sicilian styles.

Fermentation

Fermentation is the metabolic process where bacteria, yeast, or molds convert sugars into acids, alcohol, or gases. It is the basis of bread, yogurt, kimchi, beer, and hundreds of other foods.

Fond

Fond is the caramelized browned bits that stick to the bottom of a pan after searing meat or vegetables — a product of the Maillard reaction, the French word means "foundation" and fond is the foundation of pan sauces and gravies.

Food Danger Zone

The food danger zone is the temperature range from 4°C to 60°C (40°F to 140°F) where bacteria multiply fastest, doubling in as little as 20 minutes. Perishable food should not sit there for more than 2 hours total.

Freezer burn

Freezer burn is the dry, discolored patches that form on frozen food when moisture escapes from the surface into the freezer's air. It's a quality issue, not a safety one. Proper wrapping, airtight containers, and keeping the freezer at 0°F prevent it.

Gluten Development

Gluten development is the process of building a stretchy protein network in dough through kneading, folding, or time — required for bread to rise, hold structure, and develop chew.

Hydration (Bread)

Bread hydration is the weight of water in a dough expressed as a percentage of the flour weight: 700 g of water with 1,000 g of flour is a 70% hydration dough. Higher hydration opens the crumb; lower hydration tightens it.

Leavening Agents

Leavening agents are substances or techniques that produce gas in dough or batter, causing it to rise — three categories: biological (yeast, sourdough), chemical (baking soda, baking powder) and mechanical (whipped eggs, creaming).

Maillard Reaction

The Maillard reaction is the browning that happens when amino acids meet reducing sugars under heat. It builds the crust on a seared steak and the smell of roasting coffee.

Meal Prep

Meal prep is the practice of cooking and portioning meals or meal components in advance, typically in one 2-3 hour session for the week ahead. There are four types (full meals, components, ingredients, freezer), and the easiest way to start is prepping lunches only.

Medium Rare

Medium rare is a steak doneness cooked to an internal temperature of 130-135°F (54-57°C) — a warm red-pink center, juicy texture, and the doneness most steakhouses and chefs treat as the default.

Mother Sauces

The mother sauces are the five foundational sauces of French cooking — bechamel, veloute, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato — from which hundreds of daughter sauces derive, codified by Auguste Escoffier in 1903.

Recipe Import

Recipe import is the ability to save recipes from websites, photos, cookbooks, or other apps into your recipe manager automatically — with ingredients, quantities, units, and steps properly parsed for scaling, shopping lists, and cook mode.

Recipe Scaling

Recipe scaling is the process of adjusting ingredient quantities in a recipe to serve more or fewer people — most scale linearly, but seasonings (75% rule) and leavening (80-90%) don't.

Smart Shopping List

A smart shopping list is an automatically generated grocery list that combines ingredients from multiple recipes, merges duplicates, converts units, and organizes by store aisle.

Umami

Umami is the savory basic taste produced by free glutamate, plus two nucleotides that amplify it. It coats the tongue, lingers for minutes, and keeps saliva flowing.

Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour

All-purpose flour (AP flour) is white wheat flour milled to a middle protein content of about 9-12%, strong enough for bread and cookies but soft enough for cakes. It is the flour a recipe means when it says only "flour", and the same product as plain flour or harina de trigo.

Bread Flour

Bread flour has more gluten-forming potential than typical all-purpose flour. It can make dough stronger and chewier, but protein levels and performance vary by brand.

Clarified Butter

Clarified butter is butter with the water and milk solids removed, leaving pure golden fat with a 230°C / 450°F smoke point, used for sauces, sautéing, and high-heat cooking.

Ghee

Ghee is a clarified butter cooked until the milk solids brown, giving it a nutty aroma, a 250°C / 485°F smoke point, and a long shelf life without refrigeration.

Kosher Salt

Kosher salt is a coarse-grained salt with large, flat crystals and no additives — preferred by chefs because it pinches easily, dissolves cleanly, and seasons more evenly than fine table salt.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is a cooking fat pressed from olives, available in grades from extra virgin (smoke point 190-210°C, best for finishing) to refined (smoke point 240°C, best for high-heat cooking).

Semolina

Semolina is a coarse, golden flour milled from the endosperm of durum wheat, high in protein and gluten, used for dried pasta, couscous, bread and dusting pizza peels. Durum flour is the same wheat ground finer; cornmeal is a different grain.

Sourdough Starter

A sourdough starter is a living culture of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, kept alive with regular feedings of flour and water, that leavens bread without commercial yeast.

Stock vs. Broth

Stock is made from bones and connective tissue (simmered 4-24 hours) for gelatin-rich body; broth is made from meat (45 min-2 hours) for direct seasoned flavor — use stock for sauces, broth for soups.

Yeast Types

Active dry, instant and fresh yeast are the same organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, processed differently. Instant goes straight into the flour, active dry is rehydrated first, and fresh is used at about three times the weight of dry.

Tools

Banneton

A banneton is a rattan proofing basket that holds shaped bread dough during its final rise, wicking moisture from the surface so the loaf holds shape, scores cleanly, and wears spiral flour rings.

Bench Scraper

A bench scraper is a flat metal or plastic blade (typically 6×4 inches) used to cut, portion, and handle dough — also called dough scraper or bench knife — and to keep your work surface clean.

Cast Iron Skillet

A cast iron skillet is a heavy 2-4 kg pan made from molten iron poured into a sand mold — prized for its heat retention, oven-to-stovetop versatility, and the natural non-stick surface (seasoning) that develops with use.

Dutch Oven

A Dutch oven is a heavy, thick-walled pot with a tight-fitting lid, usually cast iron, used for braising, baking bread, soups and stews, and deep frying, on the stovetop or in the oven.

Instant-Read Thermometer

An instant-read thermometer is a probe thermometer that displays the internal temperature of food within 2–5 seconds — the most reliable way to check doneness on meat, bread, and frying oil.

Kitchen Scale

A kitchen scale is a digital tool for measuring ingredients by weight (1g precision) — eliminating the 30–50% variability of cups and spoons, especially in baking.

Mandoline

A mandoline is a slicing tool with a fixed blade and an adjustable platform that produces uniform slices, juliennes and waffle cuts down to about 1 mm. Use it with the hand guard, a cut-resistant glove and one smooth stroke per slice.

Mortar and Pestle

A mortar and pestle is a traditional grinding tool — a bowl (mortar) and club-shaped tool (pestle) — used to crush, grind, and blend spices, herbs, and pastes; the oldest food processing tool still in everyday use.

Pizza Stone

A pizza stone is a thick slab of cordierite, ceramic or clay that sits in your oven, stores heat and bakes the pizza from below, turning a 250 °C home oven into something much closer to a pizzeria deck.

Recipe Manager

Software for storing, organizing, and accessing recipes digitally — replacing physical cookbooks, bookmarks, and scattered notes with a searchable, scalable collection.