Cooking Terminology

• Al Dente - The point during cooking that food such as rice , veg or pasta is still firm to bite & ready to be removed from the heat.
• Blanch - To partially cook vegetables in hot water or oil to make them softer.


• Bouquet Garni - Fresh herbs tied together so as to be easily removed from stocks. Sometimes the herbs are in a net.


• Garnish - To decorate a plate of food with fresh cut vegetables , herbs or other garnishes. To make the dish look more attractive.


• Infuse - To leave ingredients soaking in a wine or liqueur to season them.


• Blind Bake - Baking blind (sometimes called pre-baking) is the process of baking a pie crust or other pastry without the filling, often using baking beans or rice to stop the pastry rising.


• Cornflour Slurry - A cornflour slurry is used mainly to thicken a sauce after it is cooked. You would normally use a 50/50 mixture of Cornflour with cold water to make a thick paste that you can tip into a hot sauce or gravy. Please read our Ad Policy


• Marinate - To soak meat or fish in an aromatic blend, to add flavour and tenderise it. Marinades are normally based on olive oil.


• Poach - Most often referred to an egg being cracked into boiling water. But you can also poach fish or meat this way.


• Puree - To turn a mixture of ingredients into a liquid in a food processor.


• Reduce - To heat a sauce or stock long enough for it to reduce and thicken in consistency.


• Season - To enhance the taste of a dish by adding salt & pepper.


• Julienne - To cut vegetables such as carrots into very thin batons. This is often done so that the batons absorb oil and other marinades. Ideal for salad dishes such as coleslaw .