Recipe-reading, from bake to zest: A reference guide to 18 common cooking terms

Recipes use certain words to help the cook complete the dish successfully. But what happens when you don’t fully understand what the terms mean? Here is a very basic encyclopedia of cooking terms to make it easier to end up with a successful, tasty final product.

Bake To cook with dry heat in an oven. Technically, roasting refers to meat or vegetables, while baking refers to casseroles, breads and sweet things.

Beat To combine foods thoroughly to incorporate air. It makes mixtures lighter. Use an electric beater, a whisk or a wooden spoon, depending on the ingredients.

Blanch To immerse a vegetable or fruit in boiling water for a minute, draining and plunging into ice water to stop the cooking. They are now ready for a second cooking.

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Blend To smoothly combine several ingredients either by hand or in a food processor or blender.

Boil To bring liquid to the point that large bubbles form and you can see steam. Use your highest heat.

Braise To cook meats, fish or vegetables in liquid in a heavy pan with a heavy lid usually in the oven.

Chop To cut ingredients into even-sized pieces.

Cream To combine two mixtures so they appear as one. By creaming butter and sugar together you beat in air to make your baking lighter.

Dice To cut up in small squares for even cooking. The size varies according to the recipe but generally ranges from a quarter-inch to two inches.

Fold To mix a lighter mixture gently into a heavier one to retain volume and lightness. Use a large spoon. Stir a spoonful of the lighter mixture (often egg whites) into the base to lighten it, then cut and fold in the remaining mixture. In professional kitchens, chefs often use their hands.

Julienne To cut into matchstick-size lengths. A mandolin is useful for this.

Mince To chop ingredients into tiny pieces.

Poach To cook at a low temperature where the water is barely simmering. Eggs, fish and other tender ingredients are often poached so they do not break apart.

Reduce To boil down a stock or sauce for maximum flavour. The best reductions are made with homemade stock but if you do not have any use a low-salt version. Saltiness increases as you reduce a liquid.

Sauté The term in French technically means “jump in the pan.” It refers to using a hot pan with oil and constantly moving the ingredients around with a spatula or wooden spoon.

Sear To brown meat in a hot pan with hot oil over high heat to seal in the juices. It takes only a couple of minutes per side. The recipe is then finished in the oven or on top of the stove.

Simmer To cook in liquid just below boiling point. The bubbles are small and there is very little steam.

Zest To remove citrus peel without any white pith using a zester or a microplane grater.

Need some advice about kitchen life and entertaining? Send your questions to lwaverman@globeandmail.com.