Explore the Culinary World with our Gastronomic Lexicon

Lower

The action of rolling out a dough using a rolling pin or a laminator.

Offal

Edible parts of animals for slaughter: heart, brain, liver, head, foot, kidney, tenderloin. Duck and goose livers are not included in the "offal" category.

Slaughter

Fins, necks, hearts, livers, gizzards, feet, of poultry or game birds

Apricot

Brush a topping (thick syrup, coulis...) over the fruit of a tart, for example, to give it a shiny finish.

Aiguillette

Thin slices of poultry fillet

Lingonberries

Small, very sour, red fruits that often accompany game.

At the water table

A very slow method of cooking an egg-based preparation, usually in a bain-marie.

English-style

English cooking: cooking vegetables in boiling salted water

English-style

Fish breaded in flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs

Alcohol

Adding alcohol to a preparation

Missed

Round cake tin with high edges

English

A mixture of beaten eggs, salt and pepper, possibly a little water and a drizzle of oil, used for breading foods.

Device

Mixing the various ingredients making up the base of a recipe

Level

Cut the roots, leaves or fans of vegetables flush with the surface.

Flavors

Spices and aromatic plants to flavour your dishes

Flavoring

Introduce spices and aromatic plants into a preparation to flavour it.

Watering

Pouring juice, sauce or fat on a roast, poultry or dish during cooking

Dry

Said of cooking without the addition of fat at the start. Lardons or sugar to make caramel, for example.

Aspic

A cold savoury or sweet preparation to which gelatine has been added for gelling.

Attiéké

Cassava couscous popular throughout Africa and Europe

On the ribbon

A whipped preparation that is "ribboned" when it flows like a ribbon.

Sweethearts

The spinal cord of meat animals cooked in a broth (beef, veal, mutton) and then browned with garlic and parsley (amourettes is always written in the plural).

Water bath

Delicate cooking of food in a saucepan placed in another, larger saucepan filled with boiling water and set over low heat. A bain-marie is used to melt chocolate, to make egg-based sauces (hollandaise, sabayon) or to keep warm a sauce that fears being reheated.

Barder

Wrap a thin slice of bacon around a meat, poultry or roast...

Beat

Use a whisk to vigorously whip a preparation (or appliance)

Beatilles

Stew of giblets and offal with mushrooms, bound with a sauce and used to garnish bouchées à la Reine or pies. Béatilles is always written in the plural.

Clarified butter

Butter melted then decanted. (See clarifier°)

Maître d'Hôtel butter

Soft butter mixed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Can be formed into a sausage, wrapped in film, placed in the freezer and sliced as required.

Hand-cranked butter

Creamed butter, mixed with flour in equal quantities. Used to bind sauces

Hazelnut butter

It's a butter cooked in a frying pan. As soon as it boils, the butter takes on a nutty color. Use immediately

Butter ointment

When brought to room temperature, the butter becomes soft and can be worked into a paste.

White

Cooking technique (preparation): Mix flour and cold water, then add to boiling lemon water and chinoiser, i.e. strain.
Used to cook artichoke bottoms, certain vegetables and offal to preserve their white appearance and prevent oxidation.

White° see c

Cuisson à blanc. Used to describe a sweet or savoury pastry that is baked before adding the filling.

Bleaching

Plunge vegetables into boiling salted water for a few minutes, then cook or freeze them.

Bleaching

Whisk eggs with sugar until white and frothy.

Bleaching

Work softened butter with sugar until the mixture whitens.

Blonding

Lightly sauté a food until it turns golden brown (onion, shallot, flour, vegetable, etc.).

Bouquet garni

Thyme, bay leaves, celery sticks, leek greens and all aromatic plants according to taste, tied up to flavour a dish.

Braise

Slow cooking of a vegetable in fat, covered and without adding water.

Bréchet

Y-shaped median bone of the sternum of poultry and birds

Brider

Tie up poultry before cooking. Close a stuffed bird using a needle and kitchen thread.

Brunoise

Vegetables cut into small 1 to 2 mm cubes

Buisson

How to arrange shrimp in a pyramid shape

Canneler

Using a piping tool, make incisions all around the lemons and other citrus fruits for decoration.

Canneleur

Citrus zest removal tool (zester)

Caramelize

Coat a sweet or savoury ingredient with caramel

Caramelize

Coat the inside of a mould with a layer of caramel

Caramelize

Brown a vegetable or meat in fat and add a little sugar at the end to caramelize (onions, endives, meat...).

Carcass

Animal skeleton. Poultry carcasses are used to make "poultry stock" or "poultry broth".

Breadcrumbs

Bread dried then mixed. Used to make breadcrumbs

Castrate

Remove the central gut from shrimps, langoustines... (black filament on the back of shellfish, which is removed by an incision and prevents bitterness).

Castrate

Chastening crayfish: The crayfish tail is made up of 3 "scales". Simply grasp the middle one between your fingers, turn it to the right and pull to remove the gut, which may cause bitterness during cooking. This must be done before cooking, when the crayfish are still alive...

Heating

Coat a piece of meat or fish with a hot-cold sauce

Lining

Put a layer of butter, flour, greaseproof paper or cling film on the bottom and inside walls of a mould. You can also use lard or strainer to make a terrine, or spoon cookies to make a charlotte...

Chiffonade

Vegetables or salad cut into thin strips

Chinese

Very fine strainer

Chinoiser

Filtering a liquid through a strainer

Ciseler

How to cut onions, shallots, etc. into small pieces

Lemon

Rub the surface of certain fruits and vegetables with lemon to prevent oxidation. Bananas, apples, avocados, artichoke hearts...

Civet

A stew made with the animal's blood. Originally, civet (chives) was added, hence the name.

Clarify

Action of rendering a broth clear by removing fat deposits and/or impurities from the surface. Proceed when the broth is cold.

Clarify°

A process for separating butter from its whey. To do this, heat the butter over low heat or in the microwave, leave to stand and the whey will settle to the bottom of the container, then simply collect the butter on the surface. Clarified butter does not burn during cooking, and can be used to make delicate sauces such as hollandaise.

Clarify

Action of separating the yolk from the white of an egg

Cloûter

Pierce an onion with cloves. It's best to leave the onion skin on, as this adds a lot of color to the dish.

Compote

Cook vegetables or fruit for a long time over a low heat to turn them into compote.

Crushing

The term most often used for tomatoes. To do this, the tomato must be seeded, peeled and cut into small cubes.

Confire

Long cooking and preservation in its own fat (pork, goose, duck)

Confire

Preserve various fruit or vegetable preparations in oil, alcohol, vinegar or sugar.

Confire

Slowly cook whole fruits in syrup for a long time to preserve them.

Contiser

Gently slice the skin of poultry or fish to insert slices of truffle.

Corail

Red-orange part of the stomach of crustaceans and scallops

Cord

Sauce all around a dish

Horn

Small flexible plastic rectangle used to scrape the bottom of containers when transferring to another dish.

Corser

Enhance the flavor of a dish by adding spices or reducing cooking juices

Coulis

Thick sauce made by blending cooked or raw fruit or vegetables

Coverage

Couverture chocolate:

Chiboust cream

In homage to the name of the pastry chef who created the St Honoré, which includes it, light custard made with egg whites.

Crème fleurette

Liquid crème fraîche with 35% fat content. Ideal for whipped cream.

Strainer

Fatty membrane surrounding the viscera of the pig, shaped like a net. It is used in cooking to hold a preparation together (pâté, crépinette, paupiettes) and add softness to cooking.

Croque au sel

A way of eating raw vegetables soaked in salt (radishes, tomatoes), often accompanied by buttered bread.

Blank° cooking

Baking a tart base without filling. A layer of greaseproof paper and/or dried white beans is placed on the tart base, to prevent the pastry from puffing up during baking.

Cul de poule

Most often a stainless steel bowl with a round bottom. It is used for all types of cooking and pastry-making preparations.

Darne

Thick slice cut transversely from a large fish (hake, salmon, tuna)

Debrider

After cooking, remove the strings that hold the bird in place.

Decant

Remove pieces of meat from a sauce and set aside in another container

Decant

Decanting clarified butter means removing the whey (see clarifier°).

Decant

Decanting a wine:

Shell

Removing shells from crustaceans

Decook

Add cold water to cooking sugar or jam to reduce cooking time

Deglaze

Add a liquid (wine, water, poultry or veal stock, etc.) to the caramelized juices at the bottom of a container.

Disgorge

Salt a raw vegetable to restore its water content (e.g. cucumber).

Disgorge

Soaking meat in salted or vinegar water to remove impurities (e.g. beef tongue and certain offal or shellfish).

Degrease

Removing excess fat from a piece of meat

Degrease

Use a spoon to remove grease from the surface of a broth or sauce...

Degrease

To remove fat from the bottom of a frying pan or casserole used to brown food or meat before continuing cooking.

To preserve

Nerve removal from fresh meat or foie gras

Stone

Remove pits (cherries, plums, olives, etc.)

Skinning

Use a knife to separate the various pieces of a large butcher's cut.

Stripping

Remove skin from rabbits, hares, eels, sole...

Stripping

Skimming/degreasing

Dice

Cutting fruit or vegetables into small squares

Drying

Work the dough over the heat until the water has evaporated (cabbage dough, for example).

Relax

Make a preparation more fluid by adding a liquid

Develop

A dough containing yeast that is left to "grow" at room temperature. It will develop and increase in volume

Gilding

Brown meat or vegetables until golden brown

Gilding

A mixture of egg yolk and water, applied with a brush to a dough before baking to give a pretty color to the preparation.

Dresser

Arrange a dish harmoniously on serving plates

Duxelle

Thinly sliced button mushrooms, browned in butter with chopped shallots

Ebarber

Remove fins from fish. Remove beards from mussels

Scaling

Removing fish scales

Spread

Removing shells from hard-boiled eggs

Skimming

Skim off surface scum from syrup, jam, sauce or broth.

Leaf removal

Loosen the cooked flesh of fish or poultry between the fingers Remove the leaves from an aromatic plant

Thinning

Cut almonds and dried fruit into thin strips

Drain

Remove water from food by pouring it through a colander, strainer or salad spinner.

Egrener

Detach grains from a cluster or ear of corn

Mince

Cut into slices of varying size (onion, shallot, etc.).

Pruning

Remove the skin. Used for almonds, tomatoes...

Poison

Transformation of starch when in contact with a hot liquid

Piece cutter

Metal or plastic shape for cutting pasta. Can be plain or ribbed

Emulsify

Thoroughly mix a fat (butter, oil, sauce) with an egg yolk, mustard or other binding ingredient.

Bake

Place a ready-to-bake dish in an oven that has been heated to the correct temperature.

Coating

Evenly coat a food with a sauce or topping

Peel

Removing skin from food

Husk

Remove fruit stems after washing and draining.

Climbing

Crosswise slicing of meat and vegetables

Study

Place leavened pasta in a proofer for fermentation

Study

Gently stew certain dishes

Evider

Remove the central part of certain fruits (apples, pears, etc.).

Shaping

The act of shaping a dough or preparation. Example: shaping bread rolls

Pheasant

Suspending a game animal in a cool place for several days until it takes on a full-bodied odor. Used less and less

Farce

Preparation based on minced food (meat, vegetables), seasoned and sometimes bound with an egg, used to garnish the inside of poultry, roasts or to make pâté.

Stuffing

Fill the inside of a fruit, vegetable, meat or fish with a stuffing.

Net

Said of a few drops of lemon, vinegar or oil. Any liquid brought in small quantities

Net

The most delicate part of an animal (fillet of sole, beef, poultry).

Threading

Lift the fillets of a fish using a flexible-blade knife (a knife with the name "filet de sole").

Filming

Cover a dish or food with cling film to protect it before placing it in the refrigerator.

Flamber

Sprinkle heated alcohol over a preparation and ignite.

Flamber

Quickly run a piece of poultry or game under a flame to remove fluff.

Fleurer

Dust a work surface or pastry case with flour to prevent sticking.

Fleurons

Small crescent-shaped motifs made from puff pastry to decorate dishes.

Go for it

Line a tart tin with a layer of pastry.

Fountain

A pastry made with flour, with the aim of adding all the ingredients needed for the recipe to the center.

Tread

Strain a semi-liquid preparation through a sieve. Press strongly with a pestle to extract maximum juices.

Frémir

Bring a liquid to a gentle boil

Frying

A cooking technique in which food is immersed in an oil bath.

Fumet

Juice prepared from fish heads and bones, moistened with white wine and accompanied by diced carrots, garlic, onion and spices. The filtered juice (fumet) is used as a base for many sauces to accompany fish.

Ganache

Chocolate preparation with butter and/or cream

Gastric

Said of a preparation based on sugar and white vinegar, cooked until a blond caramel is obtained. It's the base for sweet and sour sauces.

Gigue

Big game haunch

Meat ice cream

unbound fund minimized by evaporation

Glaze

Covering a dessert with chocolate icing

Glaze

Cooking food with water and butter. White, without coloring, brown, with coloring. At the end of cooking, the liquid should have completely evaporated and the vegetable should be coated and shiny. This cooking method is ideal for young carrots, turnips and small onions.

Glaze

To brown the surface of a baked meat by basting it with its cooking juices.

Glaze

Use the salamander (grill) to brown the surface of a sauce or cream.

Goujonnette

Tongues cut on the bias from sole fillets

Grease

Brush butter or oil over a mold, baking sheet or dish.

Gratinate

Sprinkle a preparation with cheese or breadcrumbs, then place under the grill to brown the surface.

Toast

Exposing food (meat, poultry, fish, vegetables) directly under the oven grill

Toast

Toasting bread in the toaster or under the broiler

Dress

Trimming, scaling, gutting and washing fish

Dress

Flaming, trimming, gutting, trimming poultry or game birds

Chop

Cut into small pieces using a knife or electric food processor.

Historier

Means to decorate. In cooking, this term often refers to the cutting of a lemon or citrus fruit or a tomato into "wolf's teeth".

Imbiber

To moisten to penetrate a liquid (syrup, alcohol, liqueur, milk...) in various preparations in order to add softness and flavour (example: moistening a sponge cake with rum).

Incise

Make shallow incisions on the surface of a fish or on the fatty part of a duck breast to facilitate cooking.

Incorporate

Adding an ingredient to a preparation (an appliance)

Infuse

Put an aromatic substance into boiling water to perfume it.

Jabot

Pouch formed by the bulge in a bird's esophagus, in which food remains before passing into the stomach. Also called "gave".

Julienne

Vegetables cut into strands.

Lamination

Stretch dough using a rolling machine to obtain the desired thickness.

Rolling mill

Dough rolling tool

Larder

Using a larder, push strips of bacon into a piece of meat.

Bacon

Pieces of bacon cut into small sticks

Sourdough

A ball of bread dough containing fresh yeast that has been "developed" and then added to the bread dough to sow it and make "leavened" sourdough bread or pie dough.

Rise

Gently remove fillets from poultry or fish with a knife.

Link

Operation designed to give consistency to a liquid by adding flour, cream, egg...

Link

Action of thickening a sauce by adding cream, egg, cornstarch, roux...

Limoner

Remove bloody parts and skins from certain offal (brains, sweetbreads, lamb, etc.) under a trickle of water.

Smooth

Spread the surface of a dessert or cream with a spatula.

Smooth

Vigorously whisk a sauce or cream to make it smooth

Shine

Brush clarified butter, jelly or a topping over the surface of a dish to give it a shiny finish.

Luter

Weld the lid of a casserole with a strip of "dead" dough (flour+water) to seal it for cooking without evaporation. This process is mainly used to cook Alsatian Baeckoeffe, which requires several hours of cooking.

Freeze-dried

Dehydrated food at very low temperature, under vacuum

Macerate

Soaking food in a liquid (alcohol, oil, lemon juice, wine, etc.) for varying lengths of time to flavour or preserve it.

Maïzena

Corn flour used instead of wheat flour to thicken a sauce

Mandolin

Kitchen utensil for slicing vegetables

Marinade

A liquid with herbs in which meat or fish is soaked for a few hours.

Mariner

Dipping food in a marinade for flavouring purposes

Mark

To start cooking a food by browning it on all sides. Usually before placing in the oven to finish cooking.

Massé

Said of a sugar syrup that has crystallized

Matelote

Fish stew cooked in red wine

Mesclun

Mixture of several salad varieties

Miniature

Cracked pepper

Migaine

Egg and cream mixture spread on a quiche

Mirepoix

Vegetables cut into 1 to 2 cm cubes

Monder

The act of peeling a fruit or vegetable. Term most often used for tomatoes. Plunge them into boiling water, refresh in cold water and peel easily.

Beat with butter

Add small cubes of cold butter to a sauce

Wet

Adding a liquid to a preparation

Nacrer

The action of rendering translucent raw rice coated in oil or butter when cooking rice pilaf.

Tablecloth

Fruit-based jelly (apricots, red berries) used to give a glossy finish to fruit tarts, babas, etc.

Tablecloth

Covering a preparation with sauce or cream

Panad

Basic dough used to make choux pastry. It is essentially composed of water, butter and flour.

Paner

To cover a food with breadcrumbs after having passed it in an "anglaise" (beaten egg, salted, peppered and possibly with water).

Breadcrumbs

Crushed dry bread crumbs

Papillote

Wrap a preparation in aluminum foil or parchment paper for baking

Parer

To remove the inedible or non-presentable parts of a food. To trim poultry, meat, fish...

Sets

Waste or parts detracting from presentation

Paste

Piece of bread dough not detailed

Peel raw

Peel a citrus fruit, removing the rind and whitish part to leave only the "raw" fruit.

Persillade

A mixture of oil, vinegar (salt and pepper) and finely chopped parsley, used to make vinaigrettes.

Persillade

Parsley, finely chopped

Blue-veined

Meat with fatty infiltrations that add a lot of softness to cooking

Piler

Grind to a powder using a pestle (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, etc.).

Pestle

Wooden or porcelain handle used to crush, grind or ointment aromatic plants (basil, etc.) in a mortar.

Pestle

Poultry lower thigh

Quilting

Use a fork to make a multitude of small holes in the dough to prevent it from puffing up during baking.

Pistoles

Couverture chocolate chips.

Feathers

Leaves at the end of the stems of certain aromatic plants (chervil, parsley, etc.).

Pocher

Cook food in water or liquid at a temperature below boiling point.

Point

A small amount of a condiment. "a tip of a knife".

Push

Action of making a yeast-containing dough swell and develop.

Well

Synonymous with fountain, this term is often used when a hole is dug in the center of a pile of flour to add ingredients, but also, by children, when they dig a hole in the center of mashed potatoes to add sauce...

Puncher

Moisten a cookie or sponge cake with an alcoholic syrup.

Squaring

Use a knife to mark certain preparations to improve presentation

Squaring

Marking meat on the bars of a grill to create a grid pattern

Saddle

Part from the bottom of the ribs to the joints of the thighs of hares and rabbits.

Refresh

Cool food under running water or in a container of ice water. Most often a green vegetable to preserve its color.

Stiffen

Sauté meat without browning to firm up the fibres

Reduce

Concentrate the flavors of a sauce or juice by cooking uncovered for a long time.

Check

Enhance the flavour of a dish by adding spices

Go to

Emulsify a sauce whose components have separated, using a mixer for example.

Book

During a recipe, set aside a preparation or foodstuff for later use.

Back

Sauté a food in a little fat

Frying

Frying a food in a fatty substance while coloring it

Field dress

Cook potatoes in their skins. Start with cold salted water

Rondeau

Round, low-sided cooking vessel with lid

Roasting

Cooking meat in an oven or on a spit

Rouelles

Round slices cut from onion

Rouelles

Thick slices or large rounds

White russet

A mixture of flour and butter in equal proportions, moistened with water or broth without colouring.

Roux

Mix flour and butter over low heat. Add water or stock as soon as it begins to brown.

Russian

Round saucepan with straight, high sides, tail and lid

Sabayon

A very light sweet or savoury sauce made from egg yolk and cooked in a bain-marie with the addition of a liquid (alcohol, broth).

Sandblasting

Working flour and butter with the fingertips to make shortbread dough.

Bleeding

Killing an animal by draining its blood

Enter

Brown meat over high heat

Salamander

Professional appliance for grilling preparations

Salmis

Roast game stew cooked in red wine

Salpicon

Diced vegetables, fruit, fish and meat

Strapping

Set an appliance in a turbine or ice cream maker until solidified

Sangler

Action of transforming a liquid, cream or syrup into ice.

Skip

Quickly brown small pieces of meat, fish or vegetables in fat.

Saddle

Piece of meat from the bottom of the ribs to the thigh of certain animals (roe deer, doe, lamb, etc.).

Tighten

The action of beating egg whites very vigorously to stiffen them.

Whistles

Beveled leek slices

Singer

Sprinkle flour over cooking meat to bind the sauce.

Top

Flowering tips of certain plants (in aromatic cooking)

Suer

Fry food in fat over low heat without browning

Supreme

Fleshy part of the wing of a bird, commonly called "poultry breast".

Prune

General term for cutting

Sieve

Pass an ingredient through a strainer to remove lumps (sauce, flour, etc.).

So much for so much

An expression often used in pastry making. Means that each ingredient must have the same weight.

Upholstery

Place a layer of butter, flour or baking parchment on the bottom and inside walls of a baking tin.

Temper

Bring to room temperature a cooked preparation or a product from the refrigerator (cheese, egg, etc.).

Toast

Slice of bread, toasted or not...

Roasting

Place spices or dried fruit (pine nuts) in a hot, dry frying pan to enhance flavour.

Tourer

Puff pastry folding technique

Turn

Shaping certain vegetables to improve presentation (small purple artichoke)

Work

Vigorously mix a

Soak

Soak savarins or babas in syrup

Soak

Rehydrate dried vegetables by placing them in a container of cold water 24 hours before use.

Cutting

Cut certain vegetables into large pieces of the same size (carrots, leeks, etc.).

Turbiner

Setting ice cream in an ice cream maker or turbine

Turbine

Apparatus for glazing a preparation

Venaison

Large game (stag, doe, wild boar, etc.)

Vergeoise

Brown sugar

Verjus

Green grape juice. Its acidity means it can be used in place of vinegar.

Green-cuit

Degree of doneness of duck au sang

Zest

Outer skin of a citrus fruit, without the white part, removed with a zester, grater or knife.

Ziste

White membrane under the peel, with a very bitter taste