OpinionSoup's not-necessarily-healthy, but most-definitely delicious "International Recipes from Real International People" (formerly Southern Recipes)
GLOSSARY
- ASPIC - meat jelly, boiled down to become firm when cold
- BASTE - To Baste (moisten) baking food (esp. roasting meat), add juices from the pan or add additional juice, directly onto the food.
- BISQUE - a rich, thick, cream soup made from fish
- BLANCH - To whiten or remove skins from almonds, to prepare veggies for freezing, to remove tomato peels easily before cooking, or whenever your instructions say "Blanch,": pour boiling water over the food, then drain and rinse quickly with cold water.
- BOUILLABAISE - a chowder made from several varieties of fish and wine
- BOUILLON - clear soup made from lean beef or chicken
- BRAISE - Braising is simmering your meat or veggies with a small amount of liquid in a covered dish, either in your oven or over direct heat.
- CARAMELIZE - Heating sugar in a skillet until melted and brown, or heating foods which contain sugar until they are brown and caramel flavor, is called Caramelizing.
- CLARIFY - To clarify a liquid (make it clear), add beaten egg whites and egg shells to hot liquid, then strain.
- COCKTAIL - A "cocktail" can be a first course or appetizer, an alcoholic beverage served before dinner, or cut shellfish with tart sauce served at the start of a meal.
- CROQUETTES - chopped meat or fish held together by eggs, shaped and dipped in crumbs or corn meal, then fried
- FRICASSEE - A Fricassee is meat or poultry stewed in stock or sauce.
- FRITTER - Fritters are veggies or fruit that have been covered with batter and then deep-fried.
- GLAZE - Glazing is coating with a thin sugar syrup.
- JULIENNE - cut in fine strips or strings
- MARINATE - Marinating your food before cooking means letting it soak for a while in some kind of dressing, sauce, or marinade.
- MINCE - "Minced" means cut into very fine pieces.
- PARBOIL - Parboiling is boiling food until it is only partially cooked.
- RENDER - "Rendering" bacon or ham or any fatty meat just means heating the meat slowly until the fat melts and then pouring off the rendered fat.
- SAUTE - cooking at medium temp in a small amount of oil, butter or grease, turning often; not the same as stir-fry
- SCALD - To Scald, heat water until it is almost ready to boil, then drop your food into the water for a short time (double boilers are best for Scalding).
- SCALLOP - baking food in layers (usually in oven-proof glass casserole dishes), with sauce, crumbs, etc.
- SCORE - Making light cuts or gashes on the surface of your cooking food, (usually baking ham), is called "Scoring."
- SEAR - Browning the outside of the meat quickly (to seal in juices), either in a very hot pan or in the oven, is "Searing."
- SHRED - Shredding is cutting food into very thin slices or strips.
- SIMMER - Cooking food in liquid that is not boiling, is Simmering.
- SLIVER - Who doesn't know what a sliver is? Tell me, who doesn't know this?
- STEEP - Steeping is pouring boiling liquid over something (tea or herbs, usually), covering, and letting it stand.
- STIR-FRY - cooking quickly in a wok with water, over intense heat, stirring constantly
- STOCK - Stock is the liquid that remains after some food has been cooked in it.
- TRUSS - To truss your hen or turkey or pork loin or whatever, is to tie it with strong cord before cooking, so that it retains its shape (if you don't truss your fowl it will look embarrassingly voluptuous after it is cooked).
OpinionSoup Recipes is published by Rock & Roll Church of All Nations North America, ©2000-2006, Don Harthcock, OpinionSoup.com. Portions of OpinionSoup Recipes may be reproduced on your site with proper credit and a link. This instruction supercedes all previous prohibitions. Taping RR to refrigerators, posting on bulletin boards & emailing to friends is waycool, highly-recommended, and much appreciated.
The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated any of the statements made in this publication, nor is that likely ever to happen. This publication is not meant to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Since this publication is not intended to be diagnostic or prescriptive, the authors assume no responsibility for any adverse reactions resulting from the use of any information contained in it.
