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Cooking Terms

Aromatics – Plant ingredients, such as herbs and spices, used to enhance the flavor and fragrance of food

Arrowroot – A fine starch extracted from the rhizomes of plants of the genus Maranta. 

Aspic – A clear jelly made from stock or occasionally from fruit or vegetable juices. 

Bake – To cook in the oven. The terms baking and roasting are often used interchangeably, but roasting usually implies cooking at a higher temperature—at least at the beginning—to get the surface of the foods to brown. 

Barbecue – A cooking method involving grilling food over a wood or charcoal fire. Usually some sort of rub, marinade, or sauce is brushed on the item before or during cooking. 

Basmati – The name of the most deliciously flavored long-grain rice from India. 

Baste– To moisten food during cooking with pan drippings, sauce, or other liquid. Basting prevents foods from drying out. 

Baster – A large kitchen syringe used to baste meats with their own gravy, another liquid, or melted fat. 

Batter – A mixture of flour and liquid with the addition of flour, eggs, and sometimes fat, used to prepare cakes, muffins, pancakes, crepes, and quick breads. Also applies to frying batters.

Coat – To cover the back of a spoon with a layer of a thickened sauce or stirred custard.
Coddled eggs – Eggs cooked in simmering water, in their shells or in ramekins, until set. 

Colander – A perforated bowl made of metal or plastic that is used to strain foods. 

Compote – A dish of fruit cooked in syrup flavored with spices or liqueur. 

Compound butter – Whole butter combined with herbs or other seasonings and used to sauce grilled or broiled meats or vegetables. 

Consommé – Broth or stock that has been clarified by simmering it with beaten egg whites, which attract and trap the impurities clouding the broth. 

Corned – As in corned beef or other meat; refers to a meat that has been salted and cured.

Drupe – Peaches, apricots, and all plums are drupes, a juicy false fruit attached to a wooden pit in which an almond is enclosed. 

Dumpling – A small lump of soft leavened and seasoned egg, milk, and flour dough, shaped with two spoons or piped out of a pastry bag fitted with a nozzle. Usually it is poached in simmering water, but can be steamed over a stew. 

Dutch oven – A cast-iron pot used for the preparation of stews, braises, and pot-roasts.

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