Glossary of Cooking Terms

An electric kitchen appliance that is used basically to emulsify, liquify or puree.

A process of cooking pie crusts and pastry shells before adding the fillings, sometimes referred to as "baking empty" or "cooking empty." Some pie fillings, quiche ingredients, or other similar added foods may not take as much time to cook as the crust or as the pie or a tart, so the crust is baked before the filling is added to give the crust an even consistency and a golden brown appearance.

The tasting of wine with, typically, no knowledge of the identity of the wine. At times, the tasters will know the type but not the winery they originate from.

A small yeast-raised pancake made from a batter that has a combination of wheat and buckwheat flour as the main ingredient.

A thin pancake, similar to a crepe, that is made to become a food wrap that is filled with savory foods or sweet ingredients.

A type of orange is slightly smaller than a typical orange, with an orange-red skin and a deep red inner flesh.

A peach that is large in size that has a dark red colored skin that surrounds a similar reddish-purple juicy flesh, which provides a tart flavor.

A large link sausage that is made of fresh pork, seasoned pork blood, suet, bread crumbs, and oatmeal.

A large link sausage that is typically made of pork, seasoned pork blood, suet, breadcrumbs, and oatmeal, although other ingredients may be added.

A type of aged cheese that features veins of edible blue and/or green mold throughout the cheese.

A variety of cornmeal made from blue corn. A roasted version is known as “blue atole flour”.

A type of crab with a hard, greenish-colored shell and blue legs that comes from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and is prized for its delicious white meat.

A small plump variety of banana that is commonly used as a dessert or snacking banana.

(Scientific Name: Lepista saeva) Also referred to as the Field Blewit or at times confused with the Wood Blewit, this variety of mushroom is readily identified by the blue to purplish-blue streaked coloring of its stem.

A somewhat small, round berry that is dark blue in color with a crowned opening at the opposite end of its stem.

One of the largest varieties of tuna caught for commercial use. Younger and smaller bluefins have lightly colored and mildly flavored meat, while older, larger specimens have a rich, red meat that is full flavored.

Descriptor of wines that are robust and typically high in alcohol, lacking in aroma, and short on the palate.

A German sausage made with ground bits of pork that be taken from various pork cuts as well as pig snoots, beef blood, and seasonings.

An Italian fresh mozzarella cheese that is formed into small dome-shaped portions and packed in water or brine.

A type of sausage traditionally made from ground veal and pork (usually more veal than pork), with milk and eggs added, that may be seasoned with chives and parsley.

Describes the impression of structure, density, fullness, thickness, or weight in your mouth after wine tasting.

A tool used by health professionals, nutritionists, and some insurance companies to assess the risk of health problems related to weight and body size.

A farmhouse cheese originating in Holland that is made from unpasteurized cow's milk.

The process of heating liquid to the temperature at which it will begin to transform into a gaseous state, which is 212ºF or 100ºC when water is boiled at sea level.

A type of product that controls or protects liquids from boiling over while cooking, often referred to as a "pot watcher" that is used to keep the liquid contained to a rolling boil rather than foaming boil.

A rice product marketed as a convenience food in which parboiled rice is sealed in a plastic bag.

A ham that has been boned, cured and fully cooked using a process that includes boiling the ham in water.

A type of onion that is a small red, yellow or white onion, usually measuring about an inch or less in diameter.

One of several varieties of medium size round red or white potatoes that are suitable for boiling, as well as roasting or frying.

A large pot with a lid and a special rack used for holding jars. The pot is filled with water and heated in order to heat-treat pints and quarts of food for home canning.

A type of Chinese vegetable of the mustard family. It has dark green leaves and white celery-like stalks that have a mild, slightly peppery flavor.

A variety of mushroom that includes over 100 different species, most edible but also some are poisonous.

A Mexican bread, made with a basic dough that is very similar to a French baguette dough.

A Portuguese yeast bread that is traditionally served to celebrate Epiphany. The dough, prepared with white bread flour or all-purpose flour, is enriched with butter and eggs, flavored with raisins, pine nuts, and orange and lemon zest, and topped with candied fruits, sugar, and citrus zest.

A type of sausage with origins in Bologna, Italy that is made from a combination of beef and pork.

Like many pasta sauces, there are several that are traditional sauces native to their region of origination, such as Bolognese, a traditional Italian sauce originating in Bologna, Italy.

A type of whole-wheat flour in which nearly 80 percent of the bran has been removed.

A Spanish short-grain rice that when cooked, expands in width, which differs from most rice varieties that expand in length.

Unlike the term implies, this food is not referring to a duck but instead a dried fish.

A traditional French dessert, referred as bombe glacee or bombe, made with ice cream or sherbet and a mixture of custard and fruit.

1. A French term meaning "candy." 2. A type of candy that has taken on the name of "bon bon" to describe its general shape and form, such as candy made with a semi-hard outer shell that covers a sweet inner filling.

A cow's milk cheese, originating from Sweden, that is made into small wheels 5 to 8 inches in diameter and 3 to 5 inches thick.

This type of ham can be a butt or shank portion or it could be a whole or half leg that has the hip, thigh and/or shank bone remaining as part of the ham.

Also known as boned ham, this whole cured ham is a cut of pork that has had the hip, thigh, and shank bones removed, as well as most of the fat before it is rolled, molded, and packaged.

A long, cylindrical, boneless cut of meat, obtained from the loin primal, in beef, pork, veal, and lamb.

A white fleshed sweet potato, having a dark pink to burgundy colored skin, which is drier and not as sweet as a regular sweet potato.

A type of cutting utensil that is used to remove the main bone within a cut of meat, such as a ham or a beef roast.

Dried shavings of fish that are sliced from aged pieces of bonito. A member of the tuna family of fish, bonito is a popular fish in Japan that is typically not consumed as often fresh for a meal as it is in a dried form.

A variety of tuna that is very important in Japanese cooking. It is rarely eaten fresh and is usually dried into cubes.

Originating from the Middle East region of Europe, this variety of herb is a flowering plant that grows wild in many areas sprouting a colorful purple, star-shaped flower when mature.