Glossary of Cooking Terms

A paste mixture used for making molded decorations. Works especially well on flowers and leaves used to decorate wedding cakes.

An Italian pasta that consists of a variety of tiny shapes. Each shape generally has its own name but they can all be used for one another.

Thin, flat pieces of lean beef, taken from the plate, brisket, or round, which are rubbed with seasoning, dry cured, smoked, and cooked to give it a firmer texture with a seasoned flavor.

Unleavened dough consisting of flour, shortening or butter, and liquid, such as puff pastry, and pastry for pies or tarts.

A cone shaped bag that has a small opening on one end and a large opening on the opposite end.

A device, also referred to as a pastry cutter, that is used to cut butter or other solid fat when it is to be blended into flour for making pastry dough, generally pie crusts.

A large wooden board used to mix and knead various types of dough, such as bread, pasta and pastry.

A 1" to 1-1/2" wide, small brush made with nylon or sterilized natural bristles....

A large cloth made from a heavier weight cotton material that is used for rolling out pastry dough with a rolling pin.

A thick, creamy filling used as a stuffing for cream puffs, éclairs, napoleons, and various pastries.

A kitchen tool that is used to close and secure the sides of various foods that will have filling on the inside and dough on the outside.

A soft-wheat flour with a fine-texture and a high starch content. Pastry flour is finely ground, but it is not as fine as cake flour.

A kitchen utensil used for cutting pastry dough as it is being formed and prepared for baking.

A Spanish cheese made from Churra and Castellana sheep's milk. Translated to mean "mule's leg" or "mule's foot" due to its shape, this cheese has a heritage in the northern plateau region of Spain, where the cheese is aged by laying it on wooden planks, flattening out the edges of the cheese and creating a brick of cheese with a rough grey rind as it matures.

Any ground or minced mixture of meat, fish, or vegetables that have been shaped into a round, flattened portion of food to be prepared for baking, grilling or frying.

A baked shell, made from a dough or batter, which is formed into the shape of a short and somewhat wide cup in order to hold prepared foods for serving.

A round flat summer squash that has scalloped edges with a pale green, white or yellow outer rind.

A variety of apple that has bright red outer skin with yellow to tan spots. This apple has a cream-colored crisp-textured juicy flesh that provides a slightly tart flavor.

A thin, flattened piece of meat or fish that has had a filling spread on top and is then rolled up and secured with a wooden toothpick or a string.

A type of dessert, inspired, named and used as a celebration for a famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, when she visited Western Australia during the 1930's.

A French term most often used in reference to a square or rectangular-shaped serving of food.

A farmhouse cheese from the Chirac region in the middle of France where many of the goat cheeses are produced.

A term that is used to describe a papaya in countries outside of the U.S. but a variety of fruit that is not a payaya in the U.S.

A French term that is used to describe vegetables that have been cut into thin slices with shapes that correspond best to the shape of the vegetable.

The delicate spiraling vines (shoots) and uppermost leaves of a young pea plant....

A sweet juicy fruit that has skin that ranges from white to rich yellow to reddish brown and flesh that ranges from yellow to deep gold and red.

A non-carbonated beverage flavored by the pulp from peaches. It has a mild peach flavor and aroma.

The pointed mound that can be created when a mixture has been whipped long enough to become stiff, such as when eggs are beaten for meringue.

Underground legumes that have a nutlike flavor and are high in valuable proteins.

A type of confection prepared with sugar, corn syrup, peanuts, and butter that has the flavor of buttery, caramelized sugar surrounding a flat layer of peanuts.

A thick tasty paste made from ground peanuts that is used as a food spread or as an ingredient in recipes.

A type of baking chips that has a peanut butter flavor. Peanut butter chips are added to cookies and bars to add peanut butter flavor.

An oil, derived from peanuts, which is pale gold in color and has a distinctive taste but is not overpowering.

A popular sauce in Southeast Asia which is made from peanut oil, peanut butter or ground peanuts, garlic, onions, chiles, and soy sauce.

A sweet, aromatic fruit that provides a sweet juicy meat beneath a soft outer flesh when fully ripe.

A thick, sweet, slightly grainy juice that is extracted from pears. Bottled pear nectar can be found in most supermarkets.

A variety of the red tomato that is similar in color and texture to cherry tomatoes but milder in flavor and smaller in size with a shape like a pear.

Whole kernels of barley grain that have had the bran removed and been polished four to six times, which creates a smooth surface and a pearl like finish.

A mild flavored red, white, or yellow skinned onion that will range in sizes of less than or a little more than 1 inch in diameter.

Small, solid beads of pasta. Pearl pasta is slightly larger than acini di pepe pasta.

A short grain variety of rice that sticks together when it is cooked. This variety is generally used for commercial product formulations rather than home recipes, converting the rice starch and flour into food binders for fillings, gravies and sauces.

A sugar used for decorating, which consists of large crystals that have been polished to a pearl like sheen.

A reference to grain in which the bran layers have been removed. The removal of the bran layers results in grain with much less fiber, which is less healthful than grain that retains the bran.

Varieties of small round legumes that are typically classified as fresh, field or pod peas.

A term that traditionally referred to a type of bread prepared by rural peasants and used as an everyday bread.

One of the varieties of nuts harvested from the hickory tree that has a hard, thin, tan outer shell containing a beige and brown nut on the inside.

A hybrid to basmati rice, this aromatic rice is grown primarily in the southern United States.

The Italian name given to any fresh, medium aged or matured cheeses made from sheep's milk, unless classifed otherwise since some Pecorino Toscano cheeses may also be made with a combination of sheep and cow's milk.

An aged Italian cheese made from sheep's milk that has a hard yellow to dark brown rind and a yellowish white interior.

Also known as "goose-neck or goose barnacles", pecrebes are a shellfish that have the appearance of a goose with a long neck that extends out from a soft body.