Today we\u2019re getting back to basics by using the wayback machine to repost this piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While my mom didn\u2019t cook much when I was growing up, my grandmother did. I spent enough time cooking fresh food and baking from scratch to feel comfortable with the tools and the terms. That\u2019s not true for everyone my age and certainly not for everyone my kids\u2019 age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In some circles cooking has come to mean popping a packaged meal in the microwave or heating precooked entrees or vegetables in the oven. I\u2019ve seen posts in which a description of baking from \u201cscratch\u201d included a cake mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reducing the amount of prepackaged, convenience foods you eat can help lessen your consumption of chemical additives, sodium, manufactured fats, and sugar. It also means you may have to perform a few additional \u201ccooking\u201d related tasks.
If you\u2019re not familiar with cooking terminology, translating a recipe into a dish may seem daunting. Removing some of the mystery can help you get past the feeling that you can\u2019t cook because you don\u2019t even know what the words in the instructions mean. Today, let\u2019s explore some basic cooking terms and techniques so you can be on your way to becoming a great cook!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don\u2019t need a lot of fancy equipment to prepare a wide variety of foods for boiling, steaming, baking or broiling. Peeling, slicing, chopping, dicing, and mincing only require a knife. But what are they? When preparing vegetables and fruits, you\u2019ll use these techniques over and over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes you may not want a cooked or raw vegetable to retain its shape at all. You can then use a food chopper or processor to grind<\/em> or pur\u00e9e<\/em> it. Grinding reduces the food to tiny particles. Pur\u00e9eing means the food is processed until it\u2019s smooth. You don\u2019t have to have an electronic appliance to do this. A cooked vegetable can be mashed, then put through a sieve to create a pur\u00e9e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve prepped vegetables and meats, you may want to add heat in order to boil, steam, saut\u00e9, bake, broil, roast, grill, or braise. Sometimes you\u2019ll want to parboil, blanch, simmer, scald or blend. You may be instructed to dot a casserole with butter before baking it, or to baste a turkey while it roasts. If so, here\u2019s what to do: When you begin baking from scratch, you\u2019ll commonly see instructions to sift, mix, cut in, whisk, flour, fold, and knead so let\u2019s prepare for that: Now that you have a guide to more than 30 common cooking terms, you can build on this knowledge as you gain experience and confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Never feel bad about having to look something up. Many chefs have used books and kitchen experience to become successful. And remember, you don\u2019t have to be a chef to be a great cook!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today we\u2019re getting back to basics by using the wayback machine to repost this piece. While my mom didn\u2019t cook much when I was growing up, my grandmother did. I spent enough time cooking fresh food and baking from scratch to feel comfortable with the tools and the terms. That\u2019s not true for everyone my … Continue reading “Back to Basics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[3909,2695,3908,1520,3910],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5979,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978\/revisions\/5979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Definitions:<\/strong>
Peel<\/em> \u2013 Remove the outside skin from vegetables or fruits.
Slice<\/em> \u2013 Cut a thick or thin, flat piece of something like fruit, vegetable, bread, or meat.
Chop<\/em> \u2013 Cut food into irregular pieces of similar size to each other. Chopped pieces are typically larger than diced or minced.
Dice<\/em> \u2013 Cut food into cubes between 1\/8\u2033 and 1\/2\u2033 in size. If size is not specified, use 1\/4\u2033
Mince<\/em> \u2013 Mincing is like dicing, but the pieces are smaller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Definitions<\/strong>
Boil<\/em> \u2013 To submerge in a boiling liquid at or above the boiling point of water.
Steam<\/em> \u2013 To place food above boiling water in a pot or pan using some kind of rack or basket and a cover so that steam cooks the food.
Saut\u00e9<\/em> \u2013 To cook a food quickly in oil and\/or butter over high heat.
Bake<\/em> \u2013 To cook using dry heat in an oven or on heated metal or stones.
Broil<\/em> \u2013 To cook quickly using high heat from above the food.
Roast<\/em> \u2013 To cook using dry heat with a temperature of at least 300 in an environment in which hot air from an open flame, oven or other heat source envelops the food, cooking it evenly on all sides.
Grill<\/em> \u2013 To cook directly over live, high heat flames.
Braise<\/em> \u2013 To cook slowly in a small amount of liquid in a covered container in the oven or on a burner.
Brown<\/em> \u2013 To give a cooked surface to meat or flour. Also to turn a brown color in the oven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Definitions<\/strong>
Parboil<\/em> \u2013 To briefly boil in water until food begins to soften.
Blanch<\/em> \u2013 To briefly place food in boiling water, then immediately move it into cold water.
Simmer<\/em> \u2013 To cook in liquid at a temperature just below a boil.
Scald<\/em> \u2013 Refers to both dipping into boiling water, and heating milk to just below the boiling point.
Blend<\/em> \u2013 To mix ingredients together thoroughly often using a beater, mixer, or blender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Definitions<\/strong>
Dot<\/em> \u2013 Cover the top with small pieces of butter.
Baste<\/em> \u2013 Spoon, brush or pour drippings or liquid over a food before or during cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Definitions<\/strong>
From Scratch<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 To make from the very beginning without using already prepared ingredients.
Sift<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Use a device made of a metal cup with a screen at the bottom that contains a mechanism to force the flour through the mesh.
Mix<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Combine items to form one mass.
Cut In<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Work solid fat into dry ingredients with a pastry blender until evenly distributed.
Whisk<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Beat or stir with a whisk.
Flour<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 To dust a pan the shortening in a prepared baking pan with flour.
Fold<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 To delicately incorporate one substance into another substance without releasing air bubbles.
Knead<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 To work a dough by mixing, stretching, and pulling with the fingers and mashing with the heel of the hand.
Other common actions are grating, whipping, and garnishing. Let\u2019s explore those terms:
Grate \u2013 To rub firm food on a tool with small, rough, sharp-edged holes grater to create small pieces.
Whip<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 To beat vigorously to incorporate air and cause expansion.
Garnish<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 To decorate a dish with something attractive and flavorful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n