Popular cooking terms

As BeingGlutenFree grows, you will see more and more cooking terms mentioned. You may already have come across most of these before. Below is a list of the popular cooking terms with their meaning.

Simmer

Simmer is where you cook food on a gentle boil. You would usually have your hob set to a medium heat and small bubble will appear.

Sauté

To Sauté is to cook something on a high heat, similar to stir frying. You might Sauté potato’s in butter to give a crisp edge.

Render

Rendering is where you melt fat on a low heat from meat. You might render a steak or bacon.

Sweating food

This is where you would gently fry food so it becomes soft but not brown.

Cutting in

This is also known as ‘Rubbing in’. You will do this when making pastry. You would rub the flour and butter together to form breadcrumbs.

Reduce

You will often reduce liquid when making a sauce/ gravy. This will allow the flavour to be stronger.

Al Dente

This is where you cook pasta so it is soft but still firm.

Blanch

You would do this when cooking vegetables quickly ahead of the next cooking step. You would place them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes before cooling them down in ice water and cooking the next step.