ABC of cooking types

Deglaze:
Add liquid (e.g. wine, water, fond) to braising or roasting jus.

Whisking in a bain-marie:
Slow heating in a container suspended in hot water (75  C to 85  C). Ideally suited to crèmes and sauces, such as sauce hollandaise or sabayon, which contain butter, eggs or cream and might curdle.

Sweat:
Lightly roast in fat over a moderate heat; the cooked food should not change colour.

Blanch:
Plunge food to be cooked into hot liquid and let it draw briefly. Ideal for tender vegetables or by way of preparation of fruit and vegetables for freezing.

Fry:
Quick (fierce) cooking and browning of meat, fish or vegetables in hot fat over a strong heat. Both the fryware and the fat need to be very hot to enable the meat pores to close immediately. Only protein-free and water-free fats with a high boiling point should be used for frying. Do not poke the meat while it is frying, as it will lose juice.

Clarify
Remove all cloudy components from consommés, soups, jellies, fruit juices etc.

Steam:
Cook by means of water vapour at around 100° C. Steaming is one of the gentlest cooking methods in contemporary cuisine. The vapour preserves vitamins and mineral compounds. Form, taste and colour of the food to be cooked are preserved. Vegetables, potatoes, fish and meat are suitable for steaming. Pour no more than 2 cups of water or stock with spices into a pot. Put the food to be cooked into a steamer top, place it on the pot and close the lid. Bring the liquid to the boil, and cook on a medium heat. Do not open the pot while steaming is in progress. The steaming water contains essences and nutrients and can be used to enrich sauces. Seasoning is added at the end.

Stew:
Simmer in own juice, adding small quantities of liquid or fat in a closed pot. Ideal for vegetables. Cut into pieces of the same size and lightly braise in a little fat. Add water or stock and cook on a low heat in a covered container. The cooking liquid can be used to enrich sauces.

Equalize or turn:
Peel vegetables or shape them with a knife so as to give them an even appearance.

Emincer:
Cut vegetables or meat, which are not cooked, but only heated in a sauce, into very fine slices.

Deep-fry:
Bake until golden yellow, submerged in hot fat. Vigorously heat hardened plant fat or refined oil in a pot (fill pot only up to 1/3). The fat is sufficiently hot if it bubbles up a wooden handle held in the fat. Or if a cube of white bread dropped into the fat browns very quickly. Place the food to be deep-fried in a wire basket into the pot and deep-fry.

Simmer:
Cook in plenty of liquid that is just about to boil.

Grease:
Brush with fat or oil.

Gratinate:
Cook a dish au gratin on a strong top heat so that a brown crust forms. Both raw and cooked food can be gratinated.

Boil:
Prepare in scalding fluid at around 100  C. The food to be cooked must be covered by the fluid, but the pot can be open or closed. Different foods are boiled differently: Meat and/or pasta are added to boiling water. The starch gelatinizes, the meat pores closing immediately. Water-soluble vitamins are preserved. Pulses, dried fruit or bones are added to cold water. The water slowly penetrates the food to be cooked, enabling the food starch to swell.

Cook in a bain-marie:
Simmer in a container that is heated with hot water. The water temperature ranges between 75  C and 85  C. This cooking method is a classical professional method. It is mainly used for preparing pâtés, terrines, soufflés and fine puddings.

Bind:
Thicken with egg yolk, cream or flour. Particularly for soups and sauces.

Mount:
Add butter to sauces, soups or other food of liquid consistency. Also beat egg white stiff.

Nap:
Coat food in a sauce of thick consistency.

Spice with paprika:
Season or bread strongly with paprika powder.

Strain:
Pass liquids, soups or sauces through a sieve or cloth.

Stir-fry:
Cook quickly and gently in a small amount of fat while stirring continuously. Ideal preparation method for wok and sauté pan. For this, vegetables, fish or meat are cut into small pieces.

Poach:
Cook slowly in scalding liquid without boiling. Ideal for delicate foods like fish, dumplings or chipolatas.

Plump:
Expand food, e.g. grain, dried fruit or beans, in liquid over a low supply of heat. This cooking method opens up the contents of the food better, which makes them healthier. Ideal for bean dishes, semolina and rice pudding.

Reduce:
Boil down a liquid to reduce the water content and to intensify the taste.

Sauté:
Also referred to as tossing. Thinly sliced food is cooked by being tossed in hot (but not too hot) fat in a sauté pan. Sautéing hardly changes the food's intrinsic taste. For fillets, fish and mushrooms that have been cut into small pieces, but also for vegetables that have been blanched briefly beforehand. Seasoning is not added until after sautéing.

Braise:
Brown in fat and then simmer in a small amount of liquid. Searing causes the formation of a tasty crust, which, when deglazed with a hot liquid, gives rise to a delicious sauce. Ideal for dishes with a longer cooking time, e.g. large roasts, beef olives, stews and ragouts.

Tomatoize:
Mix with tomato paste, tomato sauce or tomato puree.

Fold in:
Carefully mix beaten white of egg, whipped cream or similarly delicate masses with other food, without their losing their consistency."