Cooking 101: Essential Culinary Terms Everyone Should Know

Tell us if you haven’t cooked at least once or twice a week during the lockdown; even if it is something basic, just to save yourself from starving.  Or maybe you wanted to eat healthier and bring in more homemade food on the table. Whatever is the reason behind your newfound interest in cooking, it is a basic survival skill that you will never regret learning.

For most of us, the first cooking experience usually starts with following a recipe. But following a recipe can be downright exasperating, when you don’t have an iota of knowledge about cooking terms. And if you had to cry out in frustration because you stumbled upon any culinary terms that you are not familiar with, maybe it is time for you to learn some of those basic terms. Here we have come with a list of essential culinary terms that you will find helpful.

Prepping Terms

Even if you can come up with 20 foods that start with L, or 30 yellow food items, we bet you don’t know the difference between slicing and dicing!

Preparing food requires cutting, and there is a myriad of ways you can do that. Some basic cutting methods are discussed here.

Slicing

Slicing involves cutting ingredients into similar pieces. The thickness can vary depending on your recipe. For instance, it might be mentioned in the recipe, whether you need thinly sliced onions or ½ inch thick onion rings. As a general rule, if you are using them directly you should slice items like onions or carrots into thin pieces. If you intend to fry, grill, or cook you can cut them a little thicker.

Dicing

Most people confuse dicing with chopping. Dicing requires more precise and smaller square cuts than chopping. Dicing is usually preferred in a salad or for sautéing items evenly.  As per the recipe, you might have to go for-

• A small dice (1/8 inch cubes)
• Medium dice (1/4 inch cubes)
• Large dice (1/2 inch cubes)

Chopping

Chopping is the generic term for cutting ingredients into small bite-size pieces, usually square (1/2 inch or ¾ inch). The pieces might not be uniform in shape or size. Coarse chopping is usually suitable for prepping items for cooking.

Cubing

Cube is another term often confused with dice. Cubed pieces are slightly larger than the diced ones. Pieces are uniform, and you can cube all items- from potato, cheese to even meat.

Mincing

Mincing is the process of finely chopping ingredients. Usually, it resembles a paste, but a coarse one. Mincing doesn’t require the pieces to be uniform. Herbs, onions, garlic, ginger are suitable for this method; it ensures that the flavors and taste of these ingredients are mixed well with the food.

Measuring Terms

While baking recipes are quite specific about the measurement, some cooking recipes just use shadowy terms like a pinch or a smidgen; leaving you to guess what they mean.

Even though the term pinch suggests the amount that fits into your pinched fingers, there is a more specific measuring indicator for it If you don’t know the subtle difference between a dash and a pinch, just take a look-

Tad

Tad is the measurement of 1/ 4 of a teaspoon.

Dash

A dash is almost the measurement of 1/8 of a teaspoon.

Pinch

A pinch is 1/16 of a teaspoon, much smaller than a dash.

Smidgen

Smidgen is 1/32 of a teaspoon.

Considering the amount it might seem pretty negligible but when you are adding potent spices like cayenne pepper or expensive flavor like saffron, this measuring comes in handy.

Cooking Terms

While almost all cooking methods require heat and moisture, the process varies largely depending on what type of food you are making. And all the process tweaks the mechanism of thermodynamics- how the heat is being transferred to foods. Here is a breakdown of some basic cooking methods.

Sautéing

You need three elements for sautéing- intense heat, little fat or oil, and a shallow pan. In French, “sauté” refers to jumping around and in cooking, it means your cooking ingredients require constant stirring or tossing around in the pan.

As the method requires high heat and very little fat, you need to constantly toss around the food to avoid getting them burned. Sautéing is a fast cooking method, and you need to heat your pan and oil before you pour the ingredients.

Stir-frying

While in sautéing the contact heat from the pan acts as the cooking agent, in stir-fry, it is the oil or fat. Stir-frying requires more oil and is usually done in a round bottom pan or a wok.

Searing

Seraing means browning. It is the process where the natural sugar content in foods (meat or fish) caramelizes the surface with the contact of heat. Searing is done in high heat with little oil or fat.

Pan-frying

Pan-frying is the happy middle between sautéing and searing. You need more oil but less heat. As your food is not completely immersed in oil, pan-frying is a much healthier option than deep-frying.

Braising

Braising is a slow cooking process where food is immersed in liquid (stock, water, tomato, or water). The process usually starts with searing the food. Slow cooking enhances the tenderness of food and fuses the flavor in the surrounding liquid. Vegetables, pork, beef, or chicken all can be braised and make a flavorful one-pot dish.

Stewing

Stewing is almost similar to braising. But while braising usually cooks whole cut meats, stewing requires smaller pieces for cooking. For a good stew, you need to brown the meat first and then return them to the pot with other ingredients to cook slowly.

Steaming

Steaming is a process where the food is cooked using the steams coming from a boiling liquid. While the food doesn’t touch the liquid it still gets softened by the vapor and pressure.  You can steam chicken, dumplings, fish, or vegetables and the process will keep all of their nutrients intact.

Roasting

Roasting is done in high heat in the oven. This ensures a dry heat, even cooking on all sides. Roasting is a fast cooking method and is completely hands-off. You just need to use some dry rub seasoning and oil to the food items, lay them out in the baking tray, and place them in the oven for roasting.

Broiling

Broiling is done in the oven broiler using indirect, intense heat. This is also a fast cooking process and needs items that require less cooking time. Chicken breasts, kebabs, fish, burger, eggplant are excellent items for broiling.

The Bottom Line

Cooking or following a recipe can be a cakewalk if you are familiar with the terms. The better you grasp their meaning, the less chance you have of ending up with a botched recipe. And remember the most important factor in cooking is the heat. Make sure to pay attention to the heat, a moment of inattention can turn your recipe into a disaster.