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from: Prakash
Stumped by rouxs and dredges, Do the terms in your cookbook make you run for the dictionary every two steps? Are you being bombarded with culinary jargon with every new food festival? Don't worry, you aren't the only one. Prakash explain tongue-twisting culinary terms from Culinary dictionary. He tells us how the blind bake is very different from a blind date!
Al dente [noun]:
An Italian term which means adequately firm or crisp but not too hard.It means that the food has a bite and is often used when describing pasta or a vegetable or rice preparation. Usage: The pasta should be cooked al dente.
Blind bake [noun]:
Baking the crust of a pie without any filling, hence called ‘blind’. It is usually done by keeping weights such as dry lentil on the pie while baking to keep the pastry from bubbling or puffing up. Usage: We should make a few blind bakes in advance for the party.
Bouquet garni [noun]:
A bouquet or bundle of assorted herbs tied together with a string and used to flavour soups and stews. The bundle is boiled with the other ingredients and removed prior to serving the dish. Usage: The new chef forgot to remove the bouquet garni, but the patrons didn’t mind.
Chafing dish [noun]:
The utensil used to keep food warm, especially at the table or buffet. It constitutes a large pan with a cover, kept on a raised stand, under which a candle is lit to keep the dish warm. Usage: They used silver chaffing dishes at the wedding banquet.
Choux pastry [noun]:
It is the light pastry dough made out of butter, water, flour, and eggs used in baked desserts such as profiteroles, eclairs, French crullers and beignets. Usage: The choux pastry was as light as air.
Clarifying eggs [adj, n]:
The process used to segregate and remove solid impurities from soups or wines to give them a smooth texture. The names comes from the egg whites used to separate impurities that are then skimmed off. Usage: Have you used the clarifying eggs in the soup, or shall I?
Compote [noun]:
A preparation made using fresh or dried fruits simmered in sugar syrup. It may also refer to game meat which is cooked slowly on a low flame to result in a succulent texture. Usage: They made compote from the raspberries they picked.
Croustade [noun]:
A French culinary term that means a crust or pie-crust made out of puff pastry. There are various kinds of croustades made using bread, potato, rice, semolina and even vermicelli. Usage: You could tell the croustade was stale as it was wiltng.
Dredge [verb]:
Dredging refers to sprinkling sugar over desserts and pastries. Special dredgers are used for this purpose. It needs a heavier hand of application. Usage: Those doughnuts were dredged with sugar and coffee powder.
Dust [verb]:
Light sprinkling of powdered spices, flour or icing sugar over breads, cookies and roasts. Sieves are used to give it a dusty effect. Usage: They had to assign a special person only to dust the large desert order.
Five Spice [noun]:
Tracing its roots to China, this is a seasoning based on their philosophy of balancing the five basic flavours sweet, sour, bitter, savoury and salty. The five spices are cinnamon, star anise, clove, fennel seeds and cassia bud. It is used in various cuisine across Asia.Usage: Every dish is typically tempered with five spice.
Infusion [verb, noun]:
Infusion is the process where natural elements are soaked in oil or hot water to extract their core flavour. An example of infusion is herbal tea in which the flavour is extracted from dried leaves by way of steaming water. Usage: [v] The jasmine buds need to be infused for two to three minutes to bring out their flavour; [n] Make an infusion of orange blossoms to pour over the baclava.
Kissing crust [noun]:
When the crusts of two loaves join during the baking process or when a loaf is not sliced cleanly and the slices still cling to each other, it is called a kissing crust. Usage: Leave enough distance between the two loaves while baking to avoid a kissing crust.
Mirepoix [noun]:
The French word for a combination of onions, carrots and celery. Either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter, it forms the flavouring base for various soups, stews and sauces. Mirepoix is gently simmered so that the vegetables impart their flavour to the dish and are tenderised. Usage: Restaurants usually make mirepoix in bulk and then use small portions as required.
Proving [noun]:
Enlargement of any foods, especially breads while being baked, due to the production of carbon dioxide caused by fermentation within the dough is known as proving. Usage: Use a large baking tray to allow for proving.
Roux [noun]: Originating from classical French cuisine, it is the mixture of wheat flour and butter or vegetable fat used as an emulsifying or thickening agent in gravies, soups, sauces and stews. Usage: Use low fat margarine for the roux instead of butter if you are on a diet.
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