Cooking Class

Words used in cooking 

Most recipe books assume that you know what they are talking about. We look at some common words used in cooking books and explain what they mean.

Bake: To cook in an oven. Your oven should always be preheated to the correct temperature before you use it. Conventional ovens cook take longer to cook food, than fan ovens – check your recipe book to see what type of oven they are using, if you are not sure, assume it is a conventional oven. 

Beat: To stir ingredients quickly with a spoon or mixer until the ingredients are combined and smooth

Boil: To cook a food or mixture at boiling point. Boiling point is when the surface is bubbling vigorously. To bring a mixture up to boiling point quickly you can cover it with a lid, remove the lid once your up to boiling point other wise your mixture may boil over!  

If you are cooking with a child, always watch your child around ovens and stoves. Boiling liquids and mixtures are dangerous and children should not be left on their own when using this cooking method. If you or your child gets hot liquid on your skin, hold it under cold water for ten minutes. If a serious or a large burn happens, place the child in a bath of cold water and dial 111 (NZ emergency number).

Chop: Cutting food into smaller pieces. Read your recipe to see how small they want you to cut the food. Chop coarsely – means large pieces and to chop finely – means in to very small pieces.

Combined: When all ingredients are mixed together very well.

Drain: Is to strain away liquid. Read your recipe to see if you need to keep the liquid to add again later in the recipe. Drain into a sifter or colander, this will allow the liquid to drain away while saving your ingredients. Drain over a kitchen sink and if the pot or container is heavy have someone assist you or the child. Draining something hot - Watch out for steam – remember steam burns too! Wear oven gloves if handling hot containers.

Grate: To grate food using a grater. Some graters have different sizes to give you different types of grated finishes. Finely grated food uses the smallest holes.

Grease: To rub baking tins with butter, margarine or oil so that the mixture won’t stick to them and it makes it easier to take the food out once the recipe is cooked.

Fold: This is to mixture ingredients very gently until they are all combined. Use a large spoon or rubber spatula and scoop then turn the mixture gently until it is all combined.

Ingredients: Food items you use to make a recipe. The fresher the food the better. Some foods need to be at room temperature before you use them, so check your recipe before you start. Check that you have all your ingredients before you start cooking and that they are not passed their use-by-date.

Marinate: To soak food in a sauce-like mixture. Check your recipe, some food may need to be marinated overnight, or the flavouring or tenderising of the marinate might not be very effective.

Mash: To squash food. Usually you use a potato masher or though for bananas a fork does just fine.

Preheated:  To heat an oven so that it is at the correct temperature before it is used.

Recipe: A combination of food items used to produce a single item e.g. Chocolate Cake.

Sift: To put dry ingredients through a mesh. This makes the ingredients lighter and will help make cakes lighter. It gets rid of lumps. If your recipe says to sift your ingredients – always do.

Simmer: To cook a mixture over a low heat, at boiling point but with very small bubbles.

Steam: To cook food above water in a steamer. The food is not sitting in water and this helps to keep its flavour and shape.

Stir: To combine food with a spoon or spatula until all ingredients are combined.

Use-by-date: The last day a product can be used.