Actions and what the term means

Bake
To cook in the oven. The cooking of food slowly with gentle heat, causing the natural moisture to evaporate slowly, concentrating the flavor.

Basting
To brush or spoon liquid fat or juices over meat during roasting to add flavor and to prevent it from drying out.

Batter
A mixture of flour, fat and liquid that is thin enough in consistency to require a pan to encase it. Used in such preparations as cakes and some cookies. A batter. is different from dough, which maintains its shape.

Beat
To smooth a mixture by briskly whipping or stirring it with a spoon, fork, wire whisk, rotary beater, or electric mixer.

Bind
To thicken a sauce or hot liquid by stirring in ingredients such as eggs, flour, butter, or cream.

Blackened
A popular Cajun-style cooking method in which seasoned foods are cooked over high heat in a super-heated heavy skillet until charred.

Blanch
To boil briefly to loosen the skin of a fruit or a vegetable. After 30 seconds in boiling water, the fruit or vegetable should be plunged into ice water to stop the cooking action, and then the skin easily slices off.

Blend
To mix or fold two or more ingredients together to obtain equal distribution throughout the mixture.

Boil
To cook food in heated water or other liquid that is bubbling vigorously.

Braise
A cooking technique that requires browning meat in oil or other fat and then cooking slowly in liquid. The effect of braising is to tenderize the meat.

Broil
To cook food directly under the heat source.

Broth or stock
A flavorful liquid made by gently cooking meat, seafood, or vegetables (and/or their by-products, such as bones and trimming) often with herbs, in liquid, usually water.

Brown
A quick sautéing, pan/oven broiling, or grilling method done either at the beginning or end of meal preparation, often to enhance flavor, texture, or eye appeal.

Brush
Using a pastry brush, to coat a food such as meat or bread with melted butter, glaze, or other liquid.

Butterfly
To cut open a food such as pork chops down the center without cutting all the way through, and then spread apart.

Caramelize 
Browning sugar over a flame, with or without the addition of some water to aid the process. The temperature range in which sugar caramelizes is approximately 320°  to 360°.

Chiffon
Pie filling made light and fluffy with stabilized gelatin and beaten egg whites.

Chiffonade
To roll very tight any leafy herbs as in basil slice very thin to create a long stringy look with the leaves

Chop
To cut into irregular pieces.

Coat
To evenly cover food with flour, crumbs, or a batter.

Combine
To blend two or more ingredients into a single mixture.

Core
To remove the non edible centers of fruits such as pineapples. May use a fruit corer.

Cream
To beat vegetable shortening, butter, or margarine, with or without sugar, until light and fluffy. This process traps in air bubbles, later used to create height in cookies and cakes.

Crimp
To create a decorative edge on a piecrust. On a double piecrust, this also seals the edges together.

Crisp
To restore the crunch to foods; vegetables such as celery and carrots can be crisped with an ice water bath, and foods such as stale crackers can be heated in a medium oven.

Cure
To preserve or add flavor with an ingredient, usually salt and/or sugar. i.e. ham, salami or prosciutto.

Custard
A mixture of beaten egg, milk, and possibly other ingredients such as sweet or savory flavorings, which is cooked with gentle heat, often in a water bath or double boiler. As pie filling, the custard is frequently cooked and chilled before being layered into a prebaked crust.

Dash
A measure approximately equal to 1/16 teaspoon. Using measuring spoons

Deep-fry
To completely submerge the food in hot oil on a fry pan or a deep fryer.

Deglaze
To add liquid to a pan in which foods have been fried or roasted, in order to dissolve the caramelized juices stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Dice
To cut into cubes with sharp knives.

Direct heat
A cooking method that allows heat to meet food directly, such as grilling, broiling, or toasting.

Dot
To sprinkle food with small bits of an ingredient such as butter to allow for even melting.

Dough
A combination of ingredients including flour, water or milk, and, sometimes, a leavening agent, producing a firm but workable mixture for making baked goods. As in Baking & Pastry. making.

Dredge
To sprinkle lightly and evenly with sugar or flour. A dredger has holes pierced on the lid to sprinkle evenly.

Drizzle
To pour a liquid such as a sweet glaze or melted butter in a slow, light trickle over food.

Drippings
Used for gravies and sauces, drippings are the liquids left in the bottom of a roasting or frying pan after meat is cooked.

Dust
To sprinkle food lightly with spices, sugar, or flour for a light coating.

Entree
A French term that originally referred to the first course of a meal, served after the soup and before the meat courses. In the United States, it refers to the main dish of a meal.

Fillet
To remove the bones from meat or fish for cooking. May use boning knives.
 
Flan
Spanish dessert of baked custard covered with caramel.

Fold
To cut and mix lightly with a spoon to keep as much air in the mixture. as possible.

Fry
To cook food in hot cooking oil, usually until a crisp brown crust forms.

Garnish
A decorative piece of an edible ingredient such as parsley, lemon wedges, croutons, or chocolate curls placed as a finishing touch to dishes or drinks. Garnishing books.

Glaze
A liquid that gives an item a shiny surface. Examples are fruit jams that have been heated or chocolate thinned with melted vegetable shortening. Also, to cover a food with such a liquid, a glaze.

Grate
To shred or cut down a food into fine pieces by rubbing it against a rough surface or in a grater.

Grease
To coat a pan or skillet with a thin layer of oil.

Grill
To cook over the heat source (traditionally over wood coals) in the open air in a grill.

Grind
To mechanically cut a food into small pieces in a grinder.

Knead
To work dough with the heels of your hands in a pressing and folding motion until it becomes smooth and elastic. May use a electric mixer.

Loin
A cut of meat that typically comes from the back of the body.

Marinate
Coat or immerse foods in an acidic-based liquid or dry rub, to tenderize and add flavor before cooking and eating. Marinades.

Mash
To beat or press a food to remove lumps and make a smooth mixture.

Meringue
Egg whites beaten until they are stiff, then sweetened. It can be used as the topping for pies, or baked as cookies.

Mince
To chop food into tiny, irregular pieces. Mincing Knifes.

Mix
To beat or stir two or more foods together until they are thoroughly combined.

Moisten
Adding enough liquid to dry ingredients to dampen but not soak them.

Panfry
To cook in a hot pan with small amount of hot oil, butter, or other fat, turning the food over once or twice.

Parchment
A heavy, heat-resistant paper used in cooking. Parchment paper.

Poach
To simmer in liquid. i.e.; egg poacher.

Pressure cooking
A cooking method that uses steam trapped under a locked lid to produce high temperatures and achieve fast cooking time in a pressure cooker.

Puree
To mash or sieve food into a thick liquid.

Reduce
To cook liquids down so that some of the water evaporates.

Roast
To cook uncovered in the oven.

Sautee
To cook food quickly in a small amount of oil in a skillet or sauté pan over direct heat.

Scald
Cooking a liquid such as milk to just below the point of boiling; also to loosen the skin of fruits or vegetables by dipping them in boiling water.

Score
To tenderize meat by making a number of shallow (often diagonal) cuts across its surface. This technique is also useful in marinating, as it allows for better absorption of the marinades.

Sear
Sealing in a meat's juices by cooking it quickly under very high heat.

Season
To enhance the flavor of foods by adding ingredients such as salt, pepper, oregano, basil, cinnamon, and a variety of other herbs, spices, condiments, and vinegars. Also, to treat a pot or pan (usually cast iron) with a coating of cooking oil and baking it in a 350° oven for approximately 1 hour; this process seals any tiny rough spots on the pan's surface that may cause food to stick.

Set
Let food become solid.

Shred
To cut or tear into long narrow strips, either by hand or by using a grater or food processor.

Sift
To remove large lumps from a dry ingredient such as flour or confectioners' sugar by passing it through a fine mesh. This process also incorporates air into the ingredients, making them lighter thru a Sift.

Simmer
Cooking food in a liquid at a low enough temperature that small bubble begin to break the surface.

Skim
To remove the top fat layer from stocks, soups, sauces, or other liquids such as cream from milk.

Steam
To cook over boiling water in a covered pan, this method keeps foods' shape, texture, and nutritional value intact better than methods such as boiling.

Steep
To soak dry ingredients (tea leaves, ground coffee, herbs, spices, etc.) in liquid until the flavor is infused into the liquid.

Stewing
Browning small pieces of meat, poultry, or fish, then simmering them with vegetables or other ingredients in enough liquid to cover them, usually in a closed pot on the stove, in the oven, or with a Slow Cooker.

Stir-Fry
The fast frying. of small pieces of meat and vegetables over very high heat with continual and rapid stirring.

Thin
To reduce a mixture's thickness with the addition of more liquid.

Toss
To thoroughly combine several ingredients by mixing lightly.

Unleavened
Baked goods that contain no agents to give them volume, such as baking powder, baking soda, or yeast.

Vinaigrette
A general term referring to any sauce made with vinegar, oil, and seasonings.

Water bath
A gentle cooking technique in which a container is set in a pan of simmering water. (See also "Coddle".)

Whip
To incorporate air into ingredients such as cream or egg whites by beating until light and fluffy; also refers to the utensil used for this action a Whip.

Whisk
To mix or fluff by beating; also refers to the utensil used for this action a Wisk

Zest
The thin, brightly colored outer part of the rind of citrus fruits. It contains volatile oils, used as a flavoring.