Cooking Terms

Simmer:

Simmering means that you are heating a liquid to a temperature that is close to a boil, but not hot enough to create bubbles. I simmer foods on a 3 or 4 temperature setting on an electric stove. You still need to stir occasionally when simmering as food may still stick to the bottom.

Saute:

To saute is to cook in oil over heat. An example of sauteing would be to saute an onion in olive oil.

Marinate:

To marinate is to take food and soak it in a mixture of spices, oil, and possibly vinegar to make it more tender and flavorful. You can generally marinate food for a half hour to days depending on the dish.

Mince:

You may hear the word mince a lot with garlic. Mincing is chopping something into very tiny pieces.

Julienne:

Julienne is such a fancy word for a simple cut. Julienne means to cut something into long strips. This can be done with many vegetables like carrots. Make it easy on yourself and buy a julienne peeler, a little gadget that makes perfect julienne strips.

Chop:

This is a very basic cooking technique. To chop is to cut into small pieces. The pieces don't have to be uniform or exactly the same.

Dice:

To dice is like to chop, but the pieces are smaller.

Slice:

Slicing is when you cut completely through an object. Think of slicing cheese, or bread. Same principle goes for veggies, meat and fruit.

Brown:

To brown a meat means to cook until brown. You may brown the sides of a roast on the stovetop before cooking in a oven.