Glossary of French Cooking Terms
BASTE, arroser To spoon melted butter, fat, or liquid over foods.
BEAT, fouetter To mix foods or liquids thoroughly and vigorously with
a spoon, fork, or whip, or an electric beater. When you beat, train
yourself to use your lower-arm and wrist muscles; if you beat from your
shoulder you will tire quickly.
BLANCH, blanchir To plunge food into boiling water and to boil it
until it has softened, or wilted, or is partially or fully cooked. Food
is also blanched to remove too strong a taste, such as for cabbage or
onions, or for the removal of the salty, smoky taste of bacon.
BLEND, melanger To mix foods together in a less vigorous way than by
beating, usually with a fork, spoon, or spatula.
BOIL, bouillir Liquid is technically at the boil when it is seething,
rolling, and sending up bubbles. But in practice there are slow, medium,
and fast boils. A very slow boil, when the liquid is hardly moving
except for a bubble at one point, is called to simmer, mijoter. An even
slower boil with no bubble, only the barest movement on the surface of
the liquid, is called "to shiver," fremir, and is used for poaching fish
or other delicate foods.
BRAISE, braiser To brown foods in fat, then cook them in a covered
casserole with a small amount of liquid. We have also used the term for
vegetables cooked in butter in a covered casserole, as there is no
English equivalent for Miner.
COAT A SPOON, Hopper la cuillere This term is used to indicate the
thickness of a sauce, and it seems the only way to describe it. A spoon
dipped into a cream soup and withdrawn would be coated with a thin film
of soup. Dipped into a sauce destined to cover food, the spoon would
emerge with a fairly thick coating.
DEGLAZE, deglacer After meat has been roasted or sauteed, and the pan
de. greased, liquid is poured into the pan and all the flavorful
coagulated cooking juices are scraped into it as it simmers. This is an
important step in the preparation of all meat sauces from the simplest
to the most elaborate, for the deglaze becomes part of the sauce,
incorporating into it some of the flavor of the meat. Thus sauce and
meat are a logical complement to each other.
DEGREASE, degraisser To remove accumulated fat from the surface of
hot liquids.
Sauces, Soups, and Stocks
To remove accumulated fat from the surface of a sauce, soup, or stock
which is simmering, use a long-handled spoon and draw it over the
surface, dipping up a thin layer of fat. It is not necessary to remove
all the fat, as this will be done later.
When the cooking is done, remove all the fat. If the liquid is still
hot, let it settle for 5 minutes so the fat will rise to the surface.
Then spoon it off, tip. ping the pot or kettle so that a heavier fat
deposit will collect at one side and can more easily be removed. When
you have taken up as much as you can—it is never a quick process—draw
strips of paper towels over the surface until the last floating fat
globules have been blotted up.
It is easier, of course, to chill the liquid, for then the fat congeals
on the surface and can be scraped off.
Roasts
To remove fat from a pan while the meat is still roasting, tilt the
pan and scoop out the fat which collects in the corner. Use a bulb
buster or a big spoon. It is never necessary to remove all the fat at
this time, just the excess. This degreasing should be done quickly, so
your oven will not cool. If you take a long time over it, add a few
extra minutes to your total roasting figure.
After the roast has been taken from the pan, tilt the pan, then with
a spoon or a bulb buster remove the fat that collects in one corner, but
do not take up the browned juices, as these will go into your sauce.
Usually a tablespoon or two of fat is left in the pan, as it will give a
little body and flavor to the sauce.
Another method and this can be useful if you have lots of juice—is to
place a trayful of ice cubes in a sieve lined with 2 or 3 thicknesses of
damp cheesecloth and set over a saucepan. Pour the fat and juices over
the ice cubes; most of the fat will collect and congeal on the ice. As
some of the ice will melt and combine with the juices in the saucepan,
rapidly boil down the juices to concentrate their flavor.
Casseroles
For stews, dauber, and other foods which cook in a casserole, tip the
casserole and the fat will collect at one side. Spoon it off, or suck it
up with a bulb basses. Or strain off all the sauce into a pan, by
placing the casserole cover askew and holding the casserole in both
hands with your thumbs clamped to the cover while you pour out the
liquid. Then degrease the sauce in the pan, and return the sauce to the
casserole. |
