My Food Prescription

Sinigang Na Sap-Sap Sa Kalamansi

2010-01-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

6 cups rice wash or water
3 stalks spring onion
2 medium (75 grams) ripe red tomatoes, quartered
6 pcs okra, cut at 2" length
1/2 kilo sapsap or tambong na laway
15 pcs (200-250 grams) calamansi (Philippine lemon)
2 pcs finger chilis
2 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)
half-bunch (150 grams) petchay tagalog (cabbage)

In a casserole, put the first-three ingredients. Cover. Bring to boil, then, lower fire and simmer for 8-10 minutes.
Increase fire to medium. Mash the tomatoes. Add the okra. Cover again. Cook for 3 minutes. Put the petchay,chilis and fish sauce.Then the fish. Squeeze the Philippine lemon over the soup, straining the seeds. Put the fire off immediatly, cover the lid. Allowing the remaining heat to cook the fish.
Serve hot.

Sunny Side Up

2010-01-20T01:54:00.000-08:00

One thing I have known recently is never to salt eggs before or during cooking. It is very important that eggs be salted only after the eggs have cooked. This is because adding salt while cooking will make the eggs lose moisture and become rubbery.

Ingredients

1 egg
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper

Melt 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter in a 8-inch non-stick omelet pan or skillet over medium heat. Break open eggs into pan and immediately reduce heat to low. Cook slowly until the whites are completely set and the yolks begins to thicken, but are not hard. Serve eggs right away with drop of tabasco sauce!

Stir-fried Vegetables With Left-over Pork Adobo

2010-01-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

½ cup of pork adobo left over (if possible with the remaining sauce included)
½ cup sliced of fried tofu (tokwa)
½ cup of canned sweet corn kernel
½ cup of chopped parsley (stems and leaves)
½ cup of cooked green peas
½ cup cubed carrots
½ cup sliced green beans
chopped spring onions
2 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoons sesame oil
1 small green chilli (optional)
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Juice of 1 calamansi
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Top and tail the green beans and cut them into thirds. Trim and slice the spring onions and peel and chop the garlic.
Heat the vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons of the sesame seed oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the garlic and stir for about 1 minute.
Then stir in all the remaining vegetables and add the oyster sauce. Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Sprinkle the lime juice over the vegetables, season and serve immediately.

Good side dish of fried crunchy tuyo and steam rice.

Eggplant And Pork Torta

2010-01-18T08:56:00.001-08:00

Ingredients :

250 g. of ground lean pork
1 tbsp. of finely minced garlic
1/2 c. of finely chopped onions
3/4 c. of coarsely chopped tomatoes
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp. of flour
4-5 talong (eggplants)
salt and pepper
cooking oil
Cooking procedure :

Mix together all the ingredients except the eggplants and the cooking oil.

Cook the eggplants (boil, steam, grill or broil) until soft but not mushy. Peel off the skins, leaving the stems intact. Using a fork, flatten the meat of the eggplants. Divide the pork mixture into as many eggplants you prepared. Place the mixture on the flattened eggplants, patting the meat to make sure it is compact.

Heat a skillet or wok. Add about 2 tbsp. of cooking oil and heat until smoking. Carefully slide one stuffed eggplant onto the hot oil. Cook over medium-high heat, about 5-7 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Add more cooking oil as you cook a new eggplant.

Serve with catsup.

If you want a really special tortang talong, lay a slice of cheese on the flattened eggplant before adding the pork mixture on top.

Classic Adovo

2010-01-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1-1/2 pounds pork, shoulder or butt cut into 1-1/2" cubes
1/3 cup vinegar
3 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 each onion -- sliced
3 cloves garlic -- minced
1 small bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoon cooking oil

Combine all ingredients except cooking oil, in a pot and let stand for at least 30 minutes.
Simmer covered for 1 hour or until meat is tender. Drain and reserve sauce.
Heat cooking oil in skillet. Brown meat on all sides. Transfer to a serving dish.
Pour off all remaining oil from skillet. Add reserved sauce and cook for a minute or two scraping all browned bits sticking to pan. Pour sauce over meat and serve.

Tortang Corned Beef

2010-01-17T11:16:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:

5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 pc. onion, medium thinly sliced
1 ½ tbsp. Cooking oil (for cooking the torta)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup corned beef
1 ½ cup cubed potatoes
1 cup cooking oil for sautéing and frying the potato
5 pcs. eggs, beaten
¼ cup cubed quick melt cheese
½ tsp. black pepper

Heat a cup of cooking oil in a pan and fry the potato until it starts to become golden brown. Fish out the cooked potatoes and set aside.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with the black pepper. In a saucepan, heat about a teaspoon of oil and sauté the garlic, onion and tomato. Cook until the garlic is golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize, never mind the tomato, it will disintegrate very well with the oil.. Add the corned beef and mix well. Add Worcestershire sauce and cook until the liquid is evaporated to dryness, add the cooked potatoes too. Set aside again.

Heat 1 ½ tbsp. of the oil in a Teflon frying pan and cook the torta under low flame until the bottom is sufficiently set and the top is not so runny. Toss all the sautéed ingredients into the half side of the torta including the quick-melt cheese. Flip the other side of the omelet to cover the fillings like a half moon sandwich.

Serve it with rice or hot pandesal.

Piniritong Tokwa Na May Sawsawang Gawa Sa Talaba (Fried Tofu with Oyster Sauce)

2010-01-15T23:12:00.001-08:00

The name of the recipe tells all the ingredients. It is just tofu (tokwa) and oyster sauce (brand is up to you). Undoubtedly one of the healthiest recipe I ever concocted, and the easiest to prepare. A vegetarian delight, low in calorie, hardly any cholesterol, high in protein, so cheap and easy to prepare and also has a bland taste, feeling of “why do I keep chewing a healthy food that have a texture similar to a corrugated board”, hard to swallow and an awful after taste effect.
If you want to live longer or forever, choose and eat this kind of healthy food. Me, I want to live happy. I want to die in natural causes, not starvation (heart attack is natural). So I will stick on what my pallet and appetite wants. The same old classic fatty, sweet and salty comfort foods.
I am just only trying my food blog to be more viand.

2 blocks of tofu (tokwa) sliced in half
3 tbspn of oyster sauce
1/2 c oil for frying
chopped scallion or green onion for garnishing

Fry tofu until golden brown (both side). Serve it in a plate, sprinkle it with green onion to look more palatable. Pour the oyster sauce in a dipping plate or just pour in fried tofu.
Please smile while eating this stuff, remember its healthy!

D'Pasigan Dinakdakan

2009-12-04T00:25:00.000-08:00

D'Pasigan is a videoke bar near our place where foods are inherently perfect for pulutan (rich, fatty and hearty). My favorite place to go whenever my blood pressure is not near in 3 digit level.
I knew they would never share the recipe. So I concocted my own version. I just only guessed the obvious ingredients but if there were other chemicals involve here, possibly I couldn't recreate it.
But I did. Nevertheless I’m still coming back to that place occasionally for Dinakdakan. It’s more enticing if you just wait till serve than preparing your own.

Dinakdakan is a grilled pig head and face, similar to sisig but it is cut in small slices and sisig is chopped in small cubes. Perfect as appetizer, with beer or any alcoholic beverages, but it is equally good as viand. Preparation is similar to pork kinilaw with the addition of pork brain and/or mayonnaise.

Ingredients:

1/2 pig head/face, cut into two parts (the brain is optional)
3-4 pcs. siling labuyo, chopped finely
1/4 cup finely chopped ginger
1/4 cup finely chopped onoin
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tbsp peppercorn
3 pcs bay leaf
1/2 cup mayonnaise
salt

In a casserole boil the pig's head with bay leaf and salt until tender (when skin can easily be separated from the bone). Put the pig's brain in a heat resistant plastic bag, tie the opening to secure the opening and drop to the boiling water. Cook it for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Drain the pig's head to dry. Separate the face from the bones and cut it into grilling size. Grill until golden brown and crispy. Cut into small slices.
Toss all the ingredients in a salad bowl. Season with salt to taste. Serve while it’s still warm on a sizzling plate like D'Pasigan's way.

Pork in Banana Ketchup

2009-12-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

Invented out of necessity.
Necessity to dispose this new brand of banana ketchup which I am so disappointed con disgusted with its unusual taste.

¼ k thinly sliced pork (with fats)
¼ k ground lean pork
½ c banana ketchup
½ c soup stocks
1 tbsp minced garlic
¼ c chopped red onion
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce for ground pork
1 tbsp calamansi or lemon juice
3 tbsp soy sauce for sliced pork
2 tbsp cooking oil
½ c sliced carrot
½ c sliced potato
½ c sliced sausage or hotdog
½ c filled cheese, cubed
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 green bell pepper chopped coarsely
Salt and pepper

Marinate ground pork in soy sauce and brown sugar mixture.
Marinate sliced pork in soy sauce and calamansi juice mixture.
Set aside.
In a wok, heat oil, sauté garlic and onion. Add sliced pork wait till slightly brown. Add carrots and potatoes. Add stock and banana ketchup. Bring to boil and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or until the pork is almost cooked. Add the marinated ground pork; simmer again until the sauce thickens. Add green bell pepper, sausage or hotdog, cubed cheese and hot sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice.

Chitlins Sour Stew (Paksiw na Bituka Ng Baboy)

2009-07-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

Attack of mother of all thrombosis and clogging of arteries, these are the few creepy words that waiting on your system to happen if you try to eat this beyond your capacity. This mega fattening, uric acid rich pig’s internal organ has taste of all the rich and all of the savory food combine. Having a chewy texture and an extremely high fat content (24 grams per 3-ounce serving)it is enough reason why I love this evil food.

2 kilos of Pig’s small intestine
4 cups of tap water for pre boiling
4 cups of tap water
2 teaspoon salt
½ cup vinegar
3 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 laurel leaf
½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
½ teaspoon whole black pepper, pounded once
Siling labuyo

Boil the intestine in water for 5 minutes. Discard the water and wash the intestine in an open faucet until it cool to handle. Slice it two inches long. If there is a part which a yellowish matter oozing from the slice intestine, it’s the thing that’s make your dish bitter, if you don’t want strong bitterness cause you are not from the north, wash it with the running water.
Put the intestine in a deep pan; add water and the remaining ingredients. Cook it in slow fire for two hours, add water if necessary. Done when it is tender enough and will literally melt the semi-solid fats in your mouth.

Miss Wa's Meatball Soup

2009-04-14T02:30:00.001-07:00

This recipe was mutated from the original Misua-Patola soup without the patola. I find the original recipe too clear and too bland for me. So I experiment it with the different chemical ingredients found in my kitchen.

For the meatballs:
½ kilo ground lean pork
1 egg
½ cup bread crumbs
1 small pack seasoning
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup chopped chive
¼ cup chopped celery
Salt and pepper

For the soup:
6 cups chicken, pork, beef, fish or seafood stock
½ cup small pacific shrimps, cleaned and shelled
200 grams of misua (starch noodles)
1 tablespoon garlic
1 minced onion
2 tablespoon cooking oil
1 small pack seasoning
3 tablespoon fish sauce
½ cup chopped celery
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tablespoon chili powder
Salt and pepper

In a bowl, mix all the meatball ingredients until well blended. Make several balls about the size of a golf ball. If you don’t have any idea what the hell is the size of a golf ball. Make a ring by your index finger and your thumb, the size diameter it will produce is the size that we’re looking for, clever!

In a deep pan, sauté garlic and onion in hot cooking oil till golden brown. Add the shrimps. Add the stock, patis (fish sauce) and seasoning. Wait till boil; turn the stove in medium heat to stop from boiling. Carefully drop the meatballs one at a time. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Uncover. Break misua into short lengths and drop into the boiling broth. Add chili powder, celery and the milk; simmer for 2 minutes before serving. Add salt and pepper according to preferred taste.

Piniritong Ginatang Sinaing Na Tulingan

2009-04-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

It’s breakfast time and there still ginatang tulingan left over last night. Now this is the time to finish this saga.

Fry the tulingan and the slab of pork that you save from the early dish. Make it brown and the bones turn crispy.

Prepare a hot coffee in a mug. Pour it in a garlic fried rice. Sprinkle it with sugar. Devour it with the crispy fried tulingan with a slice of fried pork fat dip in vinegar. Heavenly!

Ginatang Sinaing Na Tulingan

2009-04-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Now after the sumptuous lunch, the left over fish is now ready to have a make over for the evening meal. The remaining fish is great for another dish.

1 pot of Sinaing na Tulingan
1 ½ cup thick coconut milk
1 cup thin coconut milk
3 medium size eggplant, sliced crosswise
3 long green chili

Pick the kamyas from the pot and discard. Transfer the slab of pork fat in a container and save it for another dish. Add the eggplant and the thin coconut milk. Simmer in medium heat for 5 minutes until the eggplant become soft and lumpy. Don’t forget to move or stir the coconut milk by a wooden spoon to prevent it from curdling. Add the remaining ingredients. Continue cooking until it became creamy and thick. Best serve when it is already in room temperature or semi warm. That’s why I like it to cook it five hours in advance.

Sinaing Na Tulingan

2009-04-10T03:10:00.000-07:00

“Skipjack Tuna in Sour Broth” –that is I think the nearest English translation for this recipe, or there will be a nose bleed waiting to happen. Anyway, never mind the name, I shared this recipe not because it is not my original, nor I add a little ingredient, nor alter the original recipes, knorr real sarap is the seasoning that I use. It’s because further than that, I can recycle the left over for another recipe.

1 kilo medium size Tulingan (Skipjack Tuna)
2 tablespoon of garlic, chopped
2 cups water
1 slab of pork fat, about ¼ kilo
3 tablespoon of salt
½ cup of dried kamyas (Averrhoa Bilimbi)
3 tablespoon of vinegar
seasoning
black pepper
chilli

Clean the fish, make a diagonal slit in the body and flatten it by your hand, a little press is enough. Take a deep pan, if you want to make it authentic, use a clay pot. Make a bed of kamyas at the bottom of the pot. Put the slab of pork fat. Arrange the fish in parallel, and then arrange the next layer cross to the first layer. Add the vinegar, chili, seasoning, salt and black pepper. Cover it and cook in low heat for two hours. Add more water if needed. Wait till the oil fats start to appear.

In dining, pour the broth in your hot piping rice. It is so tasty like a protein rich fish sauce (patis), except that this is not very salty.

Pssssst! Pusit!

2009-04-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

My favorite adobong pusit is not actually a squid, it’s a cuttlefish. It’s large and have a white internal shell on its back but it can easily remove when cleaning. My recipe is dry and oily, like an asado. And because it has sugar on it, it caramelized during the process.

Ingredients:
1 whole cuttlefish, about one kilo in weight, cleaned and make a square inch meat,
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoon vinegar
3 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoon cooking oil for sautéing
5 tablespoon cooking oil for the final cooking
2 tablespoon chopped garlic
½ cup onion rings
Salt and pepper
Chili

Put the cuttlefish and the water in a casserole. Burst the ink sack on the casserole and add the salt. Cook it for half an hour or until it become tender and chewy. Add more water if needed.

In a pan with hot cooking oil, sauté garlic and onion. Drain the meat of the cuttlefish and add it to the pan. Fry it for just a few minutes before adding the black ink broth.
Add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook it for another 10 minutes or until it became nearly dry. Drain the squid meat and the onion rings again.

In another pan, heat the oil until the smoke start to appear. Fry the squid again including the onion rings for about 5 minutes. Add the broth until it caramelized and oily. As usual, you can serve it with hot piping boiled rice again, what else.

Fake Buco, Real Pandan

2009-04-08T03:08:00.000-07:00

Yes it’s a counterfeit, the young coconut meat is nothing but a second rate, trying hard copy cat. Don’t blame on me, coconut is so expensive in the city, and more expensive if you’re looking for the tender coconut meat. So I invented a cheaper substitute for this recipe.

For the bogus coconut meat:
24 grams unflavored, white jelly powder mix
5 cups water, room temperature
1 cup white sugar

For pandan jelly:
24 grams unflavored, green jelly powder mix
6 cups of water, room temperature
8 pandan leaves, clean it well
2 cups white sugar

And the remaining ingredients:
340 grams nata de coco in heavy syrup, drained
2 cups cooked unsweetened small sago pearl
1 can (850g) Pineapple chunks in heavy syrup, drained
1 cup filled cheese, cubed
1 can (390g) condensed milk
2 cans (300g) all purpose cream

For fake coconut meat:
In a casserole gradually sprinkle the jelly powder into the water while stirring constantly. Dissolve it completely before turning the stove on. Heat it. The technique for a rubbery and coconut meat like consistency is keep on stirring the mix until it near boil. Add the sugar gradually until it completely dissolved. Dip a spoon into the mixture to try if you got it right. The jelly will coat the spoon and will instantly become firm. Pour jelly in a square bowl. Let it set in a room temperature. Use the “pangkayod ng buko o melon” to make a jelly strip that will be look like a genuine coconut meat strip.

For the pandan jelly:
Boil the pandan leaves in the water for 20 minutes. Discard the pandan leaves and set the boiled pandan water cool. Cook it like the procedure for the fake coconut meat. Let it set in a room temperature. Slice in cube about half inch square.

For the finale:
Mix and toss all the ingredients in a salad bowl. Chill before serving.

Mmmmm Bop Humba

2009-04-02T14:23:00.001-07:00

What will you do if you accumulated a ton of pork fats in your freezer, stack that came from trimmed fat that you used on your pork dishes? Try humba, a sweet braised pork with black beans for added saltiness.
I think this must be the world’s most unhealthy dish. It’s too sweet, too salty and the fats are swimming in lard, or the lards are swimming in fats, mind you! But this is one of my favorite comfort foods. Anyway your heart is not your stomach.

1 kilo of pork loin fat, skin intact, with a little lean meat lining on the edges
¼ kilo brown sugar
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup pineapple juice
¼ cup pineapple chunks
¼ cup salted black beans (tausi), drained
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 cup water
salted black beans juice
peppercorns

Combine all the ingredients in a pot except the black beans and pineapple chunks. Bring to a boil in a low heat for about an hour or until the fats are already replacing the liquid ingredients. Add the salted black beans and pineapple chunks, simmer for another 10 minutes. It’s done when the pork skin are so soft and tender that it can easily separate from the fats. Top with sliced boiled egg and sprinkled with chives before serving with hot boiled rice.

Bistek-Bistek (Bistek)

2009-03-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is also the sweet version of bistek tagalog. It is like a beef teriyaki only it’s sliced thinly as possible and with a Pinoy characteristic (it’s oily). Name from the American beefsteak, but I think we tagalized the word beefsteak not because we hardly pronouns it very well but the reason was not to identify this recipe only for beef. There is pork steak for pork, fish steak for fish, chicken steak for chicken and so on. But bistek has different ingredients that can be used with any kind of meats and you can still call it bistek.

½ kilo beef or pork thinly sliced as possible in about an inch square
3 tablespoon of calamansi or lime juice
½ cup soysauce
¼ cup water
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup cooking oil
1 cup onion rings

Marinate meat in soy sauce and calamansi juice for half hour. Heat the oil in a pan. Drain or drip the juice before frying the whole batch in the pan. Turn the heat in low fire then cover. Cook for 10 minutes or until the liquid evaporates and start to sizzle. Turn the stove in high fire. Wait till the meat become oily dry and golden black, wait till the flavor start sticking to the pan then add the onion rings. Gradually pour the marinate mixture with the sugar and water added. Turn the heat in medium fire until the sauce thickens slightly. Serve with hot rice or garlic fried rice.

Chicken Joy, Delight, Happy and Ecstasy with Elation

2009-03-25T22:57:00.000-07:00

The unofficial national dish of the Philippines. Everyone loves fried chicken, but not every Filipino knows how to cook the perfect breaded fried chicken like its famous fast-food counterpart. Mine was came from imperfection before I’ve got the ultimate ways to produced this dish. Proud to say that I love Chicken Joy, and it’s an iconic taste that I must recreate if I have my craving and the nearest outlet is 100 kilometers away.
But I add some spiciness and more garlicky taste; you can omit the chili powder but not the garlic.

Ingredients:
½ kilo chicken, any parts will do (drumstick, wings, breast etc.)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 small sachet of powder seasoning
2 tablespoon of calamansi or lime juice
½ teaspoon of chili powder
A pinch of salt and pepper
3 cups of frying oil
2 cups of all purpose flour

Combine all ingredients and marinate it for at least 3 hours on the chiller section.
Mix 1 cup of all-purpose flour to the marinated chicken (including its juice). The mixture will be sticky; this will serve as the first layer of the breaded chicken. The flour will be tasty because of the juice coming from the mixture. Prepare the other 1 cup of the flour in a resalable food grade plastic bag. Put the floured chicken, sealed it and shake until the second layer of flour coat the chicken.
In a medium size pan, heat the oil until the smoke starting to appear. The ideal frying temperature is about 365 degrees F (185 C). If you have no kitchen thermometer, try dropping a 2" square of bread in the hot oil, it should turn golden brown in about 60 seconds.
You can also add butter, but you must skim off any foam that rises to the top while heating the oil. You can toss in chunks of ham or bacon to add flavor. Fry all the chicken for just about 15 second, turn it to the other side, cover the pan, and turn the stove in low heat. Fry it for about 10 minutes. If the bone of the drumstick begins to appear from its foot’s end, turn the heat in high again for another 5 minutes. Wait until the skin became stiff and crispy. Drain the excessive oil in a paper towels that placed in a newspaper for additional absorption. Serve it with banana ketchup.

Cooking Terminologies

2009-03-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Aioli -Aioli (garlic mayonnaise) is a delicious accompaniment to cold or hot grilled vegetables, steamed or boiled artichokes, boiled potatoes, and grilled or baked fish and shellfish.
À la Nage -Cooking à la nage means poaching food, usually seafood, in a court bouillon and serving the court bouillon and the vegetables around the food as part the garniture. When making a court bouillon to use for cooking à la nage, cut the vegetables in a decorative manner, such as julienne.
Albumen – A synonym for egg white.
Al dente – An Italian expression applied in all western kitchens to pasta cooked just until enough resistance is left in it to be felt “by the tooth.” Fresh pasta can never by cooked al dente as it is too soft. The expression is also applied to vegetables that have been cooked crisp by steaming, boiling, or stir-frying.
Arborio – Risotto recipes The name given to some of the best short-grained rices grown in the Po Valley of Italy, and used to prepare risotto.
Aromatics – Plant ingredients, such as herbs and spices, used to enhance the flavor and fragrance of food.
Arrowroot – A fine starch extracted from the rhizomes of plants of the genus Maranta.
Aspic – A clear jelly made from stock or occasionally from fruit or vegetable juices.
B. Cooking Terms
Bain-marie – A bain-marie is a pan of water that is used to help mixtures such as custards bake evenly and to protect them from the direct heat of the oven or, in some cases, the stove.
Bake – To cook in the oven. The terms baking and roasting are often used interchangeably, but roasting usually implies cooking at a higher temperature—at least at the beginning—to get the surface of the foods to brown.
Barbecue – A cooking method involving grilling food over a wood or charcoal fire. Usually some sort of rub, marinade, or sauce is brushed on the item before or during cooking.
Basmati – The name of the most deliciously flavored long-grain rice from India.
Baste– To moisten food during cooking with pan drippings, sauce, or other liquid. Basting prevents foods from drying out.
Baster – A large kitchen syringe used to baste meats with their own gravy, another liquid, or melted fat.
Batter – A mixture of flour and liquid with the addition of flour, eggs, and sometimes fat, used to prepare cakes, muffins, pancakes, crepes, and quick breads. Also applies to frying batters.
Battuto – A combination of chopped raw vegetables for sautéing – typically carrots, celery, onion and/or garlic, and parsley—that is the foundation of many Italian sauces and other dishes.
Bavarian – A type of custard made by folding together whipped cream and a flavorful liquid mixture, usually a crème anglaise flavored with vanilla, coffee, chocolate, or a fruit puree.
Béarnaise – A warm, emulsified egg and butter sauce similar to hollandaise, but with the addition of white wine, shallots, and tarragon.
Beat – To agitate a mixture with the goal of making it smooth and introducing as much air as possible into it.
Béchamel – A classic white sauce made with whole milk thickened with a white roux, and flavored with aromatic vegetables,
Beurre Blanc – A rich butter sauce made by whisking butter into a reduction of white wine, white wine vinegar, and shallots, and sometimes finished with fresh herbs or other seasoning.
Bisque – A soup based on purees of vegetables and/or crustaceans. It is classically thickened with rice and usually finished with cream.
Blanch – A method of cooking in which foods are plunged into boiling water for a few seconds, removed from the water and refreshed under cold water, which stops the cooking process. Used to heighten color and flavor, to firm flesh and to loosen skins.
Bocconcini – Fresh Italian mozzarella balls sold in a water or brine solution. Available from delicatessens and supermarkets.
Boil – To cook in water or other liquid heated until bubbling vigorously. Few techniques cause as much confusion as boiling, simmering, and poaching. Boiling is, in fact, often a technique to be avoided. Most foods—meat and seafood, for example—are poached instead (cooked in liquid held just below the boil so it just shimmers slightly on the surface), because boiling turns them dry or stringy, and it can cause the liquid to become murky or greasy.
Some foods, however, are best cooked at a rolling boil. Rice and pasta cook more quickly and evenly in boiling water. Green vegetables are often cooked uncovered in a large amount of boiling salted water. The large quantity of water prevents the vegetables from lowering the temperature of the water, which would slow their cooking and cause them to lose their bright color. The salt also helps the vegetables retain their green color. As soon as the vegetables are done, immediately drain them in a colander and either plunge them into ice water or quickly rinse them under cold tap water until completely cool. This technique of immediately chilling the drained vegetables so they retain their flavor and color is called refreshing, or sometimes, shocking.
Bouillabaisse – Mediterranean seafood soup.
Bouillon – French, for broth. Refers to the liquid resulting from simmering meats, vegetables, and aromatics in water until the meats have lost all their nutritional elements to the water and the broth can jell upon cooling.
Bouquet Garni – A bundle of parsley stems, dried thyme, and a large bay leaf, tied together and left to float freely in broth, stock, or sauce.
Braise – To cook in a small amount of liquid (also called stewing or pot roasting). In contract to poaching, in which the food is completely submerged in simmering liquid, braised dishes use a relatively small amount of liquid. Usually, the purpose of braising is to concentrate the food’s flavors in the surrounding liquid so that it can be made into a sauce, or allowed to reduce so that it coats or is reabsorbed by the foods being braised.
Bread – To coat foods to be sautéed or deep-fried with flour or a breadcrumb mixture to create a crust.
Brine – A salt, water, and seasoning solution used to preserve foods.
Brioche – The famous flour, egg, and yeast cake of northern France, which is now made in one form or another everywhere.
Brisket – A cut of beef from the lower forequarter, best suited for long-cooking preparations like braising.
Broil – To cook with a direct heat source—usually a gas flame or an electric coil—above the food.
Broth – Broth and stock are interchangeable terms and mean a flavorful liquid made by gently cooking meat, seafood, or vegetables, often with herbs, in liquid, usually water.
Brown stock – An amber liquid produced by simmering browned bones and meat with vegetables and aromatics.
Buttercream – A mixture of butter, sugar, and eggs or custard.
Butterfly – To cut and open out the edges of meat or seafood like a book or the wings of a butterfly.
Buttermilk – A dairy liquid with a slightly sour taste similar to yogurt.
C. Cooking Terms
Calvados – Dry, apple-flavored brandy, which is named after a town in the Normandy region of France. Substitute apple cider, brandy, or sweet cooking wine.
Caramelize – The flavor of many foods, including vegetables, meats, and seafood, is often enhanced by a gentle browning that caramelizes natural sugars and other compounds and intensifies their flavor. Meats for stews, for example, are usually browned to caramelize juices that if not caramelized are much less flavorful. Chopped vegetables, especially aromatic ones such as carrots and onions, are often caramelized—sometimes with cubes of meat—in a small amount of fat before liquid is added to enhance the flavor of soups, stews, and sauces.
Cassoulet – Consists of partially cooked white beans blended with diverse meats, baked in a deep, round earthenware container.
Cheesecloth – A light, fine mesh gauze used for straining liquids.
Chévre – The French word for goat and by extension the cheeses made from goat’s milk.
Chiffonade – The fine ribbons obtained when several leafy vegetables or herbs are tightly rolled into a cigar shape and cut across into 1/16 –to 1/8-inch wide shreds.
Chinoise or China Cap – A very fine-meshed conical strainer used for straining refined sauces and coulis.
Chop – To cut into irregular pieces. Foods can be chopped from very fine (minced) to coarse.
Chorizo sausage – A spicy Spanish sausage containing a mixture of pork, pepper, and chilies.
Chowder – A thick soup that usually contains potatoes.
Cioppino Cioppino recipe A fish stew usually made with white wine and tomatoes.
Clarified butter – Because butter contains milk solids which burn at relatively low temperatures, it can’t be used to sauté at the high temperatures required for browning most meats and seafood and some vegetables. Clarifying removes the water and milk solids in butter. You can purchase clarified butter called ghee at most larger grocery stores.
Coat – To cover the back of a spoon with a layer of a thickened sauce or stirred custard.
Coddled eggs – Eggs cooked in simmering water, in their shells or in ramekins, until set.
Colander – A perforated bowl made of metal or plastic that is used to strain foods.
Compote – A dish of fruit cooked in syrup flavored with spices or liqueur.
Compound butter – Whole butter combined with herbs or other seasonings and used to sauce grilled or broiled meats or vegetables.
Consommé – Broth or stock that has been clarified by simmering it with beaten egg whites, which attract and trap the impurities clouding the broth.
Corned – As in corned beef or other meat; refers to a meat that has been salted and cured.
Cornichon – Tiny pickles mixed with onions and other aromatics and preserved in seasoned pure wine or cider vinegar.
Coulis – A mixture—often a fruit puree—that has been strained of tiny seeds or pieces of peel so it is perfectly smooth.
Court Bouillon – A vegetable broth made by simmering onions (or leeks), carrots, celery, and sometimes, other vegetables, such as fennel, with a bouquet garni in water and, often, white wine or vinegar.
Cream – To stir a fat—usually butter—and sugar together rapidly until the mixture looks white, aerated, and somewhat like stiffly beaten whipped cream. Or, that part of milk, containing 32 to 42 percent of butterfat in emulsion, that rises to its surface after the milk cools to room temperature and stands for several hours.
Crème anglaise – Custard sauce or vanilla sauce.
Crème brulee – Custard topped with sugar and caramelized under the broiler before serving.
Crème fraiche – Heavy cream cultured to give it a thick consistency and a slightly tangy flavor. Substitute sour cream, if necessary.
Crème patisserie – Custard made with eggs, flour or other starches, milk, sugar, and flavorings, used to fill and garnish pastries or as the base for puddings, pies, soufflés, and creams.
Crepe– A thin pancake made with egg batter.
Croute, en – Enclosed in a bread or pastry crust.
Crudités – French for a mixture of sliced and shredded vegetables diversely dressed and served as a first course.
Cure – To treat with an ingredient, usually salt and/or sugar, originally for the purpose of preserving foods by protecting them from bacteria, molds, etc.
Curry – A mixture of spices that may include turmeric, coriander, cumin, cayenne or other chilies, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, fennel, fenugreek, ginger, or garlic.
Custard – A liquid mixture that is combined with whole eggs, egg whites, or egg yolks, or a combination, and gently baked until set. Examples of custards are a quiche filling; a crème caramel and a crème brûlée.
D. Cooking Terms
Deep-fry – To cook completely submerged in hot oil. Deep-frying at the proper temperature, foods absorb little oil and are surprisingly light. But if the oil is too hot, foods will brown too quickly and stay raw in the middle. If the oil isn’t hot enough, the foods will sit in the oil too long and absorb too much oil. You can judge the oil by how certain foods behave. When the oil is too cool for frying, foods sink to the bottom and stay there. In somewhat hotter oil (but still not hot enough) foods sink to the bottom and then slowly rise to the top. The oil is at the proper temperature when the food doesn’t drop all the way to the bottom when it is added and then bobs back to the surface within a second or two. When the oil is too hot, foods immediately float, remaining on the surface, surrounded with bubbles. These are not necessarily hard and fast rules. French fries, for instance, require oil that’s hot enough to immediately surround the potatoes with bubbles.
Deglaze – To add liquid to a pan in which foods have been sautéed or roasted in order to dissolve the caramelized juices stuck to the bottom of the pan. The purpose of deglazing is to make a quick sauce or gravy for a roast, steak, chop, or a piece of seafood fillet or steak. To make a pan-deglazed sauce, first pour out any fat left in the pan, and make sure that the juices clinging to the bottom of the pan haven’t blackened and burned. Add a few tablespoons of flavorful liquid, such as wine, broth, or, in a pinch, water, to the pan. Gently scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the caramelized juices. You can use such a sauce as is, or you can turn it into something richer and more elaborate by adding reduced broth, swirling in a few pieces of butter, adding a little heavy cream, or thickening it with a vegetable puree, such as garlic or tomato, and then reducing the sauce to the consistency like. You can add nuance and flavor to the sauce by adding chopped herbs or ingredients such as green peppercorns.
Degrease – To remove the fat that forms on the tops of simmering broths, sauces, jus, and braising liquids. There are a couple of reliable methods for degreasing broth. The first, which requires a little practice, is to use a ladle or spoon to skim around the edges of the simmering broth to catch and remove just the surface fat. An easier method is to chill the broth overnight in the refrigerator and then remove the fat that has congealed on the surface. You can also use a degreasing cup that is specially made for this task. You simply pour the juices into the cup and then pour them out, leaving the fat behind.
Demi-glace – A mixture of equal parts of brown stock and brown sauce that has been reduced by half.
Dice – To cut into cubes (unlike chopping, which cuts foods into irregular pieces).
Dredge – To coat a food with flour, any finely crumbled ingredient, or, in pastry, with fine sugar.
Drupe – Peaches, apricots, and all plums are drupes, a juicy false fruit attached to a wooden pit in which an almond is enclosed.
Dumpling – A small lump of soft leavened and seasoned egg, milk, and flour dough, shaped with two spoons or piped out of a pastry bag fitted with a nozzle. Usually it is poached in simmering water, but can be steamed over a stew.
Dutch oven – A cast-iron pot used for the preparation of stews, braises, and pot-roasts.
Duxelles – A medium-fine shallot-scented mushroom hash.
E. Cooking Terms
Egg wash – A mixture of egg or egg white, oil, and water brushed over floured items, which are then deep-fried or pan-fried in clarified butter or oil.
Emulsion – An emulsion is a smooth mixture of two liquids, such as oil and water that normally do not mix. Mayonnaise, beurre blank, hollandaise, cream sauces, vinaigrettes, and béchamel sauce are examples of emulsions.
Enoki mushrooms – Also known as enokitake mushrooms. Thin, long-stemmed mushrooms with a mild flavor.
Espagnole – Brown sauce made with brown stock, caramelized mirepoix and tomato puree, and seasonings.
Essence – A concentrated flavoring extracted from an item.
Etouffe – A cooking method similar to braising in which items are cooked with little or no added liquid in a pan with a tight-fitting lid. Also, a Cajun stew.
F. Cooking Terms
Fettuccine – ¼-inch-wide ribbon noodles.
Filé – Ground sassafras leaves used to give the Southern gumbos their distinct flavor.
Fines Herbes – A mixture of chervil, chives, parsley, and tarragon.
Fish sauce – Clear, amber-tinted liquid that is drained from salted, fermented fish. A very important flavoring in Thai cuisine.
Flambé – To ignite a sauce or other liquid so that it flames. Most of the time flambéing has no real function other than to delight your guests. If you are going to flambé a dish keep in mind that it is impossible to flambé a cold dish by sprinkling it with spirits and trying to light it—the spirits only release their flammable fumes when hot. Do not pour flaming spirits.
Flan – A liquid or semi liquid mixture, held together with whole eggs, egg whites, or egg yolks, that is gently baked in a mold or pastry shell. Quiches, crème caramel, and crème brulee are examples of sweet flans. Any puree, or pureed soup, can be converted to a flan with the addition of egg. One whole egg, 2 egg whites, or 2 egg yolks will bind ¾ cup of liquid.
Foie Gras – The livers of geese and ducks that have been force-fed a mixture of corn, lard, and salted water.
Fold – To incorporate an egg-white foam into an egg yolk foam or a flour batter without deflating it so that it retains its full leavening power.
Forcemeat – A mixture of chopped or ground meat and other ingredients used for pates, sausages, and other preparations.
Fricassee – A fricassee is almost always a stew in which the meat, usually poultry, is cut up, lightly cooked in butter, and then simmered in liquid until done.
Frittata – A flat Italian baked or sometimes also half-fried/half-baked omelet.
Fritter – Any food coated with a batter or crumbs and deep-fried.
Fry – To cook in a hot fat.
G. Cooking Terms
Ganache – A mixture of grated or finely chopped chocolate, black or white, and scalded heavy cream, whisked on medium speed until completely cool.
Garnish – To add an interesting and completely edible item to a plate to make it look more attractive; or any such edible item.
Génoise – A sponge cake made with whole eggs, used for layer cakes and other desserts.
Gherkin – A small pickled cucumber.
Giblets – The neck, heart, gizzard, and liver of poultry.
Glaze – To give food a shiny surface by brushing it with sauce, aspic, icing, or another appariel. For meat, to coat with sauce and then brown in an oven.
Gnocchi – Gnocchi are starchy dumplings that are made in various shapes. There are two basic types of gnocchi: those based on potatoes and those based on flour or cornmeal.
Grand sauce – (or Mother sauce). One of several basic sauces that are used in the preparation of many other small sauces. The grand sauces are: demi-glace, veloute, béchamel, hollandaise, and tomato.
Gratin – A way of binding together, or combining, cooked or raw foods (usually vegetables or pasta—baked macaroni and cheese is a gratin) with a liquid such as cream, milk, béchamel sauce, or tomato sauce, in a shallow dish and baking until cooked and set. Typically the gratin is sprinkled with cheese or bread crumbs so a crunchy, savory crust forms on top. A gratin is really the same thing as a casserole, except a gratin is usually baked in a special oval, shallow dish.
Gravy – A gravy is an American-style jus that has been thickened with a roux. This roux can be made using butter and flour or by cooking flour into some of the fat skimmed off the jus. Cornstarch mixed with a little water can also be whisked into the jus and the jus brought to a simmer to get the cornstarch to thicken. Once the gravy is thickened, other ingredients, such as herbs or chopped giblets, can be added to it to give it extra flavor. Vegetable purees can also be used to thicken a natural jus and turn it into a flourless gravy. Garlic, roasted along with meats and poultry, or separately, is excellent pureed and whisked into the jus to thicken it.
Grill – To cook above the heat source (traditionally over wood coals) in the open air.
Grind – To pass meats or nuts through a grinder or a food processor to reduce to small pieces.
Gumbo – An African word for okra, it is now the name of a soup of shellfish made famous in Louisiana. It is lightly thickened with okra or the powdered sassafras leaves called filé.
H. Cooking Terms
Haloumi – Firm white cheese made from sheep’s milk. It has a stringy texture and is usually sold in brine.
Haricot – French for bean.
Harissa – A hot paste of red chilies, garlic and olive oil. Available in tubes or jars.
Hash – Chopped, cooked meat, usually with potatoes and/or other vegetables, which is seasoned, bound with a sauce, and sautéed. Also, to chop.
Hoisin sauce – A thick, sweet-tasting Chinese sauce made from fermented soy beans, sugar, salt, and red rice. Used as a dipping sauce or glaze.
Hollandaise – One of the Grand or Mother sauces. It is made with a vinegar reduction, egg yolks, and melted butter flavored with lemon juice.
J. Cooking Terms
Jambalaya – A Cajun and Creole composition of rice, smoke sausage, cubed ham, aromatics, and any meat that interests the cook.
Jardiniere – French for a main course made mostly of new spring vegetables, like lettuce, peas, green beans, carrots, turnips, and flavored with bacon or salt pork. It may also contain baby artichokes and young celery and fennel hearts, or cauliflower.
Julienne – To cut into long thin matchstick size strips.
Jus – The natural juices released by roasting meats and poultry.
K. Cooking Terms
Kaffir lime – A variety of lime with a knobby outer skin. The fragrant leaves are crushed or shredded and used in cooking, and the limes are used for their juice, mainly in Thai cuisine.
Kosher – From the Hebrew kasher. When talking about food, to prepare it at every stage in strict observance of the Jewish dietary laws. When talking about salt, kosher salt is a coarse salt that does not contain magnesium carbonate.

L. Cooking Terms
Lard – To insert strips of fatback into a piece of meat to be braised, using a special cutter with a hollow blade called a lardoir. Also, to wrap a tenderloin of beef in a thin sheet of fatback before roasting it.
Lasagne – Wide strips of thin pasta.
Lemongrass – A tall, lemon-scented grass, used in Thai cooking.
Liqueur – A spirit flavored with fruit, spices, nuts, herbs, and / or seeds and usually sweetened.
London Broil – A large steak generally grilled or broiled and cut out of the rib cap, flank, or chuck of beef.
Low-fat Milk – Partially defatted milk containing 1 to 2 percent fat.
Lox – Yiddish word derived from the German word lachs for salmon and the name of salt-cured belly of salmon.
Lyonnaise – Lyons-style; with onions and usually butter, white wine, vinegar, and demi-glace.
M. Cooking Terms
Macaroni Italian Macaroni – Handmade eggless pasta made from flour or a combination of flour and semolina, water, and a small amount of salt. Often used to refer to elbow-shaped pasta.
Mahimahi – A firm-fleshed fish with a light, delicate flavor.
Mandoline – A slicer that can be fitted with diverse cutting blades.
Marinade – A mixture of ingredients used to flavor and moisten foods. May be liquid of dry. Liquid marinades are usually acidic based and dry marinades are usually salt based.
Marinate – To combine foods—usually meat or seafood, and occasionally vegetables—with aromatic ingredients in order to flavor the food.
Marsala – An Italian fortified wine made in the vicinity of Marsala in Sicily.
Melt – To liquefy a fat or a gel by heating it.
Meringue – Egg whites beaten until they are stiff, with added sugar or sugar syrup, used as a topping or shaped and baked until stiff.
Mince – To chop very fine.
Mirepoix – Many cooking preparations, particularly braises, stews, roasts, and soups, call for sweating various mixtures of chopped aromatic vegetables before liquid is added. These mixtures are designed to add freshness and flavor to meats and seafood. The best-known mixture is the French mirepoix, a mixture of 2 parts onion, 2 parts carrot, and 1 part celery, but other countries and regions have their own variations. Italy has its soffritto (onion, carrot, celery, and usually, garlic). Spain has its sofregit and sofrito (onion, carrot, celery, ham, and sometimes tomato). Indonesia has bumbu (garlic, shallots, spices, and shrimp paste).
Mirin – Heavily sweetened rice wine used as cooking wine. You can substitute sweet white wine.
Miso – A thick paste made from fermented and processed soy beans. Red miso is a combination of barley and soy beans and yellow miso is a combination of rice and soy beans.
Mix – To combine ingredients by hand or with a mixer with the goal of blending them well and uniformly together.
Mousse – A general term that can describe any mixture lightened with something airy, usually beaten egg whites or whipped cream.
Mousseline – A sauce made by folding whipped cream into hollandaise. Or, a very light forcemeat based on white meat or seafood lightened with cream and eggs.
Mozzarella – Italian cheese made of pasta filata, a cheese paste that pulls into strings when cooked to approximately 96 to 98 degrees F.
N. Cooking Terms
Napoleon – A pastry made with alternating layers of puff pastry and a cream of your choice and glazed.
Noodles – Pasta made with flour or a mixture of flour and semolina, whole eggs, or egg whites.
Nori sheets – Dried seaweed pressed into square sheets. Used for nori rolls, soups and Japanese cuisine.
O. Cooking Terms
Oeuf – Egg
Omelet – Beaten eggs that are cooked in butter, then rolled or folded into an oval. They may be filled with any variety of ingredients before folding.
Oyster mushrooms Thin-ridged, delicately flavored, cultivated mushrooms with a slight taste of oysters.
P. Cooking Terms
Paella – A Spanish dish of rice cooked with onion, tomato, garlic, saffron, vegetables, and various meats, including chicken, chorizo, and/or shellfish.
Panfry – Most cooks use the terms panfry and sauté interchangeably, but strictly speaking, there is a difference. Although both terms refer to cooking in a small amount of hot oil, butter, or other fat, sautéing means to toss foods over high heat, while pan-frying describes cooking pieces of meat, seafood, or large pieces of vegetables in a hot pan, turning with tongs, a spatula, or a fork only once or twice.
Pan gravy – A sauce made by deglazing pan drippings from a roast and combining them with a roux or other starch and additional stock.
Papillote – Food wrapped in parchment paper for aluminum foil and baked in an oven where it will steam in its own moisture and that of any vegetable added to the package to flavor the meat.
Parboil – To cook partially in boiling water.
Parchment paper – Heat-resistant paper used in baking to line pans. It does not need to be buttered or greased, and it keeps rich cookies from losing their shape and from sticking to the pan.
Paring knife – A short knife used for paring and trimming fruits and vegetables. Its blade is usually 2 to 4 inches long.
Parmigiano-Reggiano – The king of Italian hard-grating cheeses made from cow’s milk. Once you have tasted this cheese grated over the top of a pasta dish you will always have it on hand!
Pasta – The Italian generic name for all forms of alimentary pastes made from a mixture of flour, semolina, and whole eggs or egg whites, but no water, as opposed to macaroni, which contains water and no eggs.
Pastasciutta – Literally “dry pasta,” meaning fresh or dried pasta with sauce (as opposed to a soup or a baked pasta dish).
Pasticcio – A baked dish of pasta and other ingredients, moistened with one or more sauces.
Pâté – A rich forcemeat of meat, game, poultry, seafood, and /or vegetables, baked in pastry or in a mold or dish.
Pâté à choux – Cream puff paste, made by boiling a mixture of water, butter, and flour, then beating in whole eggs.
Pâté brisee – Short pastry for pie crusts.
Pâté en croute – Pâté baked in a pastry crust.
Pecorino – really good in risotto recipes with pecorino A hard grating cheese derived from ewe’s milk mostly made in the Roman Lazio countryside and Sardinia.
Persillade – Finely or coarsely chopped mixture of garlic and parsley.
Pesto pesto recipes – From the Italian pestare, a verb that means to pound or crush. Pesto is traditionally made of crushed fresh basil leaves pounded with garlic, Pecorino, either pine nuts for walnuts, and olive oil.
Phyllo dough – Pastry made with very thin sheets of a flour-and-water dough layered with butter and / or crumbs; similar to strudel. Also called filo dough.
Pilaf A technique for cooking rice in which the rice is sautéed briefly in butter, then simmered in stock or water with various seasonings.
Poach – To cook completely submerged in barely simmering liquid.
Porcini mushrooms Seafood Risotto With Porcinis Mushrooms with a meaty texture and a woody, earthy taste. Available fresh and dried. Dried porcini should be soaked in hot water before using.
Prosciutto see eggplant Italiano for an example of using prociutto. A salt-cured, air-dried Italian ham that originated in the area around the city of Parma. This dense-textured, intensely flavored ham is served as an appetizer with melon or figs, and also used in cooking, often to flavor sauces. Prosciutto has been produced in the United States for years, but imported Italian prosciutto is also available. The finest is labeled “Prosciutto di Parma.” Prosciutto crudo is raw and prosciutto cotto is cooked.
Puree – To work or strain foods until they are completely smooth.
Q. Cooking Terms
Quenelle – A paste made of fish, poultry, or veal meat mixed with eggs, cream, panade, and/or beef suet. Or, an oblong dumpling made from such a paste or other more modern and lighter pastes, shaped between two spoons, poached in stock, and served with a sauce and garnish.
Quiche – Originally a pie made with a butter crust and filled with eggs beaten with heavy cream and very smoky bacon. American cooks have created a plethora of recipes for quiche.
Quick bread – Bread made with chemical leaveners, which work more quickly than yeast.
R. Cooking Terms
Ragout – Stew.
Ragừ – A complex meat sauce that may or may not contain tomato. Our timpano recipe link uses one of these!
Ramekin – A small, ovenproof dish, usually ceramic.
Ratatouille – An ancient Mediterranean mixture of vegetables cooked slowly until they make a well-bound compote.
Reduce or Reduction – The technique of cooking liquids down so that some of the water they contain evaporates. Reduction is used to concentrate the flavor of a broth or sauce and, at times, to help thicken the sauce by concentrating ingredients such as natural gelatin.
Refresh – To rinse just-boiled vegetables under very cold water to stop their cooking.
Resting – Roasted meats should not be served straight out of the over, but should be allowed to rest in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes, loosely covered with aluminum foil. (The foil keeps the meat warm; loose wrapping ensures that the outside of the meat doesn’t steam and lose its crispness.) Resting allows the meat to relax so the juices become redistributed in the meat and aren’t squeezed out onto the platter during carving.
Ricotta – A fresh, creamy white cheese, smoother than cottage cheese, with a slightly sweet flavor. It is available in whole milk and part-skim milk versions, and is often used in lasagna and stuffed pastas. A little can be stirred into a sauce to add richness as well as creamy body. Refrigerate and use within a week.
Risotto Risotto recipes – Risotto is a creamy rice dish made with short-grain or Arborio Italian rice. The rice is gently cooked in butter or olive oil. Liquid, usually broth, is then added a small amount at a time until the rice is cooked and bathed in creamy liquid. Risotto must be stirred almost constantly to release the starch from the rice so the starch thickens the broth, giving the dish its characteristic creamy consistency.
Roast – The purpose of roasting is to create a golden brown crust on whatever it is we are roasting and, at the same time, make sure the meat, fish, or vegetable properly cooks in the center. When roasting, no liquid such as broth, wine, or water comes in contact with the food—only hot air, or, if the roast is being basted, hot fat. Roasting is both simple and complex—simple because there’s very little to do except slide the food into the oven; complex because if the temperature isn’t right, the food may never brown or cook properly.
Roma tomatoes – Also known as egg tomatoes. Oval-shaped tomatoes, which are great for cooking and eating.
Romano cheese – A hard, salty grating cheese. Pecorino Romano is the best known, and is made with sheep’s milk, while many other types are made with cow’s milk or a blend of cow’s and goat’s milk. Grate as you would Parmesan and use as a tangy accent for pasta dishes.
Roulade – A slice of meat or fish rolled around a stuffing.
Roux – A mixture of flour and butter used to thicken sauces, soups, and gravies. Usually the butter is cooked with the flour in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Most roux are white roux, made by cooking the flour for only a minute or two. Brown roux—made by cooking the flour until pale brown to dark brown—is also used in many recipes, especially Cajun cooking.
S. Cooking Terms
Sabayon –A light, frothy mixture made by beating egg yolks with water or other liquid over gentle heat.
Sake – Japanese fermented rice wine. Used in cooking to tenderize and add flavor. Store in a cool, dark place and use soon after opening. Substitute dry white wine.
Salsa – Tomato sauce or other type of sauce flavored with a fairly wide variety of ingredients.
Sashimi tuna – Finest quality tuna cut in an Asian or Japanese style. It is very tender and used raw in Japanese cuisine.
Sauté – To cook over high heat in a small amount of fat in a sauté pan or skillet.
Scald – To heat milk just below the boiling point. Or, to immerse a vegetable or fruit in boiling water in order to remove its skin easily.
Scallions – Immature onions (also called green onions) with a milk and slightly sweet flavor. Both the white bulb and the green tops can be used in cooking. The green tops also make an attractive garnish.
Sear – To brown the surface of pieces of meats and or fish by submitting them to intense initial heat.
Sea salt – Salt produced by evaporating sea water. It is available refined, or unrefined, crystallized, or ground.
Semolina – The coarsely milled hard wheat endosperm used for gnocchi, some pasta, and couscous.
Shallot – A member of the onion family, looking rather like large cloves of garlic. Shallots are used to infuse savory dishes with a mild, delicate onion flavor. Refrigerate for not more than 1 week to maintain maximum flavor.
Shred – To cut into fine strips. Shredding is similar to cutting into chiffonade but less precise.
Shitake mushroom – A meaty, Oriental variety of mushroom with an almost steak-like flavor, used in pasta sauces and salads for depth. Choose fresh shitakes that are plump and unblemished, and avoid broken or shriveled caps.
Simmer – To maintain the temperature of a liquid just below boiling.
Skim – To lift and discard any unwanted foam or fat from the surface of a stock, broth, sauce, or soup.
Smother – To cook in a covered pan with little liquid over low heat.
Sommelier – The wine steward or waiter.
Sorbet – A frozen dessert made with fruit juice or another flavoring, a sweetener (usually sugar), and beaten egg whites, which prevent the formation of large ice crystals.
Souffle – A preparation made with a sauce base, whipped egg whites, and flavorings. The egg whites cause the soufflé to puff during cooking.
Spatzle – Small flour, egg, and milk dumplings resembling fine noodles which are poached in water and then buttered.
Spring-form pan – A cake pan with a detachable bottom and a clamp on its side that can be released to easily unmold the cake. You make Tiramisu link in one of these.
Steam – To cook in steam by suspending foods over (not in) boiling water, in a covered pot or steamer.
Stew – A cooking method nearly identical to braising but generally involving smaller pieces of meat, and hence a shorter cooking time. Also, the dish prepared by using this method of preparation.
Stir-fry – Chinese technique of cooking think slivers of meat, shellfish, and vegetables in hot oil.
Stock link – A rich meat, fish, or vegetable broth. It is used as a base for soups, sauces, and other preparations.
Sugo – A simple tomato sauce or other type of sauce comprised of relatively few ingredients.
Sun-dried tomatoes – Plum tomatoes that have been dried slowly to produce a chewy, intensely flavorful sauce ingredient. They are available in both oil-packed and dry-packed. For many recipes, the dried tomatoes must be soaked in hot water to soften them before using.
Sweat – To cook foods over gentle heat, usually covered or partly covered, until they release their moisture. Vegetables, meats, and seafood are often sweated when making soups, stews, and sauces so that the foods release their juices into the pan and surrounding liquid. Sweating is the opposite of sautéing.
T. Cooking Terms
Table salt – Refined, granulated rock salt.
Tamarind paste – A product from the ripe bean pods of the tamarind tree. It can be purchased as pulp or in the more convenient form of tamarind concentrate ready to use.
Tart – A pie that has only a bottom crust.
Tempura – A Japanese method of cooking vegetables and shellfish. They are coated with a light cornstarch batter and deep-fried.
Terrine – A loaf of forcemeat, similar to a pate, but cooked in a covered mold in a bain-marie. Also, the mold used to cook this item.
Timbale – A small pail-shaped mold used to shape rice, custards, mousselines, and other foods. Also, a preparation made in such a mold.
Tomato paste – A concentrated essence of cooked tomatoes, sold in cans and tubes. It is commonly used to thicken and accent the flavor and color of sauces; however it is slightly bitter and should not be used alone or in large quantities. If you are using only part of a can, save the remainder by freezing it in a plastic bag.
Tournedos – A ¼ -inch-thick steak cut from the tenderloin.
V. Cooking Terms
Veloute – One of the Grande or Mother sauces. A sauce of white stock thickened with white roux. Also, a cream soup made with a veloute sauce base and flavorings that is usually finished with a mixture of egg yolks and cream.
Vinaigrette – The classic French salad dressing made of one part vinegar and three parts oil. Mustard and cream can be added if desired.
W. Cooking Terms
Wasabi – A spice that comes from a knobby green root of the Japanese plant wasbia japonica. A traditional condiment served with Japanese sushi and sashimi. It has the same warming or stinging nasal sensation as horseradish.
Whip – To beat a preparation with the goal of introducing air into it. Or, the balloon wire whisk often used to do so.
White chocolate – Cocoabutter flavored with sugar and milk solids.
White mirepoix – Mirepoix that does not include carrots and may include chopped mushrooms or mushroom trimmings. It is used for pale or white sauces and stocks.
White sauce – Traditional white sauces are divided into two types: those based on béchamel sauce and those based on velouté sauce. A basic béchamel sauce is made by adding hot milk to a white roux, and a basic veloute sauce is made by adding hot broth to a white roux.
White stock – A light-colored stock made with bones that have not been browned.
Wok – A round-bottomed pan, usually made of rolled steel, used for virtually all Chinese cooking methods.
Y. Cooking Terms
Yogurt – Milk cultured with bacteria to give it a slightly thick consistency and sour flavor.
Z. Cooking Terms
Zabaglione – A whipped custard made with egg yolks and sugar gradually diluted over heat with Marsala or other wine, fruit juice, or liqueur.
Zest – The thin, brightly colored outer part of the rind of citrus fruits. The oils make it ideal for use as a flavoring. Remove the zest with a grater, citrus zester, or vegetable peeler. Be careful to remove only the colored layer, not the bitter-white pith beneath it.
Bon appetito always!
Brought to you with love from
Aunt Aletha and Dear Old Dave

Sardinas Asadas

2009-03-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

Just only to rhyme, but actually it is Spanish sardines cooked in asado style. Good with rice but it's better with hot pandesal. My mother teaches me this recipe when I was already curios and old enough to watch her at the kitchen cooking this cheap but expensive in taste meal.

2 cans of sardines, green and red label, if you want spicier make it both red
2 tablespoon of calamansi or lime juice
2 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
¼ c of cooking oil
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of chopped onion

In a bowl, marinate sardines with the calamansi or lime juice, for two minutes. Drip out the sauce of the sardines and then arrange in a not yet hot pan with oil. Open the flames in medium heat, cover it and wait until the sardines fried the sauce and become oily dry. Push it to the side of the pan to give way for the sautéing of garlic and onion. The sardines will become easy to disintegrate so you must be careful enough when it is time to mix it with the onions and garlic. Pour the sauce with sugar and soy sauce. Simmer it until the sauce become slightly dry and starting to separate the oil from the sauce. It must be look like spaghetti sauce but its swimming in oil. Serve with fried rice or hot pandesal.

Ispageting Pinoy

2009-03-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

If you want a single dish that can identify as a truly Pinoy but not an original Pinoy. Nothing beat the odd of truly sweet Pinoy spaghetti (spell ispageti) with one ton of sugar as main ingredients. You can identify a non-looking Pinoy as a truly kababayan in any part of the globe if he or she like this kind of spaghetti. We love anything American, their food especially, but only for the name of it, deleting the blandness of the taste by just adjusting the sweetness of everything they try to put in our mouth.

For the sauce:
3 tbsp butter
¼ c chopped garlic
¼ c chopped onion
½ kilo medium ground lean pork
150 grams tomato paste
500 grams spaghetti sauce (sweet style)
300 grams banana catsup
¼ c chopped fresh basil or oregano
1 c sliced hotdog
¼ c green or red bell pepper, chopped
½ cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
½ kilo spaghetti noodles
Grated cheese

Cook spaghetti sauce according to the rules and regulation of the package fundamental law.
Saute garlic and onion in butter, add the ground pork, bell pepper, basil or oregano. Add the tomato paste, then the water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, ketchup and hotdogs. Add some sugar or honey if you can’t find the sweet style spaghetti sauce. Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve with the cooked pasta and grated cheese on top.

Tortured Talong

2009-03-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

I hate cooking eggplant in a regular kawali because it always stick to it even if its already swimming in a pool of lard. It’s always difficult to turn it over without turning it into a scrambled egg. I can not always depend on Teflon pan because the time will come that it will loose its non-stickiness and I can’t buy a new one immediately. The price is the culprit of course. So I research an economical way to decipher this problem.

4 large eggplant
4 eggs, beaten
a pinch of salt
black pepper (optional)

Torture the eggplants by pinching it with a fork. Four times will be enough. The purpose of this is to prevent the skin to erupt and bursting the flesh by its own steam. Grill until the skin charred or turn black and very dry. Submerge in a bowl of water and wait till you can peal the skin without the irritating heat. Pinching the skin with your thumb and opposing finger is the technique on pealing the skin and leaving the flesh intact.
Beat the eggs lightly and put a pinch of salt. For using the traditional kawali. Heat it first until the smokes begin to appear. Then turn the fire low and put enough oil. Dip the eggplant in egg and fry it in low heat. Press it with a fork and spread the flesh in desired thickness. Turn it over after 3 to 5 minutes of frying. The oil must be already absorbed by the eggplant so it’s time put again a little oil into it. Then pour 1 or 2 spoonful of beaten egg. Cover for a while. When the egg solidifies, turn it over to brown that side.

Siopao Ni-Mao

2009-03-12T11:39:00.001-07:00

I named this recipe from my friend who likes to call himself Maui. He does look like his showbiz idol Maui Taylor when he is in drag, but he much look like an over weight comedian from Hong Kong, so I changed his name spelled more Chinese type. And besides he was the first person who tried and liked this recipe. He much more likes it with banana ketchup and not the asado sauce that I prepared. Maybe because of the sweetness and the soy sauce of the filling, he seems like the idea that the only thing missing is the sourness to complete the bombardment of the three major tastes.

For the dough:
1 c warm lukewarm water
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp iodized salt
1/2 c white sugar
4 tsp melted butter (or any shortening)

For the filling
1/2 k ground lean pork
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c chopped spring onion
cubed cheese

Dilute ½ c brown sugar in lukewarm water, add the yeast and leave for 10 minutes. Sift the flour then add the dry ingredients, like baking powder, sugar and salt. Then add the shortening. Mix well. Add the prepared liquid, the yeast must now be frothy and bubbly, indicates that the yeast is now back from its dry hibernation and already producing its own gas.
Sprinkle a handful of flour to the kneading table. If the dough is still sticky, don’t hesitate to add some flour to the table. Knead until smooth. Make it like a big ball. Put it in a bowl and brush the surface with a thin coating of vegetable oil. Let it rise for 11/2 hour.
Prepare the filling by mixing the pork, sugar and the soy sauce. Set aside
If the dough turns doubled in bulk, the yeast fulfilled its duty. Divide the dough in desired size of the siopao, I preferred my siopao in medium size so I weight it in 150 grams each. Then let it rise again for another 11/2 hour.
Fill the dough with a spoonful of the meat mixture; don’t forget the cheese cube at the center. Put it in a prepared a 2x2 inches bond paper.
And this always happening to me when I miscalculate the amount of meat mixture to fill the dough. No more filler and there are still some dough waiting. Solution, I just filled it with some extra cheese and turns out its taste great with tea or coffee.
Steam for 20 to 25 minutes for medium size; add another 5 minutes for the jumbo size. If you will use the basic aluminum steamer, cover it with a clean dry white cloth before the actual cover. It will prevent the moisture dripping through the bun and turn it into a soaked steam bread.

As I told you the filler need no sauce, you can it eat as it is, or like my friend, with banana ketchup. But if you insist.
These are the ingredients for the asado sauce.
½ c soy sauce
½ c brown sugar
1 cup water
2 tbsp corn starch diluted in 3 tbsp of water

Combine the first three ingredients until near boil. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture until the sauce thickened. Don’t over boil the sauce; just wait the cornstarch to be transparent while stirring with a spoon in a clockwise manner. Under cooked it and will going to be taste starchy and opaque in color.