Aioli - A strongly flavored garlic mayonnaise from france, used on fish, meats &
veggies.
Allemande - Classic Veloute, Egg Yolks thicken sauce.
Aromatics - Herbs and Spices
Arrowroot - Starchy product, thickening agent for pudding, sauces…etc.
Au Sec – au sec refers to a liquid that has been reduced until it is nearly dry. Indeed, au sec means “nearly dry” in French.
Béchamel - White sauce made by stirring milk into a white roux – mother sauce
Beurre Blanc – White wine, vinegar & Shallot reduction. Chunks of cold butter swirled
into the sauce.
Beurre Noir – Black butter, butter cooked until brown.
Buerre Noissete – Brown butter, light brown color
Buerre Manie – Paste of softened butter & flour used to thicken sauces
Bisque - Thick, Soup using pureed seafood & cream
Blanch - To put fruits & veggies into boiling water for a short amount of time, then
placed into ice water to stop cooking.
Bouillon - Any broth made by cooking veggies & meat in concentrated water
Bouquet Garni - Bunch of herbs, tied together
Broth - liquid from cooked veggies or meat or fish in water
Brown Veal Stock - Stock or liquid made from veal bones that are browned and mixed
with mirepoix. Bones veal bones.
Caramelize - Heat sugar until it becomes liquid, thick clear syrup.
Chowder - Chunky seafood soup
Chicken Stock - The liquid made from roasting or cooking chicken bones with Mirepoix
along with water.
Clarification - To clear cloudy liquid by removing a sediment
Clarified Butter - Mild solids removed from butter
Cold Soup - Refreshing cold soup
Compound Butter – Herbs & spices added to butter, Butter creamed with other
ingredients such as herbs, garlic, wine, shallots…etc
Consommé - Clarified stock or broth, Clarified with “clear meat” & gently simmered.
Cornstarch - A dense powdery flour from the endosperm portion of the corn kernel
Court Bouillon - Water w/ seasoning, herbs and an acid, used for cooking fish. “Short
broth”
Cream Soup - Soup containing milk and/or cream
Deglaze - Swirl liquid in sauté pan to dissolve cooked particles of food.
Degrease - Skimming fat from surface of hot liquid
Demi-Glace – Half brown sauce & half brown stock, reduced by half
Emulsion – Mixture of one liquid with another which can not normally be combines
smoothly (oil and water for example.)
Espagnole - Mirepoix, butter, flour, brown stock, tomato puree, sachet
Flavoring - Seasonings, herbs, spices to add or change the flavor of something. Not to
enhance, but to alter.
Fond - Means stock
Fumet – Concentrated stock, one from fish
Fish Stock – Liquid made from water & fish bones w/ white Mirepoix
Garnish - Decorative, edible accompaniment to a finished dish
Gastrique - Caramel deglazed w/ vinegar for sweet & sour sauce
Glace De Viande – “Meat Glaze”
Glace De Volaille – Chicken extract. Reduced clear stock.
Grand Sauce – Leading sauce, the base
Hollandaise - Egg yolks, vinegar, pepper corns, clarified butter, cayenne pepper & salt.
Jus - French word for juice
Jus Lie - Brown stock, cornstarch or arrowroot
Liason - Thickening agent for soups. Made with cream & eggs
Lie - Gray made from brown stock
Matignon - Artichoke hearts stuffed w/ breadcrumbs & browned. Vegetable serves as a
garnish w/ several dishes.
Mayonnaise - Salad oil, lemon, salt, dry mustard, vinegar 8:1 Ratio
Mirepoix - Carrots, celery, onion
Mise En Place – Means “Everything in place”
Mont au Beurre – To finish with butter
Nappe - is a French word meaning “to coat.”
Oignon Brule - Onion ½ caramelized, to add color to stocks & soups.
Oignon Pique - Onion w/ Bay leaves & cloves stuck into onion, put into soup or sauces
Pan Gravy - Sauce made from dripping from roasted meat
Potage - Means soup in French
Puree - To process through a blender, food mill…etc
Pureed Soup - Made by simmering dried or fresh veggies in stock or water, then pureeing
the soup.
Raft - The raft is the clear meat that floats on top
Reduce - To boil or simmer liquid away
Reduction - Simmering sauce to evaporate liquid, until sauce is thick.
Remoulage - Re-wetting of the bones to make weaker stock
Roux - Flour, butter, cooked to various degrees. Equal parts. White, blonde, brown
Sachet - Garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, thyme, parsley stems
Sauce - Flavored liquid made to accompany food, to enhance & bring out its flavor,
sometimes thickened.
Salsa - Raw or cooked veggies, vary in mildness. Mexican word meaning sauce.
Seasonings - Ingredients or spices used to enhance & bring out flavor in foods.
Skim - To remove the top layer of liquids, such as fat or foam
Slurry - A thin paste of water & flour used as a thickening agent.
Stock - Flavorful liquid made from fish, veal, chicken, beef bones…etc.
Tapioca Starch - Starchy substance extracted from the root of the cassava plant. Used for
thickening soups, fillings, glazes.
Temper - Product is stabilized through a melting and cooling process.
Tomato Sauce – Pork, onion, carrots, tomatoes, ham, sachet, salt, sugar.
Vegetable Stock - Liquid made from veggies & water.
Veloute - Blond roux, clarified butter, bread flour, white stock.
Vinaigrette - Basic oil & vinegar combination, used for salads & other cold meat or
veggie dishes. 3:1 ratio of oil – vinegar.
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August 30th, 2009
TheSaltyChef 











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herbs and spices can really make any food so tasty and yummy”;’
I really hate to say this… but you’re definitions arent all correct. you say your love is in cooking, but yet you dont know some basic definitions. I dont want to give you a hard time, but specificaly Au Sec and Nape stand out as blatantly wrong. i’m suprised this post has lasted so long without someone pointing that out. I dont know if Cordon Bleu taught you these definitions wrongly or what, but please revise this.
Thanks for your very rude way of pointing this out. If you really “hate” this…don’t read it. I don’t tolerate people that are for no reason rude and disrespectful. You should really consider being better about how you treat people….karma can be a bitch!