Saucier Definitions

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.

Saucier Definitions
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3 Responses to “Saucier Definitions”

  1. Hannah Hall says:

    herbs and spices can really make any food so tasty and yummy”;’

  2. tony says:

    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.

    • TheSaltyChef says:

      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!

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