Lexicon - Other Preparation

Dot - to drop bits of an ingredient, usually butter or cheese, randomly over the top of a surface.

 

Drain - to pour off the liquid; make sure you read through the instructions as they may direct you to save the liquid rather than discard it.

 

Flour - to coat with flour. You would flour your hands in preparation of handling sticky dough. You would flour a pan that you have greased to prevent batter or dough sticking to it.

 

Grease - to coat the inside surfaces of a pan or bowl with butter or margarine. The next step might be to dust the greased surfaces with flour, in order to facilitate the removal of a baked product, such as a cake. In this case the instructions would be to "grease and flour", also sometimes specified as "butter and flour".

 

Grease and flour - to coat a pan with butter or margarine, and then dust it with flour until the bottom and sides are well coated. The extra flour must be shaken out.

 

Knead - to work dough back and forth, folding back and pressing forward, as you turn it to fold and press from every angle. The end result should be smooth and elastic.

 

Marinate - to soak food in a seasoned liquid assembled to impart flavors and also tenderize the food.

 

Pit - to remove the pit from fruit.

 

Pound - to flatten a piece of meat prior to cooking, which tenderizes it. You should place the meat between two pieces of wax paper and then pound it with a rolling pin, the bottom of a heavy pan, or a special tool designed for this called a meat pounder.

 

Proof - to mix yeast with warm liquid, and sometimes sugar, which is set aside for 5 or 10 minutes and then checked to ensure it is active. If the mixture is bubbly the yeast is live and will work to make dough rise. If there is no action in the mixture the yeast is dead and will not work. The liquid must be warm enough to activate the yeast but not too hot or it will kill it.The optimum temperature range for the liquid is 110° to 115° F.

 

Roll out - to use a rolling pin to spread a dough out thinly and evenly.

 

Roux - the combination of butter or fat with flour, cooked until it is anywhere from very light to dark brown, that is used as the thickener in making sauces and gravies.

 

Separate - refers to eggs, when you separate the yolks from the whites. This is done by cracking the egg over a bowl and holding half the shell in each hand, allowing the whites to fall into the bowl while using the shell halves to contain the yolk, which can then be transferred to a second bowl.

 

Shell - to remove the shell. This could refer to seafood, boiled eggs, peas, nuts.

 

Sift - to put through a flour sifter or a fine mesh strainer. This is a baking technique that ensures dry ingredients such as flour or sugar are lump-free.

 

Skim - to remove a substance, such as fat or impurities, from the surface of a liquid.

 

Spoon - to use a spoon to scoop up an ingredient or a mixture.

 

Strain - to separate liquid from solid by pouring through a strainer. As in draining, make sure you read through the instructions as they may direct you to save the liquid rather than discard it.