Sean Kanan - The Modern Gentleman: Cooking and Entertaining with Sean Kanan

Aioli: A garlic mayonnaise

Al dente: Italian meaning to the tooth. Refers to pasta cooked but still slightly firm.

Baking/roasting: Uses dry heat in an oven or roaster.

Barbeque: Cook over a grill often utilizing sauce to baste the food.

Baste: While cooking in the oven, you need to spoon or squirt with a baster, butter or a marinade over the top of the food, throughout the entire cooking period to keep it from drying out.

Baster: A large syringe type tool used to suck up liquid and squirt it onto the meat.

Batter: Mixture of dry and liquid ingredients.

Bearnaise: A warm, emulsified egg and butter sauce with white wine, shallots, and tarragon.

Beat: Mix or stir food together using a fork, whisk, or mixer to add air. Bechamel: Sauce made with whole milk thickened with a white roux and herbs often nutmeg.

Beurre Blanc: French meaning white butter. Rich butter sauce made by whisking butter into a reduction of shallots, white wine, and white wine vinegar.

Bisque: A rich, thick, creamy soup based on puree.

Blanching: Cook for a very brief time and then cool with water, just enough to soften the food.

Blend: Mix ingredients together

Boil: Heat a pot filled half way with water on high heat until water surface is agitated with bubbles.

Bouillon: A strained broth made by cooking any vegetable, meat, seafood or poultry in water.

Brown: Saute in butter or oil in a pan or brush with butter and place under the broiler.

Braising: Cooking food in a liquid. For better results use stock.

Bread: Coat food with breadcrumbs, flour or batter to create a crust when sauted or deep-fried.

Brine: Water with salt and seasoning used to preserve food.

Broil/grill: The idea here is to use very high heat to create a crisp exterior and tender interior. In order to accomplish this, you can use the broiler setting in your oven, an outdoor grill, or a countertop grill. Always preheat to ensure that the cooking surface is hot before placing the food on it. When using the oven broiler lightly coat the food with oil or butter to ensure a nice crisp and golden brown color. When using the outdoor grill, you have more to consider. If you are using a propane or natural gas grill, oil the grill surface being careful not to use too much oil or it will create flames. A charcoal grill takes a little longer to use, but you can add flavor to your dish by adding different wood chips to your charcoal. Do not use too much lighter fluid and make sure that the coals are grey (meaning that all of the lighter fluid cooked off) before you start cooking and lightly oil the grill. Electric counter top grills are the easiest to use, just follow the manufacturers directions. Gas or Sterno counter top grills follow the same rules as outdoor grills with huge caution, allow adequate ventilation, make sure the surface is heat resistant, and allow the grill to completely cool before moving it.

Broth/Stock: Liquid from lightly boiling food. Often utilizes bones, carrots, onions and celery.

Butter cream frosting: Whip butter, eggs and powdered sugar or just use custard.

Butterfly: Use this technique on thick cuts of meat. Cut into the piece of meat of the way through and fold open like a book to cook.

Caramelize: Use a pan and oil or butter cook on medium heat until softened and slightly browned.

Chop: Cut into small pieces with a knife or food processor.

Chowder: Soup thickened by milk or cream, usually containing potato

Cleaver: 6-8 inch square blade used to chop and a central component to successful horror films.

Colander: A bowl with tiny holes used to allow the liquid to drain out of food.

Compote: Stewed or cooked in syrup.

Consomm: Beat an egg white and pour it into simmering broth to pull the tiny pieces of food out and clarify to broth or stock.

Corkscrew: A tool with a curly, pointed finger used to pull a cork out of a bottle.

Cure: Protect food from bacteria and mold by using salt or sugar.

Cruet: A bottle with a lid commonly used to store condiments like oil, vinegar and salad dressing.

Deep Fry: American for good times. The goal here is all over crispy goodness. If you summon the Food Cracken, commit. Dont be shy around the batter, after all who hasnt wanted a deep-fried Snickers bar? The only thing stopping you is a good batter and a hot oil vat. Make sure that you use an oil with a high flash point like peanut or vegetable oil and a thermometer. When you introduce the food to the oil, it temporarily reduces the heat. Therefore fatty, you have to be patient in between batches. If you run out of food, try some pages of this book, anything tastes better deep-fried.

Dice: Cut into small cubes.

Drain: Remove all the liquid.

Egg wash: Beaten eggs to dip food into before breading or flouring. Often brushed on unbaked loves of bread or cookies for a glazed look.

Emulsion: Mixture of two liquids that dont normally blend, like oil and water.

Flambe: French for Im a bad ass, since you are literally playing with fire. Huge presentation wow factor if done right, trip to the Emergency Room to avoid horrid disfigurement, if not. Now that you are motivated, grab the liqueur and the matches. You can flambe any saute dish at the very end, since flambe doesnt cook, it just creates an intense heat/flame for a few seconds.

Fold: Combine ingredients gently without deflating them.

Fry: Cook in hot oil or butter.

Ganache: Whisk chocolate and scalded heavy cream until cool.

Garlic press: A tool used to crush cloves of garlic.

Garnish: Finish any dish by adding something decorative to the plate. A common garnish is a sprig of parsley or a lemon wedge.

Giblets: Neck, heart, gizzard, and liver of poultry that can be found inside a whole chicken or bought separately.

Glaze: Shiny surface of a food.

Grate: Shred food into tiny pieces using a grater.

Gratin: Use a liquid, such as milk, to bind food together by baking it in a casserole dish until all of the liquid is evaporated and condensed.

Gravy: Made with the drippings from meat and a roux or a slurry.

Grease: Lightly coat with butter or oil to help avoid food from sticking to the pan.

Grind: Use a grinder to make the smallest pieces of food.

Hoisin sauce: Chinese sweet sauce that is somewhat thick and used as a glaze or a dipping sauce.

Hull: Remove the outer shell.

Julienne: Chop or slice into long thin strips.

Knead: Press and fold to stretch the dough until its smooth and uniform.

Knife: A blade used to cut.

Kosher: Foods that conform to the regulations of the Jewish Halakhic law framework, Kosher meaning fit or allowed to be eaten. Some reasons for food not being Kosher include the presence of ingredients derived from non-kosher animals or from Kosher animals that were not properly slaughtered, a mixture of meat and milk, wine or grape juice produced without supervision, the use of produce from Israel that has not been tithed, or the use of non-kosher cooking utensils and machinery.