- Baby Back Ribs: Especially juicy and tender, small pork ribs cut from the top of a young animal’s center loin section.
- Baccala: Italian term for salt cod. The Spanish is bacalao, Portuguese bacalhau, French morue. Salt cod needs to be soaked in several changes of water for at least 12 hours before it is ready to cook, and it contains bones which must be removed before serving. It can be bought at Spanish and Portuguese grocers, as well as some Italian delicatessens.
- Baeckeoffe: A braise of meat, white wine, potatoes and onions from France’s Alsace region; the word means baker’s oven.
- Bagna cauda: A sauce from the south of France containing anchovies, garlic and olive oil, traditionally served warm with raw vegetables for dipping.
- Bain Marie: Hot water bath used to gently cook food or keep food hot. Container for holding food in a hot water bath.
- Bake: To cook by dry heat, usually in the oven.
- Baked Alaska: Ice cream set on a layer of sponge cake and encased in meringue then baked until the meringue is warm and golden.
- Baking Powder: A mixture of sodium bicarbonate and one or more acids, generally cream of tartar or sodium aluminum sulfate, used to leaven baked goods. It releases carbon dioxide gases if moisture is present. Single-acting baking powder releases C02 in the presence of moisture only. Double-acting baking powder releases C02 upon contact with moisture and more gas is released when heat is applied.
- Baking soda: The active component of baking powder and the source of the carbon dioxide that leavens many baked goods. Also known as sodium bicarbonate or bicarbonate of soda.
- Baking: Dry-heat cooking method in which foods are surrounded by hot, dry air in a closed environment similar to roasting.
- Ballontine: Boneless poultry leg stuffed with meat and gently roasted/ braised, traditionally shaped into a ball. Something boned, stuffed and rolled. Classically applied to poultry, now often seen with fish. See also galantine, a similar preparation, typically made with a whole beast and glazed with gelatin and served cold.
- Balmain bugs: A saltwater crustacean that broadly resembles clawless, narrow-bodied crab in size and shape. The Balmain bug (Ibacus peronii) is more commonly caught in the southern states of Australia and has its eyes set towards the middle of the head. Available year-round, Balmain bugs have full-flavoured meat in their tails, and are bought whole or as frozen tail-meat. Their shells turn red when they’re cooked. Substitute large king or banana prawns where necessary.
- Banh mi: The Vietnamese term for a Vietnamese sandwich. These light, crusty baguettes are typically spread with pate and mayonnaise before being filled with Vietnamese-style coldcuts, freshly cooked pork or chicken (or a combination thereof), shreds of pickled carrot, ribbons of raw cucumber, sprigs of fresh coriander and chopped hot red chilli. They are dressed with nuoc cham, the chilli, lime, soy and fish sauce condiment, sometimes also with a splash of Maggi brand seasoning. Vietnamese sandwiches are sold at most Vietnamese-run hot bread shops around the country.
- Barbecue sauce: Sweet, tart and spicy sauce used to baste foods or as a condiment for grilled foods. Although recipes vary widely, common elements include tomato, sugar or molasses, vinegar, and a hot spice such as a chili or mustard.
- Barbecue: Usually used generally to refer to grilling done outdoors or over an open charcoal or wood fire. More specifically, barbecue refers to long, slow direct- heat cooking, including liberal basting with a barbecue sauce.
- Barding: Tying thin slices of fat such as pork or bacon, over meats or poultry that have little fat to help keep moist.
- Base: A substance that neutralizes an acid in a liquid solution.
- Basic Sauces: Also known as leading or mother sauces, the foundation for the entire classic repertoire of hot sauces. The five leading sauces (Bechamel, veloute, espagnole, tomato, and hollandaise).
- Basmati Rice: A variety of long-grain rice from India.
- Baste: To brush or spoon a melted fat (such as butter), a liquid (such as a stock) or a marinade over food as it cooks to give flavor and moistness.
- Batter: A mixture that is thin enough to pour or spoon; often made of flour, eggs and milk.
- Battonage: A French term for lees stirring. When wines are aged on their lees, a bit of bâtonnage helps stir the dead yeast cells through the maturing wine, adding creaminess and complexity.
- Bavarian Cream: A dessert made of custard sauce, gelatin, and whipped cream.
- Bearnaise: One of the great French sauces, an emulsion of egg yolks, butter, shallots, vinegar or lemon juice (and sometimes white wine), tarragon and chervil. It is often served with grilled steak or fish.
- Beat: To stir rapidly by hand or with a mixer to combine ingredients or incorporate air into mixture (e.g. egg whites, whipping cream).
- Bechamel: A basic sauce made by thickening milk with a white roux and adding seasonings. The classic French base white sauce, made by adding milk simmered with aromatics (usually bay, onion, nutmeg and pepper) to a roux of butter and flour and cooking it gently, stirring to a smooth consistency. Known as besciamella in Italian cooking.
- Beer: An alcoholic beverage made from water, hops and malted barley.
- Beignet: Fritter
- Belgian endive: Refreshing, slightly bitter spear-shaped leaves, white to pale yellow-green or sometimes red, tightly packed in cylindrical heads, 4-6 inches; also known as chicory or witloof.
- Beurre Blanc: French for white butter, an emulsified butter sauce made from shallots white wine and butter.
- Beurre Manie: A combination of equal amounts by weight of flour and soft whole butter. Whisked into a simmering sauce at the end of the cooking process for quick thickening and added sheen and flavor.
- Beurre Noir: French for black butter, whole butter cooked until dark brown (Not black) sometimes flavored with vinegar or lemon juice.
- Beurre Noisette: Butter lightly browned in a pan.
- Beurre Rouge: French for red butter, an emulsified butter sauce made from shallots, red wine, and butter
- Beurre: French for butter. ‘Sel’ means salted, ‘demi-sel’ lightly salted.
- Bind/Binder: To add a thickening ingredient such as an egg, flour or cornstarch, to hold ingredients together in soups, sauces or gravy.
- Birdseye chilli: The most commonly used fresh chilli in Thai cuisine, sometimes called bird peppers, these tiny, fiery chillies are red, green, lime or orange, depending on the variety. Dried birdseyes should not be used in place of the fresh ones; if necessary, substitute another fresh chilli.
- Bisque: A pureed soup made from crustacean shells and classic versions are thickened with rice.
- Bite-Sized: To cut or tear food into small enough pieces to eat in one bite.
- Bivalve: A mollusk with a pair of hinged shells, such as clams and oysters.
- Blacken: To cook meat or fish in a very hot skillet to give a dark, crispy crust.
- Blanch: To immerse food into boiling water for a short time, and then transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. This brings out the color in vegetables and can loosen skins on peaches or tomatoes.
- Blancmange: Also blanc-manger. A French dessert of almond milk set with gelatine, served cold.
- Blanquette: A classic French white braise of poached meat (typically veal) or fish enriched with a sauce of eggs and cream.
- Blend: To stir together two or more ingredients until just combined.
- Blini: The Russian plural for blin, a kind of small, thick pancake traditionally served hot with caviar.
- Bloom: A white powdery layer that sometimes appears on chocolate if the cocoa butter separates.
- Blue eye trevalla: Also known simply as blue eye, this fish (Hyperoglyphe antarctica) is often mistakenly termed blue eye cod. A prized eating fish, its flesh is off-white, firm and fine of flavour.
- Boeuf a la Mode: A classic French style of braised beef
- Boil: To heat a liquid mixture until bubbles break the surface; a full rolling boil cannot be stopped by stirring.
- Bollito misto: Italian for a mixture of boiled things, bollito misto sees a range of meats simmered together and served with a variety of condiments. Typically key ingredients include a boiling cut of beef, chicken, ham, veal tongue (or indeed a calf’s head), with salsa verde, grated horseradish and mustard fruits among the sauces offered. See also pot-au-feu.
- Bombe: Two or more flavors of ice cream or ice cream and sherbet shaped in a spherical mold, each flavor a separate layer that forms the shell for the next flavor.
- Bone/Debone: To remove the bones from poultry, meat or fish.
- Bonito flakes: Also known as kezuri-bushi. The bonito fish is a relative of the mackerel and tuna. The filleted fish is dried rock hard and shaved into pale pink, strongly aromatic flakes and used to make dashi and as a garnish. The larger flakes generally provide more flavour. Available from Asian food stores.
- Bordeaux blends: Wines made from a mixture of grapes inspired by the traditional blends of France’s prestigious Bordeaux region. Almost inevitably, a red Bordeaux blend will be based on cabernet sauvignon with the addition of varying amounts of all or any of the following: merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec. White Bordeaux blends contain semillon and sauvignon blanc.
- Bordelaise: In the style of Bordeaux. Sauce Bordelaise is a brown sauce flavoured with red wine and bone marrow.
- Bordelaise: A brown sauce flavored with a reduction of red wine, shallots, pepper and herbs garnished with bone marrow.
- Botrytis cinerea: Also known as noble rot. A fungus that attacks grapes under certain climatic conditions (damp, foggy mornings followed by warm, sunny afternoons). The stuff looks revolting and shrivels the affected grapes to brown husks of their former selves, often with a dusting of greyish powder. It sounds as disgusting as it looks, but the end effect of botrytis infection is to concentrate the sugars in the infected grapes, which are then used to make some of the most highly prized sweet wines in the world. Semillon and sauvignon blanc blends, furmint and hárslevelű (the grapes that make up Hungary’s Tokaji wines), rieslings, gewürztraminers and pinot gris are the grape varieties most strongly associated with botrytis-affected wines.
- Bottarga: The salted and air-dried roe of tuna or mullet is considered a delicacy throughout the Mediterranean. Thinly sliced and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, bottarga makes an unequalled entrée.
- Botulism: A deadly food-borne intoxication usually associated with improperly canned foods.
- Boudin blanc: A French white sausage of chicken, pork or veal.
- Boudin noir: French term meaning black pudding – a blood sausage usually made with pig’s blood. Other blood sausages include the German blutwurst and Spanish morcilla.
- Bouillabaisse: A fish soup from the French Mediterranean consisting of a broth made from several different fish (rockfish, dory, conger eel, monkfish and gurnard are traditional), garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, onions, parsley and saffron. The meat of the fish and the broth are served in separate courses, the broth with toast and rouille as a condiment. See also bourride, rouille.
- Bound Salad: A salad comprising of cooked meats, poultry, fish, shellfish, pasta or potatoes combined with a dressing.
- Bouquet Garni: Fresh herbs and vegetables tied into a cheesecloth bundle and used to flavor sauces, soups, stocks, stews.
- Bouquetiere: Garnished with an assortment or “bouquet” of fresh vegetables, such as artichokes, carrots, turnips, green beans, peas, cauliflower, and potatoes.
- Bourguignon: Also Bourguignonne. In the style of Burgundy – with red wine, mushrooms and bacon.
- Bourride: A French Mediterranean fish soup often enriched with aioli.
- Bowles veal glace: This reduction of veal stock is available from specialty food stores and some butchers.
- Braise: To brown meat or vegetables in fat over a high heat. Place meat or vegetables into a heavy pot with a small amount of liquid, and then cover and cook slowly for several hours. Can be cooked in the oven or on the stove-top.
- Bread: To coat food in a dry ingredient such as flour, bread crumbs, cornmeal or cracker crumbs before sautéing or frying.
- Brettanomyces: The pungent aroma of this strain of yeast – variously described as smelling like mouse droppings, sticking plasters and horses – is widely regarded as a fault in squeaky-clean New World wineries. But while a heavy dose of brett (as anoraks like to refer to the critter) gives a wine a very unappealing aroma, a small hint of it is not considered unattractive in parts of the Old World. Certain famous properties in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for instance, are well known to be infected with brett, and some believe that the slightly animal note the rogue yeast adds to the wines is part of their charm.
- Brine: A strong mixture of water, salt and vinegar. Mixture can be used on meats to add flavor, tenderness and moistness. Spices, herbs and sweeteners can also be used in this mixture.
- Brioche: Rich yeast dough containing large amounts of eggs and butter, or the products made from this dough.
- Broccoli rabe: This bitter winter green is part of the brassica family, and popular in southern Italy for its peppery flavour. Available from Italian food stores and select greengrocers.
- Brochette: Skewered hors d’oeuvres using meats, fish, shellfish, vegetables which are grilled or broiled.
- Broil: To cook directly above or below a heat source in the oven or on the grill.
- Broth: To cook meat, vegetables or fish in water. Other ingredients such as seasonings, onions or celery can be added for additional flavor.
- Brown: To cook food quickly over a high heat, often on the stove-top, to give the surface color and seal in juices.
- Brulee: French for burned, it refers, as in the case of crème brulee, to caramelisation.
- Brunoise: 1) Cut into very small (1/8 inch/3 mm) dice. 2) Garnished with vegetables cut in this manner.
- Brush: To coat a food lightly with a marinade or liquid using a pastry brush.
- Buffalo mozzarella: Soft, spun-curd cheese; originated in southern Italy where it is traditionally made from pure buffalo’s milk.
- Bugs: These Australian saltwater crustaceans broadly resemble clawless, narrow-bodied crab in size and shape. The Balmain bug (Ibacus peronii) is more commonly caught in the southern states and has its eyes set towards the middle of the head, while the slightly narrower Moreton Bay bug (Thenus orientalis), caught in the northern states has eyes towards the edge of the head. Available year-round, both have full-flavoured meat in their tails, and are bought whole or as frozen tail-meat. Their shells turn red when they’re cooked. Substitute large king or banana prawns where necessary.
- Burghul (cracked wheat): Hulled steamed wheat kernels that, once dried, are crushed into various size grains. Used in Middle Eastern dishes such as kibbeh and tabbouleh.
- Butter: Use salted or unsalted (sweet) butter as directed (125gm is equal to one stick of butter).
- Buttercream: An icing made of butter and/or shortening blended with confectioner’s sugar or sugar syrup and sometimes other ingredients.
- Butterflying: To cut a food, such as shrimp, down the center, almost but not completely through. Is a technique used to make a thick piece of meat thinner, which makes it quicker to cook.
- Buttermilk: Sold alongside other milk products in supermarkets. Low in fat (1.8gm fat per 100ml) and with a refreshing, sour tang, it is used in desserts and for baking.