Pastry Chef Online: How to Think Like a Pastry Chef
How to Think Like a Pastry Chef
Pastry Techniques
Here is a listing of helpful cooking verbs. When you ask yourself, "What do they mean by cut in the flour?" or "Fold?! Fold how?" come to this helpful little section for clarification on how to do what the recipes tell you to do.
Aerate--to add air to a mixture, generally by using a whisk or the whip attachment on a mixer
Bake--to cook using the dry heat of an oven. The heating element in an oven is usually in the bottom. When you turn on the oven, first the air in the oven heats up, and then the metal box of the oven heats. When pre-heating, the happy little signal your oven emits means that the air has gotten up to temperature. Wait another few minutes to allow the heat to build up in the metal itself before opening the door and losing all that hot air. Your temperature will recover much more quickly.
Baste--To spoon juices over what you are cooking every so often. Do it fairly quickly to keep heat loss to a minimum.
Beat--to quickly mix together by stirring vigorously or by using a whisk or a stand mixer. This action will also help to aerate your batter/dough/whatever you happen to be beating.
Blanch--to plunge into rapidly boiling water for a very short time to either a)lock in color or b) loosen skins for easy peeling of tomatoes, peaches, etc. After blanching, fish out your blanched product quickly and put it in ice water. This will stop the cooking process and keep your colors bright and your textures crisp.
Blend--to homogenize ingredients by use of a spoon, a beater or a some cool electric appliance.
Bloom--to hydrate and soften, most often gelatin. Sheet gelatin should be hydrated in ice water. Ice water will hydrate the gelatin but the sheet will maintain its integrity. Once it's bloomed, just wring it out and toss in to your hot ingredients and stir it in. Blooming sheet gelatin in room temperature water will work, but you have to pay close attention. Once its bloomed, it will begin to dissolve, and that's no good for anyone. Powdered gelatin, most easily found for home cooks, is bloomed in a portion of the cold liquid called for in a recipe. Then, you have to melt it over low heat before adding the rest of your ingredients. Either way, strain your mixture before using to prevent any little errant gelatin lumps from messing up the texture of your final product.
Blind Bake--to bake a pie crust without a filling in it. This requires some sort of weight to keep the crust from slumping before it has had a chance to set up. Stores sell pie weights. Do not buy them. Accept them as a gift, but don't buy them. I use a bag of beans, chickpeas in my case, but any old dried bean will do. I line the pie shell with plastic wrap--yes it can go in the oven, but don't let it touch metal or it will stick--then fill it up with beans. Bake for a few minutes, until the edges look firm, then remove the beans by gathering up the plastic wrap and lifting out the whole bundle.
Boil--to cook in vigorously bubbling water (212 degrees, F at sea level)
Braise--moist heat cooking method; to cook in an oven in a sealed pot/pan at a relatively low temperature (generally around 300 degrees, F) for a relatively long period of time in liquid that comes about half way up the side of the food you are cooking.
Broil--dry heat cooking method; to cook in an oven with heat radiating from the top; you can think of it as upside down grilling. Or not.
Caramelize--to cook sugar until it turns color, anywhere from light amber to just this side of burnt. I always add water to start; it helps the sugar dissolve evenly and it cooks off well before caramelization actually happens.
Chiffonade--to cut flat herbs, such as mint or basil, into very thin strips. Easily done by rolling a stack of leaves into a tight cylinder and then slicing through the cylinder
Chop--to cut roughly into pieces of about the same size
Combine--to put two or more ingredients together
Cut In--to work a cold fat (butter, lard or shortening) into dry ingredients using either two forks, a pastry cutter or your hands. If you use your hands (usually called "rubbing in"), work quickly so you don't soften the fat too much.
Cream--to work ingredients together into a smooth and creamy texture. This can be done in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a spoon or spatula against the side of a bowl. In baking, fats and sugars are often creamed together as a first step before other ingredients are added.
Crimp--to decoratively (or not) pinch the top and bottom crusts of a pie together, sealing the filling inside. This can be done with a fork or with your fingers.
Cube--to cut into regular dice of about 1/2 inch
Cut in--to work cold fat into flour for biscuits, pie dough or tart dough. You can do this using two forks and "mashing" the fat in to the flour. Don't get too carried away. Sometimes you want big pieces of butter left. Check your recipe to see. You can also cut in with your fingers. This is my preferred way, but you have to be quick since the heat from your hands and melt the fat. I just reach right in and smash the butter between my thumbs and forefingers, rubbing as I go. It's easier to get a feel (literally) for the size of the pieces of fat this way. If you can feel that the fat is starting to melt. Throw the bowl into the freezer for a few minutes before continuing.
Dice--to cut into regular dice of about 1/4 inch
Dock--to use a fork or a docker to prick a pie crust or pastry all over before baking, allowing steam to escape and preventing the crust from "heaving up" from the bottom of the pan. Especially used when blind baking.
Emulsify--to force two liquids together that don't like to go together by suspending one in the other. Oil and vinegar in a vinaigrette, for example. This is most often done by whisking madly while slowly drizzling one liquid into the other.
Flambé--to burn off vaporizing alcohol in a pan. This is done by adding a liquid with a high alcohol content to a hot pan, then lighting the vapors with a looong match. No tilting the pan down into the gas flame, people. Safety first!
Fold--to gently incorporate ingredients while minimizing loss of air, usually achieved by using a large spatula and cutting down through the ingredients, sweeping the spatula along the bottom of the bowl and then bringing it up and over the top. Turn pan and repeat until the ingredients are incorporated. Very useful technique for making genoise, angel food cake, mousse or other light and airy products.
Fry--to cook in hot fat. In pan frying, use about 1/2 inch of fat; in deep frying, put enough oil in a large Dutch oven to completely immerse the food. When done right, frying actually adds very little fat to the finished product since the pressure of the steam leaving the cooking food is enough to keep the fat from penetrating. Wait until all the steam is gone, though, and you've got very dry, greasy food. It pays to be vigilant when frying.
Glaze--to cover a product with a thin coating of, um, glaze. The glaze can be a thin chocolate or thinned jam or preserves
Infuse--to impart extra flavor into a base by steeping an ingredient in the base. For example, put toasted ground nuts in milk or cream overnight to impart a nutty flavor to the milk, or put an herb or spice into a syrup to add extra flavor. Many folks like to heat up their base for infusing, but often the heat can bring out bitter flavor components in whatever you're steeping. It takes a bit longer to do it cold, but if you have the time, infuse overnight into cold liquid.
Julienne--to cut into uniform matchstick shapes, usually about 1/8" x 1/8" x 1 1/2"
Knead--most often associated with bread dough. To fold and push the dough for several minutes, either by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook. The purpose of this, besides a good work-out, is to develop the gluten strands in the flour that give bread its structure and characteristic chew.
Level--In cake decorating, to cut off the crown, or "hump" on the top of a cake so it is flat.
Lighten--To incorporate a portion of an aerated ingredient into a denser ingredient to make it easier to fold the two ingredients together by making the textures similar. Wow, sorry about that. Let me 'splain, Lucy, with an example: You're making mousse. You have a thick chocolate pudding and a light whipped cream. In order to make it easier to fold together, you fold in a portion of the whipped cream (about 1/3) into the pudding to lighten its texture before folding in the rest. Also used in making soufflés.
Macerate--used often in reference to dried fruits. To soak dried fruits in a liquid to soften and plump them and add flavor. For instance, you can macerate raisins in rum. Yum.
Marinate--to soak an ingredient in a flavorful liquid that usually contains an acid to heighten flavor.
Mince--to cut into very very very small pieces.
Mix--to stir together well with a wooden spoon or in a stand mixer on low speed
Parboil--to partially boil an ingredient to be held and finished at a later time
Parcook--ditto, whether the cooking method is grilling, sautéing or whatever, to cook it until it is only partially done to be finished later
Pipe--in cake decorating, to apply decorative icings using a piping bag and piping tips.
Puree--to reduce pulp (fruit or vegetable) into a smooth, thick liquid using a blender or an immersion blender
Poach--to cook in barely simmering liquid.
Reduce--to boil a liquid until a portion of the water has boiled off, leaving an intensely flavored syrup. The thickness and richness of the final product depends on how much you reduce it.
Roast--dry cooking method; to cook uncovered in an oven or on a grill using indirect heat.
Sauté--to cook in a pan with a little bit of fat at a relatively high heat for a relatively short period of time. Sauté means "to jump" in French, and the food should jump around a little. Watch it next time you sauté onions and garlic.
Scald--to bring milk or cream almost, but not quite, to a boil. Years ago, this was done to kill off bacteria and enzymes that could affect the final product. Now, with pasteurization, scalding isn't strictly necessary.
Score--to make shallow cuts across the surface of a product. Bakers score bread dough before baking to make a nice pattern, but also to assist in optimal rising of the final bread
Sift--to pass dry ingredients through a sifter or sieve to catch clumps and aerate.
Simmer--to cook in a liquid that is just below a boil. Very similar to poaching.
Stew--moist heat cooking method; food is cooked in an uncovered pot on top of the stove for a relatively long time at a relatively low temperature completely submerged in a liquid.
Temper--to slowly raise the temperature of an ingredient. To temper eggs into cream for making custard, you heat the cream then pour a little into the eggs while whisking. Then add a little more hot cream and whisk some more. When the eggs are very warm, you then pour the egg/milk mixture back into the pan and continue heating and stirring until thickened. If you pour the cold eggs into the hot cream, you will have egg drop soup, and you will be very sad. Unless that's what you were going for. In which case, carry on. In chocolate work, tempering is the process by which chocolate is heated, cooled and then brought to the precise temperature to ensure that all
the fats that make up the cocoa butter in the chocolate crystallize at the same time. Chocolate that has been properly tempered dries shiny, resists melting in your hand and will snap when you break it. Untempered chocolate is dull and streaky, melts on your hands and bends when you bend it.
Toast--to brown or crisp an ingredient in an oven, or under a broiler. Toasting brings out the flavor of nuts and adds a nice crunchy texture to whatever is being toasted.
Whip--to beat so many tiny air bubbles into cream or egg whites that they become thick and hold peaks. You can do this by hand with a whisk. Honest. Or you can use a stand mixer.
Aerate--to add air to a mixture, generally by using a whisk or the whip attachment on a mixer
Bake--to cook using the dry heat of an oven. The heating element in an oven is usually in the bottom. When you turn on the oven, first the air in the oven heats up, and then the metal box of the oven heats. When pre-heating, the happy little signal your oven emits means that the air has gotten up to temperature. Wait another few minutes to allow the heat to build up in the metal itself before opening the door and losing all that hot air. Your temperature will recover much more quickly.
Baste--To spoon juices over what you are cooking every so often. Do it fairly quickly to keep heat loss to a minimum.
Beat--to quickly mix together by stirring vigorously or by using a whisk or a stand mixer. This action will also help to aerate your batter/dough/whatever you happen to be beating.
Blanch--to plunge into rapidly boiling water for a very short time to either a)lock in color or b) loosen skins for easy peeling of tomatoes, peaches, etc. After blanching, fish out your blanched product quickly and put it in ice water. This will stop the cooking process and keep your colors bright and your textures crisp.
Blend--to homogenize ingredients by use of a spoon, a beater or a some cool electric appliance.
Bloom--to hydrate and soften, most often gelatin. Sheet gelatin should be hydrated in ice water. Ice water will hydrate the gelatin but the sheet will maintain its integrity. Once it's bloomed, just wring it out and toss in to your hot ingredients and stir it in. Blooming sheet gelatin in room temperature water will work, but you have to pay close attention. Once its bloomed, it will begin to dissolve, and that's no good for anyone. Powdered gelatin, most easily found for home cooks, is bloomed in a portion of the cold liquid called for in a recipe. Then, you have to melt it over low heat before adding the rest of your ingredients. Either way, strain your mixture before using to prevent any little errant gelatin lumps from messing up the texture of your final product.
Blind Bake--to bake a pie crust without a filling in it. This requires some sort of weight to keep the crust from slumping before it has had a chance to set up. Stores sell pie weights. Do not buy them. Accept them as a gift, but don't buy them. I use a bag of beans, chickpeas in my case, but any old dried bean will do. I line the pie shell with plastic wrap--yes it can go in the oven, but don't let it touch metal or it will stick--then fill it up with beans. Bake for a few minutes, until the edges look firm, then remove the beans by gathering up the plastic wrap and lifting out the whole bundle.
Boil--to cook in vigorously bubbling water (212 degrees, F at sea level)Braise--moist heat cooking method; to cook in an oven in a sealed pot/pan at a relatively low temperature (generally around 300 degrees, F) for a relatively long period of time in liquid that comes about half way up the side of the food you are cooking.
Broil--dry heat cooking method; to cook in an oven with heat radiating from the top; you can think of it as upside down grilling. Or not.
Caramelize--to cook sugar until it turns color, anywhere from light amber to just this side of burnt. I always add water to start; it helps the sugar dissolve evenly and it cooks off well before caramelization actually happens.
Chiffonade--to cut flat herbs, such as mint or basil, into very thin strips. Easily done by rolling a stack of leaves into a tight cylinder and then slicing through the cylinder
Chop--to cut roughly into pieces of about the same size
Combine--to put two or more ingredients together
Cut In--to work a cold fat (butter, lard or shortening) into dry ingredients using either two forks, a pastry cutter or your hands. If you use your hands (usually called "rubbing in"), work quickly so you don't soften the fat too much.
Cream--to work ingredients together into a smooth and creamy texture. This can be done in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a spoon or spatula against the side of a bowl. In baking, fats and sugars are often creamed together as a first step before other ingredients are added.
Crimp--to decoratively (or not) pinch the top and bottom crusts of a pie together, sealing the filling inside. This can be done with a fork or with your fingers.
Cube--to cut into regular dice of about 1/2 inch
Cut in--to work cold fat into flour for biscuits, pie dough or tart dough. You can do this using two forks and "mashing" the fat in to the flour. Don't get too carried away. Sometimes you want big pieces of butter left. Check your recipe to see. You can also cut in with your fingers. This is my preferred way, but you have to be quick since the heat from your hands and melt the fat. I just reach right in and smash the butter between my thumbs and forefingers, rubbing as I go. It's easier to get a feel (literally) for the size of the pieces of fat this way. If you can feel that the fat is starting to melt. Throw the bowl into the freezer for a few minutes before continuing.
Dice--to cut into regular dice of about 1/4 inch
Dock--to use a fork or a docker to prick a pie crust or pastry all over before baking, allowing steam to escape and preventing the crust from "heaving up" from the bottom of the pan. Especially used when blind baking.
Emulsify--to force two liquids together that don't like to go together by suspending one in the other. Oil and vinegar in a vinaigrette, for example. This is most often done by whisking madly while slowly drizzling one liquid into the other.
Flambé--to burn off vaporizing alcohol in a pan. This is done by adding a liquid with a high alcohol content to a hot pan, then lighting the vapors with a looong match. No tilting the pan down into the gas flame, people. Safety first!
Fold--to gently incorporate ingredients while minimizing loss of air, usually achieved by using a large spatula and cutting down through the ingredients, sweeping the spatula along the bottom of the bowl and then bringing it up and over the top. Turn pan and repeat until the ingredients are incorporated. Very useful technique for making genoise, angel food cake, mousse or other light and airy products.
Fry--to cook in hot fat. In pan frying, use about 1/2 inch of fat; in deep frying, put enough oil in a large Dutch oven to completely immerse the food. When done right, frying actually adds very little fat to the finished product since the pressure of the steam leaving the cooking food is enough to keep the fat from penetrating. Wait until all the steam is gone, though, and you've got very dry, greasy food. It pays to be vigilant when frying.
Glaze--to cover a product with a thin coating of, um, glaze. The glaze can be a thin chocolate or thinned jam or preserves
Infuse--to impart extra flavor into a base by steeping an ingredient in the base. For example, put toasted ground nuts in milk or cream overnight to impart a nutty flavor to the milk, or put an herb or spice into a syrup to add extra flavor. Many folks like to heat up their base for infusing, but often the heat can bring out bitter flavor components in whatever you're steeping. It takes a bit longer to do it cold, but if you have the time, infuse overnight into cold liquid.
Julienne--to cut into uniform matchstick shapes, usually about 1/8" x 1/8" x 1 1/2"
Knead--most often associated with bread dough. To fold and push the dough for several minutes, either by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook. The purpose of this, besides a good work-out, is to develop the gluten strands in the flour that give bread its structure and characteristic chew.
Level--In cake decorating, to cut off the crown, or "hump" on the top of a cake so it is flat.
Lighten--To incorporate a portion of an aerated ingredient into a denser ingredient to make it easier to fold the two ingredients together by making the textures similar. Wow, sorry about that. Let me 'splain, Lucy, with an example: You're making mousse. You have a thick chocolate pudding and a light whipped cream. In order to make it easier to fold together, you fold in a portion of the whipped cream (about 1/3) into the pudding to lighten its texture before folding in the rest. Also used in making soufflés.
Macerate--used often in reference to dried fruits. To soak dried fruits in a liquid to soften and plump them and add flavor. For instance, you can macerate raisins in rum. Yum.
Marinate--to soak an ingredient in a flavorful liquid that usually contains an acid to heighten flavor.
Mince--to cut into very very very small pieces.Mix--to stir together well with a wooden spoon or in a stand mixer on low speed
Parboil--to partially boil an ingredient to be held and finished at a later time
Parcook--ditto, whether the cooking method is grilling, sautéing or whatever, to cook it until it is only partially done to be finished later
Pipe--in cake decorating, to apply decorative icings using a piping bag and piping tips.
Puree--to reduce pulp (fruit or vegetable) into a smooth, thick liquid using a blender or an immersion blender
Poach--to cook in barely simmering liquid.
Reduce--to boil a liquid until a portion of the water has boiled off, leaving an intensely flavored syrup. The thickness and richness of the final product depends on how much you reduce it.
Roast--dry cooking method; to cook uncovered in an oven or on a grill using indirect heat.
Sauté--to cook in a pan with a little bit of fat at a relatively high heat for a relatively short period of time. Sauté means "to jump" in French, and the food should jump around a little. Watch it next time you sauté onions and garlic.
Scald--to bring milk or cream almost, but not quite, to a boil. Years ago, this was done to kill off bacteria and enzymes that could affect the final product. Now, with pasteurization, scalding isn't strictly necessary.
Score--to make shallow cuts across the surface of a product. Bakers score bread dough before baking to make a nice pattern, but also to assist in optimal rising of the final bread
Sift--to pass dry ingredients through a sifter or sieve to catch clumps and aerate.
Simmer--to cook in a liquid that is just below a boil. Very similar to poaching.
Stew--moist heat cooking method; food is cooked in an uncovered pot on top of the stove for a relatively long time at a relatively low temperature completely submerged in a liquid.
Temper--to slowly raise the temperature of an ingredient. To temper eggs into cream for making custard, you heat the cream then pour a little into the eggs while whisking. Then add a little more hot cream and whisk some more. When the eggs are very warm, you then pour the egg/milk mixture back into the pan and continue heating and stirring until thickened. If you pour the cold eggs into the hot cream, you will have egg drop soup, and you will be very sad. Unless that's what you were going for. In which case, carry on. In chocolate work, tempering is the process by which chocolate is heated, cooled and then brought to the precise temperature to ensure that all
the fats that make up the cocoa butter in the chocolate crystallize at the same time. Chocolate that has been properly tempered dries shiny, resists melting in your hand and will snap when you break it. Untempered chocolate is dull and streaky, melts on your hands and bends when you bend it.Toast--to brown or crisp an ingredient in an oven, or under a broiler. Toasting brings out the flavor of nuts and adds a nice crunchy texture to whatever is being toasted.
Whip--to beat so many tiny air bubbles into cream or egg whites that they become thick and hold peaks. You can do this by hand with a whisk. Honest. Or you can use a stand mixer.
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