Tips & tricks

Culinary Terms

A short glossary of kitchen terms — so you can easily follow any recipe, from dough and aspic to vinaigrette.

Dough (Aluat): A mixture with or without yeast, made by combining or kneading flour with various ingredients: eggs, fat, milk. It can be baked, fried or boiled.
Aspic: A very concentrated meat and bone stock that sets when cold. It can also be made with gelatin.
Rosette (Avelină): A spiral-shaped decoration made with a piping nozzle.
Bain-marie: A hot liquid in which a container is placed to warm its contents, or a pot of boiling water holding a container of food that cannot be boiled or heated directly over the flame.
Marinade base (Bait): A mixture of vegetables, spices, wine and vinegar used in the marinating process.
Borș: A sour liquid made from fermented wheat bran, or a dish soured with borș.
Brandt: A mixture of minced beef.
Balls (Bulete): A culinary preparation shaped into small spheres.
Canapé: Slices of white bread, with or without crust, spread with butter or fried in fat, topped with various garnishes.
Sweating (Călire): Slow, gentle frying of an ingredient in fat.
Caramel: A solution of burnt sugar.
Caramelization: Melting sugar until it turns a golden-reddish colour, without burning it.
Croquettes: A culinary preparation shaped into small sticks, fried in fat or baked, made from dough, meat, vegetables, fish etc., minced and coated in breadcrumbs or flour.
Croutons: Small pieces of bread (cubes) fried in fat or dried in the oven.
Decorating: Beautifying and arranging preparations attractively.
Degreasing: Removing the fat from a culinary preparation.
Boning: Separating the meat from the bones, before or after preparing the dish.
Hanging (Fezandare): The process of tenderising meat by keeping it cold or exposing it to air.
Finishing: Giving the preparation its final appearance.
Fillet (File): A strip of meat taken along the spine.
Fillets: Strips of boneless meat or fish.
Puff pastry (Foietaj): Butter dough made of several layers of thin sheets.
To gel: To set certain preparations with gelatin or other gelatinous products.
To gratinate: To cover certain dishes with breadcrumbs and brown them in the oven.
Iahnie: A reduced dish of vegetables — especially dried beans — fish or meat.
Larding (Împănare): Inserting small pieces of bacon, garlic etc. into slits made in the meat.
Braising (Înăbușire): Steaming in a covered pot.
Maceration: Soaking an ingredient in a solvent for a long time to dissolve the soluble parts.
Marinating: A method used to tenderise tough meat, give it a special flavour and remove certain unpleasant tastes.
To nap (A napa): To coat a preparation with aspic or various sauces.
Blanching (Opărire): Briefly placing food in scalding water.
To garnish (A orna): To beautify and arrange preparations attractively with mayonnaise, whipped cream or custard, using a piping bag fitted with a nozzle.
To purée (A pasa): To pass certain mixtures through a sieve for sauces, creams etc.
Piping bag (Poș): A waterproof plastic cone that liquids cannot pass through, fitted at the tip with a nozzle.
To fry (A prăji): A method of cooking food in hot fat on the stovetop.
Risotto: An Italian dish made from rice, butter and tomato sauce.
Roux (Rântaș): A sauce base of flour fried in fat.
Rounds (Rondele): A way of cutting root vegetables, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes etc. into round slices.
To roll (A rula): To prepare certain dishes by rolling them up.
To brown (A rumeni): To cook a preparation until it turns reddish.
Scale cut (Solzișori): Especially for onion — a way of cutting into pieces resembling fish scales.
To sauté (A sota): To cook various preparations in a little fat, without browning them.
Soufflé: A dish baked in the oven from vegetables, meat, fish, cheese etc., mixed with white sauce and eggs.
Cream soup (Supă-cremă): A thicker, more substantial soup with puréed vegetables.
Piping nozzle (Șpriț): A conical plastic or stainless-steel tip with variously shaped notches and a small opening; it attaches to the piping bag.
To line (A tapeta): To coat various moulds with flour or breadcrumbs.
To julienne: To cut vegetables into thin strips.
To slice thinly (A tăia peștișori): To cut onion into thin slices.
To soak (A trampa): To soak various semi-preparations in syrup.
To laminate (A tura): To repeat the rolling-out of puff pastry dough.
Tournedos: Beef tenderloin prepared in a spicy sauce.
Vinaigrette: A salad dressing made with vinegar, oil, salt etc.