Mise en place your vocabulary with these culinary gems.
A traditional British pub name that's genuinely common throughout England, proving that sometimes the most colorful place names are just honest descriptions. A perfectly legitimate establishment for a pint.
Repeatedly pouring or spooning hot fat/liquid over meat while it cooks to keep it moist and develop flavor. It's micromanagement of meat.
A beurre blanc-style sauce that uses brown butter instead of clarified butter. It's essentially a beurre blanc going through an identity crisis.
A deliciously pretentious way to describe something so delicious you want to marry it. Often used by food critics to sound sophisticated while describing comfort food.
Taking a traditional dish and serving its components separately to confuse diners and justify charging twice as much. It's plating as avant-garde philosophy.
A candy combination where Skittles get sandwiched between two Starbursts, creating a flavor mashup that supposedly enhances both candies' sweetness. A Parks & Recreation-inspired snack hack.
One of the five mother sauces, an emulsion of egg yolks, melted butter, and lemon juice that is dangerously easy to break. It's the sauce that separates dedicated cooks from quitters.
A dark, low-gravity ale served at British pubs to people who think stronger beer is 'too much'—basically beer for folks who want flavor without commitment. The training-wheels beer.
To caramelize vegetables in a pan with butter and sugar to create a concentrated, slightly sweet glaze. It's not quite candy, but it's definitely on the journey.
A crustless quiche-frittata hybrid that lets you enjoy eggy, savory goodness without the carb guilt. Think: quiche's sophisticated cousin who showed up to the family dinner in athletic wear and somehow made it work.
A fancy bite-sized open-faced sandwich that appears at corporate events to convince you attendance is sophisticated. That appetizer costing $3 to make but charged at $40/dozen on the catering invoice.
See 'Brunette' entry—it's important enough to deserve its own definition because sauce nerds care about roux nomenclature.
In painting, the art of mixing two containers of similar paint colors to ensure absolutely uniform color across your project—because nobody wants a stripe down the middle of their wall. Also applicable to boxing actual punches, but that's less relevant in a commercial setting.
A light, airy confection made by whipping air into cream, chocolate, or pureed fruit. It's what you make when you want dessert but also want to feel like you're eating a cloud.
A rich brown sauce made from brown stock, tomato paste, and a brown roux, then strained. It's one of the five mother sauces and the base for countless French preparations.
A drink (usually whiskey-based) served over crushed ice with mint, consumed on hot days or during horse races. It's not culinary, but bartenders use the term constantly.
Someone whose diet consists exclusively of uncooked foods, whether plant-based or carnivorous. It's a dietary philosophy that believes cooking destroys nutrients (science would beg to differ on some points).
Slicing a cake layer horizontally into thinner layers for assembly. It's the difference between a one-layer cake and a 'proper' professional cake that actually has strata.
A bundle of herbs and spices (usually tied in cheesecloth) added to liquid during cooking and removed before serving. It's basically a tea bag for savory dishes.
To arrange and present food on a plate for service; also used as a noun describing the final plated dish. It's the last chance to make an impression before someone judges your cooking with their mouth.
An edible decoration added to a dish for aesthetic appeal and sometimes flavor. It ranges from a simple parsley sprig to an elaborate microgreens installation.
A heated enclosure where baby chicks or premature infants are kept warm and cozy—basically a luxury incubator for creatures too delicate to handle room temperature like the rest of us peasants.
The fifth and most accessible mother sauce, made from tomatoes, aromatics, and stock. It's the only mother sauce you can make on a Tuesday night without pretension.
Liquid coffee creamer, especially the kind people add to their coffee to make it less bitter and more palatable. Named with the kind of casual directness that only certain regions can pull off.