degrease

Definition

The unglamorous but essential kitchen task of removing grease and oil from cookware, surfaces, or food itself. Professional kitchens treat this like a religion because grease fires are bad for business. It's also what you desperately Google how to do after attempting to deep-fry anything for the first time.

Example Usage

The recipe instructed me to degrease the stock by refrigerating it overnight, which is cooking-show code for 'this dish requires planning ahead, sorry.'

Source: Culinary terminology via Free Dictionary API

Related Terms

Advanced

clarification

The process of removing impurities from stocks or liquids to achieve crystal-clear transparency, typically using egg whites, egg shells, and ground meat. The culinary magic trick that transforms murky liquid into something that looks like it was never made from bones.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Advanced

Veloute

One of the five French mother sauces, made from a light stock thickened with a roux. It's basically gravy that went to an Ivy League school. Pronouncing it correctly at a restaurant earns you a subtle nod from the waiter and confused looks from everyone at your table.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Beginner

Reduce

Simmering a liquid until some of it evaporates, concentrating the flavor into a thicker, more intense sauce. It's basically boiling patience into deliciousness. The hardest part is not getting bored and wandering away, which turns 'reduce' into 'burn.'

🍳 Food / Culinary

Intermediate

breaking

The catastrophic moment when an emulsion separates into its component parts—oil, eggs, and despair. What happens to hollandaise when you add butter too fast, stop whisking, or simply anger the culinary gods.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Beginner

Blanch

The process of briefly dunking vegetables in boiling water and then shocking them in ice water. It's the culinary equivalent of a polar bear plunge -- traumatic, brief, and supposedly good for you. Your green beans emerge brighter and somehow smugger.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Intermediate

blonde

A roux cooked briefly until it reaches a pale, ivory color but before it develops any brown notes. It's for when you want the thickening power of a roux without commitment to flavor.

🍳 Food / Culinary

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