165 Fun Facts About Cooking

Which all-purpose kitchen blade, usually eight inches long with a curved edge for rocking, do cooks reach for most when dicing vegetables?

A chef's knife is built to be good at everything rather than great at one thing; its curved blade rocks through an onion and its weight gets through a squash.

Which cooking method cooks food directly over a heat source for a smoky, charred exterior?

Grilling is a dry-heat cooking method that involves cooking food over direct heat, typically from below, resulting in a charred exterior and distinct smoky flavor.

What is the primary leavening agent responsible for the rise in traditional sourdough bread?

Traditional sourdough bread relies on a 'starter,' a fermented mixture of flour and water that contains naturally occurring wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria for leavening.

What is the main ingredient in guacamole?

The main ingredient in guacamole is ripe avocado, which provides the creamy base and distinct flavor of the popular dip.

Which culinary term means cutting food into very small, uniform pieces to blend well and release flavor?

Mincing is a culinary technique that involves cutting ingredients into very small, uniform pieces, often to extract maximum flavor and allow them to blend seamlessly into a dish.

Which highly prized spice is derived from the dried stigmas of a particular crocus flower?

Saffron, the world's most expensive spice by weight, is harvested from the vivid crimson stigmas of the Crocus sativus flower, which are carefully hand-picked and dried.

Which sauce is one of the five French 'mother sauces'?

Béchamel is one of the five foundational French 'mother sauces,' made from a white roux and milk, serving as a base for many other classic sauces.

Which brand of fine grater, now standard for zesting citrus and grating Parmesan, began life as a woodworking rasp?

Microplane made wood rasps until cooks started stealing them for the kitchen; the company noticed, adapted the tools and sold them as zester-graters.

What is the approximate ideal temperature range in Fahrenheit for deep frying most foods?

The ideal temperature range for deep frying is typically between 350-375°F (175-190°C), which ensures food cooks thoroughly and develops a crispy, golden exterior without becoming greasy or burnt.

In which country did modern pizza, with its familiar tomato sauce and cheese, originate?

Italy is the birthplace of modern pizza: it evolved from Neapolitan flatbreads, and Naples had pizzerias with seated customers by around 1830.

A little fat, a hot shallow pan, constant tossing: which technique is this?

The French sauté means 'jumped' or 'bounced', a nod to the tossing that keeps food moving in the pan.

Which of these is a common culinary vegetable belonging to the Allium genus?

The Allium genus includes many popular culinary plants like onions, garlic, leeks, and chives, known for their distinct pungent flavors.

What is the primary purpose of kneading dough in bread making?

Kneading exists to develop gluten: flour's gliadin and glutenin proteins link into elastic strands that trap the yeast's gas and give bread its chew.

Which flat kitchen tool with a fixed blade slices vegetables uniformly and thinly?

A mandoline slices food into uniform pieces, often very thinly, by drawing it across a sharp blade set in a flat surface; with attachments it can also make crinkle-cuts.

What cooking method involves gently cooking food in a liquid that is just below boiling point?

Poaching is a moist-heat cooking method where food is submerged in a liquid (like water, stock, or wine) maintained at a gentle simmer, typically used for delicate foods.

From which type of plant does vanilla bean originate?

Vanilla beans are the fruit of an orchid species, primarily Vanilla planifolia, native to Mexico, and are one of the most expensive spices in the world.

What culinary knife cut involves slicing food into long, thin matchstick-like strips?

Julienne strips are the matchsticks of the kitchen, and the cut's other name, allumette, is simply French for 'match'. Dice the strips crosswise and you have a brunoise.

Melt butter, skim the milk solids, pour off the water: what is left?

Clarified butter is what remains: pure butterfat with the water and milk solids removed, which lets it reach roughly 450°F (230°C) before smoking. Ghee is a cooked version.

Which cooking method, behind pot roast and coq au vin, sears food first and then simmers it slowly in a covered pot?

Braising uses both dry and wet heat: the food is browned hard, then simmered gently in a covered pot with wine, broth or beer until it falls apart. Pot roast is the home version.

Which common leavening agent requires an acidic ingredient to activate fully?

Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate and requires an acidic component (like buttermilk, lemon juice, or vinegar) to produce carbon dioxide and leaven baked goods.

What culinary process combines two immiscible liquids, like oil and vinegar, into a stable mixture?

Emulsification is the process of dispersing one liquid into another, with which it is immiscible, to form a stable mixture, often aided by an emulsifying agent like egg yolk in mayonnaise.

A roux, the thickener that starts a gumbo or a béchamel, is traditionally made by cooking together which two ingredients?

Fat and flour, cooked together until the raw taste is gone, make a roux; the longer it cooks the darker and nuttier it gets, from a pale béchamel base to a chocolate-brown gumbo roux.

What is the process of heating and cooling chocolate to stabilize its crystals for a glossy finish and snap?

Tempering chocolate involves specific heating and cooling cycles to ensure the cocoa butter crystals form a stable structure, giving chocolate a shiny appearance and a firm snap.

Which technique scalds vegetables briefly in boiling water, then shocks them in ice water to set their color and halt the cooking?

Blanching partially cooks the food, brightens its color and loosens skins for peeling; the ice-water plunge afterward, called shocking, stops the cooking dead.

The Italian culinary term 'al dente' describes pasta that is cooked to what consistency?

Al dente, an Italian phrase meaning 'to the tooth,' describes pasta that is cooked to be firm when bitten, offering a slight resistance without being hard or chalky.

What classic aromatic base in French cuisine consists of diced onions, carrots, and celery?

Mirepoix is a fundamental aromatic base in French cooking, typically a mixture of diced onions, carrots, and celery, used to add flavor to stocks, soups, and sauces.

Simmering a sauce until it thickens and its flavour intensifies is called what?

Reduction is the term: simmering drives off water, so the same flavour compounds sit in less liquid, which is why a pan sauce or demi-glace tastes bigger the longer it bubbles.

What chemical process browns and flavours seared meat and toasted bread?

The Maillard reaction is a complex chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor and color.

What is the technique of adding liquid to a hot pan to loosen browned bits after searing?

Deglazing involves adding a liquid (like wine, broth, or water) to a hot pan to dissolve and remove caramelized food particles stuck to the bottom, creating a flavorful base for sauces.

Which knife cut stacks and rolls leafy herbs, then slices them into thin ribbons?

Chiffonade is a French slicing technique where leafy greens or herbs are stacked, rolled, and then cut into long, thin strips, often used as a garnish.

In bread baking, what is the final warm rest that lets yeast dough rise before it goes in the oven?

Proofing is called 'proving' in Britain, and either way it is the last rise before baking: the yeast keeps pumping out carbon dioxide until the dough is light and airy.

A bain-marie, or water bath, is primarily used in cooking for what purpose?

A bain-marie provides gentle and even heat to delicate foods, preventing scorching or overcooking, and is often used for custards, melting chocolate, or keeping sauces warm.

Which technique, popular with Thanksgiving turkeys, soaks meat in a salt-water solution before cooking so it stays moist?

Brining is basically marinating in salt water: the meat soaks up the solution and holds onto moisture, flavor and tenderness through cooking.

What cooking process melts solid fat from meat, often to crisp the skin?

Rendering is the process of melting and clarifying fat from meat, separating the pure fat from any solids, often used to create cooking fat or crisp meat components.

What is soaking food in a seasoned liquid of acid, oil and herbs to tenderise and flavour it called?

Marinating involves soaking food in a liquid mixture of acids, oils, and seasonings to tenderize and infuse it with flavor before cooking.

What quickly cooked aromatic broth, sharpened with wine or lemon, is used for poaching fish?

Unlike a stock, a court bouillon includes an acid such as wine, vinegar, or lemon juice, which helps pull flavor from the vegetables during its short cooking time, and it contains no animal gelatin.

What is the main function of salt in baking, beyond just adding flavor?

Salt slows the yeast down so the dough rises in a controlled way; leave it out and the dough can over-ferment and taste flat.

Which French method slowly cooks meat in its own fat at a low temperature?

Confit is a traditional French method of cooking and preserving food, usually meat, by slowly cooking it in its own fat or in oil at a low temperature.

Which technique cooks food sealed in a bag in a precisely controlled water bath?

Sous vide (French for 'under vacuum') is a cooking method where food is sealed in a vacuum-sealed bag and cooked in a water bath at a precise, consistent temperature.

What is the thin, outermost layer of citrus fruit rind, prized for its aromatic oils and flavor?

Zest refers to the colorful outer layer of citrus fruit rind, which contains aromatic oils and is used to add flavor to dishes.

What is the mixture of starch and cold liquid stirred into a hot sauce to thicken it called?

A slurry is a mixture of starch (like cornstarch or arrowroot) and cold liquid, used as a thickening agent in sauces, soups, and gravies.

Which French kitchen phrase means having every ingredient prepped before cooking begins?

Mise en place literally means 'putting in place': every ingredient measured, cut and arranged before the heat goes on. The habit has spread from restaurant kitchens to hospitals and IT departments.

What is the purpose of resting meat after it has been cooked?

While it sits, the meat's structure firms up and its water-holding capacity rises, so less liquid runs out on the board; the interior also keeps climbing a few degrees from carryover heat.

Which baking ingredient undergoes caramelization, a browning prized for its buttery flavour?

Sugar browns all by itself: caramelization needs no proteins, unlike the Maillard reaction that browns a steak, and it gives a butter-like flavor and color.

What baking step beats softened butter with sugar until fluffy, trapping air bubbles that help the batter rise?

Creaming is that step: beating softened butter with sugar forces in air bubbles that stay locked in the semi-solid fat and expand in the oven, so creaming acts as leavening in its own right.

What is a gastrique in French cuisine?

A gastrique is a sweet and sour sauce: caramelise sugar, deglaze with vinegar, and you have the classic counterweight to a rich dish such as duck à l'orange.

What is a fumet in classical French cooking?

A fumet is a concentrated fish stock: fish bones and aromatics simmered briefly, often with white wine, for only 20-30 minutes. The name comes from the French word for aroma.

What is butter called once its milk solids have been cooked to a deep brown?

Beurre noisette, or brown butter, is created by cooking butter until its milk solids caramelize, imparting a rich, nutty flavor and aroma.

Which French 'mother sauce' is made from a light stock thickened with a roux?

Velouté is one of the five French mother sauces, made by thickening a light stock (such as chicken, fish, or vegetable) with a blond roux.

Which perforated bowl drains the water from boiled pasta?

A colander is a bowl pierced with holes: tip the pot into it and the water drains away while the pasta stays put. The word traces to Latin colare, 'to strain'.

In which year did Louis Camille Maillard first describe the browning reaction named after him?

Maillard reported the reaction in 1912 after heating amino acids with sugars while trying to understand how proteins are built; the browning he observed now carries his name.

What name is given to the brown polymers the Maillard reaction leaves behind?

Melanoidins are the brown, high-molecular-weight polymers formed late in the Maillard reaction; they colour bread crust, roasted coffee and dark beer.

Around what temperature range does the Maillard reaction typically proceed rapidly?

The Maillard reaction speeds up sharply around 140-165 °C (280-330 °F), which is why seared and baked surfaces brown while boiled food, capped at 100 °C, stays pale.

Which dip, applied before baking, gives traditional pretzels their dark mahogany crust?

Lye (sodium hydroxide) is the traditional pretzel dip: its alkalinity deprotonates amino groups, speeding the Maillard reaction so the crust turns deep brown in the oven.

Which probable carcinogen can form during high-temperature Maillard browning?

Acrylamide forms when the amino acid asparagine reacts with sugars above about 120 °C, which is why fries and crisps carry it; IARC classes it as a probable carcinogen.

Which butter-tasting volatile compound is released during caramelization?

Diacetyl, the compound that gives butter its flavour, is one of the hundreds of volatiles caramelizing sugar releases, alongside furanones and maltol.

Roughly how long do onions need to cook to caramelize?

Onions take 30 to 45 minutes to caramelize, far longer than most recipes admit, because their sugars only brown once the water has cooked off. French onion soup depends on that patience.

Which cuisine's roux is often cooked to a dark 'chocolate' color for gumbo?

Cajun cooks take a roux to a dark chocolate colour for gumbo; the long cooking trades thickening power (a dark roux has roughly a quarter that of a white one) for deep nutty flavour.

A roux is used in how many of the five French mother sauces?

Béchamel, velouté and espagnole all start with one.

Which spice is almost always added to a Hungarian roux, or rántás?

Paprika is stirred into a Hungarian rántás almost as a rule; the paprika roux is the base of főzelék vegetable stews and many soups.

Which Milanese dish of braised veal shanks is a classic example of braising?

Osso buco, 'bone with a hole', is veal shank braised with white wine and stock in Milan, traditionally served with gremolata or saffron risotto.

Which shoulder cut of beef is the classic choice for pot roast?

Chuck, from the shoulder, is laced with collagen that melts into gelatin over a long braise, which is why it is the standard pot-roast cut while lean tenderloin turns dry.

What is the French culinary term for the browned bits left in a pan after roasting?

Sucs are the caramelised juices stuck to the roasting pan; the word comes from the Latin succus, 'sap' or 'juice', and deglazing dissolves them into a jus.

Which type of liquid is NOT recommended for deglazing because it may curdle?

Dairy is avoided for deglazing: milk or cream hitting a very hot pan with acidic fond can curdle, so cooks reach for wine, stock, spirits or verjuice instead.

Which region of France is meat confit a specialty of?

Confit is a specialty of the southwest of France, Gascony above all, where poultry legs are salted and cooked submerged in their own fat until meltingly tender.

Around what oil temperature are confit preparations typically cooked?

Confit is cooked with the fat held at around 90 °C (roughly 200 °F), barely shimmering, for several hours; deep frying by contrast runs at 160-190 °C.

Which slow-baked bean dish of southwest France combines confit with sausage and white beans?

Cassoulet is the bean pot of Languedoc: white beans, pork sausage and confit baked slowly in the cassole dish that gives it its name.

Béchamel is traditionally seasoned with which spice?

Nutmeg, grated fresh, is the classic béchamel seasoning; add Gruyère or Parmesan and the sauce becomes a Mornay.

Béchamel is thought to be named after a steward to which French king?

Louis XIV: the sauce is said to take its name from Louis de Béchameil, marquis de Nointel, who served as the king's maître d'hôtel in the late 17th century.

Which Greek chef added a béchamel topping to moussaka in the 1920s?

Nikolaos Tselementes, whose cookbooks reshaped Greek cuisine in the 1920s, topped moussaka with béchamel, often enriched with egg, to give the dish a French finish.

Which 1651 cookbook contains the first documented hollandaise-style recipe?

Le Cuisinier François, published by François Pierre de La Varenne in 1651, includes a butter, vinegar and egg-yolk sauce for asparagus that reads as hollandaise's ancestor.

Which egg component acts as the emulsifier in hollandaise?

Lecithin, the phospholipid in egg yolk, has a water-loving head and a fat-loving tail, so it keeps the butterfat in hollandaise dispersed through the yolk's water.

Which hollandaise derivative uses a reduction of vinegar, shallots, chervil and tarragon?

Béarnaise is hollandaise built on a reduction of vinegar, shallots, chervil and tarragon, the classic partner for grilled steak; Choron is béarnaise with tomato added.

Sauce Maltaise is hollandaise flavored with the juice of which fruit?

Sauce Maltaise is hollandaise finished with blood orange juice and a little blanched zest; it is the classic sauce for asparagus.

Sauce Mousseline is hollandaise with what folded in?

Sauce Mousseline is hollandaise with whipped cream folded in just before serving, which is why it is also called sauce Chantilly.

Which Japanese stock is made by briefly simmering kombu kelp in nearly boiling water?

Dashi is the Japanese base stock: kombu kelp steeped in water brought just short of a boil, usually with katsuobushi bonito flakes or shiitake added.

What is a 'remouillage' in the classical kitchen?

A remouillage, literally 're-wetting', is a second stock from the same bones, weaker than the first, made by re-simmering them; it often becomes the water for the next batch of stock.

Brown stock, or fond brun, gets its color from doing what to the bones first?

Beef or veal are the usual choices for brown stock.

Which American cook wrote in 1974 that stock, broth and bouillon 'are all the same thing'?

James Beard wrote in 1974 that stock, broth and bouillon 'are all the same thing'; professional kitchens keep the distinction, with stock made from bones and broth from meat.

The bain-marie is named after which ancient alchemist?

Mary the Jewess, the alchemist Maria Prophetissa, is the 'Marie' of bain-marie; Zosimos of Panopolis credited her with the water-bath apparatus around 300 AD.

Which dessert is often baked in a bain-marie to keep its top from cracking?

Cheesecake is baked in a bain-marie so the batter heats gently and evenly; without the water bath the top dries, shrinks and cracks. Custards get the same treatment.

Which dessert of egg yolks, sugar and sweet wine is whisked over a bain-marie?

Zabaione is egg yolks, sugar and Marsala whisked over a bain-marie into a warm foam; the French version is sabayon.

Which 19th-century scientist first claimed searing 'seals in the juices'?

Justus von Liebig proposed in the 1850s that searing forms a crust that seals in juices; experiments in the 1930s showed seared roasts lose as much moisture, or more.

Which technique cooks a steak low in the oven first, then browns it in a hot pan?

Reverse searing brings the steak up slowly in a low oven, then finishes it in a ripping-hot pan for the crust, giving an edge-to-edge pink centre with barely any grey band.

Which cookbook first named the five mother sauces in 1903?

Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire (1903) codified the five mother sauces: espagnole, velouté, béchamel, tomate and hollandaise, updating Carême's four-sauce list of a century earlier.

What does 'velouté' mean in French?

Velouté means 'velvety' in French, from velours, velvet: the sauce's smooth texture comes from a blond roux whisked into light stock.

Which velouté derivative adds lemon juice, egg yolks and cream?

Carême had counted allemande among his own four basic sauces.

Which sauce combines chicken velouté with reduced mushroom liquor and cream?

Sauce suprême is chicken velouté enriched with reduced mushroom cooking liquor and cream, the classic partner for poached poultry; Albufera adds meat glaze and pimento butter.

Which hotelier partnered with Escoffier at London's Savoy?

César Ritz ran the Savoy with Escoffier as chef from 1890; the pair went on to open the Hôtel Ritz in Paris in 1898 and the Carlton in London.

Which war saw Escoffier serve as chef de cuisine of the Rhine Army?

Escoffier was chef de cuisine of the Rhine Army during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71; feeding troops in the field led him to study canning and preserved food.

Which chef was famous for pièces montées, sugar sculptures of classical buildings?

He cooked for Talleyrand, Tsar Alexander I and Britain's Prince Regent.

Which fish sauce of the ancient Romans may be Europe's oldest recorded sauce?

Garum, the Roman fish sauce of salted anchovies or sardines fermented in the sun, was traded across the empire and is perhaps Europe's oldest recorded sauce.

Which condiment's name likely comes from a Hokkien word for fermented fish sauce?

Ketchup likely derives from the Hokkien kê-tsiap, a fermented fish sauce that British traders met in Southeast Asia; tomato versions appeared in the early 19th century.

What is a chef who specializes in sauces called?

In smaller kitchens the saucier may handle fish and sautéed items too.

Which is the most important factor determining an oil's smoke point?

Free fatty acid content matters most: refining strips the free fatty acids and flavour compounds that break down first, which is why refined oils smoke at higher temperatures than virgin ones.

Which potential carcinogen forms when glycerol burns in oil smoke?

Acrolein forms when glycerol from the oil breaks down at the smoke point, giving smoking fat its acrid sting; the exposure worry is mainly for line cooks breathing it all day.

Which protein, not blood, gives raw meat its red color?

Myoglobin, the oxygen-storing muscle protein, gives raw meat its red colour; its iron shifts from +2 to +3 and the protein denatures as meat cooks, turning it brown.

Meat keeps rising in temperature after leaving the oven by roughly how much?

Carryover cooking adds roughly 3-5 °C (5-10 °F) as heat from the hot exterior keeps migrating inward after the meat leaves the oven; sous vide meat, already at equilibrium, is the exception.

What minimum internal temperature does the USDA recommend for whole cuts of beef?

The USDA sets 145 °F (63 °C) with a three-minute rest for whole cuts of beef, pork, lamb and veal; ground beef must reach 160 °F because grinding spreads bacteria throughout.

Which English ironmaster patented a sand-casting method for iron cooking pots early in the 1700s?

Abraham Darby I patented a method of casting iron pots in sand in the early 1700s, making cheap, thin-walled cookware possible; a three-legged version called a spider stood in hearth coals.

Which coating's rise in the 1960s and 70s pushed cast iron out of favor?

Teflon nonstick pans, mass-marketed from the 1960s, displaced heavy cast iron in American kitchens, and nearly every U.S. iron cookware foundry closed as a result.

Which cast-iron maker began production in 1865?

Griswold began casting in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1865 as Selden & Griswold; Wagner followed in 1891 and Blacklock Foundry, later renamed Lodge, in 1896.

Mayonnaise is said to take its name from a port on which island?

Menorca: the sauce is said to be named for Mahón, the island's port, which the Duke de Richelieu's French troops seized in 1756 during the Seven Years' War.

Which Catalan emulsion sauce is recorded in the 14th-century Llibre de Sent Soví?

All-i-oli, Catalan for 'garlic and oil', is garlic pounded with olive oil into an emulsion; the Llibre de Sent Soví of 1324 records it, and some think mayonnaise descends from it.

What is the traditional ratio of oil to vinegar in a vinaigrette?

The classic vinaigrette ratio is 3 to 1, three parts oil to one part vinegar, whisked with salt; mustard is often added to help hold the emulsion.

Under what name was vinaigrette commonly known in the 19th-century United States?

French dressing was the 19th-century American name for a simple oil-and-vinegar vinaigrette; in the 20th century the name shifted to the sweet, tomato-tinted orange dressing.

Which three herbs appear in most French bouquet garni recipes?

Thyme, bay leaf, parsley is the usual trio, though there's no standard recipe. The herbs are traditionally bound inside leek leaves so the bundle can be fished out before serving.

In a kitchen brigade, which cook prepares soups and meatless egg and vegetable dishes?

The entremétier runs the vegetable station: soups, vegetables, eggs and starches; in larger kitchens the potager (soups) and légumier (vegetables) report to him.

What does the French word 'chef' literally mean?

Chef literally means 'chief' or 'head', short for chef de cuisine, head of the kitchen; English borrowed the word in the 19th century.

In a large brigade, who washes the pots and pans instead of the plongeur?

The marmiton scrubs pots and pans in a large brigade, leaving dishes and utensils to the plongeur; the word comes from marmite, a cooking pot.

Ganache is an emulsion of chocolate and which liquid, most commonly?

Cream is the classic partner: hot cream poured over chopped chocolate makes ganache, typically 1:1 by weight for a truffle filling; butter and fruit-purée versions also exist.

Legend says ganache got its name when a master called an apprentice what after a spill?

'Ganache' was 19th-century French slang for a fool or idiot; the tale has an apprentice in Paul Siraudin's Paris shop in the 1850s spilling hot cream into chocolate and wearing the insult as the name.

What makes choux pastry puff up in the oven?

Steam does the work: choux dough is so wet that its water boils in the oven and inflates the pastry from inside. Boiling the water and butter first lets the flour absorb extra moisture.

Which ring-shaped choux pastry filled with praline cream commemorates a bicycle race?

Paris-Brest, a wheel of choux filled with praline cream, was created in 1910 by pâtissier Louis Durand of Maisons-Laffitte to mark the Paris-Brest-Paris cycle race.

What is the French term for the butter block layered into puff pastry?

Beurrage is the block of butter enclosed in the détrempe (the base dough); each fold, or tour, of the tourage multiplies the layers of feuilletage.

How many layers does Julia Child's method give fine puff pastry?

Julia Child's classic method gives 729 layers: six 'turns', each folding the dough in thirds, multiply the layers 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3.

Which painter is credited by culinary lore with inventing puff pastry as an apprentice baker?

Claude Gellée, the landscape painter known as Claude Lorrain, is said to have invented puff pastry while apprenticed to a pastry cook in Lorraine; historical evidence for the tale is negligible.

Which region of Italy is risotto believed to have originated in?

Lombardy, and Milan in particular, is risotto's home: short-grain rice has been grown in the Po valley since the 15th century, and saffron colours the classic risotto alla milanese.

Which rice variety is considered among the best for risotto and least likely to overcook?

Carnaroli, often called the king of risotto rice, has a high amylose content that keeps the grains firm and separate while the starch turns creamy; Vialone Nano is smaller and cooks faster.

What is the term for coating risotto rice in fat before adding liquid?

Tostatura is the toasting step: dry rice is stirred in hot fat until translucent at the edges before any liquid goes in; rinsing it first would wash away the starch.

Traditional demi-glace combines equal parts brown stock and which sauce?

Demi-glace is equal parts espagnole sauce and brown stock reduced by half, then strained; Escoffier's version is often finished with a little sherry or Madeira.

Which fish of the Loire is beurre blanc the classic accompaniment to?

Pike, the brochet of the Loire, is the classic partner for beurre blanc; Nantes claims the sauce was born from a botched béarnaise.

Which cook is credited with inventing modern beurre blanc near Nantes?

Clémence Lefeuvre, who cooked at La Chebuette on the Loire near Nantes in the 1890s, is credited with the modern beurre blanc, born, legend says, from a béarnaise gone wrong.

Which food critic coined the modern phrase 'nouvelle cuisine' in the 1960s?

Henri Gault coined the modern phrase 'nouvelle cuisine' in 1969, describing the lighter cooking of Bocuse and his peers; he and Christian Millau then founded the Gault Millau guide.

Which chef said nouvelle cuisine was first used for a meal on Concorde's maiden flight?

Bocuse even used microwave ovens in his kitchen.

Which chef created 'cuisine minceur' as spa food?

Michel Guérard devised cuisine minceur, 'slimming cuisine', for guests at his wife's spa at Eugénie-les-Bains in the 1970s; it is often confused with nouvelle cuisine but is distinct.

Which type of meringue is made by whipping boiling sugar syrup into egg whites?

Italian meringue is made by streaming sugar syrup boiled to about 118 °C into whipping whites, which cooks them; it is stable enough to top pies or a baked Alaska.

Which chickpea by-product is whipped to make vegan meringue?

It burns quickly if torched carelessly.

Above roughly what temperature does a custard curdle?

A custard curdles above about 80 °C (176 °F), when the egg proteins tighten and squeeze out liquid; it only begins to set at 70 °C, so the margin is slim.

What is a custard called once starch is added, as in the filling of a mille-feuille?

Pastry cream (crème pâtissière) is custard thickened with flour or cornstarch, which lets it be boiled without curdling and holds its shape inside a mille-feuille.

Which Japanese savory custard is steamed and served in a small bowl?

Chawanmushi, 'steamed in a tea cup', is a savoury egg-and-dashi custard steamed in a lidded cup with shrimp, ginkgo nuts or mushrooms hidden inside.

Which chef adopted sous vide in 1974 for the Restaurant Troisgros?

Georges Pralus brought sous vide to the Restaurant Troisgros in Roanne in 1974, finding that foie gras cooked in a sealed bag kept its shape and lost far less fat.

Which physicist first described low-temperature cooking in 1799?

Count Rumford, born Benjamin Thompson, described cooking a shoulder of mutton overnight in a low-heat potato-drying oven in 1799, a low-temperature experiment nearly two centuries before sous vide.

Which Japanese scientist identified umami as a distinct taste in 1908?

Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University isolated glutamate from kombu broth in 1908, named the taste umami and patented a way to make monosodium glutamate.

Which company began selling Ikeda's monosodium glutamate as a seasoning in 1909?

Ajinomoto, founded by Saburosuke Suzuki with Ikeda's patent, put monosodium glutamate on sale in 1909 as the seasoning 'Aji no moto', 'essence of taste'.

What is the Cantonese term for the 'breath of the wok'?

Wok hei, 'breath of the wok', is the smoky, seared flavour from tossing food through the flames of a blazing, well-seasoned wok; nonstick woks cannot produce it.

Which two materials are most woks made from?

Carbon steel and cast iron are the traditional wok metals: both take a seasoning, and carbon steel is light enough to toss; very large woks over a metre wide serve community kitchens.

Which physicist invented the steam digester, prototype of the pressure cooker, in 1679?

Denis Papin demonstrated his 'steam digester' to the Royal Society in 1679: a sealed vessel with a safety valve that cooked bones soft under pressure, the ancestor of the pressure cooker.

Up to what temperature does a pressure cooker at one atmosphere above ambient reach?

At one atmosphere above ambient (about 15 psi) water boils at roughly 121 °C rather than 100 °C, and that higher temperature is what shortens cooking times.

Which engineer is credited with the first commercial microwave oven, the Radarange?

Percy Spencer, a Raytheon engineer, noticed a magnetron melting a chocolate bar in his pocket in 1945; Raytheon sold the first Radarange in 1947.

Around what frequency do consumer microwave ovens operate?

Consumer microwave ovens run at about 2.45 GHz, a frequency in the unlicensed ISM band that water molecules absorb well; large industrial ovens often use 915 MHz instead.

Which Julia Child TV show premiered in 1963?

The French Chef premiered on WGBH Boston in February 1963; an omelette demonstration on the book show I've Been Reading in 1962 had won over viewers first.

With which two co-authors did Julia Child write Mastering the Art of French Cooking?

Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle were Child's co-authors; Houghton Mifflin took on the project in 1954 but later dropped it, and Knopf published Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961.

Which Boston cookbook author helped standardize U.S. cooking measurements?

Fannie Farmer's 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book popularised level, standardised cup and spoon measurements, earning her the nickname 'mother of level measurements'.

In what year was the original Le Cordon Bleu school established in Paris?

Le Cordon Bleu opened in Paris in 1895, growing out of the magazine La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu that journalist Marthe Distel had founded.

Which Japanese knife is the long single-bevel blade used to slice sashimi?

The yanagiba, 'willow blade', is the long single-bevel slicer drawn through raw fish in one stroke; the deba breaks down whole fish, while nakiri and usuba are vegetable knives.

Which part of a knife is the thick unsharpened band where blade meets handle?

The bolster is the thick band of steel between blade and handle; it adds balance and keeps fingers from sliding onto the edge, while the tang runs inside the handle.

Missionaries from which country introduced the batter-frying behind tempura to Japan?

Missionaries and traders from Portugal brought batter-frying to Nagasaki in the 16th century; 'tempura' likely comes from the Latin tempora, the Ember Days when Catholics ate fish instead of meat.

Ceviche is recognized by UNESCO as the traditional cuisine of which country?

Peru's ceviche joined UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2023; the citric acid in lime juice denatures the raw fish, turning it opaque and firm.

Pesto takes its name from a Genoese verb meaning what?

Pesto comes from pestare, Genoese for 'to pound': basil, garlic, pine nuts, cheese and oil are crushed in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle.

What is the scorched layer of rice at the bottom of a paella pan called?

Socarrat is the crisp, caramelised crust of rice that forms on the bottom of the pan in the last minutes of cooking; a good paella is judged by it.

Paella takes its name from the Valencian word for what?

Paella is simply the Valencian word for the wide, shallow frying pan, from the Latin patella; the dish grew up around Valencia's Albufera rice fields in the 19th century.

Which toxin makes raw kidney beans dangerous until they are boiled?

Phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin concentrated in raw red kidney beans, causes violent vomiting from as few as four or five beans; boiling for ten minutes destroys it, while slow-cooker temperatures may not.

What temperature range is food safety's 'danger zone' for bacterial growth?

The USDA danger zone is 40 to 140 °F (4 to 60 °C), where bacteria can double in as little as 20 minutes; food should not sit in that band for more than two hours.

Which anthropologist's book Catching Fire argues cooking made us human?

Richard Wrangham's Catching Fire (2009) argues that cooking, beginning with Homo erectus around 1.8 million years ago, shrank our guts and teeth and freed energy for bigger brains.

Which cooking method places food in a pouch so its own moisture steams it?

En papillote, 'in parchment', seals fish or vegetables in a folded paper parcel that is baked; the trapped moisture steams the food and the parcel puffs when done.

Which nutrient is especially prone to being destroyed by protracted cooking?

Vitamin C is both heat-sensitive and water-soluble, so long boiling destroys it and leaches it into the water; brief blanching or steaming keeps most of it.

Which food-borne bacterium forms spores that can survive boiling and regrow later?

Clostridium botulinum spores survive boiling and need about 121 °C under pressure to die, which is why low-acid foods must be pressure-canned rather than water-bath canned.

Which Cajun technique, popularised by Paul Prudhomme, crusts spice-coated fish in a smoking-hot skillet?

Blackening, made famous by Paul Prudhomme's redfish at K-Paul's in New Orleans in the early 1980s, dredges fish in butter and spices and sears it in a near red-hot skillet until the coating chars.

Which author coined the English term 'stir fry' in her 1945 cookbook How to Cook and Eat in Chinese?

Buwei Yang Chao coined 'stir fry' in her 1945 book How to Cook and Eat in Chinese to translate the verb chǎo; her husband, the linguist Yuen Ren Chao, helped with the English.

Spatchcocking a chicken for the grill involves removing which bone so the bird lies flat?

Spatchcocking removes the backbone with shears so the bird opens flat; the word may be an Irish shortening of 'dispatch cock' or come from 'spitchcock', an old way of grilling eels.

Roughly how hot can a traditional clay tandoor oven get?

A tandoor can hit 480 °C, far hotter than any home oven, which is why naan bakes in a minute or two on its walls. Because they stay lit so long, traditional tandoors live in restaurants rather than homes.

What smokehouse temperature range is typical for cold smoking food?

Cold smoking sits at 20–30 °C, barely warm, so the food never cooks; meats must be fully cured first and are often hung to form a pellicle before spending days in the smoke.

Which wood was the traditional smoking wood of Europe before oak became more common?

Alder was the traditional smoking wood across Europe, prized for fish; oak later overtook it, with beech used to a lesser extent. In Iceland dried sheep dung is used to cold-smoke fish and lamb.

The word 'tandoor' ultimately traces back to a word for 'mud fire' in which ancient language?

The Akkadian tinūru is mentioned as early as the Epic of Gilgamesh; in Sanskrit the oven was called kandu.