Keeping the Castle - Housekeeping & Homemaking Tips

Are You Cooking-Challenged?

by Maricar on March 23rd, 2006

Today’s cooks are less knowledgable than the previous generations. This is according to Candy Sagon of the Washington Post. As a result, food companies like Kraft Foods and Betty Crocker avoid terms such as “braise”, “fold” and “sear”.

That may be, but I agree with Beth Wareham, a director at the company that publishes the “Joy of Cooking“.

“I tell them, `Why should we dumb it down?’ When you learn to drive, you learn terms like `brake’ and `parallel park.’ Why is it OK to be stupid when you cook?” Wareham said.

So far, the “Joy of Cooking” editors have compromised by including a detailed glossary explaining various cooking terms.

Isn’t learning some proper cooking terms part of the whole adventure?

To test your knowledge of basic culinary words, take this quiz:

1. To blanch a vegetable means to:
a) plunge it into boiling water briefly, then immediately into cold.
b) boil it until soft.
c) steam it until it turns very pale, or blanched.

2. If a recipe says to “cream the butter and sugar,” it means to:
a) add cream to the butter and sugar.
b) beat them together until creamy.
c) melt the butter, then add the sugar.

3. The instructions say to “dredge” the chicken in flour. That means you:
a) lightly coat the chicken with flour.
b) use the chicken to hollow out, or dredge, a ditch in the flour.
c) sprinkle flour over the chicken.

4. If a recipe instructs you to “fold in the egg whites,” that means you should:
a) briskly stir them in.
b) use a mixer to quickly beat them in so the mixture doesn’t fold.
c) gently combine them by folding the heavier mixture into the lighter whites.

5. To simmer means to:
a) cook over high heat in a liquid that’s at a rolling boil.
b) gently cook in a liquid over very low heat.
c) cook in a liquid that’s just hot enough that tiny bubbles break the surface.

Answers: 1. a, 2. b, 3. a, 4. c, 5. c

[Source: Chicago Tribune]

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