Sachet: Containing herbs avid spices used to flavor stocks, soups and avid sauces. Easily removable.
Sauté: To cook food quickly in a small amount of oil or fat in a skillet until light brown.
Sauteuse: Basic sautéing pan with sloped sides and single long handle.
Sautoir: A variation of a sauté pan with straight sides and long handle.
Savory: Spied or seasoned foods, as opposed to sweet.
Scald: To heat liquid to just below the boiling point until tiny bubbles form around the edge.
Scallop: To bake a food, usually in a casserole, with sauce or other liquid. Crumbs often are sprinkled over.
Score: To cut shallow slashes, along the surface of meat, to tenderize. The peel of a vegetable, such as cucumbers, can also be scored for a decorative look.
Scramble: To stir gently with a fork or spoon while cooking; eggs are often scrambled.
Sear: To brown meat quickly in a skillet over high heat or using a broiler to seal in meat juices.
Season: To apply a flavor ingredient, such as salt and pepper. Cast iron pans are also seasoned by rubbing the pan with solid shortening and heating in the oven. This coats the pan and prevents sticking and rusting of the pan.
Seed: To remove the seeds from a fruit or vegetable.
Separate: To divide in half or into parts. Sometimes referred to when removing the egg yolk from the egg white.
Set: To test for doneness when the surface of the food is firm to the touch.
Shave: To slice a very thin layer, such as chocolate, for a garnish.
Shell: To remove the outer covering of foods, such as eggs, nuts, or fresh peas.
Shred: To cut into narrow strips with a shredder or food processor, using the shredding disk. Can also mean to shred cooked meat or poultry by pulling apart with two forks.
Sieve: To strain dry or wet ingredients through the holes of a strainer or sieve. Eg: removing seeds from raspberry jam.
Sift: To pass an ingredient, such as powdered sugar, through a sieve or sifter to make smooth and lump-free.
Silver skin: Tough connective tissue that surrounds certain muscles.
Simmer: To cook foods gently in a liquid at a low temperature at just below the boiling point. Tiny bubbles app ear on the surface.
Skewer: To thread meat, such as vegetables or fruit onto metal rods or bamboo sticks called skewers for grilling.
Skim: To remove impurities, whether scum or fat from the surface of a liquid during cooking, thereby resulting in a clear, cleaner-tasting final produce.
Skin: To remove the outer layer on meat, fish, or poultry.
Slice: To cut into thin flat pieces, or to cut through with a knife.
Sliver: To cut food into long, thin strips.
Snip: To cut food into long, thin strips.
Soft Ball Stage: To cook a sugar mixture until a drop of boiling syrup (usually between 234 to 240°F) is put into cold water. A soft ball that flattens when removed indicates it is at the soft ball stage in candy making.
Soft Crack Stage: To cook a sugar mixture until a drop of boiling syrup (usually between 274 to 290°F) is put into cold water. If the syrup separates into hard threads, it is at the soft crack stag e in candy making.
Soft Peaks: To beat whipping cream or egg whites until peaks curl over when beaters are lifted out of the bowl.
Spread: To cover evenly.
Sprinkle: To scatter lightly.
Staling: Known as starch retro gradation, change in moisture within starch that causes products to turn firm, drier and more crumbly.
Steam: To cook in steam in a pressure cooker, deep well cooker, double boiler, or a steamer made by fitting a rack in a kettle with a tight cover. A small amount of boiling water is used, more water being added during steaming process, if necessary.
Steep: To extract color, flavor, or other qualities from a substance by leaving it in water just below the boiling point.
Sterilize: To destroy microorganisms by boiling, dry heat, or steam.
Stew: To cook food in enough liquid to barely cover the ingredients in a tightly covered pan. Usually cooks for several hours on the stove-top or in the oven.
Stiff Peaks: To beat whipping cream or egg whites until the peaks stand up straight when the beaters are lifted up out of the bowl.
Stir Constantly: To stir during the entire time the mixture is cooking.
Stir: To mix ingredients with a circular motion until well blended or of uniform consistency.
Stir-Fry: To cook small pieces of food quickly in a large pan over high heat, stirring constantly.
Stock: A well-flavored broth that is mad e by simmering meat, poultry, fish or vegetables with herbs, spices or vegetables.
Strain: To remove any solids from a liquid by pouring through a sieve or colander.
Stuff: To fill a cavity in poultry or a vegetable (eggplant, zucchini, tomato) with a well-seasoned mixture prior to cooking.
Sweat: To cook vegetables in a small amount of fat over low heat in a covered pan, until juices form and vegetables begin to brown.
Sweetbreads: Thymus gland of calf or lamb. The thymus and pancreas, usually of a lamb or calf. They’re usually soaked in several changes of salted water for some hours to remove any blood, then poached very gently, refreshed in cold water and then often weighted before being sautéed, grilled or fried.
Saffron threads: Dried stigmas from the crocus flower. Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice because each flower produces only three stigmas, which must be hand-picked and delicately dried. It takes thousands of the tiny stigmas to make up a gram of saffron. Sometimes sold in powdered form, though it does not have the same intensity of flavour. Threads are available from specialty food stores and select delicatessens.
Sake: Japanese rice wine made from fermented rice. It can be drunk hot or cold, or used in cooking, particularly in sauces and marinades.
Salmis: A classic French dish of roasted poultry accompanied by a sauce made from the pressed carcass.
Salsa: Sauce.
Salsa verde: Italy’s green sauce – a cold condiment of coarsely chopped or pounded (or processed) parsley, capers, garlic, vinegar, anchovies and olive oil.
Sambal: Spicy, chilli-based condiments common to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Saucisson: French for sausage.
Savarin: Traditionally a yeasted ring-shaped cake soaked in syrup.
Self-raising flour: Plain flour that is sifted with baking powder in the proportion of 1 cup flour to 2 tsp baking powder.
Semifreddo: Italian for semi-frozen, a style of dessert most often like a chilled mousse or parfait.
Semolina: Granular flour made from durum wheat (hard wheat). Used in pasta-making and in Middle Eastern and Indian sweet-making. Available milled fine, medium and coarse from supermarkets and delicatessens.
Serrano: Jamon serrano, Spanish for mountain ham, is a dry-cured Spanish ham, typically served in thin slices, similar to prosciutto.
Serrano chilli: A slightly pointed chilli with a hot, savoury flavour. The smooth, bright-green skin of the young serrano turns scarlet then yellow as it matures. They are available fresh, canned, pickled and packed in oil (sometimes accompanied by vegetables), as well as dried and powdered.
Shallots: a)French: Also known as eschalots. Small teardrop-shaped, golden brown bulbs that grow in clusters. b)Fried: Usually served as condiments on the Thai table or sprinkled over just-cooked dishes. Available at Asian food stores. You can make your own by frying thinly sliced peeled red shallots until golden and crisp. Fried shallots keep for months, if stored tightly sealed. c)Red Asian: Small shallots with red skins, they are drier and more strongly flavoured than European shallots. Available from Asian food stores.
Sherry vinegar: Made using young acidic sherry from the Jerez de la Frontera coastal region of Spain. Matured in oak sherry casks. Available from specialty food stores and delicatessens. Perfect for salad dressings and deglazing a pan.
Shiitake mushroom: With a dark brown cap, this mushroom has a meaty flesh that is full-bodied. The fresh and dried shiitakes are quite different and shouldn’t be substituted automatically. Its stems are tough and are removed but they add great flavour to stocks and sauces. To prepare dried shiitakes, wash them well, soak in hot water for at least 20 minutes until they’re softened, then removed the tough, inedible stalks before use.
Shrimp paste: Also known as kapi, trasi or belacan; a strong-scented, very firm preserved paste made from salted, dried shrimp. Chop or slice thinly, then wrap in foil and roast before using.
Snow sugar: A confectioner’s sugar with a vegetable fat added to prevent the sugar from absorbing moisture from the cake and dissolving. It’s available from The Essential Ingredient and specialty food stores.
Soubise: A French onion sauce.
Spaetzle: A German dumpling, not unlike small gnocchi, made with flour and egg rather than potato, poached or fried. Pronounced schpetz-LAH.
Speck: Either a boned, cold-smoked leg of ham, or a German cold cut resembling lardo.
Spherification: The method of containing a small amount of liquid within a soft membrane of itself using chemical gelling agents, as popularized by pioneering chef Ferran Adria of Spain’s El Bulli restaurant.
Star anise: Dried star-shaped pod that has an astringent aniseed taste; used to flavour stocks and marinades.
Steak frites: French for steak and chips.
Sugar muscovado: Very dark brown sugar which has a strong molasses flavour. The crystals are slightly coarser and stickier in texture than brown sugar.
Sugo: Italian for sauce – in Australian restaurant use, usually a simple tomato sauce.
Sumac: Ground spice from a slightly astringent red berry; used in Middle Eastern cooking. Available from spice shops.
Suzuki mulloway: A commercial brand of mulloway farmed in South Australia. Mulloway, a medium-firm white-fleshed fish, is also known as jewfish or butterfish.
Swiss brown mushroom: Full-flavoured mushroom, also known as Roman or cremini. If unavailable, substitute button or cap variety.
Salamander: Small broiler used primarily for browning or glazing the tops of certain items.
Salmonella: A widespread food-borne disease, spread by improper food handling and inadequate sanitation.
Sanitize: To kill disease-causing bacteria, usually by heat or by chemical disinfectants.
Saturated Fat : A fat that is normally solid at room temperature.
Sauce: A flavorful liquid, usually thickened, that is used to season, flavor, and enhance other foods.
Saucier (so-see-ay): The sauce cook; prepares sauces and stews and sautés foods to order.
Sauerbraten: A German dish consisting of beef marinated and then cooked with vinegar and other ingredients.
Scampi: A kind of shellfish similar to large shrimp. In this country, the term is often used for large shrimp, especially if broiled with garlic butter.
Set Meal Service: Service of a meal at which all the customers eat at one time.
Shirred Egg: Egg baked in a shallow, buttered dish.
Short: Having a high fat content, which makes the product (such as a cookie or pastry) very crumbly and tender.
Shortening: 1) Any fat used in baking to tenderize the product by shortening gluten strands. 2) A white, tasteless, solid fat that has been formulated for baking or deep-frying.
Sieve Size: Size of individual pieces, usually of canned vegetable.
Sirniki: Russian pan-fried cheesecakes.
Slurry: A mixture of raw starch and cold liquid, used for thickening.
Small Sauce: A sauce made by adding one or more ingredients to a leading sauce.
Smoke-roasting: To cook with dry heat in the presence of wood smoke.
Soft-shell Crab: A just-molted crab whose new shell has not yet hardened.
Solanine: A poisonous substance found in potatoes that have turned green.
Sorbet (sor-bay): Sherbet, usually made without milk products.
Soufflé: A light, fluffy baked egg dish consisting of a base (such as a heavy white sauce) mixed with egg yolks and flavoring ingredients into which beaten egg whites are folded just before baking. May be sweet or savory.
Sous Chef (soo-shef): A cook who supervised food production and who reports to the executive chef.
Spelt: A type of what grain similar to farro.
Spice: Any part of a plant, other than the leaves, used in flavoring foods.
Squab: Young, domestically raised pigeon.
Standard Breading Procedure: The procedure for coating a food product with bread crumbs (or other crumbs or meal) by passing it through flour, then egg wash, then crumbs.
Standardized Recipe: A set of instructions describing the way a particular establishment prepares a particular dish.
Staphylococcus or “Staph”: A bacterium that causes food-borne disease by producing a toxin or poison in improperly sterilized foods.
Static Menu: A menu that offers the same dishes every day.
Station Chef: A cook in charge of a particular department in a kitchen or food production facility.
Streusel (stroy-zel): A crumbly topping for baked goods, consisting of fat, sugar, and flour rubbed together.
Strong Flour: Flour with a high protein or gluten content.
Suprême Sauce: A sauce made of chicken velouté and heavy cream.
Surimi: A processed seafood product manufactured to resemble shellfish such as crab.
Swiss Steak: Beef round steaks braised in brown sauce.
