Anglaise: noun, a coating for food that will be fried; verb, the act of coating or breading food before frying.

Coating food that's destined for the fryer with an anglaise simultaneously seals in moisture and gives the food that crispy crust we know and love. Here's the scoop: More

Aromatic; noun: Any herb, spice, vegetable or combination thereof that is used to infuse flavor into a final dish and add to its aroma.

This is another building block for cooking without recipes! Once you can recognize the aromatics in a list of ingredients, you can change them to suite your particular taste or mood and create a dish all your own... More

Brassica n. (Brás-si-ca) - A genus of plants in the mustard family that includes broccoli, cabbage, kale, and many other bitter greens. More

Pudding, meaning dessert. Biscuit, meaning cookie. Clingfilm, meaning plastic wrap. I love the differences between British and English cooking (cookery!) words.

It's always disappointing when American publishers edited out the ‘dessertspoonfuls,’ ‘mince,’ and ‘courgettes’ when revising British cookbooks and I have never really understood why. 'Sultana' and 'aubergine' are such lovely words and it’s not that difficult to figure out what’s going on when you’re asked to ‘blitz’ something in the food processor.
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Mouthfeel, noun: The physical sensation of food in the mouth.

This has always struck us as a rather odd and inelegant word. Drop it in conversation among non-foodies, and you're likely to get a lot of blank looks and a few twitters!

Yet, it's also the most apt term for the concept we're trying to describe--literally the "feel" of the food in your "mouth." More

Lagniappe, lay-GNAP: a Cajun-Creole word meaning a small gift given by a merchant to the buyer at the time of purchase, often of food.

Flipping through the most recent issue of Gastronomica, we noticed on the very last page is a section titled "Lagniappe." It wasn't a term we could remember hearing before.

We discovered that the word has roots in the Spanish and Quechua words for "gift" or "giving," and the practice of lagniappe originated in Louisiana. Reading through definitions and descriptions, we started to feel there was more to this practice than meets the eye. More

Aux Fine Herbes (oh feen air'b): Translated literally from French, meaning "with fine herbs." For culinary purposes, meaning a blend of four fresh herbs, one of which is always chervil.

The other three herbs are traditionally chives, tarragon, and parsley, and they are always always fresh--or else the Classical French Chefs of Yore will cry bitter tears into their consomme! More

Fell (noun): The papery, porous membrane covering the fat and muscle of lamb and mutton.

This membrane is incredibly high in lanolin. This might be a desirable ingredient in soap and candles, but when it comes to cooking, the flavor of lanolin is not one we particularly enjoy! More

Preferment, noun: A combination of flour, water, and sometimes yeast that is prepared in advance (as in pre-fermentation) and then mixed into the main body of the dough as an additional ingredient.

When we first started baking, this was a new technique and a new vocab word all in one. Wrapping your head around the idea of a preferment can be a little tricky at first, but well worth it for the boost in flavor and structure one provides! More

Remoulade (Ruh-moo-LAHD); noun: A classic sauce of mayonnaise with capers, chopped cornichons, dijon mustard, anchovy paste, and fine herbs.

If you're a fan of crunchy, salty, and sweet combinations, it's a safe bet that you'll like this sauce! Just chop up and measure out a few tablespoons of each ingredient, stir into some mayonnaise, and you've got yourself a quick and easy sauce! More