Beyond cutting, mixing, browning or sautéing, there are cooking techniques that appear in many recipes that can be very difficult to understand if you are not an expert or a pro cook. If when you read a cooking recipe you doubt if they speak to you in your language or if you have made a mistake and it is an article on quantum physics, we have the solution. Well, not us but the Torres brothers, who put themselves in the shoes of those of us who cook at home and "translate" these terms that we do not usually use. We tell you some of the most common:
Kitchen cuts: what do they mean when they say …
- Cotton buds It is a cut in long strips, in the shape of a cane. This cut prevents it from falling apart during cooking.
- Bresa. They are large, but regular cuts. It is usually used for broths.
- Planter. Cut into strips that can go from 0.5 to 3-4cm long.
- Jualiana. They are very thin strips, like straw.
- Mirepoix. It is a cut into 2cm x 2cm dice.
- Brunoise. Cut into very small cubes.
- Baker. They are thin slices of between half and a centimeter.
- Bolear. Shape a sphere with a Parisian spoon.
How to understand doneness points
- Meat. Rarely done is between 50-65º; to the point of 66-75 °; and done, more than 76º.
- Fish. It is cooked between 55-60º.
- Pasta and rice. Al dente, when it is hard on the outside but soft at the heart.
- Vegetables. Also al dente, to preserve texture and color.
Other terms that can help you
- Braise or seal. Roast the surface of a piece so that the juices remain inside and then pass it to a humid cooking, like a stew.
- Glaze. A food is browned in fat (butter or other), a sweetener (sugar, honey) is added, it is watered with a liquid (broth) and allowed to reduce.
- Risolar. It is a technique that seeks to obtain potatoes that are creamy on the inside and crisp on the outside, first scalding them, then passing them through butter or oil and finishing them in the oven.
And if you want to know more difficult words, but also how to make a good purchase at a good price, what should be the basic pantry or the essential instruments and, of course, many imaginative recipes, with easy-to-understand explanations and useful tricks so that we can succeed until Those of us who seem to have two left hands when cooking, don't miss the book Cocina en Casa con los Hermanos Torres (Ed. RBA).
