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Reference

Cooking glossary

Every term you will meet in a recipe — what it means in plain words, why it is done that way, and one tip that matters.

Core techniques 12

Sauté
Cooking fast over high heat in a little fat, stirring constantly, so the food colours outside and stays tender inside. Onion and garlic at the start of a dish are sautéed, not boiled.
Tip: Heat the pan first and add the food dry — water turns a sauté into a boil.
Searing
Placing meat or vegetables on a very hot surface without moving them until a brown crust forms. That crust is where deep flavour comes from (the Maillard reaction) — it does not seal in juices, despite the myth.
Tip: Do not crowd the pan: too many pieces drop the heat, release water, and steam instead of browning.
Boiling
Cooking in water at a full rolling boil (100°C). Right for pasta, potatoes and eggs; wrong for meat and anything that needs gentle heat — a hard boil toughens fibres.
Tip: Salt the water from the start and generously — pasta cannot be seasoned afterwards.
Simmering
Cooking in liquid just below the boil — small lazy bubbles rather than a rolling boil. This keeps stock clear, meat tender and sauces from clouding.
Tip: If bubbles are many and violent, lower the heat — most slow-cooked dishes want this stage, not a boil.
Steaming
Cooking above boiling water without the food touching it. Keeps colour, vitamins and texture, and adds no fat. Vegetables, fish and dumplings are the classic uses.
Tip: Keep the lid tight and the water below the steamer basket.
Deep-frying
Fully submerging food in hot oil (usually 170–190°C). Temperature is everything: cold oil makes greasy food, oil that is too hot burns the outside and leaves the inside raw.
Tip: No thermometer? Dip a wooden skewer — if bubbles form around it at once, the oil is ready.
Roasting
Cooking with dry oven heat, usually at 200°C or above, so the surface browns while the inside cooks through. Whole chicken and root vegetables are at their best this way.
Tip: Spread vegetables in one layer — piled up, they steam instead of roasting.
Grilling
Cooking directly over a strong heat source — charcoal or a grill. Gives smoky flavour and char marks. Unlike the oven, heat is direct and from below, so thinner cuts work best.
Tip: Oil the meat, not the grate — oil on the grate burns and smokes.
Braising
Brown the meat first, then cook it very gently in a small amount of liquid, covered, for hours. Cheap tough cuts (shank, shoulder) turn into the most tender meat you can eat.
Tip: Liquid should reach a third of the way up, not cover the meat — the top browns while the bottom softens.
Blanching
Dropping vegetables into boiling water for a minute or two, then straight into iced water. Sets the green colour, makes tomatoes and almonds easy to peel, and is the essential step before freezing any vegetable.
Tip: Iced water is not optional — without it, vegetables keep cooking from residual heat and go dull.
Marinating
Leaving meat or vegetables in a mixture with acid, salt or enzymes before cooking. Salt and acid season the surface and soften the outer fibres — a marinade does not penetrate more than a millimetre or so.
Tip: Too much acid (lemon, vinegar) for more than two hours makes the surface mushy — fish especially.
Stir-frying
The Chinese method: a very hot wok, little oil, and small even pieces tossed constantly for minutes. The secret is having everything cut and ready before the heat goes on — there is no time to chop while cooking.
Tip: Meat first on its own, out, then vegetables, then meat back in — all at once releases water.

Sauces & texture 8

Roux
Equal parts butter and flour cooked together for a minute or two. The base of béchamel and most white sauces and creamy soups. The longer it cooks, the darker and nuttier it gets — and the less it thickens.
Tip: Add liquid to the roux gradually while whisking — all at once makes lumps.
Béchamel
One of the French mother sauces: a roux with milk added, cooked until thick. It tops pasta bake, moussaka and lasagne, and is the base of cheese sauces.
Tip: Milk should be warm, not cold or boiling — warm blends without lumps.
Emulsion
Combining two liquids that normally will not mix — oil and water — into a stable blend with the help of a binder such as egg yolk or mustard. Mayonnaise, hollandaise and vinaigrette are all emulsions.
Tip: Add oil drop by drop at first — if it splits, start with a fresh yolk and whisk the broken mixture into it slowly.
Cornstarch slurry
Cornstarch dissolved in cold water and stirred into a boiling sauce to thicken it in seconds. Faster than a roux, fat-free, and gives a glossy finish — which is why Chinese sauces shine.
Tip: Cold water only — cornstarch in hot liquid clumps instantly.
Reduction
Boiling a sauce or stock uncovered until some of the water evaporates, thickening it and concentrating the flavour. Nothing is added — evaporation does the work. Most glossy restaurant sauces are reductions.
Tip: Salt at the end, not the start — salt concentrates as the sauce reduces.
Tempering
Adding a little hot liquid to beaten eggs gradually before they go into the pot, so they do not scramble in the custard. The same idea applies to chocolate.
Tip: A ladle of hot liquid into the eggs while whisking, then the eggs into the pot — never the other way.
Caramel
Sugar heated until it melts and turns golden brown with a deep flavour. At a certain point it goes from sweet to bitter in seconds — the difference is a couple of degrees.
Tip: Do not stir with a spoon — swirl the pan. Stirring makes crystals.
Stock vs broth
Stock is made from bones over hours and carries gelatine that gives body. Broth is from meat or vegetables for less time and is lighter. The first is a sauce base; the second is drunk on its own.
Tip: Never salt stock — it goes into dishes that each need their own seasoning.

Dough & baking 9

Proofing
Letting dough rest so the yeast works and produces gas that makes it rise. Usually done twice: after kneading and after shaping. Timing depends on temperature — in winter it can take twice as long.
Tip: The finger test: poke it — if the dent springs back slowly, it is ready; instantly, it needs more time; not at all, it is over-proofed.
Kneading
Repeatedly pressing and folding dough so the gluten network forms and strengthens. That network traps gas and gives bread its chewy structure. Usually 8–10 minutes by hand.
Tip: The windowpane test: stretch a small piece thin — if it forms a translucent sheet without tearing, kneading is done.
Blind baking
Baking a tart base on its own before filling, weighed down with paper and dry beans so it does not puff. Essential for any wet filling — without it the base comes out raw and soggy.
Tip: Prick the base with a fork first so steam can escape.
Gluten
The protein that forms when flour meets water and is worked. More gluten means more structure and chew — good for bread, bad for cake and biscuits. That is why cake batter is folded gently, not kneaded.
Tip: Bread flour is high-protein, cake flour is low — regular flour sits in between.
Hydration
The ratio of water to flour by weight. 60% is a firm, easy dough; 75% and above is sticky and gives open-crumbed bread (like ciabatta). This number shapes the loaf more than anything else.
Tip: Sticky dough is not a mistake — resist the urge to add flour.
Lamination
Folding a sheet of butter into dough, then rolling and folding repeatedly to create hundreds of alternating layers. In the oven the butter melts and steam separates the layers — that is what makes croissants and puff pastry.
Tip: Everything cold: dough, butter, and the surface. If the butter melts it blends in and the layers are gone.
Egg wash
Beaten egg (with water or milk) brushed over pastry before baking for a glossy golden finish. Yolk alone gives deeper colour; white alone gives shine without colour.
Tip: Brush the top only — on the cut edges it glues the layers and they will not rise.
Choux pastry
A dough cooked on the stove first (water, butter, flour), then enriched with eggs. It puffs in the oven on steam and comes out hollow. The base of éclairs, profiteroles and balah el sham.
Tip: Do not open the oven before 25 minutes — if the steam escapes it collapses.
Sourdough starter
A flour-and-water mixture left for days until wild yeasts and bacteria colonise it. Fed regularly and used instead of commercial yeast. Gives bread a mild tang and a longer shelf life.
Tip: A dark liquid layer on top is normal — it is alcohol from hunger. Stir it in or pour it off, then feed.

Meat & protein 8

Resting
Leaving meat for 5–10 minutes after cooking before slicing. During cooking the juices are pushed to the centre; resting lets them redistribute. Cut immediately and they all run out onto the board.
Tip: Tent loosely with foil — tightly wrapped, it keeps cooking and the crust goes soft.
Slicing against the grain
Look at the direction of the muscle fibres and cut perpendicular to them. Each slice then has short fibres that chew easily. Cutting along the grain gives chewy slices even from perfectly cooked meat.
Tip: Clearest example: flank steak — the fibres are obvious and the difference is immediate.
Brining
Soaking meat in salted water (about 5%) for hours before cooking. Salt changes the muscle protein so it holds more moisture — the result is chicken that stays juicy even if slightly overcooked.
Tip: Whole chicken: 4–6 hours. Breasts: an hour. Longer and it just tastes of salt.
Dry rub
A blend of spices and salt rubbed onto meat with no liquid. It forms a seasoned crust when grilled and works better than a wet marinade on cuts headed for high heat.
Tip: Apply at least an hour before cooking — the salt needs time to penetrate.
Marbling
The thin threads of fat distributed inside the muscle — not the layer on the edge. More marbling means more tender, richer meat because the fat melts from within as it cooks.
Tip: Rib-eye is the most marbled cut, fillet the least — which is why fillet is tender but milder.
Steak doneness
From rare (50°C internal) to medium (60°C) to well done (70°C+). Each stage changes colour and tenderness. A thermometer is the only reliable way — judging by eye is often wrong.
Tip: Pull it 5°C before the target — it keeps cooking while it rests.
Spatchcocking
Cutting out the backbone and pressing the chicken flat before roasting. All parts then cook evenly in half the time, and all the skin faces the heat and crisps.
Tip: Strong kitchen shears are easier than a knife for the backbone.
Sous vide
Sealing food in a vacuum bag and cooking it in a precisely controlled water bath for hours. The meat reaches the exact target temperature throughout, then gets a quick sear for the crust.
Tip: The sear afterwards must be fast and on the highest heat — seconds, not minutes.

Measuring & heat 6

Smoke point
The temperature at which oil starts to smoke and break down. Extra-virgin olive oil is low (around 190°C); corn, canola and sunflower are higher (220°C+). For deep-frying and hard searing, use the high ones.
Tip: Oil that has smoked once tastes bitter — discard it.
Internal temperature
The temperature at the centre of the food, not the surface — the only honest measure of doneness and safety. Chicken 74°C, minced meat 71°C, fish 63°C. A kitchen thermometer ends all the guesswork.
Tip: Probe the thickest part away from bone — bone reads hotter.
Weight vs volume
A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 to 180 grams depending on how it is filled. A scale removes that variation entirely. That is why precise baking recipes are written in grams — cups are for forgiving dishes.
Tip: A digital kitchen scale costs less than one failed cake.
Level vs heaped
Level: fill the spoon and scrape off the excess with a knife. Heaped: as it comes out of the tin. The difference can be double — and with baking powder or salt, that ruins the recipe.
Tip: If the recipe does not say, assume level.
Mise en place
Preparing every ingredient — chopped, weighed, measured — and laying it out before the heat goes on. The first rule of restaurant kitchens, and the single biggest difference between calm cooking and chaos.
Tip: Read the whole recipe first — twice.
Bain-marie
A bowl over a pot of simmering water, or a tin inside a tray of water in the oven. Heat arrives gentle and indirect — for chocolate, custard and cheesecake that would split or crack over direct heat.
Tip: The bowl should not touch the water — the steam is enough.

From our kitchens 8

Ta'leya (garlic-coriander fry)
Crushed garlic and dried coriander fried in ghee or oil for seconds and poured over molokhia or soup at the end. That moment — the sizzle and the smell — is what makes a dish Egyptian. It is not cooked in; it is poured on.
Tip: Garlic goes golden, not brown — brown is bitter.
Tasbeeka (tomato base)
Sautéed onion with tomato paste and spices cooked gently until the oil rises to the surface. The base of most Egyptian stews and cooked vegetables — okra, green beans and peas all start here.
Tip: Fry the tomato paste with the onion for a minute before adding water — it loses its raw taste.
Dakka (koshari garlic-vinegar sauce)
In koshari: vinegar, garlic, chilli, cumin and lemon — a sharp, hot sauce added to taste. The name comes from pounding the garlic. In Upper Egypt, dakka is something else entirely — a dry spice blend eaten with bread and oil.
Tip: Make it at least an hour ahead — the garlic needs to mellow in the vinegar.
Tashreeb (bread soaked in broth)
Bread torn into the dish and drenched with hot broth so it soaks it up — hence the name. The base of Egyptian fatteh, Gulf thareed and Iraqi tashreeb. Stale bread absorbs better than fresh.
Tip: Pour the broth just before serving — earlier and it turns to paste.
Freekeh
Wheat harvested green, its husk burned off over fire, then rubbed clean — hence the name. Smoky and chewy, cooked like rice. Freekeh-stuffed pigeon is its most famous Egyptian use; freekeh soup in the Levant and Algeria.
Tip: Rinse it well — ash and tiny grit remain.
Samna (clarified butter / ghee)
Butter heated until the water evaporates and the milk solids settle and are removed — pure fat remains. Takes higher heat than butter, smells stronger, and keeps for months without a fridge. In ta'leya, stuffed vegetables and feteer, it is the difference between home flavour and everything else.
Tip: Real samna fills the kitchen with its smell — odourless means vegetable shortening.
Tahwiga (spice blend)
The ground spice blend that goes into minced meat, stuffed vegetables and kofta. There is no single recipe — every household has its own — but the base is coriander, cumin, black pepper and a little warm spice. Toasted and ground fresh beats ready-made.
Tip: Toast the whole seeds gently for two minutes before grinding — the aroma doubles.
Crushed onion
Chopped onion rubbed with salt by hand until it softens and releases its water. Used in salads and kofta — rubbing removes the harshness and lets it blend into the meat instead of staying in visible pieces.
Tip: Squeeze out the released water before adding to kofta — otherwise it goes soggy and falls apart on the grill.