BigSkyChef.com 2026-
A IN ENGLISH, CULINARY in vogue
FOOD IS THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE
Aging: A term applied to meat held at a temperature of 34 to 36 degrees F. To improve its tenderness.
Agneau: Lamb
A la: According to the style of a standard in vogue such as: a la Francis or according to the French way.
A la Carte: Foods prepared to order: each dish priced separately.
A la King: Foods served in a white cream sauce which contains mushrooms, green peppers and often pimientos.
A la Mode: Usually refers to ice cream on top of a pie, but may be other dishes served in a special way.
A la Provencale: Dishes with garlic and olive oil.
A la Russe: The Russian way.
Allemande Sauce: White, reduced velote, egg yolks.
Allumette Potatoes: Cut like matches, similar to shoestring Potatoes and Pommes Paille.
Andalouse, Consomme and Potage: Tomatoes and rice. Garnish: Tomatoes, rice, eggplant, red peppers. Sauce: Mayonnaise with tomatoes and red peppers. Spanish onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggs, oil vinegar.
Anglaise: In the style or the English way.
Argenteuil, a la : Consomme: With asparagus. Poached or scrambled eggs with asparagus tips. Garnish:
Asparagus points with Hollandaise.
A Gratin: Food covered with a sauce, sprinkled with crumbs and baked.
Au Jus Served with natural juices or gravy.
Au Lait: With milk.
Au Naturel: Plainly cooked. Natural or original food product.
Avocado Avocat: Alligator pear. Brownish or purple berry filled with pulp like marrow, from SouthernCalifornia, tropical America and west Indies.
B IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Bain Marie: Double boiler or steam table.
Baking: To cook by dry heat, usually in an oven.
Bar le duc: Famous Jam made of red currants.
Bard: To wrap poultry, game or fish with thin slices of fat or salt pork.
Baste: To moisten a food product with stock, drippings, or at while cooking.
Barley Pearl: Polished barely.
Batter: Mixture of flour and liquid of a consistency that can be stirred.
Bean Sprouts: Mung beans from China. Sprouts are tiny and green when used.
Béarnaise: N name of sauce that contains egg, yolks, butter, tarragon and seasoning.
Beating: Regular lifting motion to bring mixture to smooth texture
Bechamel: A rich cream sauce or white sauce.
Beef a la Stroganoff: Tenderloin of beef sauteed in sauces and sour cream.
Beef, Dried: Soaked in brine and then smoked and dried.
Beurre: butter
Beurre noir: Browned butter.
Bind: To cause to cohere, unite, or hold together, such as bind a croquette mixture
Bisque: Thick soup, usually of shellfish.
Bique Ice Cream: High butter-
Blanc: White.
Blanquette d’Agneau: Stewed lamb with white sauce. Usually shoulder and breast
Blending: Thoroughly mixing two or more ingredients
Blue: Cheese like Roquefort; but made from cow’s milk.
Blinis: Russian pancakes. Usually served with caviar
Boeuf: Beef or any meal that highlights a beef entree
Boiled Dressing: Cooked dressing for salads.
Bonne Femme, a la: Consomme with potage: With potatoes, leeks, carrots, onions . Fish with onions shallots,Mushrooms.
Bordure: with a border, used in garnishing
Borscht: Russian or polish soup made with beets or duck. Sour cream is often added.
Bouchee: Small meat patties or pastry shell filled with meat, poultry or lobster.
Bouillabaisse: Fish soup
Bouquet garni: A bouquet of fresh herbs tied together, immersed in a liquid, and removed before the dish
is served.
Bouquetiere, a la: With a variety of vegetables in season
Bourgeoise: Plain, family style
Bourgignonne: Pertaining to burgundy
Brazier: Heavy duty stewing pan with tightly fitting cover.
Breading: To roll in bread crumbs or other breading agent before cooking
Brine: Liquid of salt and vinegar for pickling
Brioche: French, a sweet dough roll of french origin
Broccoli: Italy cabbage, resembling green cauliflower
Broche: Metal skewer
Brochette: Meat broiled and served on a skewer A metal pin to hold meat in place.
Brunoise: Cut in fine dice
Buffet: Display of ready to eat foods Often self service from table of assorted foods.
C IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Cafe: Coffee and any coffee related menus as well as the place in which coffee is served as the main theme
Calories: Fuel value in food
Calavo: Trade name for California avocados
Canadian Bacon: Trimmed, pressed, smoked loin of pork. Lean
Cannibalism: A very real concern with contemporary food and drug products, even if unaware the side effects of cannibalism are agony
Candying: Cooking fruit in heavy syrup until transparent. Then drain and dry
Canape: An appetizer, always prepared on a vase, such as bread, toast or crackers
Canard: Duck
Cannelon: Meat stuffed, rolled up and roasted or braised
Capon: Castrated poultry noted for its tenderness and delicate flavor
Cardinal Sauce: Béchamel with shrimp or lobster roe and lemon juice
Casaba Melon: Lemon yellow skin, white meat, large oval shape, season September to April
Caviar: Eggs or roe of fish, usually sturgeon. Seasoned
Cayenne Pepper: Hot seasoning. Red
Celestine Consomme: Consomme with sliced unsweetened pancakes.
Cepes: Species of mushrooms
Champignons: Mushrooms
Chantilly Cream: Vanilla whipped cream
Chasseur: Hunter style
Chateaubriand: Thick tenderloin Steak Sauce: Brown sauce, fat, lemon juice, parsley, Spanish sauce
Cheese, Blue: Looks same as Roquefort but made of cow’s milk instead of sheep’s milk
Chef: Leading Culinary Professional of a kitchen, AKA Chief of the kitchen
Chemise: Potatoes boiled with their skins on
Chiffonade: French, shredded vegetables or meats used on soups or salads, or as garnishing. Occasionally I will use as a dressing, shredded and chopped vegetables as the French Dressing base
China Cap: A cone shaped strainer or sieve
Cisler: To cut, to make an incision in the skin of fish, so that it will not crack during cooking
Cobbler, the beverage: Liquor, sugar, sliced fruit and mint. Fruit dessert.
Codding: Cooking below boiling point
Colbert Sauce: Shallots, butter, claret, brown gravy, butter, lemon.
Compote: A stew or combination of fruit, sometimes applied to a stew of birds
Concasser: To chop roughly
Condiments: Seasonings usually in the form a a sauce
Consomme: a strong, clear, sparkling soup
Copper: Metal cooking unit, stationery, heated with steam jacket
Court Bouillon: a preparation of vinegar or wine, water and savory herbs in which fish is cooked
Cover Charge: Fixed fee for table service independent of the charge for food
Crepe: Pancakes the French way
Crepes Suzette: Thin french pancake served with rich brandy sauce
Cresson: Watercress
Croquette: A food product or combination of food products, usually breaded and deep fried
Croutons: small pieces of fried or toasted bread used in soups
Cuisine: art of cooker, cookery, kitchen
Cumberland sauce: Orange and lemon peel and juice, currant jelly, port wine.
Curry: East Indian dish. Was originally a stew. Now referred to with mixing of pungent curry seasoning
D IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Dejeuner: the mid day meal, may or may not be considered Lunch
Demi: Half
Diced: Cut in small squares
Dindonneau: Young turkey
Drawn butter: Melted butter
Dredging: Coating with dry ingredients such as flour
Dripping: The fat and juice which drops from roasting meat.
Dry: As applied to a beverage meaning a low percentage of sugar
Duchesse Potatoes: Mashed with eggs and squeezed through a pastry tube.
Duglere a la: With onions, shallts and tomatoes.
Dusting: Sprinkling with flour or sugar
E IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Ecossaise: Scottish style
Eggplant: Large purple pear shaped vegetable
Eggs a la Goldenrod: White sauce with chopped whites of eggs poured over toast. Hard cooked yolks pressed through a sieve and sprinkled on top
Eggs Benedict: Poached and served with ham with hollandaise sauce on toast or a muffin.
En Casserole: Food served in the same dish in which it was baked
Enchiladas: Tortillas covered with sauce of grated cheese, spices
En Chemise: With their skins. Usually potatoes
Epigramme: Boned breast of lamb
Escoffier: Trade name for bottled sauce Also name of famous French Chef
F IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Farce: stuffing
Farci: Stuffed
Farina:: The coarsely ground inner portion of hard wheat
Farinaceous: Consisting of or made of meal or flour
Fermiere, a la: with discs of carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes, celery, cabbage
Filet: May be tenderloin of beef, mutton, veal or pork without the bone. Boned fish are also called filets
Finnan Hadddie: smoked haddock
Florentine, a la: with spinach
Foie gras: fatted goose liver
Fondantes Potatoes: oval shaved, partially cooked by boiling, reshaped in towel and finished in oven.
Fondue: cheese dish, may also be referred with welsh rabbit
Forcemeat: chopped meats and seasoning used for stuffing
French lamb chops: made by scraping the meat and fat from the bones of rib chops a little distance from the end broiled over high heat
Frizzling: Cooking in small amount of fat until crisp
Fromage: Cheese
G IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Garbanzo: Chick peas, Spanish national dish
Garde Manger: Cold meat dept. Or person in charge of it
Garnish: To embellish foods; to decorate, also as referring to food stuff being used to garnish
Garniture: French for garnish or the one who is garnishing
Gastric: Cooking term for a mixture of white wine or vinegar, crushed pepper, shallots and spices.
Gateau: cake
Gaufrette Potatoes: French fried potatoes in waffle form
Gefuite Fish: Jewish dish, stuffed fish. Today is mostly in a dumpling form
Gherkins: small cucumbers usually a few days old, usually pickled
Giblets: liver, heart and trimmings from poultry
Glaze: A semi-
Gnocchi: light dumplings
Gourmet: Connoisseur of food and drinks
Gratin, au is sprinkled with cheese or buttered crumbs and baked brown.
Gruyere: Swiss type of cheese made in France and in Switzerland
Guava: Tropical fruit: Apple or pear shaped, acid sweet flavor.
Gumbo: Soup, chicken, onions, okra, green peppers and tomatoes
H , I , J IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Harche: hashed or minced
Haricots Verts: Small green string beans
Hasenpfeffer: German rabbit stew
Heifer: a young female cow that has not had a calf
Herb Bouquet: Mixed herbs used for seasoning
Hongroise, a la. Prepared in Hungarian way. Onions, sour cream and paprika. Garnish: With red and green peppers, cabbage and leeks.
Hors-
Hush Puppies: Southern deep fat fried dish of corn meal, baking powder, milk, onion, seasoning
Hydrogenated Fat: Fat treated with hydrogen to maintain stable consistency
Indian Pudding: Slow baked dessert of corn meal, milk, brown sugar, eggs, raisins and seasoning
Infusion: Liquid obtained from steeping a food
Italian Minestrone: Vegetable soup with a macaroni product and cheese
Johnny Cake: Bread from yellow corn meal, eggs, milk
Julienne Potatoes: cut in long slices thinner than for French fries and served very crisp.
Junket: Brand name of dessert of flavored curdled milk and rennet
Jus: Usually refers to drippings from meat. Aka: Au Jus.
K L M IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Karo: Corn syrup, light or dark.\Kasha: Buckwheat groats
Kippered Herring: Dried or smoked herring.
Kitchen Bouquet: Trade name for bottled gravy coloring and flavoring.
Kosher: Meat sold within 48 hrs. After butchering in accordance with prescribed Hebrew religious laws. Or, style of cooking with dietary restrictions.
Kumquats: Gold-
L
Lait: mILK
Lamb Fries: Lamb testicles
Langouste Crawfish
Larding: Strips of salt pork inserted into meat.
Leek: Small onion like plant. Seasoning
Legumes: Vegetables Also refers to such dried foods as beans, peas and lentils.
Lentil: Flat seed somewhat like peas. Used for soups and garnishes.
Lichi Nut: Chinese, small hard shell dried nut.
Lyonnaise Potatoes: Sauteed with slices of onions.
M
Mace: seasoning, Outer shell of nutmeg
Macedoine: Mixture usually of fruit or vegetables. Macedoine de fruits: Fruit salad
Madrilene soup: Clear consomme with tomato, highly seasoned, served jellied or hot
Maggi: Brand name for Swiss liquid seasoning
Maitre d\Hotel, a la: Sauce: Yellow sauce, Butter Sauce, lemon juice parsley salt, pepper, Butter Mixture of lemon juice, butter parsley, salt pepper
Manhattan clam Chowder: with tomatoes
Maracschino: Italian cherry cordial, also cherries
Marengo, a la: Sauteed chicken with mushrooms, tomatoes, olives and olive oil
Marrow: Soft tissue from the inside or cavity of bones
Marsala: Pale golden semi-
Masking: To cover completely usually with a sauce).
Mate: South American Paraguay tea.
Matelots: Fish stewed with wine, onions and seasoning
Melba: Vanilla ice cream, raspberry jelly or sauce and whipped cream served with peach or pear.
Melba Toast: Very thin white bread baked in oven until brown
Menthe, Crème de: Peppermint cordial
Melting: Making liquid by application of heat
Menu: or Bill of fare.
Meringue: Paste made of egg whites and sugar Paste made of egg whites and sugar
Meuniere, a la: Fish: Dipped in flour, sauteed in butter, served with brown butter and lemon,
sprinkled with parsley
Mignon Filets: Small tender filets usually from beef tenderloin.
Minced: Chopped fine
Mincing: Chopping in less regular parts similar to grinding
Mirepoix: Mixture of onions, carrots, celery.
Mixing: Uniting two or more ingredients.
Mongol Soup: Tomatoes, split peas, Julienne vegetables
Mortadalla: Italian pork and beef sausage.
Mousse: Frozen dessert of whipped cream, flavoring and sweetening. May also be hot or cold buffet food.
Mouton: Mutton
Mozzarella: Soft Italian cheese made of milk, shaped in rounds.
Mushroom Sauce: Brown sauce, fat, flour, stock, sliced mushrooms, seasoning.
N , O , P IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Night Watch
Narrative Culinary
Navarin: Stew of mutton with carrots and turnips.
Noir: black
Nouilles: German: Noodles: Narrow strips of dried dough, resembling macaroni, used in soups and garnishes
O
Oeuf: Egg,
Okra: Vegetable pods. Used in soups, gumbos. Also served as a vegetable.
Ovaltine: Brand name for a flavored malt and milk powder for milk drinks
Over-
Oysters, Blue Points: Name of oysters from certain Atlantic Coast waters.
P
Pain: Bread
Pan broiling: Cooking uncovered in a hot skillet, Fat is poured off in cooking
Palm Hearts: Hearts of young palms, A canned product
Panache: Several kinds of mixed birds, fruits, vegetable, usually with contrasting colors.
Papays: Tropical fruit, the juice of which yields an enzyme used as a meat tenderizer
Papillote, Cotelette en: Cutlet cooked in paper
Paprika: Dried and powdered or ground ripe fruit of various kinds of peppers. Used as seasoning and for color
Parboiling: Partial boiling
Parisienne Potatoes: Small round scoop, browned
Parmentier, a la: Soup: Potato soup
Parmesan: Hard, sharp cheese grated for soups and toppings.
Parsley: An herb used largely for garnishing
Pasteurized Milk: Milk held 140 degrees F. For 30 minutes to check fermentation
Publications
Productions
Pastry Bag: Cone bag with metal tip as small end, used to decorate cakes
Petit: small
Pauplette: Stuffed rolled thin slices of meat braised
Peche: Peach
Petite Marmite: A strong consomme with beef, chicken and vegetable.
Petit Dejeuner: Breakfast
Petits Fours: small cakes
Petit Pois: Small green peas
Picnic Ham: Lower end of hog shoulder
Piece de Resistance: Main dish
Pilau: Rice boiled with meat, poultry or fish and spices, also pilaf
Pimiento: Red sweet Spanish pepper pod
Piquant: Flavored, highly seasoned
Pistachio Nuts: Small, pale green, thin hard shell. Tropical
Plank: A board made of hard wood. Also to cook and serve on a board or plank, usually with an elaborate garnish of vegetables
Poaching: Cooking in water that bubbles lightly.
Poisson: fish
Poivrade (Sauce): Pepper sauce
Polonaise, a la: With rasped bread, beurre noir, hashed hard boiled eggs
Pommes de Terre: Potatoes, literal translation is apples of the earth
Popovers: Quick puffed up hot bread of milk and eggs.
Postum: Lcereal coffee substitute.
Potage: Soup that is usually thickened
Potaufeu: Meat broth with vegetables
Potiron: Pumpkin
Potpourri: Mixture
Poulet: Chicken
Portion Control: Control of size and weight of individual portions
Poulette Sauce: Allemande with sliced mushrooms and chivces or parsley
Prefabricated: Refers to meat, and associated products trimmed and cut: often to specification of purchaser
Pullman Bread: Sandwich bread
Puree: Pulp or paste of vegetable or fruit Thick soup
Q IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Quahog: Atlantic Coast Round Clam
Quenelles: Dumplings
R IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Ragout: Thick savory stew
Raisons: Dried grapes
Ramekins: Food baked in shallow baking China or shallow baking dish itself
Rasher of Bacon: Side portion of back: 3-
Reduce: To reduce volume by cooking or simmering
Rendering: Freeing fat from connective tissues by heat
Rice, Brown: Rice with bulls on. Before polishing
Rissole’ simple Browned
Rissoie Potatoes: Cut into shape of large nut, then browned
Riz: Rice
Roasting: Cooking in the oven and very little moisture
Robert Sauce: Brown sauce, onions, flour, stock, lemon juice, French mustard, white wine
Roe: Mass of fish eggs. Roe-
Romaine: Long, narrow crisp, leaved Roman lettuce, inner leaves are light in color
Roti: Roast
Rouge: Red
Roulade: Rolled Meat
Roux: Equal parts of fat and flour used to thicken sauces and gravies
Rusks: Light Bread or biscuit, sometimes twice baked
Russian Dressing: Mayonnaise, lemon juice, chili sauce and Worcestershire sauce and chopped pimientos
S IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Security Industry Preferred
Serving T
Specialist, Culinary
Sabayon: Dessert, egg dish served in glasses, egg yolks, vanilla, sugar, sherry and white wines
Saffron: Seasoning, deep orange dried part of purple crocus, to color foods
Sage: Leaves of an herb, for seasoning
Salamander: A broiler-
Salami: Sausage of pork, beef, red sine, highly seasoned
Salmagundi: Mixture, usually refers to meat, fish, onions and seasoning
Searing: Browning surface by intense heat
Sec: Dry
Semolina: High gluten flour from durum wheat
Serviette: Napkin
Shad: Fish of the herring family
Shallots: Vegetables of the onion family (Eschalotes-
Shaslik of Lamb: Brochette of Lamb, Lamb that is seasoned and broiled on a skewer
Shirred Eggs: Baked in cooking china with butter
Shoestring Potatoes: Like french fried, but cut very thin
Simmering: Slow cooking at just below boiling point
Sizzling Steak: Steak served on aluminum platter which has been heated so that the steak and juices sizzle
Skewering: To fasten meat or poultry on long pin during cooking
Smorgasbord: Swedish tidbits or appetizers usually arranged on large table
Smother: To cook in covered kettle until tender
Soiree: Evening party
Sole: Flat white fish, common to Europe, also flat fish from the Pacific coast of the United States
Sommeller: Wine water
Souffle: Light puffed baked custard
Souffle Potatoes: Potato slices puffed up like little pillow
Sous Cloche: Under bell, usually glass
Soy Sauce: Made from soy beans, brown, for flavoring Chinese foods
Spanish Rice: With onions, tomatoes, green peppers
Sparkling Burgundy: Bright ruby sparkling wine
Split: A pointed rod to hold meat or poultry for roasting in front of fire
Spumoni: Fancy Italian ice cream
Squab: Young pigeon
Steaming: Cooking in steam
Steeping: To soak in liquid below boiling point to extract flavor or color
Steer: A young castrated beef animal
Sterilizing: Destroying bacteria and microorganisms by boiling water, heat or steam
Stew: Cooking in water on top of stove
Stirring: Mixing food in circular motion
Stock: The liquid in which meat, poultry, fish or vegetables have been cooked
Sub Gum: Chinese, base of many Chinese dishes, Bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, french mushrooms
Suet: Hard fat in beef, veal, mutton and lamb
Suisse, a la: Swiss style
Sweetbreads: Thymus gland of calf or lamb
Swiss Chard: Green tender leaf vegetable prepared like spinach
T IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Tabasco: Brand name for hot red pepper sauce
Table d’Hote: Fixed price meal
Tartare Steak: Raw hamburger steak heavily seasoned
Tasse: Cup
Tea, Black: : India, Java, Ceylon-
Tea, Green: Mostly from Japan, unfermented
Tea, Oolong: Semi fermented
Tea, Orange Pekoe: Pekoe refers to downy appearance of underside and ends of leaf buds
Terrine: Forcemeat and stuffing molded in earthenware jar, served cold
Tete: Head
Thyme: An herb for flavoring
Timbale: Baked mold
Tortillas: Mexican flapjack or griddle cake made from corn
Tripe: Beef stomach
Truffles: Fungus like mushrooms grown under ground: a seasoning and garnish
Try Out: To cook fat until oil is out ( as in making, lard, Render
Turkish Coffee: Cafe turque, strong, sweet coffee, made of equal amounts of pulverized coffee and sugar
Tutti Frutti: Mixture of fruit as in ice cream
U, V IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Veteran Owned
Veterans, Serving First
Veal Birds: Thin slice of veal rolled around seasoned stuffing. May be stewed or cooked in covered casserole
Vermicelli: Long thin threads of pasta, like spaghetti
Vert: Green
Viande: Meat
Vin: Wine
Volauvent: Case made of puff pastry in which meat or poultry is served, usually covered with a crust lid
Vitamins: Growth producing, health protective elements of food.
W, X,Y,Z IN ENGLISH, CULINARY
Washington Pie: Cake with raspberry or loganberry jam between layers
Waldorf Salad: Celery, apples, nuts, whipped cream and mayonnaise
World War
Waterless Cooker: Cooking utensils of heavy metal in which foods are cooked in their own juices
Welsh Rabbit: Cooked Cheese butter, beer eggs flavored with Worcestershire sauce and spices, French,
Fondue a l’Angllaise.
Weapons Handling
Whipping: Rapid beating to increase volume of mixing air
Wild Rice: Northern watergrass seed, served with game, not a true rice
Wan Tan: Stuffed noodle paste with Chinese soup, chicken or pork
Yams: Much like sweet potatoes, from the southern United States and West Indies
Yorkshire Pudding: Paste of flour, milk and salt, baked and served with roast beef
Yankee Pot Roast:
Yellow Turnips, mashed:
Yellow Vegetables
Yoghurt
Zucchini: Italian squash
Zwieback: Hard crispy German biscuit, twice toasted