Libraries: Culinary Arts in Credo Reference: Cooking Techniques and Styles

Cuisines and Cooking Styles

Cajun cooking
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
Today's Cajuns are the descendants of 1,600 French Acadians whom the British forced from their Nova Scotian homeland in 1785. The local Indians transmuted the word Acadians to Cagians and, eventually, to Cajuns.
Chinese cuisine
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
The combined cuisines of China have often been compared to French cuisine as having made the greatest contribution to the world of food.
Creole cooking
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
Today, Creole cookery reflects the full-flavored combination of the best of French, Spanish and African cuisines.
Fast Food: Topic Page
Food which can be cooked very quickly while the customers wait, e.g. fish and chips, hamburgers, doner and shish kebabs and Chinese stir-fry dishes.
Haute cuisine (‘High cookery’)
From International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management
The Oxford English Dictionary defines haute cuisine as cookery of a high standard, especially of the French traditional school. In this context, the term is often used to describe the classical French cuisine.
Italian American Food
From The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
A general term for the food of the Italian immigrants and their descendants, as well as those Italian foods enjoyed by other Americans.
Mexican American Food
From Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
A general term for food and drink cooked and consumed by Mexican American immigrants as well as such foods enjoyed by non-Mexican Americans.
Modernist Cuisine
From Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
A term used by billionaire inventor Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, to describe a scientific approach to cooking techniques.
Molecular Cuisine
From Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
Also “modernist cuisine” and “avant-garde cuisine.” A culinary style of the beginning of the twenty-first century by which chefs inspired by the work of Spanish chef Ferran Adrià's highly experimental cuisine at his restaurant El Bulli, in Roses, Spain.
New American Cuisine
From Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
A phrase that developed in the early 1980s to describe foods made by American cooks with American ingredients but according to the principles of preparation, cooking, and presentation promulgated by the practitioners of France's nouvelle cuisine.
Nouvelle cuisine
From International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management
Nouvelle cuisine (‘new cookery’ in French) is a culinary movement that owed its momentum to two food critics, Gault and Millau, in the early 1970s.
Polynesian Food
From The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
In American restaurants, this term refers not to any specific foods or dishes of Polynesia but to a number of dishes and cocktails concocted to sound and taste as if they were of Polynesian origins
Slow Food
In The Dictionary of Alternatives
Set up in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in Italy to resist the onslaught of fast food and the standardization of taste. It aims to preserve local cuisine, traditional food products and know-how within eco-regions.
Soul Food
In Encyclopedia of American Studies
Since the late 1960s “soul food” has been popularly understood to refer to the traditional diet of African Americans. This diet emerged in the Southern United States during the period of slavery and, starting in the late nineteenth century, was transported to the urban North, Midwest, and West via successive waves of black migration.

Cooking Techniques

Bake
From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
To cook (food) with dry heat, especially in an oven
Barbecue: Topic Page
Traditionally an open-air gathering, political or social, in which meats are roasted whole over a pit of embers and food and drink are liberally enjoyed. The term barbecue also refers to the meat being roasted.
Boil
From Dictionary of Food: International Food and Cooking Terms from A to Z
To cook in water or a water-based liquid at its boiling point and with sufficient heat input to generate bubbles of steam which agitate and stir the mixture
Cooking: Topic Page
Heat treatment of food to make it more palatable, digestible, and safe. It breaks down connective tissue in meat, making it tender, and softens the cellulose in plant tissue.
Deep-fry
In The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
To cook food in hot fat deep enough to completely cover the item being fried. The temperature of the fat is all-important and can mean the difference between success and disaster.
Frying
From Collins English Dictionary
The act of cooking or being cooked in fat, oil, etc, usually over direct heat.
Grill
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
To prepare food on a grill over hot coals or other heat source.
Marinate
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
To soak a food such as meat, fish or vegetables in a seasoned liquid mixture called a marinade.
Poach
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
To cook food gently in liquid just below the boiling point when the liquid's surface is beginning to show some quivering movement
Reduce
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
To boil a liquid (usually stock, wine or a sauce mixture) rapidly until the volume is reduced by evaporation.
Roast
From Dictionary of Food: International Food and Cooking Terms from A to Z
To cook food in the oven by a combination of convected and radiated heat with good air circulation around it and usually with fat. The object is to brown the surface of the food, to make it crisp and tasty and to just cook the interior to the right degree.
Seasoning
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
Add flair to your cooking by using herbs and spices and varying the seasonings to give your food attitude and style.
Stir-fry
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
To quickly fry small pieces of food in a large pan over very high heat while constantly and briskly stirring the food.
Substituting Ingredients
From The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion
The following emergency substitutions can be made with satisfactory results in most recipes.

Cooking Technique Videos

Braising: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Braising
Cooking in foil: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Cooking in foil
Deep-frying: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Deep-frying
Deglazing: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Deglazing
Grilling: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Grilling
Marinating Meat: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Marinating Meat
Poaching: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Poaching
Pressure Cooking: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Pressure cooking
Searing: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Searing
Steaming: Video
From Food and Cooking
Cooking technique: Steaming