Follow me as I dive into the world that is cooking! There will be mishaps, burns and feasts as you watch my progression from college-student fare (pizza rolls and ramen noodles) to (hopefully) goddess of the hearth! I am always open to new recipes and ideas, so feel free to contact me.

Terms and Definitions


Terms and Definitions:  You want me to whuh?


So after having to look these terms up myself as I learn, I thought I would condense the sometimes confusing jargon of cooking into a page that might help shed some light on, er, the kitchen.

  • Cut in butter/shortening:  This one deserves a photo.  You can use a pastry blender (see right photo), or two knives drawn away from each other like scissors to cut up chunks of COLD butter into flour/sugar.  This is typically used for pie crust, toppings, etc.
  • Divided:  Used when an ingredient is used twice in a recipe but only listed once in the ingredients 
    • ex: "4 Tbsp oil, divided" means you will use 1 Tbsp now and perhaps 3 in a later part of the recipe.  
  • Dredge:  To coat in flour or breadcrumbs by dragging and patting
    • ex: to "dredge" fish in flour is to drag it through a shallow dish of flour to coat it. 
  • Separated:  See "Divided"
  • Sift:  To strain ingredients using a sieve or a fine mesh tool to make the ingredient finer or rid it of coarse clumps. This is often used with flour or cocoa powder, or to "sift together" ingredients as a means of incorporating them. 

Different Strokes... and Sugars

There's a lot to baking that I don't quite know yet, but here are a few things about sugars that I didn't know.  Check out this link to the different types of sugar.  Super neat.  I have used demerara sugar in a few different things now, and it goes wonderfully in oatmeal cookies and the like.  Nice fall flavor due to its toffee notes.  Also great for topping cappuccinos!  

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