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Meal planning, groceries and kitchen

Words for planning meals, shopping for them and cooking safely at home.

B

Baking powder vs baking sodaBaking soda is a base that needs an acid in the recipe to make it rise; baking powder is baking soda already mixed with its own acid.
BlanchingBriefly cooking vegetables in boiling water or steam, then cooling them fast in ice water, usually before freezing them.
BriningSoaking meat or poultry in salt water before cooking; USDA says to keep it in the refrigerator at 40°F or below while it soaks.
Budget mealsMeals planned and cooked to keep food spending low, usually by working out the cost of each dinner and each serving before shopping.
Buttermilk substituteA stand-in for buttermilk: 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus milk to make 1 cup, left to stand 5 minutes before you use it.

D

Dinner rotationA set list of dinners a household cycles through again and again, so the week's meals are picked from it rather than decided from scratch each night.

E

Egg substitute(1) A carton product made from egg whites, sold in place of whole eggs; (2) any ingredient, like flax meal and water, used instead of egg in a recipe.

H

Herb gardenA small group of cooking herbs grown at home, in the ground, in containers or indoors on a sunny windowsill, to cut fresh for meals.
Home gardenA garden at home where a household grows some of its own vegetables, herbs or fruit, in the ground, in raised beds or in containers.

I

Ingredient substitutionsReplacing an ingredient you don't have with another in a measured amount, such as all-purpose flour and cornstarch in place of cake flour.
Internal temperatureThe temperature at the center of cooked food, read with a food thermometer; USDA lists the minimum each food must reach to be safe to eat.

P

Parchment paper vs wax paperParchment paper can go in the oven (Reynolds rates its own to 425°F), while wax paper can melt in oven heat. Both are microwave safe.
Proofing doughLetting yeast dough rise until it's puffy and ready to bake; King Arthur Baking's poke test tells you when it's there.

R

Recipe scalingChanging how much a recipe makes by multiplying every ingredient by one conversion factor: the yield you want divided by the yield it makes.
Resting meatLeaving cooked meat off the heat for a set time before cutting or eating it; USDA lists at least 3 minutes for whole cuts of red meat.
Room temperature ingredientsIngredients such as butter and eggs warmed from fridge-cold before baking; King Arthur Baking puts room-temperature butter at about 68°F to 72°F.

S

Seasoning cast ironBaking a very thin coat of cooking oil onto cast iron cookware so it sets on the surface. Lodge bakes it for one hour at 450 to 500°F.
Simmer vs boilBoiling is liquid at its boiling point, 212°F for water at sea level; simmering keeps it just under that, steaming with a few small bubbles.