i Lead Recipes

To blanch is to preheat in boiling water or steam. This can be done for several different reasons:

• To loosen the outer skin of fruits , nuts or vegetables (e.g. Tomatoes)
• To whiten sweetbreads, veal or chicken
• To remove excess salt, or the bitter flavour from bacon, gammon, ham, Brussels sprouts, turnips, endive etc.
• To prepare fruits or vegetables for canning, freezing or preserving

To glaze is to cover with a thin layer of syrup or aspic, which is brushed over sweets, puddings, fruits, cooked ham, tongue, beef, pork etc. Food must be cold and dry before aspic will set.

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Liaison is:
To thicken a sauce, gravy or stew

• By the addition of flour, cornflour, arrowroot, rice flour, potato flour or a beurre manié.
• By stirring in egg yolk, double cream or, in the case of some poultry or game dishes, blood.

Macédoine is:

• A mixture of raw or cooked fruit for a fruit salad.
• A mixture of cooked diced vegetables garnished with a cream sauce, mayonnaise or aspic, usually served as an hors-d’œuvre salad, or as a garnish.

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A ragoût is a stew made from regular sized pieces of meat, poultry or fish that have been sautéed in fat until brown, and then simmered in stock, meat juices or water, or a combination of these, until tender. A good example of a brown ragout is Navarin de mouton. Irish Stew would be a typical example of a white ragout, where the meat is not browned before stewing.

A quenelle consists of the finely pounded flesh of fish, shellfish, veal, poultry or game mixed with egg whites and cream and pounded over ice to a velvety smooth paste. These light dumplings are then poached in either stock or salted water.

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A roux is the gently amalgamation of butter and flour over a low heat, and is capable of absorbing up to six times its own weight when cooked. To make a white roux, melt two tablespoons butter in the top of a double saucepan, add two tablespoons of sifted flour and stir with a wire whisk for two or three minutes over boiling water until the mixture amalgamates but does not change colour. To make a pale roux, continue cooking the above until the mixture starts to turn into a pale golden colour. To make a brown roux, cook even more until it changes into a fine light brown and has a nutty aroma.

A roux is mixed with stock, court-bouillon or milk, added carefully with continual stirring to prevent lumping, to form a thick sauce

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A court-bouillon is a liquid in which fish, meat or poultry is cooked to give it added flavour. A simple court-bouillon may consist of water to which you have added half an onion, a couple of bay leaves, a stalk of celery, a sprig of parsley, a carrot, some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Other additives might be wine, vinegar, stock, olive oil, garlic, shallots, cloves etc.

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