The Kitchen Guide

Cooking questions, answered plainly

The techniques, temperatures and ingredients behind our recipes, each explained in a few sentences so you can cook with confidence.

Techniques

What is a roux?

A roux is flour cooked in fat, usually butter, used to thicken sauces and gravies.

What is mornay sauce?

Mornay sauce is a white sauce, made with a roux and milk, finished with melted cheese.

What is mise en place?

Mise en place is the French phrase for having every ingredient measured, cut and within reach before you start cooking.

What is the Maillard reaction?

The Maillard reaction is the browning that happens when proteins and sugars in food are heated above roughly 300 degrees Fahrenheit, creating savory flavor.

How do you caramelize onions?

Cook thinly sliced onions in butter or oil over medium-low heat, stirring often, for 20 to 25 minutes or longer, until they are deep golden and sweet.

How do you sear meat properly?

Pat the meat dry, season it, and place it in a very hot pan with a little oil, then leave it alone until a deep brown crust forms.

What is basting?

Basting is spooning hot fat or pan juices over food as it cooks to add flavor and encourage even browning.

What is deglazing?

Deglazing is adding a liquid to a hot pan to dissolve the browned bits stuck to the bottom and turn them into a sauce.

What is an emulsion in cooking?

An emulsion is a stable mixture of fat and water, such as a butter sauce, mayonnaise or a vinaigrette.

Why should you rest meat before slicing it?

Resting lets the juices that were pushed to the center by heat spread back through the meat, so they stay in the slice instead of running onto the board.

Temperatures and safety

What is carryover cooking?

Carryover cooking is the rise in a food's internal temperature after it leaves the heat, often by 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit for large cuts.

What are safe internal cooking temperatures?

The USDA recommends 165 degrees Fahrenheit for poultry, 160 for ground beef and pork, and 145 for whole cuts of beef, pork, lamb and fish.

What temperature is each steak doneness?

Chefs commonly pull steak at about 125 degrees Fahrenheit for rare, 130 for medium-rare, 140 for medium and 150 for medium-well.

What is the food safety danger zone?

The danger zone is 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the range where bacteria multiply fastest.

Ingredients

What are pasteurized eggs and when should I use them?

Pasteurized eggs have been gently heated to kill bacteria such as salmonella without cooking the egg, so they are safer in lightly cooked dishes.

What is the difference between kosher salt and table salt?

Kosher salt has larger, flakier crystals than table salt, so a teaspoon of kosher salt contains less salt than a teaspoon of table salt.

What is brown butter?

Brown butter is butter cooked until its milk solids toast, turning it amber and giving it a nutty smell.

What does 70 percent cacao mean?

A chocolate labeled 70 percent cacao is 70 percent cocoa solids and cocoa butter by weight, with the remainder mostly sugar.

How do you make a buttermilk substitute?

Stir one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into one cup of milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly.

Baking and dough

What is the difference between baking powder and baking soda?

Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate and needs an acid to make bread and cakes rise, while baking powder already contains its own acid.

What is the difference between instant yeast and active dry yeast?

Instant yeast can be mixed straight into the flour, while active dry yeast is usually dissolved in warm liquid first.

How do you know when dough is kneaded enough?

Dough is kneaded enough when it is smooth and elastic and a small piece stretches thin without tearing, called the windowpane test.

Why does cold butter make flaky biscuits?

Pieces of cold butter melt in the hot oven and release steam, which pushes the dough into flaky layers.