Bake: To cook foods by surrounding them with hot, dry air. Similar to roast, but the term bake usually deals with breads, pastries, vegetables, and fish.
Barbecue: To cook with dry heat created by the burning of hardwood or by the hot coals of this wood. Loosely to cook over hot coals, such as on a grill or spit, often with a seasoned marinade or basting sauce.
Blanch: To cook an item partially and very briefly in boiling water or in hot fat. Usually a pre-preparation technique, as to loosen peels of vegetables, fruits, and nuts, to partially cook foods before serving, to prepare for freezing, or to remove undesirable flavors.
Boil: To cook in water or other liquid that is bubbling rapidly, about 212degreesF.
Braise: To cook covered in a small amount of liquid, usually after browning first. To cook certain vegetables slowly in a small amount of liquid without browning.
Broil: To cook with radiant heat from above.
Deep-Fry: To cook submerged in hot fat.
Deglaze: To swirl a liquid in a saute pan, roast pan, or other pan to dissolve cooked particles of food remaining on the bottom.
Dry-heat cooking methods: Methods in which heat is conducted to foods with out the use of moisture.
Fry: To cook in hot fat.
Glaze: To give shine to the surface of a food by applying a sauce, aspic, sugar, or icing, and by browning or melting under a broiler or salamander or in an oven.
Griddle: To cook on a flat, solid cooking surface called a griddle.
Grill: To cook uncovered in a skillet or saute pan without fat.
Pan-Fry: To cook in a moderate amount of fat in an uncovered pan.
En Papillote: Wrapped in paper or sometimes foil for cooking so the enclosed food is steamed in its own moisture.
Parboil: To cook partially in a boiling or simmering liquid.
Parcook: To cook partially by any method.
Poach: To cook gently in water or other liquid that is hot but not actually bubbling, about 160degreesF to 180degreesF.
Reduce: To cook by simmering or boiling until the quantity of liquid is decreased, often to concentrate flavors.
Roast: to cook foods by surrounding them with hot, dry air in an oven or on a spit in front of an open fire.
Saute: To cook quickly in a small amount of fat, usually while mixing or tossing the foods by occasionally flipping the pan.
Sear: To brown the surface of a food quickly at a high temperature.
Simmer: To cook in water or other liquid that is bubbling gently, about 185degreesF to 205degreesF.
Smoke-Roasting: To cook with dry heat in the presence of smoke, as on a rack over wood chips in a covered pan.
Steam: To cook by direct contact with steam.
Stew: To simmer or braise a food or foods in a small amount of liquid, which is usually served with the food as a sauce.
Stir-Fry: To cook quickly in a small amount of fat by tossing cut-up foods in a wok or pan with spatulas or similar implements. Similar to saute, but the pan stays stationary.
Sweat: To cook slowly in fat without browning, sometimes under a cover.