Chapter 4: Knives & Smallwares

Vegetable cleaver

A cleaver with a rectangular blade and straight sides; often used in the same applications as a chef's knife.

Santoku knife

A general purpose knife that originated in Japan; has a blade that curves down towards the tip. It is used for slicing, chopping, and mincing food.

Sheet pan

All-purpose baking pan; it is shallow and rectangular, with sides generally no higher than 1 inch. They may be full, half, or quarter size.

Chef's knife

All-purpose knife used for peeling, trimming, slicing, chopping, and dicing. Blade is usually 8 to 12 inches long. Also known as French knife.

Bain marie

Another name for a double-broiler

Warewashing station

Area for rinsing, washing, and holding tools, ports and pans, and dishes. Also includes trashcans, sinks, garbage disposals and dish-washing equipment.

Custard cup

Baking dish that is round and straight-edge; comes in various sizes.

Ramekin

Baking dish that is round and straight-edge; comes in various sizes.

Souffle dish

Baking dish that is round and straight-edged; comes in various sizes.

Meat cleaver

Cleaver with a very heavy blade; used to chop through sinews and bones. Also called a butcher's cleaver.

Zest

Colored outer layer of citrus fruit peel.

Wok

Cookware for fast stove top cooking, such as stir-frying; has tall, sloped sides. Once one ingredient cooks, you can push it up the sides, leaving the hot center free for another ingredient.

Double boiler

Cookware that is actually a pair of nesting pots. The bottom pot is filled with water and heated, providing steady, even heat for the top pot.

Oblique cut

Cut for vegetables where sides are neither parallel nor perpendicular but cut on an angle, with the vegetable rolled after each cut. Used for long, cylindrical vegetables such as parsnips, carrots, and celery.

Dice

Cut that produces a cube-shaped piece of food.

Chiffonade

Cut used for cutting herbs and leafy greens into fine shreds.

Ricer

Device in which cooked food, typically potatoes, is pushed through a pierced container, resulting in rice-like pieces.

Lozenge

Diamond-shaped cut measuring 1/2 inch long, 1/2 inch wide, and 1/4 inch thick; most often used in garnishes.

Undercounter dishwasher

Dishwasher that holds portable dish racks to allow for easy transfer of clean and dirty dishes.

Single-rack dishwasher

Dishwasher that processes small loads of dishes quickly.

Microplane

General-purpose tool used for grating food, such as grating the skin of a lemon to produce fine lemon zest.

Whip

Hand mixing tool similar to a whisk but narrower and with thicker wires; used to blend sauces or batters without adding too much air.

Whisk

Hand mixing tool with thin wires in a sphere or an oval shape use to incorporate air for making foams. Very round whisks incorporate a large amount of air and are sometimes called balloon whisks.

Box grater

Hand tool used for grating; has four sides each with a different-sized grate.

Smallware

Hand tools, pots, and pans used for cooking.

Whetstone

Hard, fine grained stone for sharpening knives and other tools.

Tempering

Heating and cooling a blade several times to ensure that the blade will be properly hardened and will not be brittle.

Heat transfer

How efficiently heat passes from cookware to the food inside it.

Stamped blade

Knife blade made by cutting blade-shaped pieces from sheets of previously milled steel.

Forged blade

Knife blade made from a single piece of heated metal; it is dropped into a mold and then the metal is cut free and hammered into the correct shape.

Serrated edge

Knife edge that has a row of teeth; works well for slicing foods with a crust or firm skin.

Scimitar

Knife with a long curved blade, used for portioning raw meats.

Slicer

Knife with a long thin blade used to make smooth slices in a single stroke.

Filleting knife

Knife with flexible blade; used for filleting fish.

Conveyor belt dishwasher

Large piece of dishwashing equipment that can process a high volume of dishes as continuous flow.

Stockpot

Large pot that is taller than it is wide and has straight sides. Used to cook large quantities of liquid, such as stocks or soups. Some stockpots has a spigot at the base so the liquid can be drained off without lifting the heavy pot.

Colander

Large, perforated stainless steel or aluminum bowl used to strain or drain foods.

Fish poacher

Long, narrow metal pan with a perforated rack used to raise or lower the fish so it doesn't break apart.

Julienne

Long, rectangular cut measuring 1/8 inch wide x 1/8 inch thick and 1 to 2 inches in length.

Batonnet

Long, rectangular cut that is 1/4 inch wide by 1/4 thick and 2 to 2 1/2 inches long.

Conical sieve

Made of very fine mesh and shaped like a cone. Also called a chinois, a china cap, or a bouillon strainer. Used to strain or puree foods.

Parisienne scoop

Melon baller with a scoop at each end, one larger than the other.

Spine (of blade)

Noncutting edge of a knife blade.

Pate mold

Oven cookware that is deep, rectangular, and made of metal, sometimes with hinged sides.

Terrine mold

Oven cookware usually made of pottery but can also be metal, enameled cast iron, or ceramic. Produced in a wide range of sizes and shapes; some have lids.

Saucepan

Pan that has straight or slightly flared sides and a single long handle.

Roasting pan

Pan used for roasting and baking; has low sides and comes in various sizes. Roasting racks are placed inside the panto hold foods as they cook so the bottom, sides, and top of the food all are cooked evenly.

Braising pan

Pan with medium-high walls and lid to keep moisture in.

Casserole

Pan with medium-high walls and lid to keep moisture in.

Tournee knife

Paring knife with a curved blade. Also called a bird's beak knife.

Rivets

Pieces of metal used to attach the handle of a knife to the blade; lie flush with the surface of the handle.

Saucepot

Pot that is similar in shape to a stockpot but not as large. Has straight sides and two loop-style handles to ease lifting.

Rondelles

Round shapes produced by cutting through any cylindrical vegetable, such as a carrot or cucumber. Means 'rounds' in French.

Fermiere

Rustic cut that produce 1/8 to 1/2 inch pieces. Means farmer' in French.

Paysanne

Rustic type of cut that produces 1/2 inch square by 1/8 inch thick pieces. Means 'peasant' in French.

Sautoir

Saute pan that has straight sides and a long handle; often referred to as a skillet.

Sauteuse

Saute pan that is wide and shallow with sloping sides and a single long handle.

Portion scale

Scale that measure the weight of a small amount of food or ingredient (typically a portion). Can be reset to zero to allow for the weight of a container or weigh more than one ingredient at a time. Also known as a spring scale.

Balance scale

Scale typically used for weighing baking ingredients. Ingredients are placed on one side; weights are placed on the other side. When the sides balance, the ingredients weight the same at the weights.

Spring scale

Scale used to measure the weight of a small amount of food or an ingredient; can typically be reset to zero so you can allow for the weight of a container. Also known as a portion scale.

Kitchen shears

Scissors used for kitchen chores such as cutting string and butcher's twine, trimming artichoke leaves, cutting grapes into clusters, and trimming herbs.

Rubber spatula

Scraping tool with a broad, flexible rubber or plastic tip. Used to scrape food from the inside of bowls and pans and also to mix in whipped cream or egg whites.

Drum sieve

Screen stretched on an aluminum or wood frame; used to sift dry ingredients or puree very soft foods.

Tang

Section of knife blade that extends into handle. Tangs can be full or partial.

Steamer

Set of stacked pots or bamboo baskets with a tight-fitting lid. The upper pots or baskets have perforated bottoms so steam can gently cook or warm the contents of the pots of baskets. In a metal steamer, water is placed int he bottom pot and it is placed on the range. Bamboo steamers are generally placed over water in a wok.

Gratin dish

Shallow baking dish made of ceramic, enameled cast iron, or enameled steel.

Crepe pan

Shallow skillet with very short, sloping sides; often has a non-stick coating.

Omelet pan

Shallow skillet with very short, sloping sides; often has a nonstick coating.

Saute pan

Shallow, general-purpose pan.

Paring knife

Small knife with 2- to 4- inch blade; used mainly for trimming and peeling fruits and vegetables.

Utility knife

Smaller, lighter version of the chef's knife, with a 5- to 7-inch blade.

Mandoline

Special slicing tool used for precise slicing. It has extremely sharp blades that can be adjusted to achieve precise cuts and thicknesses

Honing

Straightening a knife's edge on a steel to sharpen the knife.

Liquid-filled thermometer

Thermometer that has either a glass or metal stem filled with a colored liquid. Designed to stay in the food while cooking.

Bimetallic-coil thermometer

Thermometer that uses a metal coil in the probe to measure temperature. Oven-safe version can stay in food while cooking and gives a reading in 1 to 2 minutes. Instant-read version is not oven-safe and gives a reading in 15 to 20 seconds.

Thermistor thermometer

Thermometer that uses a resistor (electronic semiconductor) to measure temperature. Gives a fast reading, can measure temperature in thin and thick foods, and is not designed to stay in food while cooking.

Thermocouple thermometer

Thermometer that uses two fine wires within the probe to measure temperature. Gives the fastest reading, can measure the temperature in thin and thick foods, and is not designed to stay in food while cooking.

Gauge

Thickness of the material of which cookware is made.

Puree

To process food until it has a soft, smooth consistency.

Zester

Tool that cuts away thin strips of citrus fruit peel.

Tongs

Tool used for picking up hot items such as meat or large vegetables. Can also be used for sanitary serving of such items as cookies or ice cubes.

Channel knife

Tool used to cut grooves lengthwise in a vegetable such a cucumber or carrot. A rondelle cut from the grooved vegetable was decorative edges that resemble a flower.

Steel

Tool used to maintain a knife's edge between sharpenings; it is a rod made of textured steel or ceramic.

Corer

Tool used to remove the core of an apple or pear in long, round piece; corers are available in various sizes to use with small fruits like apples or larger fruits like pineapples.

Melon baller

Tool used to scoop smooth balls from melons, cheese, and butter.

Food mill

Tool used to strain and puree at the same time. Has a flat, curving blade that is rotated over a disk by hand-operated crank to puree foods.

Turner

Tool with a broad blade and a short handle that is bent to keep the user's hands off hot surfaces. Used to turn or lift hot foods from hot cookware, grills, broilers, and griddles. Also called an offset spatula or a flipper.

Skimmer

Tool with a perforated surface used to skim impurities from liquids; also used to remove cooked food or pasta from hot liquid. Sometimes referred to as a spider.

Palette knife

Tool with along, flexible blade and a rounded end; used for turning cooked for grilled foods and spreading filings or glazes. Sometimes used in baking. Also called a straight spatula or a flat spatula.

Cookware

Utensils used for cooking, such as pots and pans.

Diagonal cut

Variation of a rondelle, cutting diagonally instead of straight down, to expose a greater surface area of the vegetable.

Tare weight

Weight of the container holding food on a scale. To account for the tare, reset the scale to zero while weighing the empty container. If the scale cannot be reset, subtract the tare from the total weight.

Heel (of blade)

Widest, thickets part of the knife blade closest to the handle; used for cutting tasks that require some force, such as chopping through the joints of a chicken

grater

a device having a surface covered with holes edged by slightly raised cutting edges, used for grating cheese and other foods.

colander

a perforated bowl used to strain off liquid from food, especially after cooking.

whisk

a utensil for whipping eggs or cream.

tongs

an instrument with two movable arms that are joined at one end, used for picking up and holding things.

Boning knife

knife about 6 inches long with a narrow blade, used to separate meat from the bone.

Bolster

point at the heel of a knife blade where the blade and handle come together. Gives the blade greater strength and durability.

Brunoise

smallest dice cut, about 1/8 inches square. Means 'to brown' in French.