Behind
A safety call announcing that you are passing directly behind another person.
Kitchen Terms · 82 essentials
Speak the language of the kitchen.
Professional kitchens move quickly because the team shares a vocabulary. These five groups cover the calls, cuts, methods, French foundations, and core techniques every emerging cook should recognize.
17terms
Group one
On the line
Short calls keep people safe, synchronize timing, and tell the brigade exactly what is happening during service.
Heard
Acknowledges that an instruction or order was received and understood.
Fire
Begin cooking a dish or course immediately.
All day
The total number of a particular item currently needed across every open ticket.
86
An item is unavailable, sold out, or must be removed from service.
In the weeds
Overwhelmed, behind, or struggling to keep pace with service.
On the fly
Prepare something urgently, usually because of a mistake, late addition, or immediate need.
Pick up
Finish, plate, or send the dishes for a table or course.
Walking in
A new order has just entered the kitchen and is about to be called.
Hands
A call requesting servers or available staff to carry finished plates from the pass.
Hot behind
A warning that someone is passing behind while carrying a hot pan, pot, or plate.
Sharp
A safety call made while moving with an exposed knife or other sharp tool.
Corner
A warning called before rounding a blind corner or entering a shared pathway.
Runner
The person who transports completed dishes from the kitchen to the dining room.
Pass or window
The station where finished dishes are checked, organized, and handed to the service team.
Covers
The number of guests a restaurant serves or expects to serve.
Order in
A call alerting the line that a new ticket is being read or entered.
16terms
Group two
Prep and knife work
Consistent cuts, organized stations, and disciplined storage create speed, even cooking, and safer food.
Mise en place
“Everything in its place”: ingredients, tools, and equipment prepared and organized before cooking.
Brunoise
A very fine, even dice, commonly about ⅛ inch on each side.
Julienne
A thin matchstick cut, commonly about ⅛ × ⅛ × 2 inches.
Dice
Cut food into even cubes; small, medium, and large dice have standardized culinary sizes.
Mince
Cut an ingredient into extremely small pieces, finer and less uniform than a dice.
Chiffonade
Stack and roll leafy ingredients, then slice them into thin ribbons.
Batonnet
A rectangular stick cut, commonly about ¼ × ¼ × 2 inches.
Bias cut
Slice an ingredient diagonally to create longer pieces and more exposed surface area.
Rondelle
A round, coin-shaped slice made across a cylindrical vegetable.
Tourné
A classic seven-sided, football-shaped cut used for vegetables.
Score
Make shallow cuts in a food’s surface to control cooking, improve seasoning, or aid presentation.
Butterfly
Split an ingredient nearly through and open it flat to create a thinner, broader piece.
Debone
Remove bones from meat, poultry, or fish while preserving usable flesh.
FIFO
“First in, first out”: use older properly stored inventory before newer stock.
Label and date
Mark prepared or opened food with its identity and preparation or discard date.
Cross-contamination
The transfer of harmful microorganisms or allergens from one food, surface, or tool to another.
17terms
Group three
Cooking methods
Understanding how heat and moisture behave gives a cook control over tenderness, browning, texture, and flavor.
Braise
Brown food, then cook it slowly in a covered vessel with a relatively small amount of liquid.
Poach
Cook gently in liquid kept below a simmer, suited to delicate foods.
Deglaze
Add liquid to a hot pan and dissolve the browned bits left from cooking.
Render
Slowly melt fat from meat or another ingredient, separating usable fat from solids.
Carryover cooking
Continued cooking caused by retained heat after food is removed from its heat source.
Sauté
Cook quickly in a small amount of fat over relatively high heat.
Sear
Brown a food’s surface rapidly with intense heat to develop color and flavor.
Roast
Cook with dry, surrounding heat, usually uncovered in an oven.
Bake
Cook with dry oven heat, especially breads, pastries, casseroles, and foods without an existing solid structure.
Grill
Cook with strong radiant heat from below, typically over grates.
Broil
Cook rapidly with intense radiant heat from above.
Simmer
Cook in liquid with gentle bubbles below a full boil.
Boil
Cook in liquid at the temperature where vigorous bubbles continuously break the surface.
Steam
Cook food with water vapor rather than submerging it in liquid.
Blanch
Cook briefly in boiling water, often as the first step before cooling or further preparation.
Shock
Cool blanched food rapidly in ice water to stop cooking and preserve color or texture.
Reduce
Simmer or boil a liquid to evaporate water, concentrating flavor and thickening consistency.
16terms
Group four
French basics
Classical French vocabulary remains embedded in professional kitchens around the world.
Mirepoix
A flavor base of diced onion, carrot, and celery, traditionally in a 2:1:1 proportion.
Roux
Fat and flour cooked together and used to thicken sauces, soups, and stews.
The five mother sauces
Béchamel, velouté, espagnole, tomato, and hollandaise—the foundational sauces from which many derivatives are made.
Garde manger
The cold-kitchen station or cook responsible for salads, cold preparations, charcuterie, and related work.
Bouquet garni
A tied bundle of herbs used to flavor a liquid and removed before serving.
Sachet d’épices
Herbs and spices enclosed in cheesecloth or a porous bag for easy removal after flavoring.
Liaison
A mixture, often egg yolks and cream, used to enrich and gently thicken a sauce or soup.
Beurre manié
Soft butter and flour kneaded together, then added in small amounts to thicken a liquid.
Confit
A preservation and cooking technique in which food is slowly cooked in fat, sugar syrup, or another preserving medium.
Au jus
Served with the natural juices released by the food during cooking.
En papillote
Cooked inside a sealed parchment packet so steam and aromas remain enclosed.
Demi-glace
A rich brown sauce traditionally made by reducing espagnole sauce and brown stock.
À la minute
Prepared to order at the moment it is needed rather than made in advance.
Napper
Coat food with a sauce, or describe a sauce thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Bain-marie
A hot-water bath used for gentle cooking or to hold delicate foods at temperature.
Sous vide
Cooking vacuum-sealed food in a precisely controlled water bath.
16terms
Group five
Pantry and technique
These concepts connect flavor, food safety, consistency, and the business discipline behind a professional kitchen.
Acid
A sour component—such as citrus or vinegar—that brightens flavor, balances richness, and can alter texture.
Umami
The savory taste associated with glutamates and ingredients such as aged cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, and soy.
Emulsion
A stable or temporary mixture of two liquids that normally separate, such as oil and water.
Danger zone
The temperature range in which harmful bacteria can multiply quickly; follow the food-safety limits required by your jurisdiction.
Food cost
The cost of ingredients used to produce a dish, often measured as a percentage of its selling price.
Seasoning
Adjusting flavor—most often with salt, but also with acid, spice, sweetness, bitterness, and aromatics.
Bloom
Awaken flavor or activate an ingredient, such as heating spices in fat or softening gelatin in cold liquid.
Temper
Gradually equalize temperatures, often by slowly adding hot liquid to eggs or chocolate to prevent curdling or seizing.
Proof
Allow a yeast-leavened dough to ferment and rise before baking.
Rest
Allow food or dough to sit so juices redistribute, gluten relaxes, or temperature evens out.
Fold
Gently combine a light mixture with a heavier one while preserving as much trapped air as possible.
Whisk
Beat ingredients with a wire whisk to combine, aerate, emulsify, or smooth them.
Zest
The colored outer layer of citrus peel, rich in aromatic oils and free of the bitter white pith.
Stock
A flavorful liquid made by simmering bones, vegetables, aromatics, or other ingredients for later use.
Slurry
Starch mixed with cold liquid before being stirred into a hot preparation to thicken it.
Yield
The usable quantity or number of portions produced by a recipe or ingredient after preparation.
Keep learning
Knowing the words helps you move with confidence.
Kitchen language is learned through repetition, observation, and practice. Use this page as a field guide—not a substitute for the standards and calls of the kitchen where you work.