Glossary

F

  • Faggot
    1. Small savoury cake made of pork offal, onion and bread, which is usually baked. 2. A small bunch, e.g. of herbs which are tied with string
  • Falafel
    Middle Eastern street food of spiced chickpea fritters, often served in warm pitta bread.
  • Farfalle
    Pasta shaped like bow-ties or butterflies
  • Farina
    Fine flour made from wheat, nuts and potatoes
  • Farle
    Round, Hat oatmeal cake baked on a griddle.
  • Fava beans
    Fresh or dried broad beans.
  • Fennel
    Aromatic plant, with pale green, celery-like stems and bright green, feathery foliage.
  • Fenugreek
    An aromatic Mediterranean plant that produces long pods containing oblong, brownish seeds. These have a slightly bitter taste and are roasted and ground and used as a flavouring in curries.
  • Ferment
    To bring about a chemical change in foods and beverages: The change is caused by the enzymes in bacteria or yeasts. Beer, wine, yogurt, buttermilk, vinegar, cheese, and yeast breads all get their distinctive flavors from fermentation.
  • Feta cheese
    A creamy white Greek cheese traditionally made from ewes’ milk or ewes’ and goats’ milk mixed.
  • Fettuccine
    Long flat pasta, similar to tagliatelle.
  • Fillet
    A boneless, lean cut of meat, fish or poultry.
  • Filo pastry
    Thin sheets of pastry commonly used in Greek, eastern European and Middle Eastern cuisines.
  • Fines herbes
    A mixture of chopped aromatic herbs used in French cooking, particularly in egg dishes, sauces, salads and soups. A classic combination is chopped chervil, tarragon, parsley and chives.
  • Fish Sauce
    Known as nam pla, this is a commonly used flavouring in Thai dishes in the same way that soy sauce is used in Chinese cooking.
  • Five-spice powder:
    A popular condiment in Chinese cooking.
  • Flake
    1. Separating cooked fish into individual flaky slivers. #2. Grating chocolate or cheese into small slivers
  • Flaky pastry
    A pastry made in layers that become flakier towards the outside when cooked.
  • Flambe
    Flamed; e.g. food tossed in a pan to which burning brandy or other alcohol has been added
  • Flan
    Open pie containing sweet or savoury filling in a custard of eggs and cream
  • Fleurs de sel
    Fleurs de sel is a moist salt from France
  • Florentine
    1. fish and eggs; served on a bed of buttered spinach and coated with cheese sauce. #2. Thin petit-four biscuit made of nuts, glace fruit and chocolate.
  • Florets
    Florets are the small, individual flower stems that make up the heads of vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower.
  • Flour
    Finely ground cereal, such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice and maize (corn).
  • Focaccia
    Italian olive-oil bread, large and flat, often flavoured with herbs, sometimes with a filling of ham or cheese
  • Foie gras
    Literally French for ‘fat liver’, but usually used to refer to the rich p¢t© made from the liver of ducks and geese that have been force-fed and fattened until their livers become enlarged.
  • Fold
    To combine a light mixture (such as beaten egg whites, whipped cream, or sifted flour) with a heavier mixture (such as a cake batter or the base of a souffle) without deflating either. A rubber spatula is the best tool.
  • Folding in
    Enveloping one ingrediient or mixture in another, using a large metal spoon or spatula
  • Fond
    The French word for stock – the flavoured liquid base used for making a sauce, stew or braised dish.
  • Fondant
    Soft-textured sweet made of flavoured icing or Fondant potatoes are saut©ed potatoes, crisp on the outside and melting in the middle.
  • Fondue
    A Swiss dish of melted cheese served at the table in a pan.
  • Fontina
    Semi-soft Italian cow’s-milk cheese, which is easily melted. When matured, fontina can be grated and used like Parmesan.
  • Fool
    Cold dessert consisting of fruit puree and whipped cream.
  • Fragrant rice
    An aromatic long-grain rice favoured in Thai and Vietnamese cooking.
  • Frangipane
    A pastry cream used when preparing various desserts, sweets, cakes and pancakes.
  • Freezing
    Solidifying or preserving food by chilling and storing it at 0°C (32°F)’.
  • French dressing
    Also known as vinaigrette. A cold sauce used for dressing salads, made from a mixture of olive oil, wine vinegar, pepper and salt to which various flavourings can be added.
  • French roast lamb
    Meat, fat and connective tissue are removed from the tips of the rib bones. Carefully cut through and remove all the connective tissue, meat and fat from the first 2.5 cm (1 inch) of the rib ends.
  • Fricadelles
    Meat balls, made with minced pork and veal, spices, white breadcrumbs, creamand egg; poached in stock or shallow-fried.
  • Fricassee
    A white stew made from poultry and other white meat.
  • Frittata
    An Italian omelette with a variety of fillings, eg potatoes, mushrooms, pumpkin, ham, cheese.
  • Fritter
    Piece of raw or cooked meat, fish, fruit or vegetable coated in batter and deep-fried until crisp, golden and cooked through.
  • Fritto misto
    An Italian dish (meaning literally ‘fried mixture’)
  • Fromage frais
    A fresh, low-fat curd cheese made from pasteurised cow’s milk which can be used in cooking or in desserts.
  • Frost
    1. To coat a cake with an icing of confectioners’ sugar. #2. To dip the rim of a glass in egg white and caster sugar and then chill in a refrigerator until set.
  • Fumet
    A strong-flavoured cooking liquor used for flavouring sauces.
  • Fusilli
    Spiral-shaped pasta.