Hotel Glossary Terms

Blanch / Blanching - To cook a food item partially and very briefly in boiling liquid or hot oil. Usually, this is a technique for the pre-preparation of a food item for finishing later.

Cold sweet made of milk and cornflour set in a mould, then turned out.

A white stew of chicken, lamb, rabbit or veal, garnished with mushrooms, onions and croutons.

Blanquette (blahn-keht) - A white stew made of a white sauce and meat or poultry that is simmered without first browning.

Blend - To mix two or more ingredients so completely that they lose their separate identities.

east pancake, 10 cm diameter x 1.5cm thick, made with buckwheat flour for serving hot with caviar, instead of toast.

An agreed-upon number of rooms set aside for members of a group planning to stay in a hotel.

Bloom - A measure of the strength of gelatin, Additionally refers to a whitish layer that forms on chocolate due to the separation of the cocoa butter.

Boil - To cook the food item in a boiling liquid. Very few items are boiled due to the fact that which this process the food might dry.

Boiling - A moist heat cooking method that uses convection to transfer heat from a hot (approximately 212°F/ 100 C) liquid to the food submerged in it. The turbulent waters and higher temperatures cook foods more quickly than do poaching or simmering.

To sell or reserve rooms ahead of time.

Broth-type soup flavoured with beetroot and duck, a speciality of Poland and Russia; served with sour cream.

Bouchées (Boo-shay) - A kind of small puff pastry shells that can be filled and served as bite-size hors-d'oeuvre or petit fours.

Fish stew combined with soup; a broth-type mixture of several kinds of fish with saffron, vegetables and garlic.

Clear but not clarified stock, usually served as a soup but can also be made into a sauce.