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Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Knife Skills & Cuts

Peel

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/piːl/verbCore term

In culinary arts & cooking, peel means: To remove the skin of a fruit or vegetable. As a noun, peel is the skin of fruits such as oranges, lemons and potatoes.

In Turkish: soymak, kabuğunu soymak, kabuk

How it is used

A daily prep job, often given to commis chefs: peel the potatoes, carrots or onions. You use a peeler or a small knife. Kitchens also say peel prawns (remove the shell). Peelings are the pieces of skin that come off.

Example sentences

  1. Peel ten kilos of potatoes for tomorrow's mash.

  2. Keep the orange peel; we'll candy it for the dessert.

Common collocations

  • peel the potatoes
  • vegetable peeler
  • orange peel
  • peeled prawns
  • peel and dice
  • paring knifeA small knife with a short blade, usually 7–10 cm long, used for peeling, trimming and detailed work on fruit and vegetables.
  • zestThe thin, coloured outer layer of the skin of citrus fruit, full of aromatic oils, grated or cut off to add flavour. As a verb, to zest means to remove it.
  • prepShort for preparation: the work of getting food ready before cooking or service, such as washing, peeling, cutting, portioning and making sauces. Also used as a verb.
  • commis chefA junior chef at the start of their career who works under a chef de partie, doing prep and learning each section of the kitchen.

More terms: Knife Skills & Cuts

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