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Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Cooking Methods & Techniques

Reduce

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/rɪˈduːs/verbCommon term

In culinary arts & cooking, reduce means: To boil or simmer a liquid so that some of the water evaporates, making it thicker and its flavour stronger. The result is called a reduction.

In Turkish: redükte etmek, suyunu çektirmek, koyulaştırmak

How it is used

Used for sauces, stocks, wine and cream. Recipes say reduce by half or reduce until syrupy. Chefs talk about a red wine reduction or a balsamic reduction. Do not add salt early, because it gets stronger as the sauce reduces.

Example sentences

  1. Reduce the wine by two thirds before you add the stock.

  2. The sauce isn't reduced enough; it's still too thin.

Common collocations

  • reduce by half
  • red wine reduction
  • reduce until syrupy
  • reduce the sauce
  • simmerTo cook food gently in liquid kept just below boiling point, so that only small bubbles rise slowly to the surface.
  • stockA flavoured liquid made by simmering bones, vegetables and aromatics in water for a long time, used as the base for soups, sauces and braises.
  • mother sauceOne of the five basic sauces of classic French cooking, as set out by Escoffier: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise and tomato. Many other sauces are made from them.
  • braiseTo brown food first and then cook it slowly in a covered pot with a small amount of liquid, so that tough cuts become tender.

More terms: Cooking Methods & Techniques

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