What is a mirepoix, the classical French aromatic base?

A mix of diced onion, carrot, and celery, in roughly a 2:1:1 ratio.

School & Learning

Cooking verbs Word Search

This cooking verbs word search hides words like caramelize, marinate, tenderize to find. Play it free online or print the PDF with the answer key, a handy cooking verbs vocabulary activity.

10 words · 11×11 grid · Medium · Answer key included · Free printable PDF

School & Learning

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Tap the first and last letter of a word — or use arrow keys and Enter. Dragging works too.

CARAMELIZE
TENDERIZE
MARINATE
SCRAMBLE
SPRINKLE
JULIENNE
GARNISH
DRIZZLE
COMBINE
SIMMER

🎉 Solved — all 10 words found!

True stories

Cooks in lab coats

Erice, Sicily

In Erice, Sicily, in 1992, the Hungarian-born Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti and the French chemist Hervé This co-directed the first International Workshop on Molecular and Physical Gastronomy. Their goal was simple: bring scientific instruments into the kitchen and test which old cooking tricks actually worked. Over the years they invited chefs and scientists to weigh soufflés, photograph boiling pasta, and dissect the chemistry of stock-making. Kurti and This had coined the term 'molecular gastronomy' a few years earlier, but their deeper legacy was the habit they spread among working cooks. Today's modern kitchen carries thermometers, vacuum sealers, and pH meters next to its whisks and knives.

The cookbook nobody would print

Florence, Italy

In Florence, Italy, in 1891, a retired businessman named Pellegrino Artusi paid to print his own cookbook after every publisher turned him down. The book, 'Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well,' would eventually collect 790 recipes from across the regions of newly unified Italy and spell out exactly how to chop, mince, and simmer each one. Critics scoffed. But cooks bought it. By the author's death in 1911 it had sold hundreds of thousands of copies; today, more than 130 years on, it still sits on the shelf in many Italian homes and has quietly taught the young country its first shared culinary language.

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Did you know?

caramelize: Plain table sugar, sucrose, begins to caramelize at 170 degrees Celsius, where heat shatters it into hundreds of amber, fragrant new molecules.
marinate: Acidic marinades only reach a few millimeters into meat; beyond that the surface turns mushy long before the inside ever softens.
tenderize: Pineapple, papaya, and kiwi carry enzymes (bromelain, papain, actinidin) that break meat proteins so fast they can reduce a steak to mush.
scramble: Scrambled eggs stay soft and creamy over low heat with gentle stirring; high heat and neglect turn the curds tough and rubbery.
sprinkle: Salt sprinkled on food just before serving tastes sharper than salt mixed in earlier, because the crystals land directly on the tongue.
garnish: Escoffier's 1903 Le Guide Culinaire treated color on the plate as essential; today's parsley sprig is a faint echo of his garniture rule.
drizzle: Reducing balsamic vinegar concentrates its sugars past 30 percent, which is why a drizzle of glaze trails out in slow, syrupy ribbons.
simmer: A true simmer sits around 85 to 95 degrees Celsius, with small bubbles trembling at the pot's edge but never breaking the surface.
julienne: The julienne cut produces long, thin matchsticks; slice those crosswise and you get the tiny brunoise dice prized in French kitchens.
combine: Bakers often combine wet and dry ingredients separately first, so the leavening spreads evenly before the two mixtures are ever brought together.
dredge: Dredging meat in seasoned flour before frying builds a dry surface that browns fast and helps the crisp coating cling on.
deglaze: Deglazing pours wine or stock into a hot pan to dissolve the browned bits, called fond, into an instant flavorful sauce.
roast: Peanuts are not nuts but legumes, cousins of beans and peas, and almost always dry-roasted to bring out their warm, toasty flavor.
whisk: A balloon whisk's bulbous wires fold so much air into cream that a single cup can double in volume in under two minutes.
boil: On Mount Everest's summit the air is so thin that water boils at only 71 degrees Celsius, too cool to cook an egg through.

Trivia

What do French chefs call the prep work, all the chopping and measuring, that is done before service begins?
Mise en place ('put in place').
Which Italian phrase, meaning 'to the tooth,' describes pasta cooked firm rather than soft?
Al dente.
What is a mirepoix, the classical French aromatic base?
A mix of diced onion, carrot, and celery, in roughly a 2:1:1 ratio.
The Maillard reaction browns crusts on bread and steaks. After which 1912 French chemist is it named?
Louis-Camille Maillard.
Which method cooks food sealed in a bag in a precisely held water bath?
Sous vide ('under vacuum').

Trivia · 1 / 5

What do French chefs call the prep work, all the chopping and measuring, that is done before service begins?

Mise en place ('put in place').

In their words

The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste (1825)

Good cooking is when things taste of what they are.
Curnonsky (Maurice Edmond Sailland)

Is this cooking verbs word search free to print?

This cooking verbs word search is a free printable puzzle with 10 hidden words in an 11×11 grid. Find words like CARAMELIZE, TENDERIZE, MARINATE hidden across, down, and diagonally. You can play it right here in your browser — tap the first and last letter of a word — or download it as a printable PDF with the full answer key on page two. It's free for personal and classroom use, so teachers can print copies for a whole class with no sign-up and no account. Word searches like this one are a proven way to build vocabulary, spelling, and word-shape recognition, which is why they're a favourite with ESL learners, elementary classrooms, and anyone who likes a quiet puzzle with their coffee.

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