Au Jus - This is a French term that means ‘with juice’ and usually refers to a dish that comes with a sauce or gravy made from the drippings. Usually, the sauce is made from the meat that is being served, and instead of the meat being served in the juice, the juice is presented on the side. A common example of a dish that has gravy on the side is a French Dip Roast sandwich, wherein you dip the sandwich into the gravy made from the beef.
Au Poivre - This is another French term. It means ‘with pepper’ and refers to ground black peppercorns. You’ll often see this term associated with steak that is covered in a peppercorn rub.
Bisque - A bisque is a kind of soup usually made from shellfish. It’s usually creamy in consistency and made from either one or a combination of the following: lobster, shrimp, crayfish, langoustine, or crab. It’s rich in taste due to the method of grounding the shells into a paste which extracts all the flavor from the shellfish.
Coddle - This is the method of cooking something in water that is just below the boiling point. You’ll probably see this technique being done with eggs. Eggs are usually placed in some kind of bowl or ramekin and then placed in a hot water bath to gently cook them. This slow way of cooking eggs makes sure that the yolks stay runny and you can achieve the consistency that you want.
Deglaze - To deglaze is to add liquid to a pan or pot to help remove the caramelized food particles at the bottom. This can be done with water or other kinds of liquids such as wine or stock. By removing the food particles from the bottom of the pan you are making use of the flavors and juices left by the item you were just cooking. Deglazing a pan after cooking something such as meat can also be the basis of your sauce or gravy.
