French Cooking Words to know before entering Culinary School

Last updated on April 16th, 2025

If you wish to enter culinary arts schools or culinary arts colleges, you should know the basic and common French words that are used in these schools and colleges for teaching culinary arts. Let’s take a look at the most important French cooking words that will help you when you enter a culinary arts school.

• Cereals are an important part of any cuisine. Cereal is termed as La céréale in French. Wheat is known as Le blé. Corn and cornflakes are called Le maïs and Les flacons de maïs. Barley, oat, rice, and rye are coined as L’orge, L’avoine, Le riz and Le sieigle, respectively.
• Coffee and its variants have similar French terms that are equivalent to English terms. Black coffee is Le café noir, while instant coffee is known as Le café instantané. Coffee ice-cream with fresh cream and coffee with milk should be addressed as Le café liégeois and Le café au lait. Coffee beans and ground coffee are Le café en grains and Le café moulu in the French language. An electric coffee maker is known as La cafetiére electrique in France.
• If you wish to enter French culinary arts schools or culinary arts colleges, you should also know the French terms for utensils that are used for cooking. Pots, kitchen utensils, and pans are La batterie de cuisine in French. A saucepan is known as La casserole, while a stewpot is Le fait-tout. A spatula is La spatula and a cutting board is La planche à découper.




• Household appliances are termed as L’appareil électroménager. An oven is Le four and a microwave oven is Le four à micro ondes. A fridge is Le réfrigérateur and a freezer is Le congélateur. A food processor is Le robot ménager and a dishwasher is Le lave vaisselle.
• Other important French words that you should know before entering culinary arts schools are La boulangerie and Le boulanger for bakery and baker, La boucherie and Le boucher for butcher’s shop and butcher, L’épicerie and L’épicier for grocery and grocer, and La poissonnerie and Le poissonnier for fish shop and fish merchant.
• A few more commonly used cooking terminologies in French language include: la caisson for ‘cooking’, cuire means ‘to cook’, dorer is ‘to brown’, en friture is for fried, griller is ‘to grill’, mijoter is ‘to simmer’, rotir is ‘to roast’, a la vapeur is for ‘steamed’ and a la poêle is ‘pan-sautéed’. Couper is to cut, emietter is to crumble, eminer is to slice thinly, eplucher is to peal, hacher is to mince, mixer is to blend, trancher is to slice and raper is to grate.
• As a chef, you could ask the customer ‘la caisson?’ which would mean ‘how would you prefer it to be cooked?’ Rare, medium rare, and well done are termed as saignant, à point, and bien cuit. If you wish to ask the customer, ‘Have you made your choice?‘ you should ask ‘vous avez choisi?’

It is not possible to list all the words related to culinary arts or those used in culinary arts schools and culinary arts colleges in one article. However, it is not a very difficult task to learn the appropriate French culinary arts words in a short time once you join a culinary arts college.