Ever been to a fine dining restaurant tapped your partner on the shoulder to ask, "What's jus mean", or how about, "how's sautéed done?" I thought so. Being a foodie I get this often from my partner, and sometimes I'm even lost for words. So for your dining pleasure, here's our dummies guide to French cooking terms...

Béchamel: White sauce, made with butter, flour, and milk, usually flavoured with onion, bay leaf, pepper, and nutmeg.

Beurre: Butter.

Bisque: A shellfish soup that has been thickened.

Blanc de Cuisson: A liquid made from water, flour and lemon juice used to keep foods from oxydizing and losing their color while cooking.

Blanch: To partially cook vegetables in boiling water. This may serve to soften the skins of vegetables for easier removal, or to prepare vegetables for canning or preserving.

Bouchée: Tiny mouthful; may refer to a bite-size pastry.

Bouillabaisse: Popular Mediterranean fish soup, most closely identified with Marseille, ideally prepared with the freshest local fish, preferably rockfish.

Bouillon: Broth or stock.

Braise: To cook slowly in a covered pan, with a small amount of liquid — can be used for meat or vegetables.

Brioche: Buttery egg-enriched yeast bread.

Brochette: Cubes of meat or fish and vegetables on a skewer.

Canapé: An appetizer consisting of a small bread or biscuit base covered with a flavoured topping.

Confit: Meat or poultry that has been cooked and conserved in its own fat. Can also refer to fruits conserved in a sugar syrup.

Chèvre: Goat (as in goat's-milk cheese).

Consommé: Broth that has been made clear.

Coulis: A thick sauce usually made from one main ingredient, such as raspberry coulis.

Crêpe: Thin pancake.

Croquettes: A mixture of potato with ground cooked meat, fish or poultry formed into balls, patties or other shapes and coated with a breading before frying.

Croustade: Bread piece dipped in butter and baked until it is crisp.

Croûte (en): Crust; (in) pastry.

Dégustation: Tasting or sampling.

Demi-glace: Concentrated beef-based sauce lightened with consommé, or a lighter brown sauce.

Demi-sec: Usually refers to goat cheese that is in the intermediate aging stage between one extreme of soft and fresh and the other extreme of hard and aged.

Entrecôte: Beef rib steak.

Escalop: A thin slice of meat that is often pounded out to make it thinner.

Fagot: Bundle; meat shaped into a small ball.

Flamber or Flambé: To set alcohol on fire.

Foie: Liver.

Fondant: Melting; refers to cooked, worked sugar that is flavoured, then used for icing cakes. Also, the bittersweet chocolate high in cocoa butter used for making the shiniest chocolates. Also, puréed meat, fish, or vegetables shaped in croquettes.

Fondu(e): Melted.

Fourré: Stuffed or filled.

Frais, fraîche: Fresh or chilled.

Frit(e): Fried.

Fumé: Smoked.

Gratiner or au gratin: To sprinkle the surface of a cooked food with bread crumbs and butter, and sometimes cheese and brown under the broiler. The finished food is referred to as au gratin as in au gratin potatoes.

Julienne: Vegetables cut in very slender slices, smaller than matchsticks.

Jus: The juices that occur naturally from cooking.

Jus lié: A thickened gravy.

Manière, de: In the style of.

Noir: Sauce of browned butter, lemon juice or vinegar, parsley, and sometimes capers.

Noisette: Hazelnut; also refers to small round piece (such as from a potato), generally the size of a hazelnut, lightly browned in butter. Also, centre cut of lamb chop. Also, dessert flavored with hazelnuts.

Parfait: A dessert mousse; also, mousse-like mixture of chicken, duck, or goose liver.

Panaché: Mixed; now liberally used menu term to denote any mixture.

Pannequet: Rolled crêpe, filled and/or covered with sweet or savoury mixture.

Pistou: Sauce of basil, garlic, and olive oil; specialty of Provence. Also a rich vegetable, bean, and pasta soup flavored with pistou sauce.

Raclette: Rustic dish of melted cheese served with boiled potatoes, tiny pickled cucumbers, and onions; also, the cheese used in the dish.

Rissolé: Browned by frying, usually potatoes.

Roulade: Meat or fish roll, or rolled-up vegetahle soufflé; larger than a paupiette, and often stuffed.

Sauté: Bring out flavour by cooking food in just enough fat to keep the food from sticking to the skillet. This technique is often mistaken for frying.

Soufflé: Light, mixture of puréed ingredients, egg yolks, and whipped egg whites, which puffs up when baked; sweet or savoury, hot or cold.

Terrine: Pâté or mixture of minced ingredients, baked or steamed in a loaf shaped container.