It's handy to know what the parts of a knife are called. This way when you're helping in the kitchen and whoever is cooking tries to hand you a knife, telling you to grab the bolster, you won't dash off to the bedroom to pilfer a pillow. That would just be embarrassing.

Many global cuisines rely on a combination of three aromatic vegetables and herbs sautéed together to form the foundation of savory recipes, giving them their distinctive flavors.

Chiffonade is a cooking technique whereby you stack leafy greens or herbs and cut them into thin ribbons. In French, the word means "rags" because that's what the shreds look like when you're done.

Crashing the stock is a step in the cooking process that involves discarding the water in which meaty bones (beef, poultry or veal) simmer, releasing impurities that rise to the water's surface as scum. After crashing the stock, the pot containing the bones is refilled with cold water and brought back to heat.