Chef Diego Schattenhofer's Multidisciplinary Scientific Gastronomy Glossary
Professional kitchen glossary created, managed and curated by Chef Diego Schattenhofer's kitchen team.
Culinary Gastronomy Glossary
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Acidification
Acidification is an essential culinary and preservation method that plays a fundamental role in modern and traditional gastronomy.
Agar-agar
Agar-agar is a natural gelling agent extracted from several species of red algae such as Gelidium, Gracilaria and Eucheuma.
Aguardiente
The definition of aguardiente as a broad category of distilled alcoholic beverages covers an impressive diversity of products around the world, each with unique characteristics that reflect the raw materials available, the production techniques and the…
Al dente
"Al dente" is an Italian expression that translates literally as "to the tooth".
Albumin
Explore albumin's essential role in the kitchen, from improving texture to creating unique sensory experiences.
Alfalfa
Alfalfa, known scientifically as Medicago sativa, is a leguminous plant widely used in both animal feed and human food.
Allicin
Allicin is an organosulfur compound that forms when raw garlic is crushed or chopped.
Amino acids
Amino acids are organic compounds that combine to form proteins, essential for the function and structure of living cells.
Amylase
Amylase, an enzyme fundamental to the digestion and culinary processing of carbohydrates, plays a critical role in both human nutrition and gastronomy.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are molecules capable of preventing or slowing down the oxidation of other molecules.
Aperitivo
The aperitivo, a tradition deeply rooted in many cultures, acts as an introduction to the culinary experience, preparing the palate and the digestive system for the main meal.
Aromatics
In a culinary context, the aromatic dimension refers to the sensory qualities of food that awaken the sense of smell and add depth and complexity to flavour.
Aspic
Aspic is a savoury gelatine made with meat or fish stock, clarified and set through the prolonged cooking of collagen-rich bones.
Baifo
Baifo is the Canarianism the islands use for the young of the goat, the animal that general Spanish calls cabrito.
Canarian goat
"Canarian goat" is not, today, the name of a breed in Spain's Official Catalogue of Livestock Breeds: the catalogue lists Majorera, Palmera and Tinerfeña.
Designation of origin, protected (PDO)
A protected designation of origin is a European name that identifies a food born of a specific place, with all its stages carried out there.
Esferificación (spherification)
Spherification encloses a liquid in a thin skin of alginate gelled with calcium, so that the sphere bursts in the mouth.
Fermentation
Fermentation is the microbial transformation of a food: lactic in milk, alcoholic in must and acetic when wine turns to vinegar.
Gofio
Canarian gofio is the flour obtained on the islands by milling toasted cereals, with or without sea salt, covered by a PGI.
Hydrocolloids
Hydrocolloids are polysaccharides that, dispersed in water, thicken or gel a food: agar, xanthan, gellan, carrageenan and pectin.
Indication, geographical, protected (PGI)
A protected geographical indication is a European name that identifies a product from a specific place when at least one of its stages takes place there.
Jamón ibérico
Iberico ham is the cured hind leg of the Iberian pig, with a sales denomination that obliges the label to state the feeding, the breed and the seal.
Kombu
Kombu is the brown seaweed Saccharina japonica, dried or rehydrated, from which dashi is made and from which glutamate took the name umami.
Lapas (Canarian limpets)
Limpets are molluscs of the genus Patella clinging to the rock; in the Canary Islands some are gathered subject to a size limit and a closed season, and the majorera cannot be taken.
Majorera goat
The Majorera goat is the native goat breed of Fuerteventura that the Official Catalogue has recognised since 2003, and the dairy base of Majorero cheese.
Majorero cheese
Majorero cheese is a pressed-paste cheese with a protected designation of origin, made on Fuerteventura with milk from goats of the Majorera breed.
Meat ageing
Meat ageing is the cold rest that lets the muscle's enzymes work, in the air of a chamber or under vacuum in its own juice.
Ñame
Canarian taro is the corm of Colocasia esculenta, an aroid eaten cooked in the islands because raw it irritates with calcium oxalate.
Nitrogen, liquid
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen in its liquid state, which at one atmosphere boils at around −196 °C and freezes whatever it touches on contact.
Non-essential amino acids
Non-essential amino acids, those our body can synthesise by itself, play crucial roles both in our health and in the culinary world.
Omega-3 fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of essential polyunsaturated fat, meaning the human body cannot produce them on its own and they must be obtained through the diet.
Omega-6 fatty acids
Omega-6 fatty acids are a type of essential polyunsaturated fat, meaning the body cannot produce them and they must be obtained through the diet.
Oxidation
Oxidation, in the kitchen, is the reaction with oxygen that browns cut fruit and, by another path, turns unsaturated fat rancid.
Papas arrugadas
Wrinkled potatoes are old Canarian potatoes boiled with salt and dried on the heat, until the skin wrinkles and is eaten.
Pollack
Pollack is a fish highly prized in cooking for its versatility and mild flavour.
Reaction of Maillard
The Maillard reaction is the set of reactions between sugars and amino acids that, with high heat and low moisture, browns food and changes its flavour.
Sensory appreciation
Sensory appreciation in gastronomy is a fascinating field that delves into how our senses interact with food, turning every bite into a unique experience.
Sous-vide (vacuum cooking)
Sous-vide is cooking in a sealed vacuum bag, submerged in a water bath at a controlled temperature.
Transglutaminase
Transglutaminase is an enzyme that joins food proteins by linking glutamine and lysine, and in the European Union it is treated as a food enzyme.
Umami
Umami is the taste of glutamate, distinct from sweet, sour, salty and bitter, which Kikunae Ikeda isolated from kombu in 1908.
Vieja
Vieja is the parrotfish Sparisoma cretense, a species of the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and one of the fish of Canarian cooking.
Wagyu
Wagyu is the meat of four Japanese breeds and of their crosses with one another, graded by the JMGA with a yield grade and a quality grade.
Water activity (a_w)
Water activity (a_w) is a crucial concept in food science that refers to the amount of free water available to take part in chemical reactions and microbial growth in food.
Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum is a natural polysaccharide used as a thickening and stabilising agent in food.
Yerba mate
Yerba mate is the dried and lightly toasted leaf of Ilex paraguariensis, the infusion that in Argentina the Food Code defines and the INYM regulates.
Zumaque (sumac)
Sumac is the spice of the dried and ground fruits of Rhus coriaria, a Mediterranean shrub of sour taste, distinct from American poison sumac.
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Diego Schattenhofer at the presentation of the Michelin Canarias 2026 plaques with CaixaBank (10 February 2026), where he gave his talk "Método Schattenhofer: máxima exigencia, máxima recompensa". Photos: Instagram @1973taste.restaurant. Read the story.