puréer

Puréer is a French verb meaning to turn ingredients into purée, a smooth, semi-solid substance, by grinding, mashing, or blending. It is primarily used in culinary contexts to describe the process of transforming cooked foods into a uniform texture. The result is a purée, with common examples including purée de pommes de terre (potato purée), purée de carottes, and purée de fruits. Puréeing can be performed with a variety of tools, such as a blender, a food processor, an immersion blender, a mouli purée (hand-cranked vegetable mill), or by forcing cooked ingredients through a fine sieve or chinois.

In practice, puréer is applied to a wide range of ingredients, including vegetables, fruits, legumes, and cooked grains. The technique is used to create sauces, soups, baby foods, fillings, and desserts, often with adjustments to texture and flavor through the addition of liquid, dairy, oil, or seasonings. The level of smoothness can vary from lightly mashed to perfectly silky, depending on the dish and the equipment used. In recipes and professional kitchens, puréeing is typically described as a distinct step within a broader preparation process.

Linguistically, puréer is formed from the noun purée and is part of standard culinary vocabulary in French. The term appears most often in instructional or descriptive contexts, such as cookbooks, menus, and cooking demonstrations, rather than in casual conversation.

See also: purée, mashed potatoes, baby food, emulsification.