the.com/baste
the act of bribing meat to forgive you for the heat.
means To spoon or brush fat, drippings, or liquid over food as it cooks to keep it moist and flavorful (also, separately, to sew with loose temporary stitches).
from The cooking 'baste' is of uncertain origin, possibly from Old French 'basser,' to moisten or soak. The sewing 'baste' is a separate word entirely, borrowed from Old French 'bastir,' to build or tack together (a cousin of the word behind 'bastion'). Two unrelated bastes that happened to land on the same spelling — one feeds the roast, the other holds the seam.
- two meanings
- means both to moisten food and to sew loosely
- science check
- barely penetrates meat, mostly flavors and browns the surface
- turkey ritual
- opening the oven repeatedly often slows cooking down
- old root
- likely from Old French basser, to soak or moisten
turkey basting — cooking technique where pan drippings are spooned over roasting poultry to keep it moist, standard in thanksgiving preparations since the 1600s
fabric basting — temporary hand-stitching used in sewing before permanent seams, common in tailoring and dressmaking to hold pieces in place