What’s on the Reducing poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
Simmering a liquid so water evaporates, concentrating everything left behind — flavour, salt, sugar and body.
- A wide pan reduces faster than a tall one.
- Never cover the pan; steam must escape.
- Reducing by half roughly doubles the intensity.
- Salt does not evaporate, so it concentrates.
- Alcohol mostly evaporates in the first few minutes.
- Stock reduced far enough becomes a glaze that sets solid when cold.
- By half — 2× intensity
- Pan — wide, uncovered
- Season — at the end
- A sauce salted before reducing by half becomes twice as salty as intended.
Reduction thickens through concentration and gelatine, not starch. It gives a glossier result than any thickener.
Questions about the Reducing poster
- What’s on the Reducing poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. Simmering a liquid so water evaporates, concentrating everything left behind — flavour, salt, sugar and body. A wide pan reduces faster than a tall one.; Never cover the pan; steam must escape.; Reducing by half roughly doubles the intensity.; Salt does not evaporate, so it concentrates.; Alcohol mostly evaporates in the first few minutes.; Stock reduced far enough becomes a glaze that sets solid when cold.; By half — 2× intensity; Pan — wide, uncovered; Season — at the end; A sauce salted before reducing by half becomes twice as salty as intended.. Reduction thickens through concentration and gelatine, not starch. It gives a glossier result than any thickener.
- Who is the Reducing poster for?
- Reducing belongs to the Kitchen section rather than to a school year, because food is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning technique can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Reducing poster?
- Season at the end. Reduction concentrates the salt as much as the flavour. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Reducing belongs on the wall where that food work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Reducing?
- Batch Cooking, Blanching and Braising sit alongside Reducing in the Kitchen section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Batch CookingBlanchingBraising
- Is the Reducing poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Reducing downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Kitchen section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Reducing poster print at?
- Reducing is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Reducing loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Reducing on the same wall.
Browse every Kitchen poster, or start from the full catalogue.