Big Red Pop is a carbonated soft drink made and sold in Texas. It is also available in Panama and in British Columbia, Canada. It is very red. Some swear it even tastes red. The colouring comes from red dye # 40. It has a candy flavour, that many describe as liquid bubble gum; others,…
American Food
Billy Reed
Billy Reed was the founder of New York’s swank “Little Club”, and was the first in the United States to serve up Caesar Salad and Doris Day.
Black-Eyed Peas
Black-Eyed Peas © Denzil Green Black-Eyed Peas are medium-sized, white beans with a black spot on the side. The skins are very thin. They cook up very quickly and very soft, and absorb well the flavour of any sauce they are cooked in. In the American South, they are often eaten fresh. Black-Eyed Peas are…
Blue Crab
Considered one of the tastier types of crab with edible meat in both its body and claws, blue crab is economically important to fisheries in many parts of the world.
Bluefish
Bluefish (all one word) is the name of a specific fish, as opposed to ‘blue fish’ (the grouping of fish), to which, incidentally, they do belong. They are an oily fish with strong flavour. The smaller the bluefish, though, the milder the flavour. Bluefish get their name from their bluish-green skin. They can live up…
Boiled Dinners
A boiled dinner takes tougher cuts of meat, or stewing chickens, and simmers them in a pot of water with vegetables (so really, it ought to be called a “simmered dinner.”)A boiled dinner differs from a stew in two ways. In a stew, all the pieces are cut down into bite-sized pieces that will fit…
Boiled Dressing
Today, we don’t think twice about making salad dressings or mayonnaise based on oil. Up until the end of the 1800s, though, if you didn’t live in Southern Europe with its ready access to olive oil, you might have been stumped. There were no vegetable oils yet available to you. The plethora of bottled vegetable…
Boston Brown Bread
Boston Brown Bread is a yeast-risen, very moist brown bread made with molasses that is traditionally steamed in cylindrical 13 oz (400 ml) volume metal coffee cans, to make loaves of bread that yield round slices of bread. It is usually served warm. Traditionally, it is made from wheat flour mixed with rye flour and…
Boston Cookies
Boston cookies are a spiced drop cookie with chopped nuts and dried fruit in them. They are based on creamed butter and sugar, egg, flour, and a chemical leavener (which originally was baking soda but now may be part baking powder.) The nuts can be hickory or walnut; the fruit can be raisins, currants, or…
Boston Cream Pie
Boston Cream Pie is not what you’d normally think of in English as a pie — because it’s actually a cake. It is a layer cake consisting of two round cakes, one on top the other, with a filling in between of thick custard or pastry cream. The cake part can be butter cake or…
Boston Favorite Cake
Boston Favorite Cake is a layer cake. It is made by two layers of butter cake, put together with thick custard in the middle, and glazed with chocolate.
Boston Lettuce
Hydroponically-grown Boston Lettuce © Denzil Green Boston Lettuce is a member of the Butterhead family of Lettuces. It is a bit larger than a Bibb Lettuce, which is also in the Butterhead family. The leaves of Boston Lettuce, which are soft and tender, are so easily bruised that the lettuce is often shipped in protective…
Bound Salads
Bound Salads are salads that are generally made of hearty, non-salad leafy ingredients bound together by a thick dressing. Usually, the dressing is mayonnaise, a boiled dressing or Miracle Whip (though no Foodie wants to admit the existence of Miracle Whip, that doesn’t change the fact that at least half the Bound Salads in North…
Bourbon
Bourbon is an American whiskey made from grain, water and yeast, and aged in charred wood barrels. It is a protected designation in the U.S. and in several other countries.
Bratwurst Festival Day
On the first Saturday in August, Sheboygan, Wisconsin holds Bratwurst Festival Days. Bucyrus, Ohio also holds them later in August. In each locale, how the bratwurst is traditionally served differs.
Bread and Butter Pickles
Bread and butter pickles made from pickling cucumbers sliced thinly cross-cut wise. The pickle slices are shiny green in colour, sometimes with a tinge of yellow. They should be crunchy in texture, with a very sweet taste, which ideally should be balanced with a tangy tartness.
Brick Cheese
Brick is a sweet, nutty-tasting American cheese with a soft, semi-firm texture. The colour will range from white to pale-yellow. It’s an all-purpose cheese, great on sandwiches or cheese trays, but it also melts well in cooked dishes.
Brine-Cured Ham
A Brine-Cured Ham (aka City Ham) is one that is cured either by soaking it in brine, or by having brine injected into it. Injection is a fast, reliable curing process. In America, if a brine-cured ham says “with natural juices”, it means it hasn’t been injected, and the weight will be at least 18.5%…
Brooklyn Style Pizza
The term “Brooklyn style pizza” was coined by the Domino’s Pizza Company chain of America in 2006. They introduced a pizza they termed “Brooklyn style” with a thinner crust than their other pizzas, and cornmeal cooked into the crust to make it crispier. The chain also touted “extra large Brooklyn-style sausage or pepperoni” as a…
Brown Mustard
Brown Mustard is the other American mustard. It’s considered deli-style: it’s the plain brown mustard that you’re more likely to get in a deli, as opposed to the yellow mustard that gets slapped on hot-dogs at ballparks. It’s made from ground white and black mustard seeds, vinegar and spices. It is coarser, a bit spicier…
Buckle
Buckle is a thick-batter cake with fruit (usually blueberries) and a crumble topping on it. Some recipes will have you put the fruit on top of the batter, some will have you stir in into the batter. In either case, as the batter bakes and rises, the fruit sinks into it, but depressions remain in…
Buffalo
Buffalo is gaining some recognition as a niche meat in North America. The Buffalo in North America are actually American Bison, but it’s far too late to change that thinking, now. What can be changed, however, is the thought that they are or were ever extinct. At the start of the 1900s, they were indeed…
Burbank Potatoes
Burbank Potatoes are long potatoes, with smooth white skin. Marketed as all-purpose potatoes, they are the parent of Russet Burbank potatoes. History Notes Burbank Potatoes were developed by Luther Burbank between 1872 and 1875 in Massachusetts, from a cross between Early Rose potatoes and another unknown parent. Though potato plants flower, we rarely think of…
Buttercrunch
American-Style Toffee with nuts and often, chocolate. Sometimes marketers might try to call toffee with nuts in it English-style, but that is incorrect. English toffee is always just plain toffee, with nothing else in it, and no adornment with chocolate, etc. Compare with Toffee and Taffy. Cooking Tips Basic outline of process for making it…