Chitterlings are pigs’ intestines that have been cleaned, prepared and cooked The intestines are turned inside out, scraped and cleaned, then cut into lengths or braided. They are then sometimes brined overnight. The intestines are then cooked in boiling salted water for 30 minutes (giving off a very pronounced, pungent smell.) Chitterlings can be sold…
American Food
Chowder
Nova Scotian Seafood Chowder © Paula Trites Chowder is a seafood or fish soup thickened with milk, cream or a white sauce. Clam Chowder is the most usual, but there are also Lobster Chowders, Cod Chowders, and Corn Chowders. In the Bahamas, they make a Chowder from conches. Chowders usually include potatoes and onions. Everything…
Cider Apples
Growing cider apples is very similar to growing other apples except that because the apples are being to be pressed, and never reach the consumer in their “whole form”, the producer does not have to worry about superficial appearances. Attention can be brought to bear instead upon the health and flavour of the apples. Good…
Cider Vinegar
Cider vinegar, sometimes called by its full name “apple cider vinegar”, is a light amber coloured, inexpensive vinegar made from fermented apples. It has a real tang, which is a bit much for delicate vinaigrettes or sauces, but it holds its own well against stronger tastes in chutneys and marinades. It is the most popular…
Cincinnati Chili
Cincinnati Chili is a Greek-style meat sauce, not related to real chili at all. It is made from hamburger and/or stewing beef, that is first cooked by boiling. The meat is drained, then added to tomato sauce, and flavoured with spices that include cinnamon, cumin, cloves, and chili powder, and simmered. The sauce is served…
Clementine Paddleford
Clementine Paddleford was an American food writer and editor. She chased her dreams all the way from small-town Kansas to the Herald-Tribune in New York. She wrote for Gourmet Magazine for nearly 15 years, right from its first issue.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola © Denzil Green Coca-Cola™ is a soft-drink sold throughout the world. The exact ingredients and proportion of ingredients are a trade secret. However, the largest ingredient in it is water — It takes nearly 3 litres of water to make 1 litre of Coke. The second largest ingredient is sweetener. The taste has a…
Coffee Cake
Coffee Cake is a North American, informal, everyday cake. It is not layered or decorated for fancy presentation. Despite the name, it doesn’t have coffee in it, and is not a coffee-flavoured cake (though it used to be.) Rather, it is a cake meant to be eaten while having coffee. Coffee Cakes are usually bread-like,…
Coffee Cream
To some people, Coffee Cream means “coffee-flavoured” cream used as a filling for baked goods. But here, we’re talking about what North Americans call Coffee Cream or Table Cream: a cream with somewhere between 18 to 30% fat that is used as a cream in coffee. It doesn’t have a high enough fat content to…
Colby Cheese
Colby cheese is an American cheese somewhat like a cheddar, but with a milder taste, and a more elastic, moister texture.
Collard Greens
Collard Greens © Denzil Green Collard Greens, along with Kale, are one of the oldest members of the cabbage family. Collard is a “loose leaf” cabbage: its dark green leaves don’t form a tight, compact head. The plant is biennial. If unharvested, it will live through the winter and flower in its second year. The…
Composed Salads
Composed Salad © Leclaire & Schenk In tossed salads and bound salads, all the ingredients are mixed together. A composed salad, by contrast, is a plate or a platter on which the various parts of the salad are laid out separately, usually on a bed of green salad leaves for visual appeal. Both raw and…
Concord Grapes
Concord Grapes are medium to large-sized grapes with a purple-blue skin and mild flavour. The fruit is from a different branch of grapes than European grapes; they are from a branch that is actually native to North America. They don’t ship well, so are used mostly for processing into juice, jams and jellies. They can…
Corn
Corn on the cob © Denzil Green Corn is a member of the grass family. It is a food that we sometimes use as a grain, and sometimes as a vegetable. Corn that has blue, brown, orange, purple or red kernels is treated as a grain. Sweetcorn This is the type of corn that we…
Corn Flakes
Corn Flakes © Denzil Green Corn Flakes is a flaked breakfast cereal based on corn, flavoured with sugar, malt, salt, etc, and usually fortified with vitamins. You serve it in a bowl, with cold milk on it. Corn Flakes is a generic name. Various companies brand theirs by adding their company name, such as “Kellogg’s…
Corn Grits
Corn Grits © Denzil Green Corn Grits are generally made from only white corn kernels. The kernels are quick steamed in a matter of minutes to loosen their shells (unlike hominy grits which are soaked for days in lye water.) The kernels are then ground and sifted, often into three sizes: the largest size is…
Corn Oil
Corn oil is extracted from kernels of corn. The corn is milled to separate out the endosperm, which contains about 85% of the oil in a kernel of corn. The rest of the kernel is used for other purposes. Mechanical pressing and solvent extraction are used to get the oil out of the endosperm, then…
Corn Syrup
Corn Syrup © Denzil GreenIf a recipe calls for Corn Syrup, it probably means Corn Syrup that is a golden colour, and which is just referred to as “Corn Syrup”; otherwise it will specify Light or Dark Corn Syrup. Corn Syrup is very popular in North America, but not well known in other parts of…
Cornmeal
Cornmeal © Denzil Green Cornmeal is a very coarse meal made from certain types of sweet corn. To make cornmeal, corn kernels are removed from the cobs, dried, then ground coarsely. The corn used is usually Dent Corn. The Cornmeal may be white, yellow or blue, depending on the cultivar of Dent Corn used. The…
Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is an unaged, “fresh” soft white curd-type cheese made from skim milk. It can be eaten as is, or seasoned or flavoured, or used as an ingredient in cooking.
Country Ham
Country Ham is an American ham often compared to air-dried European hams such as prosciutto and Serrano. These claims can be dangerously misleading, as those hams don’t need cooking, and Country Hams do. The cure allows it to be stored safely at room temperature, but doesn’t make it safe to eat without cooking. As well,…
Cracker Barrel
Crackers were just shipped as generic items in barrels to general stores in North America, where they would be sold by the handful. It was a man named Adolphus Green who decided in 1898 that he didn’t want his crackers to be anonymous. He had his crackers made in octagonal shapes so that they would…
Crackers
A Cracker is a dry, thin, unsweetened, flat biscuit. You can also think of it as a dried flat bread. Crackers can be leavened or unleavened. Saltines are sometimes called “soda crackers” because of the baking soda used in them. Though the word Crackers is also used in the UK, it is used to refer…
Cracklings
Cracklings are pieces of pork fat fried until they are crunchy and crisp. They are usually made from salt pork or fatback with the skin on. They are used as both an ingredient in dishes, and as a garnish, to add both flavour and texture. They can be sprinkled on braised collard greens, crumbled into…