Tea Trappings

In the strictest sense, Tea Trappings were devices used to “trap” (i.e strain or hold back) loose tea leaves. At one point mandatory gadgets for any tea drinker in the Western world, they are optional now in an age when tea comes in tea bags.Other objects, such as tea caddies in which tea was stored (and locked up), sugar tongs, and lemon slice plates were also referred to as tea “trappings”, in the sense of all the accessories to go along with having, making and enjoying tea. The category also includes tea balls, tea presses, tea cup strainers, stick infusers, and spout strainers (which hung off the tea pot spout, and caught the leaves in mid-stream.)

Mote spoons were amongst the first devices to be invented, to help fish errant leaves out.

Though today’s designs emphasize functionality, designs from the 1600s until the 1900s emphasized decorativeness and novelty as well, and many are highly prized as expensive collector’s items, being made of silver or silver plated with gold (aka “gilt”.)

The invention of the tea bag in 1908 heralded the beginning of the end for their glory days.

Now, just having such any one of these gadgets even in plain stainless-steel is considered novelty enough.

Types of tea trappings

Barbeque Recipes

Beef Recipes

Beverage recipes

Beverages

A beverage is a liquid for human consumption by drinking. The purpose of a beverage is to quench one's thirst, wash food down, or feel refreshed. There are many additional purposes for drinking alcoholic beverages. A beverage can also have...

Alcohol

Alcohol © Emily Roesly Some great news for the jollier souls amongst you: it's just a myth that alcohol goes away when you cook with it, leaving only the flavour. Much of it in fact does survive. Cooking with Alcohol Here's the science behind ...

Apéritifs

Many chefs complain about our habit of drinking cocktails before sitting down to a meal. Most people find a few rounds of cocktails can get things off to a rolling start, but you can see their point: they want us paying attention to the tastes of their...

Aperol

Aperol is a reddish-orange coloured aperitif. Its ingredients include bitter orange, china bark, gentian, and rhubarb root. It has a taste that is bitter and sweet at the same time, but mostly dominated by the orange. Aperol can be drunk neat, on ice...

Caperitif

Caperitif was a white wine-based aperitif that used to be made in South Africa. It was flavoured with herbs and quinine [1] to give it a somewhat bitter taste. 20% alcohol In many cocktail recipes, it was used rather as a white vermouth would have been...

Pernod

Pernod is a famous brand of Pastis. See the entry on Pastis. The Pernod Ricard company has, over the decades, bought out many other alcohol companies.

Pineau des Charentes

Pineau des Charentes is a French Apéritif made in the Cognac region. It is classified as a vin de liqueur. Pineau des Charentes can be white (actually gold-coloured), made from white grapes, or rosé, made from red grapes. Very ripe grapes are pressed t...

Players Original Punch

Players Original Punch is a red-coloured alcoholic drink (22% alcohol by volume) first made by Lamb & Watt of Liverpool, England. It is now (2009) owned by Halewood International of Liverpool, England. Like Pimms, it is considered a fruit cup. Cooking...

Beer

Beer is an alcoholic beverage brewed with grains, water and yeast. There are many different types of beer, the two most well known being Ales and Lagers. Ale is brewed with ale yeast, which reproduces on the top of a vat of beer, and needs warmer temperatures...

Ale

Ale is a category of beer brewed with a top-fermenting yeast. Ale is one of the two main categories of beer made today, the other being lager, which is brewed with a bottom-fermenting yeast. Other beers...

India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale is a type of ale. It is pale in colour, as the name indicates, and has an alcohol content of 5% or higher. It is very hoppy, and therefore more bitter than other beers, particularly when new, however, it mellows as it ages. IPA on bottles...

Porter

Porter is a dark ale, brown to black in colour. Compared to a stout, the alcohol level is lower, and the taste is lighter and slightly sweeter. Brown Porters tend be lighter than black ones. A Porter uses dark-roasted malts, and is quite hoppy tasting. History...

Stout

A Stout is a strong, dark ale with a slightly bitter or sour flavour. The dark colour comes from some of the malted barley in it being roasted like coffee beans. There are many ways to use Stout in cooking, from marinades to rich, moist cakes. Porter...

Guinness

Guinness Stout © Denzil Green Guinness is a Stout. In your glass it will appear black, with a thick, creamy, foamy head on top. The two layers (the dark beer and the foamy head on top) are sometimes said to be "as dark as Cromwell's heart and ...

Bavarian Beer Purity Laws

Bavarian Beer Purity Laws are not actually the oldest beer laws [1], but they are oldest still in effect today. In the 1500s, Bavaria was its own realm or dukedom within the Holy Roman Empire. On 23 April 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria, decreed...

Black and Tan

Black and Tan is an alcoholic "beer" drink, made from a combination of Stout and Ale. The default beers used are Guinness for the stout, and Bass Ale for the ale. The Guinness used should be the Draught, not the Extra Stout. In America, bartenders are...

Lager

Lager is one of the two main categories of beer, the other being Ale. Lager is brewed with a bottom-fermenting yeast at lower temperatures; Ale is brewed at higher temperatures, with a top-fermenting yeast. The yeast most often used for Lagers is Saccharomyces...

Black Lager

Guinness Black Lager © Iain Sinclair Black Lager beer is dark in colour, like stout. The dark colour comes from darkly-roasted grains. There are different kinds of Black Lagers from different brewers. All brands seem to use bottom-fermenting ...

Nitrogenated Beer

Nitrogenated Beer is beer that has been infused with a mixture of 25-30 percent nitrogen and 70-75 percent carbon dioxide. In the beer trade, they may be referred to as "Nitrobrews." Nitrogen bubbles are more stable than carbon dioxide bubbles,...

Bitters

Bitters is a generic term for aromatic infusions made from herbs, seeds, fruit peel, roots, spices and bark. Their flavours are extracted by soaking them in alcohol which is then distilled to concentrate the flavours. The infusions have a very high...

Abbott's Bitters

Abbott's Bitters is an extinct product. It was made by the C.W. Abbott company in Baltimore, Maryland from 1865 until around 1950. It was one of the big three bitters sold in America, the other two being Angostura and Peychaud. Abbott's Bitters were...

Amaro Abano

Amaro Abano is an alcoholic bitters -- the kind you drink straight up, as opposed to a concentrated bitter that you put a few drops of into other drinks. It is meant to be drunk as a digestive after a meal; you can have it on ice or not. It is dark...

Amaro Braulio

Amaro Braulio is a bitters made in Bormio, Valtellina, Italy. The recipe is secret; but it probably includes juniper, gentian root, wormwood, and yarrow. The herbs used are harvested from Monte Braulino in the Italian Alps. Every person who has harvested...

Amaro Felsina

Amaro Felsina is an alcoholic bitters with a slight orange taste that can be served as an aperitif or a digestif. It can be served straight up or on the ice, and with or without a twist of orange or lemon peel. It is sold in 700 or 750 ml bottles,...

Amaro Felsina Ramazzotti

Amaro Felsina Ramazzotti is a reddish-brown digestive bitters. It is mid-range in bitterness in terms of Italian bitters, and relatively smooth. It has a sweet medicinal taste with notes of orange and vanilla. The ingredients are secret, but the manufacturer...

Amaro Lucano

Amaro Lucano Bitters are less bitter than some other Italian bitters, though one would not describe it as sweet. The recipe, consisting of herbs and roots, is a trade secret. It has a light body and is 30% alcohol. You can serve it neat, as a digestif,...

Amaro Montenegro

Amaro Montenegro is a clear, amber-coloured Bitters that is somewhat sweet with a spicy, citrus taste. Somewhat less bitter than other Bitters, its bitter notes come at the end of the taste. it is made from over 40 herbs and spcies from around the world....

Amaro Nardini

Amaro Nardini is a herby-tasting bitters based on grappa, whose ingredients include bitter orange, gentian, and peppermint. Its aroma contains scents of mocha, toffee and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Its taste is mostly experienced in the centre...

Amaro Nonino

Amaro Nonino is a digestif made by the Nonino company in Fruili, Italy. It is a reddish-amber colour and has a herby fragrance, with a mildly bitter spicy taste, with a touch of liquorice and sweet, burnt orange. The taste lasts in the mouth. It is...

Amer Picon Bitters

Amer Picon Bitters is a dark-red liqueur with a bitter orange flavour made in France. It's meant to be mixed with beer (or drunk with beer as a chaser.) Many like to mix it also with white wine. It is very popular in Alsace. Amer Picon Bitters...

Angostura Bitters

Angostura Bitters are an aromatic bitter "sauce" made from tropical spices and herbs. It's sold in small bottles. The exact recipe is a closely-guarded secret, divided into four pieces and stored in four separate safes. One of its main ingredients...

Averna Bitters

Averna Bitters are a dark, bitter, fruity flavoured liqueur. There are apparently around 60 herbs used in making Averna Bitters. Some of the tastes identified in are vanilla, sugar, liquorice, cinnamon, and cola. The alcohol content of Averna Bitters...

Branca Menta Bitters

Branca Menta Bitters (20% alcohol) is Fernet Branca with mint added. It is made by the Branca company and was produced in the US at one point, until popularity died down. Cooking Tips Branca Menta Bitter can be used in mixed drinks, or drunk straight...

Calisaya Bitters

Calisaya Bitters is not a brand name of bitters, but rather a type of bitters made by a few different distillers in Spain and Italy. It is based on Calisaya bark (aka cinchona bark, aka quinine), herbs, and spices. The alcohol content can range anywhere...

Campari

Campari is a red apéritif that is mildly bitter, with a hint of sweetness. It is made from herbs, peel from bitter oranges, roots, spices, sugar -- 86 ingredients in all, steeped in alcohol, then distilled into a concentrate, then mixed with pure alcohol. ...

China Martini Bitters

China Martini is a brand name of Calisaya Bitters made by Martini & Rossi in Torino, Italy. 31% alcohol. Literature & Lore There is a popular misunderstanding that China Martini Bitters contains a root called "China Root" in English (aka...

Cora Bitters

Cora Bitters are a greenish-amber colour liqueur that has a sweet and bitter taste with tones of cinnamon and orange. Made in Piedmont, Italy, Cora Bitters has an alcohol content of 28%. The company Società G. & L. Fratelli Cora was founded in ...

Fee's Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters

Fee's Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters is meant as a flavouring for drinks, not something to be drunk straight up. The ingredients listed are: "Angostura Bark, Spice flavors, Citrus Oil and Gentian in a solution of water, alcohol and glycerine and caramel...

Fernet

"Fernet" is a generic term for a type of bitter produced by several manufacturers in Lombardy, Italy. It will be a herb-tasting liqueur meant to be used as a digestif. “Fernet” generally indicates that the liquor was distilled from beet molasses. No...

Fernet Branca Bitters

Fernet Branca Bitters are made from a grape alcohol base, flavoured with over 40 ingredients, which include absinthe, aloe, anise seed, bay leaves, bitter orange, basil, cardamom, chamomile, cinchona bark, colombus, echinacea, galangal, gentian, liquorice,...

Fernet Luxardo Bitters

Fernet Luxardo Bitters have traces of menthol and eucalyptus in the taste and aroma. The ingredients include liquorice, cardamom, cinchona bark, cinnamon, gentian and saffron. Fernet Luxardo Bitters are made in the Veneto Region of Italy.

Gammel Dansk Bitters

Gammel Dansk Bitters is a digestif to be drunk straight up at room temperature, either on its own or with a chaser such as beer. Enthusiasts in Denmark like to have a small glass in the morning, with coffee as the chaser. It can also be used as a mixer. The...

Jägermeister Bitters

Jägermeister are the most popular bitters in Germany. It is made from 56 ingredients that include rhubarb and saffron. It is 35% alcohol. Some find Jägermeister Bitters the most approachable of bitters, though for others it still tastes too much l...

Luxardo Abano Bitters

Luxardo Abano are herby-tasting bitters with a winey-aroma reminiscent of white pepper. Despite the Sicilian scene shown on the label, it is actually made in the Veneto region of Italy. Luxardo Abano Bitters are 30% alcohol. Language Notes Abano was...

Meletti Bitters

Meletti is an amber-coloured bitters used as a digestif. Its ingredients include caramel, saffron, and possibly white pepper. The flavour of the ingredients is extracted with alcohol flowed repeatedly through it. Some water and sugar is then added. Though...

Orange Bitters

Orange bitters are an unsweetened, strong alcohol infusion made from dried Seville orange peel, soaked in an alcohol to let the flavour go into the alcohol. The alcohol used is often either gin or pure alcohol. The two most common brands are one made...

Peychaud's Bitters

Peychaud's is a bright-red bitters sold in 5 oz (150 ml) bottles whose ingredients include gentian root. It is used as a flavouring in cocktails. It is sweeter than Angostura Bitters. It is made in Louisiana, USA and is very hard to find outside of...

Pomeranze Bitters

Pomeranze is an orange-flavoured Bitters that comes in green and red versions. The taste of both colours is the same; you choose the version based on which colour is appropriate for the colour of drink you are mixing, or based just plain on which colour...

Rabarbaro Zucca Bitters

Rabarbaro Zucca Bitters is an aperitif made in Milan by the Ettore Zucca company. Its ingredients include rhubarb and melon. 16% alcohol. Language Notes In Italian, "rabarbaro" means "rhubarb". Zucca, meaning squash, refers to the name of the inventor...

Suze Bitters

Suze Bitters are yellow-coloured with a dry, bitter taste that can be drunk straight, either on ice or at room temperature. The ingredients include gentian root. It is 16% alcohol. Suze is made by Pernod-Ricard. History Notes Suze Bitters were invented...

Torani Amer

Torani Amer has ingredients similar to those in Amer Picon, but has a different taste. It is 39% proof. Torani Amer is made by the Torani company of San Francisco, California. There was a false rumour in late 2005 that the company would be discontinuing...

Underberg Bitters

Underberg® Bitters is a digestif made from herbs and gentian root. It doesn't contain sugar, as other bitters do. It is sold in small bottles wrapped in brown paper. You need to sip it, or chug it. History Notes Underberg Bitters were developed ...

Unicum Bitters

Unicum® Bitters is from Hungary. It is a very black-coloured syrup sold in a round, 500 ml bottle with a red circle and a cross on it. It can be served as an aperitif or as a digestif, served chilled or room temperature. It is made from 40 herbs ...

Cider

Cider is a beverage made from apples. Exactly what Cider means , however, depends on where you are. First, let's go back a bit. Many hundreds of years ago, "Cider" could mean a drink made from various fruits, such as peaches, pears, or apples but recently...

Applejack

Applejack is "hard" (alcoholic) apple cider which has been made even harder. To make Applejack, the person concentrates the hard cider by getting rid of some of the water, which in turn increases the alcohol content of what is left. To do this, s/he...

Perry

Perry is an alcoholic beverage very similar to apple cider, but made from pears, particularly the variety of pears actually called "Perry Pears." It is made in the UK and to a small extent in America as well. To make Perry, the pears are first...

Cocktails

Cocktails © Denzil Green A Cocktail is a mixed alcoholic beverage. Almost any mixed drink with alcohol in it is now classed as a Cocktail. It can be warm or cold, sweet or dry, and be served in the morning, afternoon or evening. Cocktails ...

Mai Tai Cocktails

The Mai Tai is a popular cocktail invented in 1944. In 1970, Victor J. Bergeron (aka "Trader Vic") went on record in writing asserting that he was the inventor of the Mai Tai. He said that he invented in in 1944 in Oakland, California. He based the...

Martini

A martini is a mixed cocktail drink that has been called by some "America's most lethal weapon." Nowadays, anything, practically even chocolate milk, is called a martini as long as it's poured into a martini glass. But the gospel truth is that...

Ping Pongs

A Ping Pong is a beverage, but the term is used to refer to two different ones: a non-alcoholic drink, and a cocktail. The two drinks are related only by their colour (and their name.) Though the non-alcoholic one can be transformed into an alcoholic...

Sazerac

A Sazerac cocktail is an alcoholic beverage made with Peychaud's bitters, American rye whiskey and Herbsaint, with a twist of lemon. Some modern variations use bourbon instead. Purists insist that the lemon twist should be on the side of the glass and...

Zombie

A Zombie is a cocktail made from fruit juice and alcohol. It can be thought of as basically a fruit punch with some rum in it, though perhaps it would be more accurate to think of it as rum with some fruit juice in it. Though there are now a zillion...

Finings

Wine, beer, cider and fruit juices often contain floating matter in them which gives them a haze. It's not desirable to sell them like this, as consumers expect such beverages to be clear. Even when drinking home brewed wine or beer, we still expect a...

Chitin

Chitin is a naturally-occurring polymer (complex molecule) found in shells, either of crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters or shrimp, or of insects. It is also found in mushrooms. Chitin is indigestible, but it is still used a great deal in things we...

Isinglass

Isinglass is a gelatin-like substance developed from the bladders in fish that hold air. The bladders are shredded, freeze-dried and ground into a powder. The powder is then dissolved in liquid, and sold as such. It's used as a "fining" -- to clarify...

Fruit Cups

Austin's Fruit Cup

Austin's Fruit Cup is a concentrated Fruit Cup drink mix, made from a base of wine and grain spirit infused with fruit flavours. It is sweeter than Pimms, with no bitterness, and you need to mix it in slighter larger proportions than Pimm's, but many...

Fruit Cups (Alcholic)

A Fruit Cup is a concentrated alcoholic drink mixer from which you make a "long drink"; that is, a tall drink, meant to be sipped slowly. You pour a small amount of it into a glass, over ice, and then top up with a soft drink such as fizzy lemonade,...

Pimm's

Pimm's® is an alcholic drink mix based on herbs and quinine. The base alcohol in it can be gin, vodka or brandy, depending on the version. Pimm's® Number 1, based on gin, is the most popular. It is 25% alcohol -- its alcohol content used to be h...

Plymouth Fruit Cup

Plymouth Fruit Cup was a concentrated Fruit Cup mixer, discontinued sometime around the start of 2008. Made by the Plymouth Gin Company, it was based on Plymouth Gin, and flavoured with fruit extracts, bitters, Bols Dry Orange Curaçao, Cherry ...

Stone's Summer Cup

Stone's Summer Cup in a concentrated Fruit Cup mixer with tones of ginger to the taste. It is very light when mixed up, and quite sweet. Some marketers feel it is aimed at the "women aged 25 to 40 who tend to entertain at home." [1] It is sold in 700...

Liqueurs

A Liqueur is a strong, concentrated alcohol -- such as brandy, rum, whiskey or neutral grain spirits -- infused with flavouring. There are three main types: fruit, herb and other. Almost always quite sweet, they are served in small quantities as after...

Absinthe

Absinthe is a yellowish-green Swiss liqueur made from angelica root, aniseed, fennel, hyssop, liquorice, star aniseed and wormwood. Its taste is a combination of anise and bitter. There are many different brands. Most are green, but some are clear....

Advocaat Liqueur

Advocaat is an off-white coloured, egg-based liqueur made in the Netherlands with a flavour reminiscent of egg nog. It is made from brandy, unpasteurised egg yolk, egg white, herbs, sugar and vanilla. Though versions made for export are thinner, versions...

Alchermes

Alchermes is a dark, bright red coloured liqueur that is somewhat syrupy. It has a sweet, spicy flavour that comes from a blend of anise flowers, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, jasmine, mace, nutmeg, orange peel, sugar, and vanilla. These ingredients...

Amaretto

Amaretto is a generic term for almond flavoured liqueurs. Some brands may actually use almonds, but the most famous brand, Amaretto di Saronno actually uses apricot pits. It has a slightly bitter favour and an alcohol content that ranges from 23 to 28%....

Anesone

Anesone is a clear liqueur with the flavour of anise. It is 45 proof, and stronger in taste, and drier than, Anisette. Made from anise seeds. Language Notes "-one" in Italian means big, signifying that this has more alcohol than the liqueur called...

Anisette

Anisette is a type of liqueur flavoured with aniseed to give it a liquorice taste, along with other herbs to balance out the taste. It is sweet, and usually clear. There are many brands. Absinthe was the classic Anisette. Though it's making a comeback,...

Arrack

Arrack is a clear liqueur flavoured with aniseed to give it a liquorice flavour. The alcohol can be made from molasses, rice or the sap from coconut trees. It is made in the Middle East, India, Sri Lanka, etc. The alcohol content averages 40 to 50%...

Aurum Orange Liqueur

Aurum Orange Liqueur is based on 8 year old brandy, infused with peel from bitter oranges, herbs and sugar. Saffron is amongst the herbs used, which gives the liqueur a pale golden colour. The infused brandy is distilled, then aged for 12 months. It...

Bauchant

Bauchant is a sweet liqueur made from Curaçao orange extracts combined with aged Napoléon brandies. It is triple-distilled to give it a strong orange fragrance and taste. It comes in a rounded, dark brown glass bottle. Bauchant is made by the Maison R...

Cassis

Cassis is a dark purple liqueur made from Black Currants and an alcohol, such as Rum or Brandy. It is usually used in a mixed drink, rather than drunk straight up. There are many different brands of Cassis, including Mathilde and Marie Brizard. Cassis...

Cédratine

Cédratine is an after-dinner liqueur made from citrons. It is usually served in stem glasses. It is made from sugar syrup, and citron extracts. Some versions also contain E102 colouring, a yellow food dye. Cédrat is sometimes mistakenly translated i...

Chartreuse

Chartreuse is a French liqueur made from a mixture of 130 vegetable products soaked in alcohol, which is then distilled, then mixed with distilled honey and sugar. The alcohol is then put in oak casks, and let mature. Profits from the sale of the liqueur...

Cherry Liqueurs

Cherry Liqueurs are liqueurs that have real or artificial cherry colouring and flavouring. Whether real or artificial are used, they are added to a neutral-tasting and clear alcohol base. Some Cherry Liqueurs have an additional flavour added such as...

Chocolate Liqueurs

Chocolate Liqueurs are a category of liqueurs based on crème de cacao - cocoa beans infused in vanilla. To this base, other flavours can be added -- orange, cherry, mint, etc. The liqueur can be white or brown. The alcohol content ranges from 20 to ...

Citrónge

Citrónge is an orange flavoured liqueur. Peel from sweet oranges from Jamaica and peel from bitter oranges from Haiti are let ferment in neutral grain alcohol along with cane sugar. The alcohol is then filtered and distilled. It is made by Patrón i...

Clément Créole Shrubb

Clément Créole Shrubb is a yellow-coloured, orange-flavoured liqueur made from a blend of young and aged rums, along with cane sugar syrup, that has orange peel steeped in it. It is aged in oak barrels. Alcohol content is 40% abv. Cooking Tips Can b...

Cointreau

Cointreau is a liqueur made with peel from sweet oranges from Spain and/or Brazil, and peel of bitter oranges from Curaçao. It is distilled in copper. Though it is a clear liqueur, it turns opaque when poured onto ice. Cointreau is not as sweet ...

Cordials

Cordials are sweet, distilled spirits, often brightly coloured. Their name comes from the Latin word for heart, with the idea being that a Cordial was something that would medicinally do you good, by stimulating the heart and the circulation. They were...

Coutou

Coutou is an orange-flavoured, amber-coloured liqueur made in France. It is made from Armagnac infused with orange peels. Coutou is 40% abv. Cooking Tips It can be drunk straight up, on the rocks or used in cooking.

Crème de Mûre

Crème de Mûre is a thick, sweet liqueur made from alcohol, blackberries and honey. There are many different brands, including Marie Brizard and Edmond Briottet. The alcohol content averages about 20%.

Crème de Noyau

A liqueur based on the kernels on certain fruits, such as peaches or cherries. If this sounds odd, remember that peaches and cherries are closely related to almonds, and so have a lot of flavour that can be extracted. Literature & Lore Noyau is...

Crème de Pêche

Crème de Pêche is made by infusing peaches in alcohol. There are many brands. Some are clear, some are a light yellow colour, some like that by Briottet are more amber-coloured. Alcohol content is 18% abv. Cooking Tips Can be drizzled over ice cream o...

Curaçao

Curaçao is an orange flavoured liqueur that is made from the peel of oranges grown on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The ingredients include Curaçao Orange Peel, lemons, sugar and other fruit. The peel, along with the leaves and blossoms, is...

Drambuie

Drambuie is a golden coloured liqueur based on aged scotch whisky (Talisker brand), honey and herbs and spices. Among the flavouring, experts figure, is lemon, saffron and sugar; its colour may come from the saffron. It is 40% alcohol. It can...

Drambuie Cream

Note: as of 2004, Drambuie Cream is a defunct product. Drambuie Cream is a liqueur made in Broxburn, Scotland by the Glenard company, as a joint venture between Scottish companies Glenmorangie and The Drambuie Liqueur Company Ltd 17% alcohol, it has...

Falernum

If you are looking for Falernum, the wine, see Falerno. Velvet Falernum (the full name) is a clear liqueur made in the Barbados, where it is very popular. It is made from lime, cane syrup, ginger, and flavourings including almonds and cloves. The liqueur...

French Liqueurs

By French law, to be called a Liqueur, the drink must have a minimum 15% alcohol content, and a minimum sugar content of 20%. If a liqueur in France is called a "crème", the minimum sugar content must be 40%. 22% of the French liqueur sold worldwide ...

Gran Torres

Gran Torres is made in Spain from Valencia orange peel steeped in aged brandy, flavoured with herbs such as thyme and rosemary, and with orange blossom honey. Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, coffee and molasses also add to the flavour. It is aged in oak...

Grande Mathilde XO

Grande Mathilde XO is an orange liqueur made from cognac that has been aged for at least 8 years. It is made by Gabriel & Andreu in France near Cognac, and sold in a tall, clear glass bottle.

Heering Cherry Liqueur

Heering is a dark red, Danish cherry liqueur with an almond flavour. It is made from dark red sour cherries called "Stevns", as well as their pits. The pits give the almond flavour. The cherries are crushed, blended with sugar and spices and mixed into...

Herbsaint Liqueur

Herbsaint Liqueur is an anise-flavoured American-made version of pastis. It is made in New Orleans by Legendre Distilleries. It is a clear greenish-amber colour that you can see through, though it turns cloudy in water. It is not as sweet as Pernod. It...

Kahlua

Kahlúa® is a Mexican-made coffee-flavoured liqueur. It is dark brown, thick and very sweet. Ingredients include coffee, corn syrup, sugar and vanilla bean. Many think there is chocolate in it, but there isn't. It comes in various flavours such a...

Licor Cuarenta y Tres

"Licor Cuarenta y Tres" is a bright yellow, sweet Spanish liqueur flavoured with citrus and vanilla. It professes to be made from a combination of 43 ingredients, including citrus and fruit juices, herbs, spices and vanilla. The name comes from the number...

Limoncello

Limoncello is not a brand name, rather it is a generic name for a slightly sweet, lemon flavoured liqueur made in Italy on the Amalfi coast near Naples. Some brands are sweeter than others, some have a more bitter aftertaste. It is a popular summertime...

Mandarine Impériale

Mandarine Impériale is a yellowish-orange liqueur made in Corsica from alcohol, orange skin, mandarin oils, sugar, water and other ingredients that are secret. The mandarin oil comes from Paris or from the Grasse region. The orange skins come from oranges ...

Mandarine Napoléon

Mandarine Napoléon is an orange-flavoured liqueur with a cognac base. Mandarin peel from Sicily is chopped finely and steeped in cognac, then filtered, then added to alcohol, sugar, and 21 spices and herbs (they are secret, of course, but supposedly ...

Maracujana

Maracujana is an orange-flavoured liqueur made in Martinique. It is called for in some cocktail recipes, such as "Menage-a trois." The liqueur may no longer be in production. History Notes In 1986, a request for US trademark registration, number...

Maraschino Liqueur

Maraschino Liqueur is the generic name of a type of cherry liqueur, made by several producers. It is not like other cherry liqueurs at all, and nothing like the syrup used to pack maraschino cherries in jars. It is clear, and dry tasting -- it is not...

Marasquin Liqueur

There is potential confusion here. "Liqueur de Marasquin" in French is Maraschino Liqueur, a dry liqueur. "Marasquin cherry liqueur", in English, is a sweet liqueur with a pronounced cherry taste made from cherry pits. DeKuyper® is a well-known ...

Nocino

Nocino is dark-coloured, syrupy digestif that is usually serve chilled after a meal in small glasses. Nocino is made from unripe, green walnut husks steeped in alcohol. It has a bittersweet flavour, tasting more herbal than nutty at first, then the...

Orange Liqueurs

Orange Liqueurs are used a great deal in making mixed drinks. The category includes liqueurs made from mandarins (or "tangerines"), which technically aren't exactly the same thing as oranges. They are made from the skins of oranges, either by chopping...

Pastis

Pastis © Denzil Green Pastis is a generic name for a type of anise-flavoured liqueur made in France. Though it is drunk throughout France, the strongest association is with area of Provence. It is generally quite sweet, though a few brands ...

Patxaran

Patxaran is a clear, reddish-brown, sweet digestive liqueur made in the Basque areas of Spain such as Navarre, and somewhat in the bordering Basque-speaking Pyrenées area of France. Thus, you will see both Spanish and French terms used in discussing ...

Peach Schnapps

In the truest German sense, this is a distilled brandy (or "eau de vie") distilled from Peaches. Most common today, though, is grain or potato-based alcohol with added peach flavouring. Genuine Peach Schnapps will be dry-tasting, not sweet. But then,...

Pear Liqueurs

Pear Liqueurs can be either actually distilled from fermented pears, or can be made by steeping crushed pears in brandy. The aroma is often more like pear than the taste is. Some are thick and syrupy; some are thin but sweet, more like an "eau-de-vie." Many...

Poirelle

Poirelle is pear-flavoured liqueur made from essences distilled from William Pears. These essences are combined with cognacs that have been aged at least 10 years in wood. It's made by the Maison Roullet-Fransac in Chermignac, France (Chermignac is...

Ratafia

Ratafia is a liqueur originally made from something that would impart almond flavour, such as the kernels of Morello cherries, peach or apricot kernels or bitter almonds or a combination of these. The liqueur come have been distilled or infused. Sometimes...

Rosolio

Rosolio (aka Rosoli) used to made from the herb called "sundew" (Drosera rotundifolia), aka "Rosa Solis." It used to be made entirely from juice from this herb. Now, it is a generic name for sweet, aromatic, syrupy cordials or liqueurs with low alcohol...

Sabra Liqueur

Sabra Liqueur is a brownish-red colour, orange-flavoured liqueur made in Israel with a chocolate aftertaste. The combined taste is a bit reminiscent of Jaffa cakes, and somewhat sweet but not overly so. The bottle is shaped like those in legend for...

Sambuca

Sambuca is an anise-flavoured liqueur. Popular brands are Galliano, Luxardo, Molinari, Opal Nera, Romana, and Sambuca di Amore. The alcohol content varies from 38 to 42% alcohol, depending on the brand and variety. The main ingredients are oil and...

Strega

Strega is a yellow-coloured digestif liqueur made from 70 herbs and spices. Ingredients include mint, fennel and saffron, which gives it its colour. It is distilled by steam in small stills, and fermented in oak vats. It is made in Benevento, Italy....

Tia Maria

Tia Maria © Denzil Green Tia Maria is a rich, sweet coffee-flavoured liqueur with an alcohol content of 20% to 26%, depending on the country it is bottled in. It is made from coffee beans, cane spirit, vanilla, and sugar. The coffee beans ...

Triple Sec

Triple Sec © Denzil Green Triple Sec is a clear, semi-sweet orange flavoured liqueur that is made from the peel of oranges grown on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The ingredients include Curaçao Orange Peel, lemons, sugar and other fruit. Th...

Umeshu

Umeshu is a yellowish, Japanese liqueur made from the Japanese plums called "Ume." It has a very smooth, but slightly sweet and sour taste. To make it, green, unripened Ume are macerated in shochu alcohol. The alcohol level is around 35%. It...

Van Der Hum Cream Liqueur

Van Der Hum Cream Liqueur is a dark, gold-coloured liqueur made from tangerine peel, herbs and spices infused in brandy and a wine distillate. Sugar syrup from cane, and glucose, are added to sweeten it. It is made by KMV Limited in South Africa, which...

Vin de Noix

Vin de Noix is a French liqueur made from "green walnuts" -- made from immature walnuts that haven't ripened yet. The liqueur is a dark brown colour, with a touch of astringency in its taste. It is not as sweet or thick as the Italian equivalent liqueur,...

Zara

Zara is a white, maraschino cherry-flavoured liqueur distilled from Marasca cherries from Dalmatia, Croatia. It is made at Zadar (formerly Zara) in Dalmatia on the coast of the Adriatic sea. It is used as a sipping liqueur, and as a sweetener in...

Mead

Mead © Denzil Green Mead is an alcoholic drink based on honey. Honey is mixed with water to form what is called a "must." Flavourings such as hops, fruit or spices are added, along with yeast. The mixture is then allowed to ferment, and then ...

Hydromel

Hydromel is a beverage. Some people interpret the name to mean "watered down" honey, but it isn't at all, it just means that it's made with water and honey. And it while it is a type of mead, it drier than other meads. It does not much honey flavour...

Measuring Alcohol Content

Hydrometer © Denzil Green Alcohol content is measured with a hydrometer. A hydrometer looks like a buoy that you would spot out at sea with a thermometer stuck on top. When it's placed in a liquid, it floats upright, with the base weighing ...

Alcohol by Volume

Alcohol by Volume (ABV) is a way of measuring alcohol content. Out of a certain amount of liquid, measured by volume (as opposed to weight), what portion of that liquid is actually alcohol? You apply this formula to see how much alcohol there is. (Original...

Alcohol Content by Weight

Alcohol by Weight (ABW) is often used in the United States for indicating the alcohol content of beer (while Alcohol by Volume is still preferred for wine.) This is somewhat ironic, considering that Americans insist on measuring everything else in God's...

Mixed Drinks

Atholl Brose

Atholl Brose is a thick, spoonable drink, made from honey, oatmeal, water and whiskey. You mix the oatmeal and water to form a thick paste, let stand a while, then strain the oatmeal out, keeping the liquid. You mix the liquid with honey and whisky,...

Caudle

Caudle is a thick beverage served as a warm drink. It is now out of fashion. It was made with ale or wine thickened with bread or some kind of grain, sweetened with honey or sugar, simmered, and spiced. At one point, special two-handled cups called...

Sake

Fugu Sake

Fugu Sake is sake that is flavoured with the fins of fugu fish which has just been cut up for sashimi. The fins are roasted, then then put in cups of hot sake, which are often served flaming. Many westerners don't like the smell of the fish and sake...

Shiro Sake

Shiro Sake is very sweet white sake that is very low in alcohol. It is made from sweet sake, distilled spirits, rice malt and steamed glutinous rice. A a milder version can be made from Sakekasu (the solids or "draff" of rice left over after making...

Spirits

Spirits are alcohol that is generally about 40% alcohol. They are produced by first fermenting something to produce the alcohol, then distilling the alcohol to concentrate the alcohol content. Spirits can't be produced by fermentation alone, because...

Arag

Arag is made from distilled Koumiss. It ends up as clear and as strong as vodka. History Notes The Soviets tried (and failed) to stamp out the practice of making Arag.

Brandy

Brandy is an alcohol made from fermented fruit, distilled in such a way as to still retain some of the taste of the fruit. Brandy must be aged a minimum of two years; they are usually aged 3 to 7 years in oak casks. Brandies made in France are called...

Alambic Brandy

Alambic Brandy is brandy that is made from Alambic stills -- the same type of stills as are used in making cognac. Many different types of grapes used in making Alambic, whereas Cognac is made only from a few grapes. Alambic is double-distilled, as...

Armagnac

Armagnac is a brandy made in the Gascony region of far southwestern France, with production centring about the town of Armagnac. It is useful to compare Armagnac to Cognac, if only to highlight the differences. Some feel that Armagnac is gutsier and...

Calvados

Calvados is a brandy made from apples in Calvados, Normandy, France. Calvados is the name of the region. It can be a blend of apple brandies that can be from any of the areas in Calvados. There is a single-blend version called Calvados Pays d'Auge...

Cognac

Cognac is made by passing brandy from white grapes (which, being brandy, has already being distilled once) through a second distilling, to refine it further. Or it is made by letting grapes ferment for about three weeks, then distilling the must. The...

Gin: Types of gin, cooking tips, and history

Gin is basically flavoured vodka. Its base, a neutral grain alcohol is made from rye, or corn, and malted barley. For Gins in the category of London Dry, a ratio of 3 corn to 1 barley is considered good. The mash is distilled to around 90% alcohol,...

Blackwood Dry Gin

Blackwood Dry Gin is gin based on alcohol distilled from barley and maize. It is a pale green colour, and has a more intense aroma than many other gins. It is called a vintage gin, not because it's aged, which it's not, but because the botanicals used...

Genever Gin

Genever Gin is made in the Netherlands. The alcohol is made from malted barley and either rye or corn. The ratio is usually 50/50. The mash is distilled, then the alcohol reduced to 50 or 55%, then distilled again with juniper berries and flavourings....

Plymouth Gin

Traditionally, Plymouth Gin has been considered a gin category on its own, though to taste it you'd really think it another brand under the London Dry category. It is triple-distilled and very aromatic. It has an earthier flavour, owing to an increased...

Sloe Gin

Sloe Gin is a gin based liqueur flavoured with fruit from the blackthorn bush. Traditionally a home-made drink, you can now buy it commercially: there are at least two makers of it (as of 2006), Plymouth and Gordons. It is a sweet, red liqueur that,...

Grain Alcohol

Grain Alcohol is pure alcohol that has been made from fermented grains. In North America, it is often made from corn, but it doesn't really matter what grain is used, as none of the grain's characteristics are going to come through in the finished product....

Grappa

Grappa is a strong, almost brandy-like alcoholic digestif drink made from grape pomace (the skins, stems and seeds left over after pressing the grapes for wine.) You drink it after a meal at room temperature in very small amounts. It is usually clear,...

ÙE

ÙE® is an alcoholic beverage similar to a Grappa, served as a digestif. It is, however, classed more as an aquavit than a Grappa, because it is made from whole unpressed grapes, while Grappa is made from grape skins, stems and seeds. ÙE is made by th...

Mezcal

Mezcal is a spirit alcohol made in Mexico from agave plant hearts, known as "piñas." In North America, owing to NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), a product cannot be called Mezcal unless it is made in Mexico. Tequila is a type of Mezcal, ...

Bacanora

Bacanora is a clear, limited-production alcohol made in Mexico. It is made from agave plants that grow wild in Sonora state. Producers just call the plant "yaquiano" agave, but in fact there are at least four different species of agave that are used:...

Raicilla

Raicilla is Mezcal that has been brewed from a variety of agave known as "Mules Foot" ("Pata de Mula.") [1] Production centres around Puerto Vallarta in the Mexican state of Jalisco. "Piñas" are harvested from the agave plants (see Mezcal for more ...

Sotol

Sotol Mezcal is made in Chihuahua state in Mexico. The variety of agave used is a wild agave called Sotol . The grows up to 3 feet (1 metre) tall, has saw-toothed leaves....

Tequila

Tequila is, broadly classified, a mezcal. The name Tequila was only applied in the late-1800s to distinguish it from other mezcals. Unlike other mezcals, tequila is made only from one kind of agave plant, the blue agave (aka tequilana weber azul.) It...

Tlahuelompa

Tlahuelompa is Mezcal made from blue agave plants in Tlahuelompa, a city in Hidalgo state in Mexico.

Rum

We mostly think of using Rums for desserts (think Rum balls and Rum cake) and drinks (think punches, and Rum and coke), but in the Caribbean, it is often used in savoury dishes. Most Rum is made from either molasses or sugar-cane juice. Dominican Rum...

Cachaça

Cachaça is a clear alcohol made in Brazil. Though it is often compared to brandy or grappa, which are made from grapes, it's actually more like a form of rum, being made from sugar cane like rum is. It is made from unrefined sugar cane juice that is ...

Shochu

Shochu is a clear, distilled Japanese beverage with an alcohol content of about 25 to 42%. It can be made from short-grain Japanese rice, barley, sweet potatoes or buckwheat. Some novelty ones are based on brown sugar, foxtail millet, pumpkin, green...

Vodka

Vodka is a clear form of spirit alcohol traditionally made and drunk throughout Eastern Europe. It has no colour, and is not aged. Vodka can be made from a mash of beets, grain, or potatoes. In Russia and Poland the best vodka is considered to be made...

Whiskey

Whiskey is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Grains used can include barley, rye, wheat, and corn. It is distilled, then aged (usually) in wooden casks. There are entire compendiums, schools and guilds dedicated to each of the...

Bourbon

Bourbon is an American whiskey made from grain, water and yeast, and aged in charred wood barrels. The name comes from Bourbon County, Kentucky, where Bourbon was first made. Now, Bourbon can be made anywhere in America, but to be labelled as a...

Rye Whiskey

Americans make the original Rye Whiskey. By law, American Rye (whiskey) must use at least 51% rye. Canadian whiskies, though they are referred to as Ryes, are actually inferior as a Rye Whiskies because they will generally only contain 3 to 10% Rye...

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented juice. Unless otherwise specified, the juice will be from grapes. Wine can also be used as an ingredient in cooking, and occasionally, in food preservation. Wine corks "Cork taint" is when the...

Blanquette Wine

Blanquette Wine is a sparkling wine that is drier and more subdued than Champagne -- as well as being historically older than it. It is made in the vicinity of Limoux in the Aude area of France. It is produced in sweetnesses of Brut, Demi-sec and Doux...

Champagne

Champagne © Denzil Green Champagne is a sparkling white wine. The grapes used to make champagne are the same, for the most part, as those used to produce sparkling wines all over the world. What's reputedly different about the sparkling wine made ...

Dom Pérignon Champagne

Dom Pérignon Champagne is a sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France by the Moët & Chandon company. It is to be emphasized that, ironically, the man after whom this sparkling wine is made, Dom Pierre Pérignon, in fact focussed his wo...

Dessert Wines

Dessert Wines are called "Pudding Wines" in the UK, and "stickies" by Australians. Many people everywhere these days, though, would also call them unfashionable. They are very sweet wines designed to be served at the end of a meal. In contrast, wines...

Ice Wine

Ice Wine is a sweet dessert wine, usually made from white grapes, but now some are made from red grapes. It is made in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. German Ice Wines are considered the best, and are the most expensive...

Fortified Wine

Fortified wines have had brandy added to them. The most commonly known ones are Marsala, Sherry, Madeira and Port. The fortification process was originally developed to help "inferior" wines have a longer storage life. Because fortified wines have a...

Madeira Wine

Madeira wine is heated in tanks, then aged in wood casks. The lightest Madeira is called "sercial", the medium one is called "verdelho", and the strongest and sweetest one is called "boal." Literature & Lore The name comes from Madeira Island,...

Marsala Wine

This Italian fortified wine can be bought in three degrees of sweetness: dry, semisweet and sweet. Literature & Lore Marsala takes its name from the city in Sicily, Italy. On the label, "secco" means dry, "semi-secco" means semi-dry (thus semi-sweet),...

Sherry

Sherries are wines that are fortified with brandy. Sherries range from dry to sweet in taste; the pale-coloured ones are dry, the dark ones will be sweet. Brits have preferred sweet styles, the Spanish have preferred dry. Brits are now, though, acquiring...

Kosher Wine

A wine marked "Kosher" does not mean that the wine is free of additives, as some people have come to believe. It may or may not be additive-free, but the main thing that makes a wine Kosher is how it was handled. For a wine to be Kosher, Gentiles must...

Malvasia Wine

Malvasia Wine is Italian red and white wines made from Malvasia grapes. Fruili, Italy, is known for its whites; Piedmont for its reds. The wines can be anything from a table wine to a sweet dessert wine, very dry or very sweet. In all of them,...

Port

Port © Denzil Green Port is a strong, sweet wine. Grapes are fermented, then a grape alcohol (basically, brandy) is added at a certain point to stop the fermenting. This ensures that some sugar remains to make the wine sweet, plus kicks up the alcohol ...

Colheita Port

Colheita Port is a tawny port made from grapes from a single harvest. It's aged in casks for a minimum of 7 years, then bottled. The label will indicate both the vintage and the bottling years. Storage Hints Aging Colheita Port after bottling won't...

Late Bottled Vintage Port

Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port is made from wine from a single year, but instead of being aged from its second year onward in bottles, it is aged 2 to 6 years in a cask. Once bottled and sold on, it doesn't need aging, is ready to drink, and doesn't...

Ruby Port

Ruby is the lowest grade of port. It is a blend of ports, wood-aged for a couple of years. It has a fruity flavour and a deep red colour. Ruby is an inexpensive port. Practically speaking, it will do for most recipes that call for port, and is...

Tawny Port

Tawny is a blend of ports, wood-aged in barrels for many years. It has a brownish, tawny colour -- thus, its name. Before Tawnies are bottled, they are "revived" with the addition of some younger port. The age on a bottle of Tawny -- 10 years,...

Vintage Port

Vintage Ports are made from a single Port blend, and aged. They are usually the most expensive Ports. They are not produced every year; only in years that the producers feel are exceptional years. When you buy a bottle of Vintage Port, you usually need...

White Port

White Port, made from "white" (green) grapes, is actually yellowish in colour. It is wood aged for a few years, then refreshed with a younger White Port before being bottled. It is generally served chilled or on the rocks as an aperitif. Storage...

Pulque

Pulque is a milky, fermented alcoholic beverage made in Mexico from the agave plant. Its taste ranges from slightly sweet to slightly sour, depending on how old it is. But "young" and "old" are very relative terms here, because Pulque only has a life...

Red Wine

Red Wine is an alcoholic beverage made by pressing and fermenting red grapes. See main entry on Wine. Cooking Tips If you are adding wine to a bean dish, such as a cassoulet, remember that wine is acidic, and acids toughen bean skins, so the wine should...

Roman Wines

Falerno

Falerno is a wine being made today in Italy, in the Falerna region of the province of Catanzaro in Calabria. It is sometimes referred to as "Falernum" for marketing purposes to emphasize Falerno's "ties" with the Romans. The Falerno wines made today can...

Lora

Lora was a lower-quality wine made by Romans from grapes that had already been pressed once for wine. It used the waste products such as grape skins, stalks and seeds (which grappa is made from today.) The Romans called such waste "vinaceum." If defrutum...

Mulsum

Muslum was a Roman tipple made by mixing honey into white wine. It was a great Roman favourite, and was served with meals or as a refreshment on its own. It was also used as a libation to the gods. Historical food reconstructionists suggest adding...

Tuba

Tuba is a coconut wine made in the Philippines. It is considered a rural drink, because it has a short shelf life. It is not sold in stores or in restaurants. It is made from coconut tree sap. One tree can produce two to four quarts / liters of...

Vegetarian Wine

Wine, beer, cider and fruit juices often contain floating matter in them which gives them a haze. It is not desirable to sell them like this, as consumers expect such beverages to be clear. (Even when drinking home brewed wine or beer, we still expect...

Vermouth

Vermouth is wine that has been flavoured and fortified; the flavouring used will vary from maker to maker. The wines used are lesser-quality wines, whose taste is improved by the herbs and fruits used to flavour it. There are two main kinds of Vermouth;...

French Vermouth

French Vermouth means "White Vermouth", which is actually "clear" Vermouth. All Vermouth starts as white, but it was the French who decided to develop it as a white alcohol, while the Italians developed it as a red. There are many brands of White...

Italian Vermouth

Italian Vermouth, when used without any qualification, means "red" vermouth. All vermouth starts as white wine. To make it red and to add flavouring, a caramel solution is added, along with additional flavourings. There are two main brands of...

Punt e Mes

Punt e Mes is a red vermouth made from white wine fortified with alcohol, herbs and sugar. The taste is both sweet and bitter. It is made by the Carpano company in Turin, Italy. If you make a Manhattan with Punt e Mes instead of another regular red...

White Wine

See also main entry on Wine. Cooking Tips If you are adding wine to a bean dish, such as a Cassoulet, remember that wine is acidic, and that acids toughen bean skins, so the wine should be added only after the beans are boiled and you are ready to...

Coffee

A coffee tree is an evergreen tree that can grow up to 9 metres (30 feet) tall, but it is kept shorter by pruning it into bushes to make it easier to pick the beans. The bushes produce white blossoms that only last a few days, and then berries like...

Camp Coffee

Camp Coffee is a black, concentrated coffee-flavoured syrup sold in the UK and in Canada. The syrup is 26 percent chicory root, 4 percent coffee, and sugar and water. It is made by McCormick Foods in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Camp Coffee...

Civet Coffee

Civet Coffee may be the world's most expensive coffee, coming in at about $200 a pound (2010 prices.) Only about half a tonne is produced each year. To some, the flavour of Civet Coffee is rich and sweet, with undertones of molasses and tobacco. To others,...

Espresso

Espresso is a strong, somewhat bitter version of brewed coffee made from dark-roasted coffee beans. Visually, it is noted for being served in small 2 oz (60 ml) cups, and for the thin patches of caramel-coloured "foam" on top, referred to as the...

Caffè Crema

Caffè Crema is a very "long" espresso, with more water in it than Caffè Lungo. That is to say, about 180 ml to 240 ml of water is allowed to pass through the filter basket, instead of the normal 25ml for an espresso. So that's almost up to about t...

Caffè Lungo

Caffè Lungo is a form of Italian coffee made in an espresso machine. It is essentially an espresso with about double the amount of usual water in it. An espresso will have about 25 ml (approx 1 oz) of water in it; a Caffè Lungo will have about 50 ml (...

Cappuccino

Cappuccino is an Italian milky coffee drink, made from espresso coffee and hot milk, topped with a generous amount of foamed milk with very fine bubbles in it. It often has a small amount of sugar added to it by the drinker. The classic proportions...

Instant Coffee

Instant Coffee is a form of coffee essence. Usually, it comes in the form of dried powder or granules, to which you add boiling water to create a coffee-like beverage. It is convenient, easy to make, and depending on the brand, can be cheap. All...

Vietnamese Coffee

Vietnamese coffee is a thick, strong coffee. It is always served with sweetened condensed milk. It may be served hot, or over ice.

Juice

In English, the word "Juice" is largely reserved for the liquid extracted from vegetables or fruit. The US Food and Drug Administration, for instance, defines it as "aqueous liquid expressed or extracted from one or more fruits or vegetables." In French...

Aguamiel

Aguamiel is the sweet juice or sap from an agave plant. It is procured from many different varieties of agave plant, though not all yield a juice that is worth getting. Aguamiel can be obtained in two ways: by harvesting the centre cone ("piña") of ...

Apple Juice

Apple Juice is the juice extracted from apples. In small scale juicing operations, at home and for apple cider, apples are pressed to extract their juice. In large scale commercial operations, however, apples are spun instead of being pressed....

Bug Juice

Bug juice is a beverage. Exactly what the beverage is varies by area, and by tradition, but it appears to always be a soft drink. It can be as simple as red soda pop, straight up. In some traditions, such as North American summer camps for children,...

Cranberry Juice

Cranberry Juice is a bright red fruit juice, sweetened with sugar. Most juices sold are 1/3 cranberry juice, with the remainder being water and sugar to make them palatable. Even homemade recipes add sugar and water. White Cranberry Juice is made...

Fruit Drink

A Fruit Drink may be called a beverage, cocktail, or a punch. A Fruit Drink is a beverage with a low content of actual fruit juice in it. Most jurisdictions, though, have legal minimums that must be met for the beverage to still refer to itself as a...

Grape Juice

Grape juice is a liquid obtained by pressing grapes. Grape juice can be red or white. To make it, the whole grape is crushed including the seeds. The juice must then be pasteurized immediately so that it won't ferment into wine. The juice must be 100%...

Must

Must is unfiltered fruit juice that will contain the seeds, skins and stems. The juice is usually grape. Juice will naturally ferment and turn to alcohol: when keeping it at the "must" stage is desired, it must be either frozen, or pasteurized to prevent...

Mustum Tortivum

Mustum Tortivum is a Roman term, denoting "must", as in grape must, obtained from the second pressing of grapes that have already been pressed a first time. The first time, they were pressed by stomping. The second time, they were pressed with a mechanical...

Sparkling Grape Juice

Sparkling Grape Juice is drier and less sweet than grape juice. It's made from white grape juice. The more expensive ones use natural carbonation: the grape juice is let ferment a bit to create natural carbonation, then it is flash-pasteurized. This...

Nectars

Nectar is a marketing term that came about in the late 1980s for a non-pure, diluted fruit juice to distinguish it from other non-pure fruit drinks. A "Nectar" will contain added water, added sugar or honey to sweeten it, and often contains fruit pulp...

Pineapple Juice

Pineapple Juice is a sweet, yellow-coloured juice squeezed from pineapples: not from the whole pineapple, but from the trimmings after the pineapple is cut for canning. It can be bought sweetened or unsweetened, in cans, bottles, as a frozen concentrate...

Pomegranate Juice

Pomegranate Juice is the unsweetened juice of Pomegranates. You cut the pomegranates in half and juice as you would a citrus fruit. To juice the seeds, whiz them in a blender until the juice is released, then strain. It will stain most plastic...

Sparkling Juices

Sparkling juices are juices that have been carbonated make them fizzy. The more expensive sparkling juices use natural carbonation. The juice is let ferment a bit to create natural carbonation, then it is flash-pasteurized. This makes it somewhere...

Tomato Juice

Tomato Juice © Denzil Green To make Tomato Juice, tomatoes are cooked to develop the taste and release the juice, then strained to remove excess fibres and seeds, and then canned or bottled. It differs from Tomato Sauce in that Tomato Sauce ...

V8 Juice

V8® Juice is a juice made by the Campbell Soup Company from vegetables. The vegetables used are beets, celery, carrots, lettuce, parsley, spinach, tomatoes and watercress. Tomato is the most dominant taste, along with that of seasonings that are added. The ...

Yuzu Juice

Yuzu Juice is a yellowish-grey coloured juice from a Japanese fruit called Yuzu. The juice, sold in bottles, is quite expensive outside Japan: it's more expensive than even truffle oil. It's not cheap in Japan either, however, because Yuzu fruits don't...

Soft Drinks

Soft drinks are a relatively new concept in human history. Before their advent, there was no beverage you could make that wouldn't have eventually fermented, and become alcoholic. Soft drinks are anything non-alcoholic. The description "soft" comes...

Ade

"Ade" is a generic term for a fruit-flavoured sweet drink. The fruit flavour is usually citrus -- as in Lemonade or Orangeade -- but not necessarily always so. There are, for example, recipes for "cherryade." Fruit flavours can even be mixed. The drinks...

Atole

Atole is a thick, corn based beverage made in Mexico that is served hot, warm or room temperature, at any time of the day. It can be made from cornmeal, cornstarch or masa harina. Some people use rice flour. When made from corn meal, the corn used can...

Cabbasisata

Cabbasisata is a non-alcoholic Sicilian drink made from tiger nuts. The tigernuts are soaked over night in water, then ground with the soaking water, to make a drink. The tiger nuts would have been boiled first to cook them, and would have been then...

Carbonated Beverages

Carbonated Beverages are drinks that have had carbon dioxide added to them. Carbon dioxide is colourless and flavourless. Carbonated Beverages have as their base either carbonated water or soda water - which are considered Carbonated Beverages in their...

Birch Beer

Birch Beer is a non-alcoholic, carbonated beverage made from birch bark and birch sap. It's brewed, like (real) root beer is, and has a head on it when poured, so some think it's just a type of root beer, but in fact both are a type of "small beer." Birch...

Egg Cream

An Egg Cream is a soda-fountain drink that does not contain any egg in it, nor any cream. Egg Creams have a dry taste, and are not sweet. Egg Creams are made in New York, and pretty much no where else in the world but New York. There are reports of...

Ice Cream Float

Ice Cream Floats are a fizzy drink made with ice cream. They are similar to but not the same as Ice Cream Sodas. Floats are simpler to make than Ice Cream Sodas. They are just pop and ice cream. The flavoured soda pop acts as a substitute for the soda...

Ice Cream Soda

An Ice Cream Soda is a foamy, non-alcoholic drink made with ice cream that ends up as a fizzy slurry drink. The foaminess is a result of the ice cream interacting with the soda water. You don't mix either of them to make a harmonious blend, instead,...

Italian Sodas

To make Italian Sodas, you need plain fizzy water, though some people use Soda Water (aka Club Soda, the kind with bicarbonate of soda in it) and either don't notice any appreciable taste impact, or like it. For the flavouring, you can buy the syrups...

Phosphates

Phosphates are a carbonated beverage made to order for you. They used to be widespread before the advent of bottled carbonated soda pop, but now are mostly available in kosher restaurants as a dairy-free alternative to ice cream floats or sodas, particularly...

Soda

A soda is a sparkling beverage. In the North American sense, confusingly enough, it will be a beverage made from plain carbonated water, not "soda water." Soda water has bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) in it, so it would affect the taste of the syrup...

Egg Nog

Egg nog (aka eggnog) is a creamy, rich beverage based on eggs and cream that is very popular in the UK and in North America. Typically, it is served over the Christmas holidays.

Ginger Beer

Ginger Beer is a beverage made from ginger, yeast, a sugar (honey, molasses or sugar), and lemon juice. All homemade Ginger Beer will be alcoholic. Home made batches need anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks in the bottles before being ready to drink. During...

Holiday Nog

Holiday Nog is a take on Egg Nog. It is a commercial beverage product made by the Francovich family in Reno, Nevada based on a recipe from their homeland in Petrovac, Serbia. It is made with cream, egg nog, spices, bourbon and gold rum, with no preservatives...

Horchata de Arroz

This is a Mexican drink made from rice, or rice and almonds. The drink is sweetened and flavoured with cinnamon and Key Lime juice. The Spanish version of "Horchata" doesn't use rice; it is made from Tigernuts. Language Notes "Arroz" is the Spanish...

Horchata de Chufas

Horchata is a Spanish, non-alcoholic drink made from Tigernuts. The nuts are soaked for 24 hours, then whizzed in a blender with the same water they soaked in. The mixture is sweetened with sugar, then chilled and served over ice with a sprig of mint. History...

Horchatas

A Horchata is a thick beverage made in Spain and Mexico. It may be thickened with ground rice, almonds, or tigernuts (aka chufas.) It is more likely to be rice-based in Mexico; tigernut based in Spain. It may be flavoured with cantaloupe seeds, chocolate,...

Horlicks

Horlicks is a malted milk powder that you mix with warm milk to make a drink. It is wheatier, and less malty-tasting than other such drinks. The basic ingredients Horlicks is malted barley, wheat flour and evaporated milk. It is now available in...

Jogging in a Jug

Jogging in a Jug is a vinegar drink made of apple cider vinegar, with mixed juices added to make it more palatable. Sold in 32 and 64 oz bottles, it is sold as a "A Dietary Supplement", and carries a side disclaimer that "There is no scientific evidence...

Kool-Aid

Kool-Aid® is a soft drink. It is made from flavoured powder that you dissolve at home in water, sweeten with sugar which you supply yourself, and then chill in the fridge or with ice cubes, or both. It is available in small packets that will make ...

Kvass: A low-alcohol Russian fermented drink.

Kvass is a alcoholic drink made in Russia. It ends up as a foggy liquid with yeast suspended in it, and has a very low alcohol level. In households, the most common way to make Kvass was to toast rye bread or dry it out in the oven, and soak it in water...

Lemonade

Lemonade is a lemon flavoured beverage. There are two main colour variations, yellow lemonade and pink lemonade . There are also many variations in how it is made, with the main two styles being European, and American. European-style lemonade:...

Brown Lemonade

Brown Lemonade is a brown-coloured Lemonade-flavoured fizzy soft drink sold in Northern Ireland. It is made by companies such as Cantrell & Cochrane (C&C) and by Maine.

Cherry Limeade

Cherry Limeade is limeade to which cherry flavouring and red colouring has been added. Usually carbonated, it is served cold on ice, often garnished with cherries and lime slices. The drink is very popular in Kansas and Missouri. Sonic restaurants in...

Citron Pressé

Citron Pressé is a chilled lemon drink served in French cafés. It means literally, "pressed lemon." It consists of a tall glass filled with ice cubes (no doubt one of the rare times you'll see an ice cube in France.) Poured onto the ice cubes is the j...

Limeade

Limeade is a soft-drink similar to lemonade but made with limes instead. A commercial version is made in Scotland by A.G. Barr plc. Sprite and 7-up are American commercial fizzy-drink versions. Braum's is a chain of convenience stores with lunch counters...

Pink Lemonade

Pink Lemonade is lemon-flavoured beverage with a cloudy, pink hue to it. It is usually served cold. Commercially, Pink Lemonade is made from lemon juice, sweetener, water, and a pink dye. The dye may be artificial, or natural such as cranberry...

Red Lemonade

Red Lemonade is a red-coloured lemonade-flavoured fizzy soft drink sold in Ireland It is made by companies such as Taylor Keith (TK), Country Spring, Finches and Nash's, etc. Some brands may be sweeter than others. It is used as a drink mixer, particularly...

Milk Shakes

Milk Shakes are a thick, rich cold drink made with milk. A good Milk Shake needs to be thick enough to give a little resistance at first when you try to suck on it (some say it should be thick enough to make you black out trying to suck it up.) They...

Frappe

There are several different interpretations of what Frappe can mean. Perhaps the most universal meaning, in the English-speaking world, is a simple syrup, mixed with flavourings (often fruit), then frozen, then blended until it's slushy. Sometimes a...

Malted Milk Shake

Often just called a "malt", a Malted Milk Shake is a milkshake with malted powder in it.. A good one should be very thick; you drink it slowly as it melts. Classically, the flavour is chocolate, but there is nothing preventing it from being vanilla,...

Milo

Milo is an Australian malt and cocoa flavoured powder that you mix up with cold or hot milk to make a beverage. It is made by Nestlé. Some people add sugar when mixing it up; some don't. A "Magic Milo" is Milo mixed up with warm milk added a small ...

Pennywort Drink

Pennywort Drink is an Asian drink made from fresh pennywort leaves, water, sugar syrup and ice, mixed and frothed in a blender. It tastes like ice tea with a mossy or lettucey tone to it, and bitter tones. It is sold commercially in tins, just like...

Pop

Pop (aka soda-pop) is fizzy, flavoured soft drinks sold in bottles, cans or from dispensing pumps in restaurants, fast-food places and stands, etc. A technical definition of it would be along the lines of "non-alcoholic carbonated beverage." Often at...

Big Red Pop

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...

Coca-Cola

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 l...

Cream Soda

Cream Soda is an eye-poppingly sweet, vanilla-tasting, carbonated soft drink. It is not the same as an Ice Cream Soda. It has a soft rather than astringent fizz to it, and a foamy head that lasts a long time. It comes in red, pink, brown, and...

Ginger Ale

Ginger Ale © Denzil Green Ginger Ale is a soft drink version of ginger beer. It is a carbonated beverage, flavoured with ginger extract (artificial or genuine.) Commercial brands are often coloured with caramel. The original style of ginger ...

IRN BRU: A Scottish Soft Drink

IRN BRU is an orangey-rust coloured, fizzy, sweet Scottish soft drink. It tastes like a cross between bubble gum and cream soda. It comes in cans, and glass and plastic bottles. The bottles are 750ml, with a 20p deposit on them (as of 2005.) A...

Nectar Soda

Nectar Soda is red, fizzy drink sort of like Cream Soda made in New Orleans. It is sold in glass and plastic bottles, with a foil label. There is also a diet version now. The product's slogan is "Mardi Gras in your Mouth." To people from Louisiana,...

Root Beer

Root Beer is a non-alcoholic, carbonated beverage. It is dark and frothy. Once poured, looks something like stout. It has a creamy texture on the tongue, and a somewhat spicy, earthy smell. It doesn't taste like beer at all, having none of beer's...

Postum

Postum is a powdered beverage mixture. You mix it up with hot water, just as you would instant coffee. You can also use hot milk. It is made from wheat, bran and molasses. History Notes Postum was developed by Charles William Post in 1894 (born 1854...

Sciala Cori

Sciala Cori is a cold, sweet, non-alcoholic Sicilian drink that is not made much anymore. It used used to be sold by men from carts in village squares. You'd bring your own glass from home to the cart. The vendor would have a block of ice, from which...

Squash (Drink)

Squash, in the UK, is a liquid drink concentrate to which you add water to make the drink. It comes in many fruit flavours. Ribena, based on blackberry, is a well-known brand known in both Europe and North America. The percentage of actual juice...

Tea

Tea © Denzil Green Tea means several things: the tea shrub, the leaves of the shrub, and the drink made from the leaves. Tea is grown in tropical and subtropical areas; connoisseurs say the best tea is grown at high altitudes. Black Tea ...

Black Tea

Black Tea © Denzil Green Black Tea is tea leaves that have been allowed to ferment, turning them black. The freshly picked leaves are allowed to start withering on racks, during which time they loose some of their moistness and body. Then, they ...

Ko-Cha Tea

Ko-Cha is the Japanese word for "Black Teas" in general, such as is drunk by Westerners. If drunk with milk and sugar in it, it is called "miruku tei"; if drunk with lemon in it, it is called "remon tei."

Darjeeling Tea

Darjeeling is the name for tea grown in the Darjeeling area of West Bengal, India. The term is more a geographic designation of where the tea is from, than the type. The tea leaves are usually from the Camellia sinensis var. sinensis bush, which...

Green Tea

Green Tea is a term used to describe a category of teas. They are made from tea leaves that are steamed or roasted right after being picked, bypassing the fermentation process that is used to make black teas, which would make the taste stronger....

Agari

In sushi shops, "Agari" is a word used for the same hot green tea that everywhere else is called "Sencha." Originally, the shops served Agari after the meal, but now it is served whenever the customer wishes during the meal. Language Notes Agari...

Ban-Cha Tea

"Ban-Cha" means common or ordinary tea in Japanese. It is an everyday tea, less expensive than many other Japanese teas. It is made from coarser, less tender grades of leaves harvested later (e.g. summer and autumn, as opposed to spring.) Its full...

Genmai-Cha Tea

Genmai-Cha is a very common, everyday tea in Japan. It is made from Ban-cha tea and Sancha tea blended with roasted rice gains (which are called "Genmai", thus this tea's name.) The aroma and taste of the roasted rice helps to mask the slight bitterness...

Gyokuro Tea

Gyokuro Tea is a very high grade of tea made from the tips of leaves from tea bushes that have been sheltered from direct sun by bamboo screens (now, black nylon nets more likely to be used.) Growing in the shade makes the taste sweet because it inhibits...

Houji-Cha Tea

Houji-Cha Tea is a green tea with hardly any bitterness in its taste. It is an inexpensive tea and very common, yet it is light, refreshing, and aromatic. To make it, tea leaves are steamed, dried, then pan-roasted at a high temperature. The leaf colour...

Hukamushi-cha Tea

Hukamushi-cha Tea is sencha tea that is steamed for a long time. This reduces bitterness, and makes it milder. It is a fragrant, green tea with full flavour. When brewed, the tea will be somewhat cloudy. Cooking Tips To make tea for 5 people: use 5...

Kabuse-Cha Tea

Kabuse-Cha Tea is a very high grade of Japanese tea made from tips of leaves from tea bushes that have been sheltered from direct sun by bamboo screens, but not covered as long as the leaves for Gyokuro Tea are. The leaves are harvested after 14 days...

Kamairi-Cha Tea

Unlike Sencha tea, leaves for Kamairi-Cha are not steamed first. They are toasted in pans in heat of up to 575 F / 300 C, shaken often. It tastes very much like Chinese green tea. It is available as leaves or pellets. Sechibaru and Ureshino in southern...

Koi-Cha Tea

Koi-Cha Tea is a type of tea beverage made from Matcha Tea. It is a strong, thick beverage. The Matcha used is made from the first seasonal harvest of leaves from tea bushes that are at least 30 years old. The drink called "usucha" is also made in...

Mat-cha Tea

Mat-cha Tea is a bright green powdered Japanese tea used in the Japanese tea ceremonies. It does not taste like Westerner's expect tea to taste like. It has a bitter taste. It is made from leaves that have been shaded for 20 days, like gyokuro. The...

Sencha Tea

Sencha is a Japanese dark-green tea. It's more of a grade of tea that has been processed a certain way, than a tea from a particular cultivar of tea bush. The flavour, colour and taste will vary based on who has made it and where. For all, though, the...

Jasmine Tea

Jasmine Tea is tea leaves that have been infused with scent of jasmine flowers. There is a very floral scent to the tea. The tea leaves can be green or oolong tea leaves, or occasionally, black tea. Already cured tea leaves are used in making...

Kuki-Cha Tea

Kuki-Cha Tea is sometimes translated as "stick or twig tea." It is made from the small twigs and leaf stems that are discarded in the making of other tea such as high grade mat-cha. They are harvested after the last tea harvest, allowed to dry out a...

Mate Cocido

Mate Cocido is a faster, less formal way to make and serve Yerba Mate. It results in a somewhat mint-tasting tisane to drink. You can get Yerba Buena for Mate Cocido in bags since 1965. Instant versions came on the market starting in 2002. Cooking Tips...

Me-Cha Tea

Me-Cha Tea is made from young tea leaf buds harvested in the spring. It is very astringent and has a bitter aftertaste. The tea is yellowish when made up. Cooking Tips For 3 people: 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea to 6 oz / 175 ml water boiled, allowed to cool...

Oolong Tea

Oolong Tea is half way between green and black tea. The tea leaves are allowed to ferment a little bit, but not as much as for making black tea from them. As well, larger, older tea leaves are used. The leaves are picked, and allowed to wither in the...

Pu-Erh Tea

Pu-Erh Tea is made from older, hairy leaves from a type of tea bush called "broad leaf tea" grown in Yunnan Province, China. It has an earthy, mellow taste. The leaves are harvested, allowed to wilt, then heaped up a bit, then allowed to ferment a bit,...

Tisanes

Tisanes are herbal teas. They can be made from any dried or fresh aromatic leaves or flowers. Tisanes are sometimes drunk for pleasure, sometimes for "medicinal" purposes. Cooking Tips Generally you will need 2 tablespoons of fresh or 1 tablespoon of...

Konbu-Cha Tea

Konbu-Cha Tea is tea made from seaweed, either from whole kombu (aka konbu) seaweed, or powdered seaweed available in stores. It has a salty taste. Sometimes shiso leaves are added to the mix. You can also use it as a broth for soup. Cooking Tips...

Mugi-Cha Tea

Mugi-Cha Tea is not a tea proper, but a Japanese tisane made from roasted barley. It can be drunk cold during the summer, especially with ice. It is sold in large, very long tea bags that resemble really long, old-fashioned tampons. You are supposed...

Tregothnan Tea

Tregothnan Tea is an English tea, actually grown in England. It is grown at Tregothnan estate owned by the Boscawen family near Truro, Cornwall. The estate has a plantation of about 8,000 tea bushes (as of 2006) of the Camellia sinensis variety of tea. Harvesting...

Tregothnan Tea

Usucha Tea

Usucha is a thin, weak tea made from the powdery tea called Matcha in Japanese. The Matcha used is made from leaves from tea bushes that are under 30 years old. The powder is traditionally stored in a container made of lacquerware called a "natsume." There...

White Tea

White Tea comes from the tea plant called "Camellia sinensis." It has a light, sweet, taste, and none of the green, "grassy" taste that green teas do. When when brewed up, the tea will have either a pale yellow or pale orange or amber colour. The leaves...

Yak Butter Tea

Yak Butter Tea is a beverage made in Tibet and Nepal from tea and Yak Butter. Yak Butter Tea is served hot. It has a slightly salty taste and a layer of melted butter on top. It is drunk any time of day. To make Yak Butter Tea, some "chaku" (see below)...

Yerba Mate

Yerba Mate is a holly shrub, whose leaves, once dried and crushed, are used for tea. The shrub is an evergreen one, that will survive temperatures down to -6 C (21 F.) It is usually grown from seed. It can grow up to 6 metres (20 feet) tall, with...

Water

Water © Robert Owen-Wahl / pixabay.com / 2007 / CC0 1.0 Water is a naturally-occurring liquid chemical substance. Around 3% of the earth's water supply is fresh (non-saline) water, which is needed for food-growing and kitchen use. Brazil, Russia, ...

Artesian Well Water

Artesian well water is water that is driven out of the earth by natural pressure. The water will be in the ground in an "aquifer." An aquifer is layers of earth, porous rock, shale and sand in which water is trapped. The water in the aquifer has flowed...

Boiled Water

Boiled water is water that has had heat applied to it until it has been boiled for a varying period of time. As water boils, gases are driven out of it, including oxygen. This is why tea purists always insist on boiling freshly drawn water, rather...

Bottled Water

Bottled water is not just water sold in bottles: the term can also be used to describe water sold in cans, tetra boxes and plastic bags. Otherwise, it may come in individual portion or table sized glass bottles, or plastic bottles, or water dispenser-sized...

Carbonated Water

Carbonated water is water that contains a high amount of carbon dioxide in it, CO2, which makes the water bubbly and gives it a tangy taste. It is also known as Seltzer Water. Some artificially carbonated water is perceived by some people as being...

Distilled Water

Distilled water is tap water that is processed to remove almost all sodium and minerals in the water. Consequently, it has almost no taste. To make it, water is boiled. The steam is collected, and allowed to condense back into water. The steam leaves...

Ground Water

Ground water comes from rain water, melting snow or water run-off provided by irrigation seeping into the ground. Some of it will be taken up by plant roots. The rest will seep deeper into the ground, sometimes aided by cracks and crevices or empty spaces...

Ice

Ice is used in cooking mostly to chill things, though some entire dishes, such as Japanese Shaved Ice desserts, can use it as the main ingredient. In the food processing industry, it's used a great deal to keep temperatures down to levels appropriate...

Crushed Ice

Crushed Ice is water that has been frozen into ice, typically in a shape such as a cube, then crushed. It can be crushed finely, or coarsely. Crushed Ice has more surface area than ice in a cube-shape. Consequently, it will cool things more quickly....

Dry Ice

Dry Ice is frozen carbon dioxide -- it's -109 F (-78 Celsius.) It doesn't melt; it dissipates as a gas. When purchasing Dry Ice for use in or around food, make sure it is food grade. Food Grade Dry Ice (C02) is used for soda fountains, for transporting...

Ice Cubes

Ice Cubes are a relatively modern convenience that North Americans now take completely for granted. Ice Cube trays first appeared in the "Domestic Electric Refrigerator" invented in America by Fred W. Wolf Jr in 1914. Stand-alone metal ones appeared...

Shaved Ice

Shaved ice is razor-thin shavings of ice, usually made with a device specially made for the purpose. In North America, shaved ice has been used to create cheap and cold desserts. "Snowballs" or "snowcones" were small paper cones filled with Shaved...

Mineral Water

Mineral water is water that is sold in bottles at a premium over regular water. In consumers' minds, mineral water contains enough minerals to change the taste of the water, and to possibly have some health benefits, even if it is just settling an overfed...

Perrier Water

Perrier is a bottled mineral water. The water comes from a plain in Vergèze a small village in the south of France, 4 miles (7 kilometres) south-west of Nimes. The plain is surrounded by limestone rock hills. The water from precipitation percolates ...

Soda Water

Soda Water is carbonated water with a small amount of sodium bicarbonate (aka Baking Soda) in it. It is not the same as plain carbonated water because of this addition. It is saltier tasting than most sparkling (aka carbonated) mineral waters....

Spring Water

Spring sater is ground-water that comes from surface springs, rather than coming from underground springs. It may have some minerals in it, but not enough to give it a taste that make people think of it as mineral water. It is usually very clear water,...

Sterilized Water

Sterilized sater is water that has been sterilized, to ensure an absence of any bacteria in the water. It is used for mixing infant formula for babies, for people with compromised immune systems, and to dilute or dissolve water soluble drugs for injections. The...

Still Water

Still water is water that doesn't have any fizz to it. It may be tap water, may be bottled water, it may be spring and / or mineral water. The opposite category is sparkling aka carbonated water. Still water in bottles has been increasing in popularity...

Tonic Water

Tonic water is carbonated water with sugar, quinine and fruit flavourings. The sugar is added to offset some of the bitterness of the quinine. It contains as much sugar as other soft drinks such as ginger ale, though you can buy sugar-free Tonic Waters...

Vichy Water

Vichy water is a mineral water that is naturally sparkling. It is sold in screw-top bottles. Minerals in the water include sodium bicarbonate, and other alkaline salts, which give the water a faint saline taste. It is drawn from springs on the Allier...

Well Water

Well water is water drawn up from the ground. Wells are dug, driven or drilled into the ground to tap into an aquifer. Water drawn up from the ground provides about 20% of the fresh water used in the United States. There are over 15 million private...

Biographies

The biographies section on CooksInfo holds the stories of people, restaurants, and food companies who are famous for their role in food world history somewhere, at some time, in the world.

Agnes Bertha Marshall

Agnes Bertha Marshall was a celebrity London cook in the mid 1800s, and the author of four cookbooks. She was one of the first people to serve ice cream in edible cones.

Ainsley Harriott

Ainsley Harriott is an English TV celebrity chef and a best-selling cookbook author. He has also been known for his comedic and singing talents. He is the son of a famous jazz pianist.

Alessandro Filippini

Alessandro Filippini was a famous chef at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York, and a cookbook author in the second half of the 1800s.

Alexis Benoit Soyer: Chef and Food Writer

Alexis Benoit Soyer was a famous French chef and food author whose career actually mostly took place in England.

Anthimus: Author of the last Roman Cookbook

Anthimus wrote what is probably the last 'cookbook' to come out of the western Roman Empire, "De observatione ciborum."

Antony Worrall Thompson

Antony Worrall Thompson is an English celebrity cook. He has published many books, has owned and run several restaurants and been on food programmes on TV.

Archestratus: A gourmand in the world of Classical Greece

Archestratus was a Greek gourmand who lived around 350 BC in Sicily. Though probably too upper-class to have been a cook himself, he was an opinionated food critic who made his preferences and dislikes very clear.

Arnold Reuben: New York Restaurateur

Arnold Reuben was the owner of the famous Reuben’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in New York. His biggest claim to fame was his sandwiches. He would name sandwiches after celebrities who were regular customers.

Athenaeus of Naucratis: Gourmand and Food Writer

Athenaeus was a classical Greek gourmand who was a citizen of the incredible interconnected, cosmopolitan Romano-Graeco world of the Mediterranean in classical times. He recorded culinary information about the world he lived in.

Bartolomeo Scappi: Renaissance Cook and Food Writer

Bartolomeo Scappi was a Renaissance Italian cook who cooked for six Popes. He wrote a famous cookbook that captured the shift between medieval and renaissance cooking.

Bick's Pickles

The Bicks family were Jewish refugees who fled Germany before the start of WWII and went on to start a pickle empire in Canada.

Billy Reed

Billy Reed was the founder of New York's swank "Little Club", and was the first in America to serve up Caesar Salad and Doris Day.

Catherine de Medici

Catherine de Medici is credited with being France's first Foodie Queen, and introducing many food innovations to France. It's a great story, but how much is true?

Catherine Emily Callbeck Dalgairns

Catherine Dalgairns was a Canadian / Scottish woman interested in cookery. She wrote "The Practice of Cookery Adapted to the Business of Every-day Life", first published in 1829.

César Ritz: Hotelier to the stars

César Ritz. Photographer unknown / wikimedia / 1897 / Public Domain César Ritz was the first, great modern hotelier. He created the concept of the "grand hotel", which turned out to also be the perfect stage for the "grande cuisine" being created b...

Charles E. Hires

Charles E. Hires was the first person to commercially brew root beer, though he didn't invent it. He first sold it as a dry powder that you mixed up at home.

Charles Elmé Francatelli: Victorian Celebrity Chef

Charles Elmé Francatelli was a Victorian celebrity chef. He wrote several important cookbooks, and held three of the most prestigious cooking positions in England.

Charles Mason Hovey

Charles Mason Hovey was the author of "The Fruits of America". A plant breeder, he developed the "Hovey Strawberry" and promoted the zinfandel grape.

Charles Ranhofer: Famous Victorian Chef

Charles Ranhofer was chef at the famous Delmonico's Restaurant in New York, and author of an 1890s popular cookbook.

Clarissa Dickson Wright

Clarissa Dickson Wright was an English celebrity cook who gained overnight fame as one of the two principals on the TV series called "Two Fat Ladies."

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.

Constance Spry: English Food Writer

Constance Spry was an English food writer, and co-founder of the Constance Spry Cordon Bleu School of Cookery in London.

Crosse & Blackwell

Crosse & Blackwell is the brand name of a well-known English line of foodstuffs founded in London in 1829.

Delia Smith

Delia Smith is cook book writer and food television celebrity in England.

Delmonico's Restaurant

Delmonico's Restaurant was the first luxury restaurant in New York, and for almost 100 years defined "haute cuisine" in America.

Dione Lucas

Dione Lucas was one of the first celebrity cooks on TV at the dawn of the television era in America. Based in New York, her cooking shows started in 1947.

Egon Ronay: Restaurant Critic

Egon Ronay was one of the world's most famous restaurant reviewers. The reviews were conducted anonymously and to maintain his integrity he would never accept any gifts or free items from restaurants or hotels.

Elena Molokhovets: Russian Food Writer

Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets is Russia's equivalent to America's Fannie Farmer and Britain's Mrs Beeton. She write "A Gift to Young Housewives", a cookbook which also gave directions on household management.

Eliza Acton: Victorian Cookbook Author

Eliza Acton was the author of two popular 19th century cookbooks. She was so popular and influential that many people plagiarized parts of her books, possibly even Mrs Beeton.

Eliza Leslie

Eliza Lesie was perhaps the most popular cookbook writer in 19th century America. Many credit her with even having the first chocolate cake recipe.

Elizabeth Coleman White

Elizabeth Coleman White was the first person to grow cultivated blueberries for commercial production. She did this in partnership with Dr Frederick V. Coville, who would later become a well-known plant breeder in his own right. Early years She...

Elizabeth Craig

Elizabeth Craig was a prolific 20th century cookbook writer, writing over 40 books. She was Scottish but worked most of her career in England.

Elizabeth David

Elizabeth was the first cookbook writer not to be a home economist or a cook. Her writing style was evocative, descriptive and lavish, talking about food ingredients and drawing on literature and history.

Elizabeth Raffald

Elizabeth Raffald was the author of the popular 18th century book, 'The Experienced English Housekeeper', with over 800 recipes. She was a very modern woman for her times, running several businesses as well.

Fannie Merritt Farmer

Fannie Merritt Farmer wrote one of America's definitive cookbooks, and created standardized North American measurements and recipe formats.

Fanny Cradock

Fanny was one of the first, and most original, celebrity TV food personalities ever. Descriptions of her range from bizarre to high camp to battleaxe.

François Latry

Francois Latry was chef of the Savoy Hotel in London for 23 years. He was a favourite of the press on both sides of the Atlantic, and was pronounced to be the leading chef in Europe of his time.

Francois Pierre de la Varenne

François Pierre de la Varenne was a French chef in the first half of the 1600s. His name is now revered amongst cooks and chefs, because Varenne established the foundation for what would became one of the basics of French cooking: to complement, ...

Francois Vatel

Francois Vatel is known as the great chef who killed himself on the morning of the 24th of April 1671 at Chantilly, France because a delivery of fish didn't arrive.

Fulvius Lippinus

Quintus Fulvius Lippinus (aka Fulvius Hirpinus) was a Roman who lived around the middle of the first century BC in the formerly Estruscan areas of Italy. "It is reported that Quintus Fulvius Lippinus has a preserve in the vicinity of Tarquinii of...

Gary Rhodes

Gary Rhodes (1960 - 2019) was an English cookbook author, chef, and celebrity TV chef with a passion for re-interpreting classic British food in modern ways. He insisted on seasonal food.

Georges-Auguste Escoffier

Georges-Auguste Escoffier was a French chef and author who lived from 28 October 1846 to 12 February 1935. He never worked in private homes; his entire career was spent in commercial, public places. He popularized writing out meal menus in the order...

Gino d'Acampo

Gino d'Acampo is a celebrity Italian cook in England, known for his restaurant chain and television appearances. He also writes books and sells branded products in his name.

Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay is a celebrity chef and cookbook author in England. He is as well-known for his temper as he is for his cooking and his spats with other food personalities.

Gourmet Magazine

Gourmet Magazine ran for nearly 70 years, and came to define a standard in writing and thinking about food which many argue has yet to be replicated. Based in New York, it featured some of the best writers in the English language from around the world,...

Graham Kerr

Graham Kerr was the celebrity chef of the 1970s. He became famous for his one show, the “Galloping Gourmet”. There was butter, cream, wine and laughter. His episodes went so fast that no one was ever really able to write the recipes down. Oe person who...

Grimod de la Reynière

Grimod de la Reynière was one of the world's first food reviewers and restaurant critics. Eventually run out of Paris at the start of the 1800s for his witty but scathing reviews and observations, he would spend the rest of his life in a château in a...

Harold McGee

Many times we simply do as we're told when working in a kitchen, because the person or source telling us to do it has more experience. Harold McGee, though, was the saucy child who through wondering "why" found that scientific evidence didn't always...

Harriet Anne de Salis

Harriet Anne de Salis was a prolific author of popular English cookbook and household management author at the end of the Victorian age

Harumi Kurihara

Harumi Kurihara is a celebrity TV homemaker in Japan, and a lifestyle guru. She has a chain of stores and restaurants and has authored many cookbooks.

Henri Charpentier

In 1940, Charpentier was paid to lend his name to promoting Silverleaf Shortening, made by Swift's. (Southtown Economist. Chicago, Illinois. 25 September 1940. P 20.) Life and Times Henri Charpentier was a French chef who lived in America, and...

Henry John Heinz

Henry John Heinz Life and Times Henry John Heinz founded a empire of commercially-prepared foods. Such products provided convenience to housewives, who previously had to make all their home products from scratch. Heinz wasn't the first to...

Hermitage Restaurant

Hermitage Restaurant (Click for larger) Life and Times The Hermitage Restaurant was a famous restaurant in Moscow, operating in Moscow for 53 years, from 1864 to 1917. It was located in a building, which is still extant, at the corner of Petrovsky...

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Life and Times Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is an English food personality and writer who seems to embody many of the food trends that were popular at the turn of the 21st century. In fact, for him, food at times seems more "political" than it does seem...

Irma Rombauer

Life and Times Irma Rombauer was the author of one of America's most influential cookbooks to date, "The Joy of Cooking." The story of the book, though, is the story of both her and her daughter, Marion. The "Joy of Cooking" is still one of the most...

Isabella Mary Beeton

Life and Times Anyone who has heard of Mrs Beeton probably thinks of her as a stately, stout, tough matron, the kind that went out into the world to beat back the bush in the name of God and Queen. In fact, she died young, at the age of 28, and was...

James John Howard Gregory

James John Howard Gregory © Shari Kelley Worrell Family Archives Life and Times James John Howard Gregory lived from 7 November 1827 to 20 February 1910. He ran an important seed catalogue business [1] which helped introduce vegetables now ...

Jane Grigson

Life and Times Jane Grigson lived from 13 March 1928 - 12 March 1990, dying just one day shy of her 62nd birthday. She was a middle-class, well-travelled food writer writing for such an audience. She would spend three months every year in France. She...

Jean Paré

Jean Paré is the one of the world's top selling cookbook authors, with 30 million copies of her books sold. Each of Jean's cookbooks is a single subject.

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Brillat-Savarin was not a chef, but he wrote the world's first ever book on gastronomy. He attempted to create an intellectual structure for the appreciation of food.

Jean-Étienne de Boré

Life and Times Jean-Étienne de Boré lived from 27 December 1740 to 2 February 1820. [1] He was the man who first commercially produced granulated sugar. He was not, as some also say, the first sugar refiner in Louisiana -- that was Valcour Aime. Jean-Étienne wa...

Jean-Pierre Clause

Life and Times Jean-Pierre Clause is known now as the creator of Pâté de Contades. Cynics point out that really what Clause really achieved was to take a peasant dish, dress it up, and make all the rich people swoon over it. But still, he does s...

Jennifer Paterson

Life and Times Jennifer Paterson gained overnight fame as one of the two principals on the TV series called "Two Fat Ladies," and as co-author of the accompanying cookbooks. She also wrote columns for The Spectator and The Oldie, did TV appearances...

John Cadbury

John Cadbury The start of the Cadbury dynasty The Cadbury family dynasty was started in 1824 by John Cadbury (12 August 1801 – 11 May 1889), and strengthened by his sons George and Richard. A devout Quaker, John saw cocoa and chocolate as healthy alt...

John Lawson Johnston

John Lawson Johnston Vanity Fair Magazine 1897 Life and Times John Lawson Johnston was the inventor of Bovril . He was born in Roslin, Scotland (of Da Vinci Code fame) on 28 September 1839. His parents were William Johnston and Jane McWilliam. John g...

Joseph A. Campbell: Founder of Campbell's Soup

Joseph A. Campbell Life and Times Joseph A. Campbell (15 May 1817 - 27 March 1900) started the company that introduced condensed tomato soup in 1897. Today, the Campbell Soup Company (2007) is 50 to 60% owned by the Dorrance family. In the...

Josephine Garis Cochrane

Josephine Garis Cochrane Life and Times Josephine Garis Cochrane invented the first workable dishwasher. An attempt had been made before her, by a man, but it didn't work and never got off the ground. She was born Josephine Garis in Ashtabula...

Julia Child

Julia Child was the person who more than anyone else brought French cooking to North American middle-class households. She was not the first person to run a cooking programme on television, but in many people's minds, she was the first one that counted...

Katherine Caldwell Bayley

circa 1934 [3] Life and Times Katherine Caldwell Bayley (10 September 1889 to 1976) was a Canadian Home Economist in the first half of the 1900s. Together, with her husband Walter Stillman Bayley (1886 to 1959), they ran a Home Economics "consulting...

La Maison Dorée

La Maison dorée: 20 Boulevard des Italiens, Paris Life and Times La Maison Dorée, located at 20, Boulevard des Italiens, was one of the most famous restaurants in Paris in the 1800s. It opened in 1840 in a building that was five storeys tall. P...

Laurie Colwin

Life and Times Laurie Colwin lived from 1944 - 1992. She wrote two cookbooks. She has acquired a very dedicated following; many of her readers felt her death as a personal loss. Laurie was born in Manhattan on 14 June 1944. Her parents were Peter...

Louis Eustache Ude

Louis Eustache Ude was one of the most famous French chefs in England in the early 1800s. He was also the author of two influential cookbooks.

Louis Fauchère

Louis Fauchère was a chef at Delmonico's restaurant in New York in the mid-1800s. He later established the venerable Hotel Fauchère in Milford, PA.

Lucien Olivier

Life and Times Lucien Olivier (1838–1883) was a chef trained in classic, French haute cuisine. It is unclear whether he was French or Belgian born; there is very little material available on his life. He spent his career in Moscow. With a business p...

Luther Burbank

Life and Times Luther Burbank was an American botanist and scientist, most remembered in the food world for the potato named after him. He was a self-promoter, but his hype about some of his plant creations didn't live up to reality when they...

Lydia Maria Francis Child

Lydia Maria Francis Child Lydia Maria Francis Child was a popular cookbook writer as well as the author of now-famous and much-loved Thanksgiving poem. Life and Times Lydia Maria Francis Child lived from 11 February 1802 to 20 October 1880. She...

Madhur Jaffrey: Television Cook and Food Writer

Madhur Jaffrey © From "Foolproof Indian Cookery" (2001) Life and Times Madhur Jaffrey is a TV food personality and cookbook writer who demystifies Indian cooking for English-speakers. On her programmes, she frequently dons the dress of the particular ...

Marcella Hazan

Life and Times Marcella Hazan (15 April 1924 – 29 September 2013) was to Italian cooking in America as Julia Child was to French cooking. Marcella Hazan was born as Marcella Polini in 1924, in Cesenatico on the Adriatic coast of Emilia-Romagna, I...

Margaret Costa

Life and Times Margaret Costa lived from 1917 to 1999. Though a relatively well-known British food personality, she wrote only one cookbook on her own (though she assisted with a few others.) She also wrote, though, for magazines such as the "Sunday...

Marguerite Patten: English Home Economist and Wartime Food Consultant

Marguerite Patten c. 2000 at Glyndebourne © Judith Patten Life and Times Marguerite Patten has had a very long career in the United Kingdom, writing about and teaching about food. Though she turned 85 in 2000, she was still working on books and ...

Maria Parloa

Life and Times Maria Parloa lived from 25 September 1843 - 21 August 1909. Born in Massachusetts, she grew up as an orphan. She was interested in the science of cooking, and was a big believer in how kitchen technology would transform women's...

Marie-Antoine Carême

Marie-Antoine Carême was a French chef and food writer in the first half of the 1800s. He is now seen as the founder of "La Grande Cuisine Française", having defined everything from sauces to chefs uniforms.

Mars Family

Life and Times The Mars Family story and business empire starts with Franklin Clarence Mars ( 24 September 1883 - 1934.) The company was later taken over by his son, Forrest Edward Mars. Franklin was born in Newport, Minnesota. Owing to a case of...

Mary Ellis Ames

Mary Ellis Ames Life and Times Mary Ellis Ames (born c. 1887; died 27 February 1968 [1]) was Pillsbury's answer to their competitor's fictional woman, Betty Crocker. A real woman, Ames was the Director of Pillsbury's Cooking Service. She...

Mary Randolph

Mary Randolph © Library of Virginia Life and Times Mary Randolph was the author of "The Virginia Housewife", the first regional cookbook in America, published in 1824. It is still being reprinted in facsimile. She was also the first person to ...

Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner

Life and Times One of the earliest promoters of raw-food diets was the Swiss doctor Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner [1] (born 22 August 1867 in Aarau, Switzerland; died 24 January 1939.) Max's father, Heinrich Bircher, had been a notary public in...

Milton S. Hershey

Milton S. Hershey c. 1905 Hershey Community Archives Life and Times Milton Snavely Hershey lived from 13 September 1857 to 13 October 1945. Famed now for both his candy products and his enlightened business practices, many of his ideas actually...

Mithaecus

Life and Times Mithaecus lived around 400 BC. He is probably the first cookery writer in history, or more fairly, that we know of, though we have only one recipe from him (quoted in "Athenaeus.") Mithaecus was a Greek living in the Greek colony of...

Nigel Slater: English food writer

Life and Times Nigel Slater (1958 - ) is a food commentator. He lives in Highbury, near Islington in London, England. He has written for various magazines, hosted TV series on foods, and written many books about food. A very chatty writer, he...

Nigella Lawson

Life and Times Nigella Lawson is a celebrity TV cook and cookbook author. Not a professional cook by training, she emphasizes enjoyment rather than achievement in cooking. She is not a purist; she is not afraid to reach for frozen vegetables or powdered...

Paul Blangé

Paul Blangé was Executive Chef at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans, where his name became synonymous with good food and fine dining. He created Bananas Foster, Eggs Hussarde and Chicken Pontalba.

Peek Freans

Peek Freans was a famous Victorian brand of cookies and biscuits that were originally English but became a familiar sight in shops around the world.

Philip Harben

Philip Harben's Cookery Encyclopaedia 1955 Life and Times Philip Harben had the first television cooking programme in the world. The programme started in 1946 on the BBC. [1] The series was broadcast in black and white. At some points, he...

Pierre Blot: possibly America's first celebrity chef

Pierre Blot, Handbook of Practical Cookery Life and Times For a brief period, Pierre Blot was perhaps America's first celebrity chef. He styled himself "Professor of Gastronomy." He wrote cookbooks and ran a cooking school. Ultimately, he may...

Pierre Pérignon

Life and Times Pierre Pérignon is the man better known today as Dom Pérignon of Champagne fame. Sadly, much of the "information" that is written about him in material for marketing is just that -- marketing myths. He was not the creator of the b...

Pillsbury Bake-Offs

Pillsbury Bake-Offs © General Mills Life and Times The Triple-Crown of American cooking contests consist of the National Chicken Cooking Contest, the National Beef Cook-Off, and the Pillsbury Bake-Off. The Pillsbury Bake-Off contest started ...

Platina

Platina was an Italian Renaissance writer now known in the food world for his cookbook written in Latin, "Concerning Honest Pleasure and Well-Being" ("De honesta voluptate et valetudine.") The word "honesta" in the title has long been translated as "honest",...

Poilâne Bakery

Poilâne is the name of a privately-owned family bakery company in Paris, France. It is one of the most well-known and prestigious bakeries in the world. It has been in continuous operation since 1932.

Raymond Calvel

Life and Times Raymond Calvel (1913 to 2005) was one of the 20th century French leading authorities on bread. Julia Child referred to Calvel as her first breadmaking teacher. Her husband Paul had been trying to make French bread to help Julia, but...

Richard C. Hellmann, creator of Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Life and Times Richard C. Hellmann (22 June 1876 to 2 February 1971) is the man who created Hellmann's Mayonnaise. He was born about 60 miles south of Berlin in Vetschau, Spreewald, Germany. His parents were Hermann and Emma Palm Hellmann. Hermann...

Rudolph Hass

Life and Times Rudolph Gustav Hass (5 June 1892 - 24 October 1952) was the discoverer of what we now know as the Hass variety of avocado. As of 2012, it was 95% of the avocado production in California. Hass was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1892....

Rufus Estes: Pullman Chef and Cookbook Author

Rufus Estes Life and Times Rufus Estes worked for the Pullman company, as a chef looking after the unimaginably luxurious private Pullman railway cars that travelled across America in the second half of the 1800s. He had worked his way up from...

Ruth Reichl

Life and Times Ruth Reichl (Reichl is pronounced "RYE-shul") is a food writer, editor and reviewer. She was born 16 January 1948 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan to Ernst and Miriam (née Brudno, born 1908) Reichl. Her parents were relatively well-off ...

Ruth Wakefield

Life and Times Ruth Wakefield (née Ruth Jones Graves, 17 June 1903 to 10 January 1977) is the inventor of Toll House Cookies, which today we just call Chocolate Chip Cookies. At the time, though, she was actually more well-known for running what many ...

Sarah Tyson Rorer

Life and Times Sarah Tyson Rorer (1849 - 1937) was a nineteenth-century American prodigious writer of cookbooks. In addition, she was a cooking teacher, a speaker and a newspaper columnist. She wrote columns for Table Talk magazine (of which she...

Sylvester Graham

Sylvester Graham © Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Life and Times Sylvester Graham (5 July 1794 – 11 September 1851) was the inventor of Graham Flour and Graham Crackers. He was born in West Suffield, Connecticut, 1 of 17...

Taillevent: Medieval French Cook, Author of Le Viandier

Tomb of Taillevent and his two wives Notre Dame Priory, Hennebont, Brittany. Life and Times Taillevent wrote an historically-important French cookbook called "Le Viandier" towards the end of the Middle Ages. Suggested dates for the book include...

Tate & Lyle

Life and Times Tate & Lyle were a major international sugar company. They were the original makers of Lyle's Golden Syrup, and were owners of what was Redpath Sugar in Canada. In 2010, they sold their sugars business, which included all their...

The Tradescants

John Tradescant was an English horticulturist who introduced many new food plants to England. His curio collection formed the basis of what is now known as the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Thomas Laxton: Fruit and Vegetable Breeder

Thomas Laxton Life and Times Thomas Laxton was a plant breeder who introduced many new varieties of strawberries, and worked with Charles Darwin in experiments on peas. The nursery that he founded, carried on by his descendants for many generations,...

Timeline of Television Cooking Show Personalities

Life and Times This is a timeline showing what television cooking stars appeared when, and where. If a star made a debut in more than one country, that is counted as a separate entry for him or her. It is currently dated up to 2009. The first televised...

Two Fat Ladies

Two Fat Ladies was a television cooking programme that ran on BBC2 from 1996 to 1999 inclusive. The co-stars were Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Jennifer Paterson.

Walter Tennyson Swingle

Walter Tennyson Swingle, 1941. Taken by Robert Taylor. Life and Times Dr Walter Tennyson Swingle (1871 -- 1952) was an agricultural botanist who worked for the United States Department of Agriculture Citrus Breeding Programme. He was involved...

White Castle

Life and Times White Castle is an American fast-food hamburger chain that started in 1916. Its headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. In America, it had around 390 stores as of 2005, most of which were in the mid-west, and all of which were still owned...

William Cobbett: Social Reformer and Home Brewing Advocate

William Cobbett circa 1831 Life and Times William Cobbett lived from 9 March 1763 -- 18 June 1835. He was a social reformer at the start of the Industrial Revolution; he was also a farmer and a pamphleteer (nowadays, we would call him an "activist"),...

Biscuits and Crackers Recipes

Bread

Bread © Paula Trites Bread is a carbohydrate-rich food baked from a dough made from flour (typically wheat flour) mixed with a liquid, typically water or milk. Other ingredients may include a fat to keep the bread softer longer, yeast to cause ...

Bagels

Bagels are chewy because they are boiled before they are baked: possibly the only bread that is made in this way, aside from some varieties of bread Pretzels. Dough made with yeast is formed into rings and allowed to rise. When the dough has risen,...

Biscuits

Biscuits used to be rations for soldiers and sailors. The word literally comes from the French "bis" plus "cuit": "bis" meaning twice, and "cuit" meaning cooked. The item was cooked, sliced and then cooked again, to remove as much moisture as possible...

Beaten Biscuits

Somewhat scone-like in appearance, beaten biscuits got their leavening from air alone, which was driven into them through manual kneading for 2 to 3 hours. They were popular in the American south, where the labour was usually provided by household sl...

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...

Bath Olivers

Bath Olivers are bland flavoured, thin, crisp, ivory-coloured biscuits with tiny holes poked in them. They are made from fat (butter, oil and beef fat), flour, milk and yeast, and sold in a white paper cylinder. They are good with cheese. Bath Olivers...

Breakfast Crackers

Breakfast Crackers are crispy, bland tasting crackers made in various countries such as Sweden, UK, etc. You can put put honey, jam or peanut butter on them, or marmalade, cheese, etc. They are served at some schools in America as part of school breakfasts. Substitutes...

Cream Crackers

Cream Crackers are pale brown crackers that are usually made square. They are made from flour, salt and a small amount of fat, mixed with milk or milk and water. The dough is rolled into thin sheets with holes punched into the dough to allow...

Oyster Crackers

Oyster Crackers are round, hard crackers meant to be added to bowls of soup at the table in which they soften. They are very small, generally just about 1/2 inch round (1 cm.) They are made from flour, water and just a touch of salt in the dough. No...

Saltine Crackers

Saltines are sometimes called "soda crackers" because of the baking soda used in them. Saltines or Soda Crackers are square crackers, 2 inches by 2 inches (5 x 5 cm), that are salted. Tiny holes (called "docker holes") are punched in them before baking...

Senbei

Senbei are crispy Japanese crackers made from wheat flour and glutinous rice. They come in various flavours including miso and even mayonnaise now. Sometimes they are just brushed with sweetened soy sauce; sometimes they also have a seasoning that includes...

Tsujiura Senbei

A Tsujiura Senbei is a Japanese cracker with a written fortune inside. The cracker is made from unsweetened rice dough. These are used in Japan at Shinto Shrines at New Year, particularly in Kyoto. Some people speculate that fortune cookies may have...

Water Biscuits

Water Biscuits are what North Americans would call a cracker. They are flat biscuits, either round or square, and creamy-white in colour with brown spots. Compared to most other biscuits or crackers, they are comparatively soft and flaky. They...

Zwieback

Zwieback are slices of bread baked in an oven to make them dry and crispy. They are often made from bread that is slightly sweetened, or has egg in it. Some variations have mashed potato in the bread. Usually the bread is purpose-made from a recipe intended...

Digestive Biscuit Crumbs

Where North American recipes will often turn to Graham cracker crumbs to use as a base for pies and cakes, recipes in the UK, Australia and New Zealand will call instead for Digestive Biscuit Crumbs. Cooking Tips To make crumbs, whiz in food processor...

Digestive Biscuits

Digestive Biscuits are made from a mix of coarse wholewheat and white flours. They are firm, but still soft (rather than being crisp, like Crackers or Water Biscuits.) The biscuits are semi-sweet. They can be served as a sweet (you can even buy...

Bread Crumbs

Bread Crumbs can be made from any type of bread. There are two types of bread crumbs, fresh and dried. Which is used when depends on the effect that is wanted. See separate entries for fresh and dried bread crumbs, with appropriate substitutes...

Dried Bread Crumbs

Dried Bread Crumbs are very fine crumbs made from bread that has been allowed to dry until it is brittle. They are used as topping, a coating or as a filler. You can make them yourself, or buy them plain or seasoned. To make dried bread crumbs Let...

Fresh Bread Crumbs

Fresh Bread Crumbs are made by breaking up fresh or stale bread into very small morsels. They are used for stuffings, fillers, sauces, and for buttered bread crumb toppings. You generally can't buy these in stores, but you can make them ahead and store...

Panko Crumbs

Panko Crumbs are flaky, coarse, dried breadcrumbs that can be used instead of fresh breadcrumbs. One Japanese dish in which they are used is "Tonkatsu": a deep-fried breaded, boneless pork cutlet. Panko Crumbs are sold in Asian stores in cellophane...

Bread Improvers

Bread Improvers is a generic term for items that help improve the quality of a loaf of bread. Two of the best known ones are Ascorbic Acid (aka good old vitamin C), and Alpha Amylase (an enzyme which helps to break down starch.) Other items include gluten...

Buns

Buns are small, hand-sized, sweetened bakery items usually made from a flour, often with a leavener, either yeast or a chemical leavener. They are usually dome-shaped, with a flat bottom, and may or may not be iced. They are usually round, though,...

Bath Buns

Bath Buns are large buns made from a yeast-risen yellowish dough formed into balls, brushed with beaten egg yolk and baked. The dough has candied peel with currants or raisins in it, which poke out of the bun in many places. The top is sprinkled with...

Belgian Buns

Belgian buns are large, soft, round buns formed from a swirled strip of bread-like dough with raisins, white icing and a red candied cherry. No one is certain where they originated but one thing is certain: it does not appear to have been Belgium.

Black Bun

Black bun is a Scottish rich fruit dessert that could be described as a cross between a square or rectangular-shaped pie, and a cake. It is like a pie, in that it is baked with top, bottom and side crusts, and a filling. But, it is usually sliced and ...

Chelsea Buns

Chelsea Buns are sweet, individual serving-sized buns made from yeast-risen dough enriched with an egg. They are sticky and sweet. They are baked together in a pan with sides touching; you tear them apart to serve. The dough is not sweet in itself,...

Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns are round, slightly-sweet individual serving-sized buns made from a yeast-risen wheat dough with dried fruit in it. They are very deeply browned, and have the form of a cross on top. The dough has egg in it, as well as spices such...

Plum Shuttles

Plum Shuttle Buns are made anytime of the year, but particularly for Valentine's Day, when they are called "Valentine Buns." They are made from flour, sugar, milk, yeast, butter, chopped peel and currants. Everything is mixed together in 3 short steps...

Sticky Buns

Sticky Buns are a white-dough bread roll with sticky sides and topping, combining the flavours of caramel, nuts, and butter. The dough is basically a white bread dough (in the British or North American sense of bread) kept plain and simple, to help...

Dried Breads

Related entries

Croûtons

Croûtons are small, seasoned, crisp cubes of bread, used typically as a garnish for soups or salads. Some people like eating them as snacks out of hand. They are made from unsweetened, leavened bread, with or without crust the crust left on. They ...

Dorset Knobs

Dorset Knobs are light, crisp, dry biscuits about the size and shape of a golf ball, and a shelf life just about as long. They are made in an English village at Stoke Mills, Marshwood Vale, in West Dorset. Dorset Knobs are made from wheat flour,...

Hollow Biscuits

Hollow Biscuits are small, dried breads made in England. A pale gold colour, they are similar to a rusk in texture, but in shape they look like irregular doorknobs. They have a crunchy crust with a hollow centre. They are traditionally buttered, and...

Melba Toast

Melba Toast is a piece of bread toasted, then cut in half and toasted again so that it is very thin, brittle and crisp. Commercial Melba Toast is rectangular. Melba Wafers Melba Wafers were biscuits made in Australia by Swallow & Ariell in...

Pretzels

Pretzels started out as bread, and many still are, though the vast majority of pretzels now sold in the world are probably better called snack food. A bread Pretzel is rather like a bagel that got itself in a knot, being a shaped, chewy bread. To make...

Rusks: Toasted Dutch bread

Rusks are small flat, circles of dry, toasted bread made in the Netherlands. They are more like a biscuit than a bread, as they are twice-baked. They are very crispy and fragile, with a texture like extra-dry toast. Rusks are made from flour,...

Sippets

Sippets are small pieces of dried toast or fried bread. The slices of bread are toasted or fried, then cut into small cubes or into small triangles. History Notes Sippets were a precursor to croutons. They were sometimes put at the bottom of saucy,...

Toast

To toast something is to lightly grill or heat it so that the surfaces brown. In English, as a noun, it always refers to a slice of bread that has been toasted. Toast is a food item that many people will express strong preferences about regarding...

Flat Breads

Flat Breads © Denzil Green Flat Breads are breads that are made with little or no yeast or leavener. Most of these breads are very old in origin, and most hail from the Middle East or South-East Asia. They also take advantage of the softer ...

Bammy Bread

Bammy Bread is a flat bread sort of like a pancake about 4 inches wide x 1/2 inch thick (10 x 1 cm.) It is made from cassava (aka manioc.) The grated, raw cassava is pressed overnight in a cloth (or in a basket, if doing large quantities) to remove excess...

Barbari Bread

Barbari is a flat bread made from white wheat flour. It is quite thick for a flat bread, anywhere from 2 to 4 cm (1 to 1 1/2 inches) thick. It will be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The dough is risen with yeast, then spread out quite...

Bolo de Milho: Brazilian Corn Cake

Bolo de Milho ("milho" meaning "corn") is a corn cake popular in Brazil and in the Azores. It is similar to North American Johnnycake or cornbread, but sweeter. The batter is made with cornmeal, coconut milk, condensed milk, sugar, baking powder and...

Borlenghi

A borlengo is an Italian flat bread made from flour, salt and water, with no leavener. Some feel that it is better described as a crêpe rather than a flat bread. It is generally thin and somewhat crisp, rather than soft and doughy. Sometimes it is made ...

Cassava (aka Casabe) Bread

Cassava (aka Casabe) Bread is a flat bread, as hard and thin as a cracker, made from cassava flour. The flour comes from the bitter (not the sweet) type of cassava roots. To make cassava bread, the cassava is grated, all the toxic juice squeezed...

Chapati

Chapati are flat, unleavened, round breads made from wheat flour, water, and salt. They are baked or fried on a dry griddle. History Notes Chapatis were one of the first prepared foods to be "globalized" in relatively modern times. They spread into Africa...

Fougasse

Fougasse is a term that is used to refer to three different types of flat bread. The best-known type is made in Provence, France, and is similar to Italian focaccia. The dough is made from flour, salt, water, yeast and olive oil. It can be formed into...

Hardangerlefse

Hardangerlefse is a variety of Lefse that gets risen, either with yeast, or with a chemical leavener. If a chemical leavener is used, it is commonly baking soda activated by either soured milk or buttermilk Typical ingredients for the dough are flour,...

Injera

Injera is an African flat bread that can be up to 1/2 metre (1 1/2 feet) wide. It is best known in the west as an Ethiopian bread, but it is also made in Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. Injera has a spongy texture with a slightly sour taste, and will make...

Kocho

Kocho is a traditional flatbread in the Gurage cuisine in Ethiopia, usually served with the meat dish called "kitfo," and / or a cabbage called "Ubasha Cabbage", which is high in vitamin A. The bread is made from fermented starch, also called "Kocho,"...

Lagana Bread

Lagana is a Greek bread, made only once a year. The bread is served in Greece on the day that marks the start of Greek Orthodox Lent, called "Clean Monday" ("Kathara Deftera".) It is flat and about 18 inches (45 cm) long, with rounded corners. It used...

Laganum

Laganum (plural lagana) was a thin Roman unleavened flat bread. Some think it was soft like a wheat flour tortilla; others think it was crispy. But it wasn't a dried bread. It was made from wheat flour, and baked or fried on a hot flat surface. Some...

Lavash Bread

Lavash is a flat bread made throughout the Middle East. It is always made very thin, but can be either soft or hard, and shaped either as a square, a rectangle or a circle. Circle-shaped Lavash will be anywhere from 6 to 14 inches (15 to 35 cm) wide. All...

Lefse

This Norwegian flat bread looks a bit like a very big flour tortilla. There are many different varieties: sweet, plain, thin, thick, and made with or without potatoes in the dough. In Norway, the potato version of Lefse is most popular in the Telemark...

Matzo

Matzo is a flat bread made in thin sheets made from white wheat flour and water with no leavener. Despite the absence of leavener, Matzo bread isn't heavy. It is baked in very hot ovens so that air trapped in the dough expands and make the bread...

Numedal Lefse

Numedal is a version of Lefse that is made with lots of milk, some butter and lard, egg yolks, white flour and a few tablespoons of sour cream. To clarify for Americans, there is no potato in this version. It is named after the Numedal region of Norway,...

Oppdal Lefse

This version of lefse is made with boiled potatoes mashed with milk, and mixed with rye flour and white wheat flour, and a dash of sugar and salt. It is then cooked as per Lefse. Language Notes In Norwegian, called "Oppdalslefser".

Orindes

Orindes was a bread made by the Ancient Greeks from rice flour. It was also sometimes made from a small Ethiopian grain, which some sources speculate might have been teff. Orindes was an expensive bread. Literature & Lore "And Sophocles makes...

Pane Carasau

Pane Carasau is a thin, crisp flat bread seasoned with salt and rosemary, made in Sardinia, Italy, It can be used as an ingredient in other dishes such as "pane frattau", or it can be used as a wrap around food such as cheese, meat, etc. It is usually...

Pappadams

Pappadams are round, crispy Indian flat bread made either with lentil flour (mostly in the south of India), chickpea flour, rice flour, tapioca or potato flour. Often seasoned with crushed peppercorns or other spices. The flour is mixed with water...

Piadina

Piadina is flat, round, unleavened soft bread made in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is made from white wheat flour, salt, and lukewarm water. There are a few variations on ingredients and actually no authoritative version. The recipe varies from town to...

Pita

When we think of Pita varieties, our choices are usually white or whole wheat. Truth is, there's a few more varieties than that of this Eastern Mediterranean flat bread which started becoming popular in West in the 1980s: there's Greek, Turkish,...

Za'atar Bread

Pita bread baked with Za'atar spice paste on it. Variations can be sprinkled with lemon juice. It can be eaten as is, or rolled up into a sandwich with fillings such as tomatoes, cheese, olives and mint. Very popular in Lebanon, where it is called ...

Pupusas

Pupusas © Max Contreras Fernandez Pupusas are round breads made using white cornmeal flour and water, and cooked on a griddle. They are best eaten hot. They are generally small, but can be made in different sizes, according to preference o...

Sangak Bread

Sangak is an oblong Iranian flat bread made to be about 2 feet (60 cm) long. About 45% of the flour used in Iran goes into making Sangak. It is made from wheat flour - 3 parts whole wheat to 1 part white flour. The dough is a mild sourdough. A portion...

Shao Bing

Shao Bing is a small, flat, rectangular Chinese bread whose top is sprinkled with sesame seeds. Some versions are crispier than others; some such as the Beijing version is flakier; some are saltier. To make shao bing, flattened dough is folded up then...

Stottie Bread

Stottie is an English flat white bread, that is soft and round, about 2 1/2 cm (1 inch) thick and 8 inches (20 cm) wide. Though made from standard white bread dough, the dough for Stotties doesn't get a second rise, or a second knead. That gives them...

Taaftun Bread

Taaftun is a Persian sour dough flat bread popular in Iraq. It is 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 inches) wide, about 5 mm (1/4 inch) thick and looks like a flat, puffy pizza crust. The bread is baked in a "tanoor", a round oven, for just under 2 minutes. When...

Tigelle

Tigelle is an Italian small, round, thickish flat bread that is traditional in Modena (in Emila-Romagna.) The dough is made from white wheat flour, water, and salt. The ingredients are mixed, let rest a bit, then the dough is formed into small circles...

Tortillas (Mexican)

Tortillas are flat, round bread that we think of as Mexican, but which are actually used throughout Latin America. The bread is unleavened (that would explain the flat part.) They were made out of Masa Harina (a finely ground corn flour) for centuries...

Corn Tortillas

Made from Masa Harina (see separate entry), water, and salt, with no leavener, this Latin American version of bread is flattened out into thin circles anywhere from 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches) wide, then cooked quickly on a hot surface. Tortillas...

Flour Tortillas

Made from wheat flour, water, and salt, with no leavener, this Latin American version of bread is flattened out into thin circles anywhere from 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) wide, then cooked on hot surface. They kind of look like crêpes. Anglo-Saxon ...

Tortilla Chips

Tortilla Chips are deep-fried or baked wedges of Mexican Tortillas. They are traditionally triangular, as they would be if you cut up a tortilla into pie-shaped pieces for deep frying, but now you can buy round, purpose-made ones that were never part...

Tostadas

A tostada is a cooked tortilla that is further cooked to make it crispy. The tortilla can be toasted or deep fried. It can be cooked flat as it is, or it can have been moulded into a bowl shape to act as a container for a food item. Corn tortillas are...

Tractum

Tractum was a Roman flat bread used as a thickener in dishes, rather than as a bread in its own right. It was made from raw dough rolled out into round discs, and let dry naturally. It was then crumbled as a thickener into sauces, soups, stews. Had...

French Breads

French Breads © Paula Trites French Breads are very hard to imitate exactly outside of France, owing not only to the different flours used in France, but even to the different wheat the flours are made from. (See entry on French Flours.) Classically, ...

Baguettes

Baguettes © Denzil Green Most debates about baguettes between Francophiles quickly descend into acrimony. People love to reminisce about their holidays, and compare bakeries on 'rue du this' versus 'rue du that'. Before too long, someone will ...

Ficelle

A Ficelle is a long, cylinder-shaped French bread. A Ficelle has crispy brown, split-top crust, and a chewy interior with air-pockets. It is identical to a baguette, including the production method and the scoring on the top, except it is made...

French Bread Law 1993

Le Décret Pain (1993) Decree n° 93-1074 of 13 September 1993 made for the application of the law of 1 August 1905 with regard to certain categories of breads NOR: ECOC9300130DThe Prime Minister, On the advice of the Minister of State, Guard o...

Miche

Miche is a French word for a large loaf of bread. It is usually round, but can also mean large rectangular loaves with rounded corners. It is sometimes referred to as a large country loaf. History Notes Often in France and in Quebec in the 1600 and...

Pain au Froment

Bread made from wheat flour. A bread entirely from wheat flour will be "Froment 100%." A bread whose flour is 3/4 wheat flour will be "Froment 75%" -- the remaining 25% of the flour may be rye, spelt, etc. Some think that "pain au froment" means stoneground...

Pain au Levain

"Pain au Levain" is French bread made from a sourdough starter. It is a dense bread, usually round or oblong, with a very delicate tang to it. The sour tang -- or the acidity ("acidité", as the French refer to it), helps to hold moisture in the bread, ...

Pain au Son

Pain au Son is made with wholewheat (wholemeal) flour. Under legislation, bread called "Pain au Son" must have a minimum bran content of 20%. It is made with French flour type 150 which is a whole wheat flour with additional fine wheat bran added to...

Pain Complet

Pain Complet is a whole wheat (wholemeal) type bread with a medium-fine crumb. It is made with a mix of both French flour type 55 (white bread flour) and type 80 (wholewheat flour.) It is not the same as "pain intégral", whose flour is totally whole ...

Pain de Campagne

Pain de campagne is a big round loaf with a chewy, thick crust. It can be made with white flour, rye flour and / or "farine bise" (aka Farine de Blé Type 80.) These last two flours are mixed in with the white, which remains the predominant flour. It ...

Pain de Mie

Pain de mie is what English speakers would consider regular sandwich bread. It is sold in French supermarkets sliced and packaged. It has sugar in it, making it sweeter than other French breads, but not as sweet as normal North American commercial breads,...

Pain Pavé

Pain Pavé are smallish French rustic white wheat breads that are usually flattish, slightly rounded on top, and not very tall, so that they look vaguely like a cobblestone. Some bakers, though, will call bread that has risen a bit more and is irregularly-shaped ...

Pain Paysan

Pain paysan is similar to "Pain de Campagne", but it is made in a ratio of 3/4 wheat to 1/4 rye flour. Milk is used in it, which gives a finer crumb, a soft crust, and helps the bread stay fresh a bit longer than regular Pain de Campagne.

Pain Poilâne

Pain Poilâne is a round loaf of sourdough bread made by the famous Poilâne bakery in Paris. Its actual name is “miche Poilâne.” Made since 1932, it's only ingredients are wheat flour, sea salt, tap water, and sourdough starter.

Pain Viennois

Pain Viennois is normally made in the shape of a baguette, though the crust is softer than a baguette, the texture is finer, and the taste is sweeter. The loaves will have horizontal slashes on top, and be glazed with milk and sugar before baking. It...

Fried Breads

Related entries

Crescentine

Crescentine are small bread rolls made in Tuscany, Italy. The dough is made from flour, water, salt and yeast. Some recipes enrich it with milk and / or eggs. The dough is rolled out 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick. Classically, in Florence, the dough is cut...

Fry Bread

Fry Bread is a bread made by Native Americans, particularly by American Indians in the south-west. It is sold everywhere as a fast food through the south-west, by natives and non-natives alike. It is a flat-bread anywhere from 4 inches (10 cm) wide...

Sopaipillas

Sopaipillas are fried bread rolls that are sometimes described as a fritter. Though somewhat similar to Fry Bread, they are somewhat lighter, and not doughy. Instead, they are crisp, and puff up, forming a pocket inside them that can be stuffed with...

Utah Scones

Utah Scones bear no resemblance to actual scones, aside from the use of wheat flour to make them. They are made from regular yeasted bread dough and deep-fried. There is no standard shape for them. They are sometimes made square or round, or rolled...

You Tiao

You Tiao is a deep-fried Chinese bread. It is made from two long strips of dough, about a foot long (30 cm), which are deep fried. It ends up crisp on the outside; puffy and soft on inside. It can be eaten as is, or served for breakfast and snacks,...

Quick Breads

Quick breads are breads that are made with chemical leaveners such as baking soda or baking powder instead of yeast. The chemical leaveners give a faster rise than yeast, thus the name "quick breads." Quick breads have only been possible since the...

Arepas

Arepa are a South-American flat bread that was traditionally made by the natives while the European ruling classes ate bread made from wheat. Arepas is now eaten by all classes. In the traditional process, you started with kernels of corn that you would...

Baking Powder Biscuits

Baking Powder Biscuits are a puffy, baked quick bread that can be served in place of bread. The dough is quick to mix, and they are quick to bake. They are not biscuits as someone from Britain, Australia or elsewhere would understand them to be...

Bannock

Bannock is a quick, flat bread. The most authentic version is a round or oval piece of unleavened dough, cooked on a griddle. The middle will rise or puff a bit. There are many, many different recipes. They vary by flour or meal used, by whether...

Béaltaine Bannock

Béaltaine Bannock was a form of bread. There were various traditions and forms of it being made up until the end of the 1800s. It was a bannock that was usually round, though sometimes it was triangular. While making it, no metal implements were ...

Beremeal Bannock

Beremeal Bannock are a relatively large Bannock made from beremeal, flour, salt, milk or water, plus either baking powder, or baking soda and cream of tartar (older recipes,) Some recipes call for 2 parts beremeal to 1 part white (wheat) flour; others...

Bride's Bannock

Bride's Bannock is a bannock that ends up similar to shortbread. It is made from flour, baking powder, sugar, butter, and caraway seeds. All ingredients are mixed, with just enough milk to form a dough. The dough is then formed into a 3/4 inch (2 cm)...

Cod Liver Bannock

Cod Liver Bannock is made from oatmeal and minced-cod liver, and steamed. It is particularly made on the Isle of Barra, a small Scots-Gaelic speaking island off the west coast of Scotland. Cooking Tips For each Cod Liver Bannock: Soak 1 cod's liver...

Cryin' Bannock

In some areas of Scotland, a woman's going into labour (confinement) was called a "cryin" (likely for obvious reasons.) When a child was born, a special bannock called a "Cryin' Bannock" or a "Cryin' Kebback" would be made from oatmeal, milk and sugar. The...

Fallaid Bannock

"Faillad bannock" in Scottish means basically "leftover bannock." If you left an uneaten bannock in the house overnight, that would grant admission to the Faeires into your house. You could prevent Faeires admission by breaking a piece off of the Fallaid...

Fife Bannock

Fife Bannock is made in Fife, an area on the east coast of Scotland. In Fife, bannock is more likely to be made with wheat flour, and another grain that has been finely ground, as opposed to some other parts of Scotland, which is likely to have more...

Hogmanay Bannock

Hogmanay Bannock was made for Hogmanay (Scottish New Year), in the form of a small bannock made with oats and caraway seeds, with a hole in the centre and notched edges. One would be made for each child. Children got them in the morning, and had to...

Lammas Bannock

A Lammas Bannock was made from the grains that had been newly harvested. Later Lammas Bannock became a loaf of actual bread made from the first grains harvested. Lammas Bannock would be either given as a gift to the local clergy, or taken to Church...

Marymas Bannock

Marymas Bannock was originally known as Lammas Bannock. Lammas Bannock eventually was assimilated into Christianity, and Marymas Bannock was made in honour of the Virgin Mary on the 15th August, the Feast Day of Mary ("Feill Moire" in Scottish.) The...

Mashlum Bannock

Mashlum is a Scottish expression for a mixture made with a mixture of flours, rather than entirely from one grain, such as oatmeal, barley or wheat. In English, we'd just say "mixed grain." Literature & Lore "Tell you guid bluid o' auld Boconnock's I'll...

Michaelmas Bannock

Michaelmas Bannock was baked in northern Scotland and in Ireland on St Michael's day (in some traditions, it was made the night before.) Many of the activities that had been done at Lughnasadh -- sports, games and horse races -- migrated to this day. The...

Pease Bannock

Pease Bannock is made using dried field peas ground into a meal. Pease Bannock was often made near the border between Scotland and England. It would be made in an oval shape, and called a "fadge." Often ground bean meal was mixed in as well. Pease...

Pitcaithly Bannock

Pitcaithly Bannock is actually more what we would think of as shortbread. It is made as a large, round circle, from a mixture of wheat and rice flours, sugar, and butter, along with chopped almonds, and candied citrus peel. You mix the flours and sugar,...

Salt Bannock

Salt Bannock was a bannock made from whatever meal was available with the addition of a whole lot of salt. You were supposed to eat Salt Bannock, then go to bed without saying another word before drinking or going to sleep. You would then have dreams...

Samhain Bannock

Samhain Bannock started off as a plain bannock made at Hallowe'en. It would be left outside the door along with milk for the dead, or it could be included amongst food set on a table inside for your ancestors who had passed to the "Summerlands" and wanted...

Sautie Bannock

Sautie Bannock was made for Bannock Nicht (aka Shrove Tuesday) from oatmeal, egg, and salt, with the liquid for the mixture being either beef broth or milk. Only one person made the Sautie Bannock, and she was not allowed to speak. The other girls would...

Selkirk Bannock

Selkirk Bannock is made with wheat flour, butter, and many sultanas: in fact, the sultanas should make up almost half as much in weight or volume as flour. Some versions add candied peel as well. Selkirk Bannock has a flat bottom and rounded top. It...

Silverweed Bannock

Silverweed Bannock was made from the boiled roots of Silverweed Cinquefoil. Because Silverweed was known to be a favourite Fairy food, this particular type of bannock might have been one you particularly did not want to leave in the house overnight as...

St Bride's Bannock

St Bride's Bannock was baked for the first day of spring and was called "bonnach Bride" -- "Bride's Bannock." The first day of spring was called various names including: Imbolc, Imbolg, Là Fhéill Bhrìghde, Feast-Day of Bride and St Brigid's Day. St. Br...

St Columba's Bannock

St Columba's Bannock was a special bannock made for St Columba's Day, which is celebrated on Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday.) The night before, the bannock would be made out of oats or rye with a silver coin in it, and cooked on a fire made...

Teethin' Bannock

Teethin' Bannock was a large bannock made of oatmeal and butter or cream, for young children whose teeth were coming in. Teethin' Bannock was baked with neighbours present, but the person making it had to remain silent. Sometimes a large teething ring...

Yetholm Bannock

As with Pithcaily Bannock, Yetholm Bannock is actually a shortbread, but one with candied (aka crystallized) ginger pieces in it. You make plain shortbread from wheat flour (with no oatmeal) and add 1 egg yolk for added richness, plus 1 generous tablespoon...

Yule Bannock

Yule Bannock was a bannock that was made round with notched edges. The dough was made from finely-ground oatmeal. After the arrival of Christianity, the bannock came to be marked on the top with a cross, dividing it into four. The tradition was to bake...

Barm Brack

Barm Brack is an Irish bread with dried fruit in it. Traditionally it was risen with yeast, but for some time now many recipes have called for baking powder or self-rising flour. Barm Brack is baked in a round shape, rather than a loaf shape. Some...

Cornbread

Cornbread is a quick-bread made from dried, ground flint corn -- the North American corn that Europeans might call "maize." The First Nations in North America were making corn breads long before the Europeans arrived. Seen after that as a "pioneer" or...

Corn Pone

A Corn Pone is a small cornmeal bread with a crunchy, chewy texture. They are popular in the southern US. The batter is quite thick. It has no egg in it, and often no milk. It is formed into small ovals, and then baked or fried in butter, margarine,...

Crumpets

Crumpets are round, flat, moist yeast-risen breads about 4 inches wide (10 cm.) They are made from a very thick, unsweetened batter with yeast in it. Metal rings are placed on top of a hot griddle, and the batter poured into them. The batter is cooked...

English Muffins

English Muffins are round, flat, yeast-risen breads about 4 inches wide (10 cm) and half an inch to an inch thick (1 to 2.5 cm.) They are not baked in an oven but cooked on top a griddle. They have a soft, coarse, bread-like texture to them, with...

Fadge: A British and Irish flatbread

A fadge is a small, round flat loaf of bread that is up to about 5 cm (2 1/2 inches) thick when baked. Some people made it from regular bread dough, causing some confusion with stotties. Others made fadges from a dough without any leavener that was...

Farls

Farls are thin, flat bread shaped like a triangle. The base of the triangle is actually rounded slightly, such that if you fit four of them together, you more or less make a circle. They are made from wheat flour (white or whole wheat) or oatmeal. There...

Johnnycake

Johnnycake is a New World quickbread, made on the Atlantic coast from Atlantic Canada down to the Caribbean. In North America, it is a quickbread based on cornmeal. It can be served as a savoury, with butter or cream corn on it, or as a sweet with syrup...

Libum: Roman cheese bread

Libum was a Roman food item. Some people say a Libum was an early form of cheesecake, but basically it was unleavened bread with cheese in it, or a baked cheeseball. Larges ones were used for meals; smaller versions were often used as offerings to the...

Muffins

Muffins can be like bread or like cake. The Muffins "native" to the UK are like bread. English Muffins use yeast as the leavener. In North America, an English-style Muffin is called an English Muffin. In the UK, an American-style Muffin is often called...

Pancakes

Pancakes © Paula Trites Pancakes are a form of Quick Bread cooked on top of the stove, usually in a frying pan. French Pancakes are big, flat Pancakes made from a thin batter. They are called "crêpes." North American Pancakes are big, b...

Banh Xeo

Banh Xeo is a Vietnamese dish that is often described as halfway between a crêpe and an omelette. It's a pancake, whose batter is made from rice flour and coconut milk. The rice flour used is regular rice flour (e.g. ground from long grain rice, not ...

Blaunche Escrepes

Blaunche Escrepes means literally "white pancakes" (think "blanches crepes" if you have any French.) They were made in England in the 1200s from white wheat flour. They were often used to accompany "Poume d'oranges" (pork meatballs.) Cooking Tips A...

Boukète

A boukète is a buckwheat pancake made in the Liege area of Belgium. It is made with raisins and / or thin apple slices, and served warm with sugar or brown sugar. It became traditional to serve Boukètes on Christmas Eve with a glass of warmed wine. Boukètes ar...

Crêpes

Crêpes are pancakes made in the French style, large and very thin. They are served with toppings, or rolled up with fillings inside. They can be a sweet or a savoury dish, and are meant to be a dish in themselves. Assume white wheat flour was ...

Crêpes à la Neige

Crêpes à la Neige is an Acadian dish. It is thin crêpes made with snow in the batter, as a replacement for eggs. They are served with molasses or grated maple sugar. You may still hear the old Acadian saying, "il est tombé assez de neige pour faire des...

Crêpes Suzette

A Crêpe Suzette is a crêpe (thin pancake) served warm folded in half or four with a warm orange sauce on it. Generally, the sauce is made of carmelized sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and an orange-flavoured liqueur such as Grand Marnier, and brandy. T...

Ficelle Picarde

A "Ficelle Picarde" is a crêpe with a ham and mushroom filling. A speciality of the Picardy region of France, it is a crêpe rolled up into a thin cylinder. Inside, it has a thin slice of ham and a duxelles of mushroom, along with a spoonful of a cream s...

Palatschinken

Palatschinken are essentially crêpes, thin pancakes, though they can be made a bit thicker than crêpes. They are made in Hungary, Austria, and the Czech republic. The batter is made from wheat flour, egg, and milk. Some versions add a bit of melted b...

Dutch Baby

Dutch Babies are light, airy, puffy pancakes with a very eggy taste that are started on top of the stove, and finished in the oven. They are very showy and impressive, but very easy, and can be ready in about 20 minutes. They end up sweet because...

Fleskepannekake

A Fleskepannekake is a Norwegian "bacon" pancake. To make it, bacon is fried up in a frying pan, then a pancake batter poured over top of it, as thick as a North American pancake batter, then the pancake is browned on the bottom, then flipped to cook...

Galettes (Pancakes)

In the eastern part of Brittany, France, they use the word "Galette" to mean savoury crêpes (pancakes) with buckwheat flour. These buckwheat pancakes are made with just three ingredients only: buckwheat flour, water and salt as ingredients (though in ...

Kuzhi Appam

Kuzhi Appam is a type of sweet pancake made in India. It is small flat cakes baked in a pan. Raw rice is soaked 2 to 3 hours, then ground. An equal amount of jaggery sugar is then added, and an equal amount of grated coconut. Finally plantain or banana,...

Pannekake

Pannekake are thin Norwegian pancakes, like French crepes but just a tad thicker, about 1/10th inch (3mm) thick. They are made quite large to wrap fillings in it like crepes. The batter is made from milk, egg, flour and salt. Some recipes add a touch...

Ployes

Ployes are buckwheat pancakes made by Acadians in the Upper St. John Valley in Maine and in the Madawaska of New Brunswick. The pancakes are very thin, and 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) wide. They can be served like bread, or served like pancakes with...

Poffertjes

Poffertjes are very small Dutch puffy pancakes about 5 cm (2 inches) wide that are mostly flat, but puff up a little bit. They are made from white wheat flour, butter, milk, eggs, yeast and salt. Traditionally, buckwheat flour was used, but now a mixture...

Takoyaki

Takoyaki are Japanese dumplings that look like small fried balls of batter. Some versions are crispier than others. They are made of wheat flour batter and diced boiled octopus, along with konnyaku and scraps of tempura, flavoured with pickled ginger...

Toutons

Toutons are small pancakes made in Newfoundland (Canada) of risen, standard white bread dough that is then fried. To make Toutons, you start with 1/2 to 1 cup of cubed uncooked salt pork, which you pan fry until crisp. You remove the salt pork, keeping...

Vella Appam

Vella Appam is a sort of savoury pancake or if you will, small flat cakes baked in a pan. They are made in Kerala, southern India. They are traditionally made from raw rice, cooked rice [1], coconut shavings, coconut water, yeast, salt and sugar. The...

Pikelets

In certain regions of England, particularly the Midlands, a Pikelet is another word for crumpet. In Australia and New Zealand, a Pikelet is a very small scone cooked on a griddle, like a very small pancake.

Singing Hinnies

Singing Hinnies are a quick bread, risen with a chemical leavener such as baking powder or baking soda. Currants or raisins are mixed into the dough, which is then rolled out, cut into small rounds, and cooked on a griddle. They look something like what...

Soda Bread

Just before you bake a loaf of Irish Soda Bread, you are supposed to cut a cross in the top of it to let the fairies out. This also, coincidentally, has the side benefit of preventing the bread loaf from splitting as it bakes.

Rolls

A roll is a small, baked, streamed or griddled unsweetened, leavened bread. The shape can be round, square or long.

Bialys

Bialys are round, low, chewy yeast-risen Polish / Jewish bread rolls with an indentation in the centre at the top that is filled with chopped onion. Sometimes, they are sprinkled with poppy seed as well. Bialys are not good day-old; they really need...

Croissants

Croissants are crispy, flaky individual serving-sized savoury rolls. It's butter that makes them both crispy and flaky at the same time.

Almond Croissants

Almond croissants originally were day-old croissants that had almond cream (crème d'amandes) piped in them and that were then brushed with a simple syrup and sprinkled with sliced almonds, then baked again until the filling had set and the croissants ...

Dinner Rolls

Dinner Rolls are small, individually-baked breads served along with a meal, typically the main meal of the day. They are usually served warm, in a basket lined with a cloth such as a clean tea-towel or a large napkin, whose edges are folded over...

Koulouri

Koulouri are bread rolls made in Greece in the shape of a ring so that they look something like bagels. They are made from a yeast-risen dough that is shaped into long ropes, then twisted into circles, let rise again, then sprinkled with sesame seeds...

Kummelweck Rolls

Kummelweck Rolls are large, crusty rolls made in Buffalo, New York from white wheat flour. Essentially Kaiser rolls, they are before baking glazed with a wash of cornstarch and water, and sprinkled with coarse salt and caraway seed. They end up a dark,...

New England Hot Dog Rolls

New England Hot Dog Rolls are long, leavened, unsweetened rolls with flat, white, crustless sides. They can be used for hot dogs, or for sandwich rolls with fillings such as chicken, egg or, famously, lobster salad. They are used for Fenway Franks...

Pane Rosetta

Pane Rosetta is a small Italian bread roll that has anywhere from 5 to 10 slashes in the top coming out from the centre, forming petals of dough. In the centre, there is a small round ring of dough, representing the centre of a rose. (It looks something...

Parker House Rolls

Parker House Rolls are buttery, fluffy yeast rolls made with white wheat flour. They have a fold (or crease or indent) on the top in the centre for easy tearing -- the crease also helps to increase the surface area that can be crusty. You make a Parker...

Pork Bao Buns

Pork Bao Buns are Cantonese savoury rolls filled with pork. The rolls can be baked or steamed; the baked ones come out golden-brown and shiny; the steamed ones white and slightly rubbery. The recipe starts with barbequed pork, cubed small. It is stir-fried...

Pork Buns (Newfoundland)

Pork Buns are made in Newfoundland, Canada. They are quickbread rolls with chopped salt fat back pork in them. To make them, you lightly pan-fry chopped salt pork. While it is cooling, you mix flour with baking powder, add in both the fried pork pieces...

Sally Lunn Cakes

Sally Lunn Cakes are not actually cakes at all. Rather, they are large white plain bread rolls made in and around Bath, England. The bread roll is about as wide as a sandwich plate, and 4 to 5 inches (10 to 12.5 cm) tall. The texture is light, and almost...

Salt Sticks

Salt Sticks are long, thin chewy bread sticks sprinkled with coarse salt and sometimes with caraway seed as well. The bread dough is allowed to rise, then punched down and formed into thin logs. It is then brushed with egg wash, sprinkled with coarse...

Simit

Simit is a Turkish small, dry bread roll with sesame seeds on it. It is usually shaped in a ring, like a bagel, about 6 inches (15 cm) wide and about 1 inch (2 1/2 cm) thick. Occasionally, though, you may see it as a small, rounded loaf. It can vary...

Solilemmes

Solilemmes are bread rolls made in northern France from a yeast-risen dough that is like an eggy brioche dough. They are served hot. Cooking Tips To serve Solilemmes, split horizontally and butter with melted, salted butter, replace the top. They are...

Sweetened Breads

Related entries

Brioche

Brioche is a French bread made from flour, salt, yeast and water, but enriched with eggs and butter. Sugar is often added, and the water is often replaced with milk or cream. The result is a soft, buttery, slightly sweet and rich dough approaching...

Brioche Vendéenne

This is brioche made as a large loaf with pleats called "barres" (bars in English.) It looks a bit like the Jewish bread, Challa. Making it like this is traditional in a western, Atlantic coast region of France called Vendée, especially for Easter ...

Ensaimada

Ensaimada is a bread made from sweetened, yeast-risen dough, (like a sort of brioche) made in Spain, and in the Philippines. Per loaf, you use about 1 cup (8 oz / 225 g) of butter, 3/4 cup (6 oz / 175 g) of sugar and 8 egg yolks. You make a creamed mixture,...

Lardy Cake

A Lardy Cake is a bread into which spices, fruit and pieces of lard are mixed. The lard and sugar on the layers inside melt together and get gooey; the sugar on top gets crunchy. What makes the cake is the lard. There is really no point in making this...

Limpa Bread

Limpa is a Swedish raised bread made in varying shapes with both rye and wheat flour. It is spicy and sweet, though to what degree will vary by recipe. The sweetness comes from molasses; the spices will be anise, caraway and fennel seeds. It is meant...

Lincolnshire Plum Bread

Lincolnshire Plum Bread is a dark, rich loaf of yeast-risen bread intended as a tea bread. It is moist, dense, rich and sweet with lots of fruit. There are not actually any plums in it -- instead the fruit is raisins, sultanas and / or currants, and...

Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread is balls of flavoured bread dough cooked together, usually in a tube pan or in a long, rectangular pan. You usually rip pieces off to eat it though you can also slice it. Monkey Bread can be savoury or sweet. Sweet versions can include...

Panettone

Panettone is a sweetened Italian yeast bread with dried fruit in it. It is a traditional bread in Italy for Christmas and Easter, often being given as a gift. The bread is made tall, round, and dome-shaped at the top. Besides the bread dough, it...

Raisin Bread

Raisin Bread is a leavened loaf of bread, with raisins mixed into the dough. It is usually classed as a sweet bread owing to the fruit in it. The bread itself is almost always white bread, but you can get whole wheat as well. After the raisins...

Stollen

Stollen is a yeast-risen fruit and nut bread made particularly at Christmas in Germany. It comes in various sizes, up to 2 kg (4.4 pounds). In theory, the long, flattened oval shape of the loaf is meant to resemble a baby wrapped up in a blanket....

Unleavened Bread

Unleavened bread is bread that is made with nothing in it to make it rise: that is, no leavening, be it a chemical leavener, a yeast or a starter dough. Well-known examples are chapati, matzo and Mexican tortillas. Not all flat breads, however, are...

Yeast Breads

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,...

Challah

Challah is a Jewish yeast-risen wheat bread. It is traditional on the Jewish sabbath. Challah is a rich bread, but not as rich as brioche, even though there is no dairy (butter or milk) to keep it parve, nor any eggs either, though it might be...

Damper Dogs

Damper Dogs are stove-top baked bread made from white bread dough made in Newfoundland. Traditionally, they were made on top of a cast-iron wood or coal stove, on the flat dampers that served as burners for the stove. You'd clean the top of the stove,...

Kaiser Rolls

Kaiser rolls are yeast-risen bread rolls, typically made of white wheat flour. They are large and round, crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside, They have a five-point pinwheel design on top, which is meant to represent a crown. The pinwheel...

Kalach Bread

Kalach is a yeast-risen bread made throughout Eastern Europe. There are many variants of Kalach Bread. Russia In Russia, it is a loaf made of white flour formed into the shape of a ring. The word Kalach came to mean any kind of white bread in Russian. In...

London Bloomer Bread

The term "London Bloomer Bread" refers to a type of bread popularized by bakeries in London, England. It is somewhat denser than other white breads, with typically a thicker, crispier crust as well. It is used for sandwiches, toast, fried toast, etc....

National Loaf

The National Loaf was a loaf of bread sold in the UK during World War Two. It was based on a form of whole-grain bread in order to make wheat imports go further.

Pain d'habitant

Pain d'habitant is plain, white homemade bread made in Québec, Canada. Baked in bread pans, the dough is proofed as two rounds of dough in each pan, that rise to join together and form one loaf with an indent in the middle. Traditionally, Pain d'habitant ...

Pullman Bread

Pullman Bread is a soft, white bread of the English / North American variety (white flour, yeast raised.) It is baked in special "pullman pans" which are longish, rectangular-shaped loaf pans that have lids on them. This makes all loaves uniform...

Pumpernickel Bread: Real versus American-style

Pumpernickel is a bread that is traditional in the Westphalia region of Germany. Pumpernickel is very dark brown, almost black at times, with a heavy, coarse, dense texture and almost no crust. The taste is slightly sweet and slightly sour. There...

Quignon

Quignon usually refers to the heel end of a loaf of crusty bread, such as a baguette, particularly when torn off. Sometimes people use the word "Quignon" to refer to a thick wedge of bread from any part of the loaf, whether cut or torn off.

Bread Recipes

Breakfast Recipes

Casserole Recipes

Chicken Recipes

Condiments

Condiments are edible food items which are additions to a dish or meal. These items are not strictly necessary in themselves to the dish or meal, but add to the enjoyment by enhancing or contrasting with the main food. It is a very broad term.

Pastes

A paste is cooking is a very finely pulverized or ground moist food preparation. It can be made from a single item, such as fruit, some meat pastes and some nut purées are. Or, it can be a mixture of ingredients, such as a curry paste. Marzipan ...

Adjika

Adjika is a condiment from the western part of the country of Georgia. It is a thick, hot red paste used in cooking. It's added to soups, borschts and sauces, stirred into cooked beans, and used as a barbeque sauce on meats. It's made from tomatoes,...

Bloater Paste

Bloater Paste is a fish spread made from salted, smoked herrings called "bloaters", which are smoked whole with the insides still in them. A bloater has a more gamey flavour than cleaned herrings. It is sold in small jars. Once opened, refrigerate and...

Cenovis

Cenovis is a dark brown commercial seasoning mix with a strong smell and a salty taste. Like Marmite or Vegemite, it is a yeast extract, made from brewer's yeast, "plant extracts", and sea salt. It has a slightly clearer, and slightly smoother taste...

Charoset

Charoset is a sweet, dark-coloured fruit paste in Jewish cuisine. There are many different recipes for it. Some versions are finely-minced; some are puréed; some are boiled down to a thick syrup and then have ingredients such as nuts added.Ashkenazi ...

Hummos

The version of hummos that we are most familiar with is made from cooked, ground chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, and tahini (sesame seeds ground into a paste.) The ingredients are made into a thick, pasty purée that can be used as a dip for pita ...

Miso

Miso Paste is a savoury, fermented bean paste made in Japan. It can be used as a condiment, or an ingredient in cooking. It is made from a starter culture which will include steamed rice or barley, and then mixed with cooked beans (typically soybeans)...

Red Miso

Red Miso is a fermented paste made from soybeans, salt and either rice or barley. It may also have seasonings added such as pepper, ginger, etc. It has a richer, saltier taste than "White Miso" as it is allowed to ferment longer than white --...

White Miso

White Miso is a fermented paste made from soybeans, salt and either rice or barley. It also comes with other seasonings added such as pepper, ginger, etc. It is not actually white; it is more yellow or beige, and smooth and creamy. It has a mild,...

Pipián Paste

Pipián Paste is a rich, thick, reddish-brown mole sauce made in Mexico used for pork, poultry, seafood and vegetables. It is made from dried chile peppers such as pasilla and ancho (or mulato), cloves, garlic, oil, toasted pumpkin seeds, roasted peanuts ...

Sweet Red Bean Paste

This is a bean paste made from red adzuki beans that are boiled, drained, then puréed. It's called "sweet", not because sugar has been stirred in, but unlike some other bean pastes such as Miso, it's not fermented to make it sour. The "sweet" here means ...

Tauco

Tauco are salted soy beans, either yellow or black, fermented and made into a paste. In the first stage of fermentation, the bean skins get covered with a mould. In Indonesia, the beans are sold tinned whole, not made into a paste yet. In Indonesia,...

Umeboshi Paste

Umeboshi Paste is a Japanese red paste made from puréed Umeboshi (pickled apricots.) It can be bought in tubes or bottles. To make your own, just mash Umeboshi. Cooking Tips When using Umeboshi Paste, bear in mind that it is very salty so hold back ...

Wasabi

Wasabi is a small perennial green plant that grows in the wild along streams. It is a member of the watercress family. It will grow about 18 inches (45 cm) tall. It is harvested for its root, which is green inside, after at least two years of growth. It...

Wasabi Powder

Wasabi Powder is, in theory, a hot-tasting powder made from the dried, ground roots of Wasabi plants. In practice, however, the pure powders made from actual Wasabi roots are quite expensive, so almost all brands are "fake" Wasabi Powder, actually...

Relish

Relish © Denzil Green A Relish generally used to be a pungent, tangy, chunky pickled condiment served in small dishes, of which you placed a bit at the side of your plate to add zip to a meal, especially anything your mother had cooked. It ...

Achar

Achar is the name in India for "pickle relishes." Just as there are many different types of pickle relishes in the West, so there are many different types of Achar made in India. Many families have their own prized recipes. Achars are spicy relishes,...

Chutney

Chutney is a savoury relish made with fruit and/or vegetables. It can be preserved or made fresh, served raw or cooked. It usually has a combination of sweet and sour tastes. Commercial varieties may include ingredients such as ginger, mangoes,...

Gentleman's Relish

Gentleman's Relish is a good, old fashioned relish with a very strong distinctive taste. It is made from anchovies, butter, herbs and spices. If you don't like anchovies, you won't like this relish. It comes in small, crockery containers and is quite...

Hot Dog Relish

Hot Dog Relish is a pickled condiment used to dress hot dogs with in North America. It is usually a combination of Sweet Pickle Relish made from cucumbers, and yellow American hot dog mustard. It provides a bit of a two-in-one shortcut for two...

Kasundi

Kasundi is an Indian relish or chutney, typically made in Bengal, India. There are many different kinds; some are quite hot. Depending on the kind, Kasundi can be used as a side condiment, dipping sauces, etc.Eggplant Kasundi (Brinjal Kasundi) Eggplant...

Piccalilli (American)

American Piccalilli is a relish based on green tomatoes. It is generally green in colour. Recipes vary wildly. Though a few recipes may include some prepared mustard or mustard powder, there is usually no mustard as in the original English or Dutch Piccalillis. Simple...

Piccalilli Relish

Piccalilli is a chunky yellow relish in a thick mustard sauce. It can be made at home, or bought commercially. It has a taste variously described as pungent, head-clearing, tart, tangy, snappy and vinegary. Consequently, it stands up well to other...

Sweet Pickle Relish

Sweet Pickle Relish is a sweet tasting, finely-textured relish. It is a bright, almost fluorescent green colour -- some describe it as "nuclear" green. It is made from minced cucumber with the skin left on, sweet green and red bell peppers (for...

Yuzu Kosho

Yuzu Kosho is a spicy, hot Japanese condiment. It is a rough paste, a bit like a finely chopped chutney with a citrus flavour. A specialty of the Kyushu region of Japan, the paste is made from yuzu zest, chile and salt. There are two kinds: Green Yuzu...

Sauces

Sauces © Denzil Green A sauce is a seasoned liquid used as an ingredient and dishes, and as a condiment. As a condiment, it may be applied just before serving, or set at the table for a diner to apply him or herself. Sauces can be thin, thick ...

Adobo Sauce

There are two different kinds of Adobo Sauce; one is Mexican and the other is Filipino. Both versions have a common base of something acidic such as vinegar, garlic and peppercorns. Mexicans go on to add chiles (often ancho chiles) and herbs; the Filipino...

Adobado

"Adobado" is the adjective in Spanish used to describe dishes marinated or cooked in Adobo sauce. Examples of dishes included lomo adobado (marinated pork loin), chamorro adobado (marinated pork shank), conejo adobado (marinated rabbit), pollo adobado...

Agrodolce

"Agrodolce" means literally "sour and sweet" in Italian. In Italian cooking, the term refers to a sauce, usually based on vinegar and sugar, with wine added, and often onions. It can be very chunky and so full of ingredients it almost appears...

Barbeque Sauce

Barbeque Sauce is a sauce used to accompany barbequed or grilled food. It can be applied to the food during cooking (becoming a "basting sauce"), or served with the cooked food, or both. The sauce becomes particularly important when the barbequing...

Black Mint Sauce

Black Mint Sauce is a spiced mint sauce made in Peru from black mint (aka Huacatay Mint.) It is used as a condiment in cooking with meat, poultry, soups and salads. You can buy it in jars. Cooking Tips Put in a food processor 1 fresh mirasol chile,...

Chile con Queso

Chile con Queso is a "Mexican" cheese sauce with chiles in it, used as a dip or as a sauce over dishes such as enchiladas and burritos. The sauce is not really Mexican; it is actually more Tex-Mex. Some writers speculate that the inspiration for it may...

Chippie Sauce

Chippie Sauce is a condiment used in Edinburgh, Scotland on chips (aka "French Fries" in North America.) A rival to the traditional salt and vinegar, it is still pretty much unique to Edinburgh and is held by fans to be a defining cultural mark of the...

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce is a sweet condiment based on cranberries. It's used along with savoury meals. There are two types of "Cranberry Sauce", even though we often refer to both as just Cranberry Sauce: one is -- well, sauce, and the second is a jelly,...

Creamed Horseradish

There are two types of Horseradish Sauce, Creamed and Pickled. The pickled is more popular in North America; the Creamed is more popular in Britain. The Creamed tends to have a milder taste. To make creamed horseradish, grated Horseradish is mixed...

English Sauces

The English love their sauces just as much as the French love theirs, both savoury sauces and dessert sauces. Gravy is the most common sauce made at home, with variants such as onion gravy being popular. Other than gravy, perhaps the most common...

A.1. Steak Sauce

A.1. Steak Sauce is a brown sauce that is runnier and fruitier than other brown sauces The ingredients include orange peel and raisins. A.1. sauce is now no longer generally available in Britain, except at specialty shops that carry American foods,...

Albert Sauce

Albert Sauce is a sauce used to accompany roast beef. To make it, horseradish is first grated, then boiled for 20 minutes in a light-coloured and light-tasting consommé, just enough to cover it well. Then butter sauce [1], cream and fine breadcrumbs ...

Brown Sauce (English)

English Brown sauce is a commercial, bottled sauce. It is a thick, brown sauce that is like a slightly sweet, tangy steak sauce. It is made from apples, prunes, onions, malt vinegar, and seasonings. It is particularly popular with fried meats...

Coronation Sauce

Coronation Sauce is a dead product. It was a light-coloured creamy sauce with a mild curry flavour and a fruity taste. Made by the Heinz Company (its full name was "Heinz Coronation Sauce") and sold in 10.6 oz (315ml) bottles, it was meant as a shortcut...

Cumberland Sauce

Cumberland Sauce is an English sweet and sour sauce used as an accompaniment to savoury meals. It is traditionally served with cold meats, especially venison, pork, lamb or turkey. Based on red currant jelly, it also has in it orange and lemon peel,...

Drawn Butter Sauce

Drawn Butter Sauce is not the same as drawn butter (aka "clarified butter.") In fact, it doesn't even use drawn butter. It's a light-coloured sauce, made from butter, white wheat flour, water, lemon juice and salt. Fannie Farmer, in her Boston Cooking...

Halford Sauce

Halford Sauce is a dead product that was made in Leicester, England. The American headquarters was in Boston. It was as common in many American households as ketchup now is. Recipes called for tablespoons of it here and there the way they now call for...

Hard Sauce

Hard sauce isn't really a sauce, and if you really want to think of it as a sauce, you'd probably need to call it a "spooning" rather than a pouring sauce. The British name for this -- Brandy Butter -- is somewhat more descriptive because with a name...

Horseradish Sauce Types

There are two types of Horseradish Sauce, Creamed and Pickled (aka "Prepared Horseradish".) The pickled / prepared version is more popular in North America and is what people tend to mean by horseradish sauce; the creamed version is more popular...

Marie Rose Sauce

Marie Rose Sauce is a thick, pink uncooked dipping or condiment sauce used with fish and seafood. Generally, its base ingredients are one part ketchup mixed with six parts mayonnaise (e.g. 1 tbsp ketchup, 6 tbsp mayonnaise.) Sometimes a tablespoon...

Parsley Sauce

A parsley sauce is a white sauce to which some fresh, finely chopped parsley has been added for colour and flavour. It's a very old sauce in terms of English cooking. English cookery had many green sauces up until the end of the Middle Ages. Parsley...

Reform Sauce

Reform Sauce is based on the version of Poivrade Sauce made for game (Sauce poivrade pour gibier.) It is served with lamb, mutton or game. What is truly daunting about Reform Sauce is realizing that in order to make this sauce you first had to make...

White Sauce

White Sauce © Randal Oulton White Sauce is the English term for what the French call "Béchamel" sauce, a simple foundation sauce whose liquid is milk. A white sauce is very easy to make. It has just three ingredients: flour and butter and m...

Worcestershire Sauce

Lea & Perrins © Denzil Green Worcestershire Sauce is a commercially-made seasoning sauce. The sauce is brown, and thin. It has a somewhat tart, meaty taste with a pungent vinegary smell. The most well-known brands include French's and ...

Finadene Sauce

Finadene Sauce is a sauce made in Guam. It is made from equal parts of soy sauce and lemon juice with chopped hot pepper and onion. It is meant to be fiery. Some versions for fish leave out the soy sauce. It is used as a condiment sauce to dip things...

Fish Sauces

A Fish Sauce is generally defined as a sauce made with fish as a main ingredient in the sauce, rather than as a sauce to be served with fish. Though versions have been made since Ancient Greece, most people now think of Fish Sauce as a fermented sauce...

Allec

Allec is a fish sauce that the Romans made. It was the paste, or sediment, that was left at the bottom of the container or barrel that other fish sauces such as garum, liquamen or muria were made in. It would probably have had some small, undissolved...

Garum

Garum was a fermented fish sauce in classical times. It used fresh whole mackerel, sea salt, herbs, fermented in the sun for 20 days, then 40 more days after that with daily stirring.

Garum Ibericum

Garum Ibericum was a version of garum made by the Romans on the Iberian Peninsula -- Portugal and Spain. It was made of fish pieces, herbs and salt allowed to ferment to a thick paste. At Quinta do Marim in Portugal, some portions of the Roman garum...

Japanese Fish Sauce

In Japan alone, there are three different types of fish sauce made: shottsuru (from Akita Prefecture), ishiru (from Ishikawa Prefecture) and ikanago-jōyu (from Kagawa Prefecture.) All are made from fish and shellfish. Japanese versions of fish sauces ...

Liquamen

Liquamen was a Roman fish sauce. Liquamen may originally have been a fish sauce different from the other Roman fish sauce, Garum. Some speculate that unlike Garum, Liquamen was originally just made from whatever fish and fish bits. The Romans were real...

Muria

Muria was a fish sauce like garum. It was less expensive than garum as it was made from tuna instead of mackerel. Because it was not as dear, it is more likely to have been used instead of garum by common folk or soldiers in their supplies. In some...

Oyster Sauce

Oyster Sauce is a thick, salty-tasting savoury sauce with a mild oyster flavour to it. It is usually made from a large oyster species called Crassostrea sp. It has no fishy taste, despite its name. It is used a great deal in Chinese restaurants as it...

Pissala

Pissala is a fish paste. Fish is fermented for a few days, then puréed and mixed with olive oil and seasoned with thyme, bay leaf, cloves, etc. Generally anchovies are used, but sardines can also be used. Unlike some of the earlier Roman fish sauces ...

Thai Fish Sauce

Fish sauce is called "nam pla" in Thai, meaning literally "fish water." There are four grades of Fish Sauce made in Thailand. All will be a reddish-brown sauce; better quality ones will be somewhat transparent, rather than murky. All are generally...

Vietnamese Fish Sauce

The Fish Sauce produced in Vietnam (called "nước mắm" in Vietnamese) is a golden-coloured one that is fermented for a year in wooden vats in the dark. In Vietnamese, "nuóc" means "water"; "mám" means "salted fish." Vietnamese fish sauce was essent...

French Sauces

Most of the Western world's cooking is based on French sauces. Before the French Revolution, France had a highly-developed aristocracy. These had homes with great kitchens and great chefs who had lots of helpers, so the aristocracy got used to very...

Aillade

Aillade is a very thick sauce based on a purée of garlic. Walnut kernels are blended with garlic, walnut oil is added, then seasoned with salt to taste. You can do this in a mortar or pestle, or in a food processor or blender. It is often served with ...

Allemande Sauce

Allemande Sauce is an enriched version of Sauce Velouté. Some people classify Allemande as a base or mother sauce. The reason for their confusion is that Allemande Sauce is itself used as the basis for many other sauces. Technically, though, it is ...

Banquière Sauce

Banquière Sauce is a classic French sauce made from chicken stock, cream, butter and a few tablespoons of Madeira, along with a few slivers of truffle.

Béarnaise Sauce

Béarnaise sauce is Hollandaise sauce with shallots and tarragon added. It can be served with meat or fish. When making Hollandaise sauce, you simmer vinegar to reduce it. To turn the sauce into a Béarnaise, you add chopped shallots at this point, s...

Beurre Blanc

Beurre Blanc ("white butter") is actually a sauce, not a type of butter. And it's pale yellow, not white. It's a creamy, thick, but light-textured pale yellow sauce made from butter, shallots, white wine, and white wine vinegar. It has a slightly...

Brown Butter

Brown Butter (aka "beurre noir" meaning "blackened butter" in French) is butter that is cooked until it has deeply browned, to which capers and chopped parsley are then added. It's then poured out into a dish. A tablespoon of vinegar is heated in...

Butter Sauce

Butter Sauce is basically like a white sauce, but water or consommé is used instead of milk as the liquid. The sauce is usually used for vegetables or fish, or as the foundation for other sauces such as Albert Sauce. Classical French cooking recognizes ...

Espagnole Sauce

Despite its name, Espagnole Sauce ("Spanish Sauce") is not Spanish, but rather a brown sauce in classical French cooking used as the basis for many other sauces, such as Poivrade Sauce. There are three versions of it.Sauce espagnole graisse In a frying...

Gastrique

A Gastrique is a subtle, syrupy, French sweet and sour sauce. It can be used on its own as a drizzle, particularly with meats such as pork, game, or strongly-flavoured fowl, or added to sauces, as it is in classic versions of Duck à l'orange. A simple ...

Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise Sauce is an egg-based sauce flavoured with an acid such as lemon or vinegar. There are many different recipes and just as many opinions. The basic sauce starts as an emulsion of egg and water, to which butter is added, then something acidic...

Madeira Sauce

Madeira Sauce is a savoury French sauce used particularly with roasted chicken and beef. In the French sauce lexicon, this is classed as a brown sauce. Classically it is defined (by Larousse) as a demi-glace sauce with Madeira wine added to it, boiled...

Matelote Sauce

Matelote Sauce is made from red wine, butter, flour, shallots, sugar, salt and coarsely-ground black pepper. It is served warm, and should not be too thick. It is often served with eel. Language Notes Means "fish stew sauce."

Melted Butter

In classical French cooking, a very simple sauce is made by melting butter slowly, then seasoning the melted butter to taste with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. It's used on foods cooked in water, such as vegetables that have been boiled,...

Meunière Butter

In classical French cooking, Meunière Butter ("beurre meunière") is a very simple sauce of browned butter (aka "Beurre Noisette") flavoured with lemon. You make it by melting butter until it has started to brown, and seasoning it to taste with s...

Noisette Butter

Noisette Butter (meaning "nut butter" in French) is a simple sauce that is made soley from butter. It is butter that has been melted and cooked until it starts to turn light brown, but not as dark brown as for brown butter. It is called "nut butter"...

Normande Sauce

CooksInfo.com has identified at least four sauces called Normande Sauce. Two versions, from classical French cooking, are for use with fish. Classic Version (1): combine in a saucepan a Velouté sauce (based on fish stock) with fish fumet and mushroom ...

Paloise Sauce

Paloise Sauce is made exactly as you would Béarnaise Sauce, except in place of the tarragon called for in Béarnaise, you use mint instead. Language Notes Paloise Sauce is namde after the town of Pau in the centre of the old French province of Béarn, lo...

Panade à la frangipane

Panade à la frangipane is a thick sauce made from egg yolk, butter, flour and milk. It is used to bind and thicken ground poultry and fish mixtures. It is also sometimes used as a filling. Unlike Crème Frangipane (almond pastry cream), no sugar is a...

Parisienne Sauce

Parisienne Sauce is a room temperature cheese-based sauce that requires no cooking. It is used for cooked vegetables that are then being served cold or room temperature -- classically, asparagus. Some modern sauces -- such as a meat sauce with eggs...

Poivrade Sauce

There are two versions of Poivrade Sauce. Both version are for meat, but one is for game in particular. There is also a third, older version from the heyday of classical French cooking.Version One for meat A mirepoix of vegetables (e.g finely-diced vegetables)...

Provençal Sauce

Provençal Sauce is a sauce used in cooking in France. It is meant to conjure up images and memories of the Provence area of France. Recipes for the sauce vary. There are two main categories: with and without tomatoes. While many people now associate ...

Provencal Sauce (cold)

Sauce provençale froide ("provencal cold sauce") is a sauce made in the Provence area of France. It is made room temperature and served room temperature with fish, grilled meats, or cold meats. It is is somewhat like another sauce from Provence, ...

Rémoulade Sauce

The classic French definition of Rémoulade Sauce is mayonnaise with the following (chopped) ingredients stirred in: capers, chervil, gherkin, parsley, tarragon, and spring onion. It's then flavoured with some anchovy extract, and used to accompany cold ...

Russian Sauce

Note that despite the name, this is a classical French sauce, not a Russian recipe. There are two versions of Russian sauce in classical French cooking. While it is clear that Russian Sauce 2 might take its name from the use of caviar, it's unclear...

Sauce Bigarade

Sauce Bigarade is a classic French sauce which features the flavour of bitter orange. It is one of the few French sauces which can be classed as sweet and sour. The sharpness of the bitter orange cuts through both the sweetness of the sauce, and any...

Sauce Diane

Sauce Diane is not the same as the sauce that is produced in making Steak Diane. Larousse Gastronomique (1988 edition) refers to it as a cream sauce flavoured with peppercorns and truffles. Escoffier in his Guide Culinaire, 1907, calls for cream, Sauce...

Sauce Maltaise

Sauce Maltaise is a French sauce. It consists of Hollandaise Sauce, in which orange juice is used instead of lemon juice. One of Malta's food specialties is the blood oranges that are grown there.

Soubise Sauce

Soubise Sauce is a white sauce in classical French cooking that is mildly onion-flavoured. It can be used on grilled meat or fish, or served with poultry dishes. It is based on Béchamel sauce (aka White Sauce.) Cooking Tips Make up 2 cups (1 pint ...

Tartar Sauce

Tartar Sauce is a thick, whitish fresh sauce that has mustard, tarragon and finely chopped vegetables in it such as onions, capers, and pickles. These days, it is mostly used as a condiment accompanying fish or seafood. It is served room temperature...

Velouté Sauce

Velouté Sauce is a sauce in classical French cooking that is used both a sauce in its own right, and as a component in other sauces. It is a simple sauce, but somewhat labour intensive. It is made from veal or chicken stock, thickened with a roux. ...

Fry Sauce

Fry Sauce is a thick, smooth, pink-coloured condiment used sometimes as a burger sauce, but now primarily for dipping French Fries into. It is very popular in the American state of Utah. A basic recipe for it is one part ketchup, two parts mayonnaise....

Gravy

Gravy is a thickened savoury sauce made from the juices ("drippings") of cooked meat. It may be dark or light in colour, and is served hot as a pouring sauce. Gravy, in theory, gets its colour and flavour from the meat drippings. In practice, many...

Cream Gravy

Cream Gravy is a very thick, light coloured gravy flecked with crisp bits from the pan, made particularly in the American south. To make Cream Gravy, you leave a couple of tablespoons of the oil, lard or drippings in the frying pan along with the brown...

Gravy Browning

Gravy Browning is not the same as gravy powder. Browning just adds colour, and (most claim) some flavour. Gravy Powder will thicken the gravy as well. There are many different Gravy Browning products made, including such brands as such as Kitchen Bouquet,...

Red Eye Gravy

Red Eye Gravy is a made in the southern US states. It is often made from salt-cured ham drippings in the frying pan after frying it up for breakfast. Drippings from bacon or sausages can be used as well. You drain off excess fat from the pan but leave...

Green Sauce

A green sauce can be any sauce that is coloured green, cooked or fresh, thin or thick. Many cuisines have had their own ideas of what exactly a green sauce is. Oftentimes, a cuisine has even competing ideas about what a green sauce is. For centuries...

Harissa

Harissa is a thick, smooth red chile paste about the consistency of mayonnaise. It has a hot, spicy taste that isn't apparent at first but which builds in the mouth. It is made from dried, hot red chiles, garlic, paprika, caraway, coriander seed, cumin...

Hoisin Sauce

Hoisin Sauce is a thick, reddish-brown or mahogany coloured fermented sauce. It gives foods a sweet and sour taste and a reddish hue. It is made of chiles, garlic, sesame seeds, spices, sugar, vinegar, and either mashed soybeans and / or wheat flour....

Japanese Sauces

Japanese sauces are very simple sauces, compared to, for instance, the complexity of French sauces. Any cooking for Japanese sauces is generally just a brief, light simmer on the stove to reduce the liquid, and while a sauce may be an assembly of other...

Amazu Sauce

Amazu Sauce is a Japanese sweet and sour sauce. It's made from plain, unseasoned rice vinegar, water and sugar that are brought to a low boil while stirring to dissolve sugar, then removed from the heat and allowed to cool. Variations include squeezing...

Awasezu

Awasezu is a liquid seasoning mixture used to season sushi rice to turn it into "sushi meshi" (seasoned sushi rice.) The sugar in it also gives the rice a sheen. Awasezu can also be used as dressings for salads.Base Awasezu Sauces These may be used...

Chiri-zu Sauce

Chiri-zu Sauce is a Japanese dipping sauce used for fried seafood, for sashimi, and for white fish. It is mildly spicy because it has Shichimi Togarashi in it. Cooking Tips 4 tablespoons lemon juice 4 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari 4 tablespoons...

Hon Gaeshi

Hon Gaeshi is a sauce used in Japanese cooking as a base for sauces and broths, such as Mentsuyu. It is a simple sauce, made from dark soy sauce, white cooking sugar ("san-on-to") and mirin. People in the Kansai area of Japan add a bit more sugar...

Nikiri Sauce

Nikiri Sauce is a thin, sweet glaze that is brushed on fish just before serving in Japanese cooking. It negates the need for a small dish of soy sauce to be provided to the diner, as the chef has already seasoned the fish for you. It is used on delicate...

Nitsume Sauce

Nitsume is a Japanese sauce used with eel, octopus and shrimp. There used to be many variations of it. One older way of making it was simmering eels in a pot of water for several months until all that was left was a thick glaze. Now, the process for...

Ponzu Sauce

Ponzu Sauce is a simple Japanese sauce made from mirin, Bonito Tuna Flakes (aka "katsuobushi"), kombu (aka "konbu", aka "seaweed") and vinegar. The ingredients are simmered briefly, then strained, then yuzu juice is added. If you have time to make...

Rice Wine, aka Mirin: Japanese wine for cooking

Rice Wine is a golden-coloured version of rice wine (sake) for cooking. It is called "Mirin" in Japanese. It adds a sheen to foods. It is made from short-grain rice and glutinous rice, sweetened, and sold in bottles. The traditional method of making...

Sambi-Zu Sauce

Sambi-Zu Sauce is a Japanese sauce made from rice vinegar, soy sauce and dashi (Japanese soup stock.) Sometimes, mirin and fresh finely-chopped ginger root are added as well. The sauce is boiled briefly, then let cool.

Sanbai-Zu Sauce

Sanbai-Zu Sauce is a variation on Japanese Amazu Sauce. To 1 cup (8 oz / 250 ml) of Amazu Sauce, you add 4 tablespoons of prepared dashi, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. It is used as a dipping sauce for crab or mackerel.

Seasoned Rice Vinegar

Seasoned Rice Vinegar is a ready-made version of what the Japanese call "Sushi-zu" (sushi vinegar: see separate entry.) It is a vinegar made from sake, and flavoured for you with salt and sugar. It is used for Japanese salads, and to flavour...

Sushi-zu

Sushi-zu is a very delicate tasting dressing used to flavour rice to be used for sushi. It is a mixture of rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt. The sugar gives the rice a sheen. Some recipes will add a very small piece of kombu kelp for additional flavouring. Generally,...

Tamari: Japanese wheat-free soy sauce

Tamari is a version of soy sauce that is made without wheat. It's a dark sauce that is somewhat milder and mellow than soy sauce, and thicker. It is used mainly as a table condiment rather than as an ingredient in cooking. Tamari is usually aged for...

Teriyaki Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce is a sweet, salty Japanese sauce made from mirin, sake, soy sauce and white sugar. It sweetness comes from the mirin; its saltiness from the soy sauce. It is very similar to yakitori sauce. It can be used as a condiment for dipping at...

Tonkatsu Sauce

Tonkatsu Sauce is a Japanese sweet sauce served to accompany Tonkatsu. Recipes to make your own generally call for ketchup, rice wine, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, rice wine vinegar, mustard powder, allspice, cloves and garlic powder. You...

Yakiniku Sauce

Yakiniku Sauce is a range of sauces used to accompany a Japanese or Korean Yakiniku-style meal. Most Westerners, though, tend of think of a garlic-flavoured sauce when they think of Yakiniku Sauce. They can be made or bought: there are many commercial...

Yakitori Sauce

Yakitori Sauce is a Japanese sauce for barbequing. Items are brushed with it before grilling, then brushed with it a few times more while cooking. The sauce is also served at the table as a dipping sauce. There are many different versions: some will...

Ketchup

Ketchup is a savoury sauce used as both a meal condiment, and an ingredient. The best known type of ketchup is tomato ketchup; in fact, it is so well known that for most people, the word "ketchup" is synonymous with the term "tomato ketchup." It's...

Mushroom Ketchup

Mushroom Ketchup was being made before Tomato Ketchup. You can still buy it today, made by George Watkins Co. in the UK. It's much thinner than tomato ketchup, and more vinegary. You use it as you would a mushroom sauce. It's great on meat pies and...

Ketjap Manis

Ketjap Manis is a thick, dark, rich condiment sauce made in Indonesia. It is made from black soybeans, though it is also possible to use yellow soybeans. They are allowed to ferment, then mixed with garlic, palm sugar, and star anise. The taste is mild,...

Liebig's Extract of Meat

Liebig's Extract of Meat is a historical product. It was a thick, dark, syrupy beef extract paste sold in glass bottles, and later in tins as well. It gained popularity first as a food for the poor, and then also as an ingredient in middle-class kitchens. It...

Lizano Sauce

Lizano Sauce (aka Salsa Lizano) © Leclaire & Schenk Salsa Lizano is a commercial bottled condiment sauce made in Costa Rica. It is a thin but slightly-viscous, smooth, pale coffee-coloured, vegetable-based sauce. It pours like a thin gravy. ...

Maggi Seasoning Sauce

Maggi is a thin, dark, concentrated seasoning sauce produced commercially and sold in bottles. The formulation can vary by country; the Swiss version is the original. The colour of the bottle cap will vary by country as well.

Meat Sauces

Pig Sauce

Pig Sauce is an Acadian meat sauce. The main ingredient is pork -- fresh pork meat, along with brain, and marrow from the pig's spinal column. To this is added chopped ham, green onions, parsley, garlic cloves and dry white wine. The brain serves to...

Melba Sauce

Melba Sauce is a raspberry sauce used for desserts. The base is fresh raspberries that are puréed and then strained to remove all seeds. Red currant jelly, sugar and cornstarch are then added, and the mixture is simmered until the cornstarch has cooked ...

Mint Sauce

Mint Sauce is a British sauce, though it is also widely popular throughout the English-speaking world. It is a traditional accompaniment to lamb. Great European chefs see red when English-speakers ask for this green sauce in a restaurant. The Europeans...

Mojo (Cuban)

The Cuban version of Mojo Sauce is made from olive oil, bitter orange juice and garlic. It can be used as a marinade, a dip or a sauce. As a marinade, it is used on pork, chicken, lamb, or goat. Most recipes ask you to marinate whatever meat you are...

Mojo Sauces

Mojo Sauces are olive-oil based sauces made in the Canary Islands, part of Spain off the coast of western Africa. There are several different versions. They can be green, red or orange-coloured. The basics are olive oil, a good deal of garlic, cumin...

Mole

A Mole (pronounced (mo - leh) is a Mexican sauce, and no, it does not contain any small, burrowing animals. In English, it is often written with a capital M to distinguish it from the furry animals; other times, well-meaning English speakers invent...

Murri

Murri was a fermented sauce that was used a great deal in Arabic cooking, mostly used from the 1200s to the 1400s. It wasn't meant to be consumed on its own, or used at the table; its strong, salty taste made it ideal for use as a cooking ingredient...

Pasta Sauce

If a recipe calls for a jar of pasta sauce, and doesn't qualify "pasta sauce" further, assume the writer means a tomato-based pasta sauce. Pasta sauces can also be creamy, or oil-based, etc. One of the most misunderstood pasta sauces is the white creamy...

Carbonara Sauce

Carbonara sauce is a sauce for pasta. The basic ingredients in Carbonara Sauce are eggs, cheese and pork fat. Throughout most of Italy pancetta is used as the pork element, except in Rome, where pork jowl ("Guancial") is sometimes used. Cooking Tips...

Genovese Sauce

Genovese Sauce is a red sauce based on simmered onions and beef, served with pasta. But, the red in it is not supposed to come from tomato: purists say that absolutely no tomato is allowed, in any form. Instead, the reddish colour comes from the long,...

Passata

Passata is a medium-thick, pourable, uncooked red tomato sauce made from crushed and strained tomatoes. It has almost the same consistency as tomato ketchup. The thickness of the sauce is owing to the high-quality paste-type tomatoes that are used (as...

Pesto

Pesto is an Italian word for a thick, ground, herbal preparation used as a sauce. Most non-Italians think of it as a green sauce made from basil. That is in fact, however, just one type of Pesto. Other Pestos can be red from tomatoes in their recipes,...

Pearà

Pearà is a thick bread sauce made in the Veneto region of Italy, usually served with boiled meats such as bollito misto. It is made from bread crumbs, beef marrow, butter or olive oil, ground pepper and broth, simmered slowly for 2 to 3 hours/ You ...

Pesto Modenese

Pesto Modenese is an uncooked, thick, creamy white spread. It is made from lard, garlic, and rosemary. Unlike the green pesto made from basil that is served with pasta, Pesto Modenese is served with warm bread. It is used as a filling for crescentine...

Pique Criollo

Pique Criollo is a hot Puerto Rican condiment sauce based on vinegar and hot peppers. The ingredients are not blended but rather just allowed to macerate. It is used in small amounts as Puerto Rican cooking is not hot. There a thousand versions of Pique...

Pique Seasoning

Pique Seasoning is an extinct, American commercially-made liquid condiment for cooking. It is no longer being made or sold. It was made from vegetable protein derivatives, water, salt, yeast, vegetable extract, spices and vegetable fat. Though meat...

Pizza Sauce

Of course you can make your own pizza sauce, and you likely will want to if you are going to the bother of making a pizza at home (as opposed to ring and bring.) But when you encounter a non-pizza recipe calling for pizza sauce, chances are that...

Raita

Raita is an Indian yoghurt-based sauce with vegetable or fruit in it. It serves as a table condiment, acting as a contrast on the plate to hot spices. It can be served chilled or room temperature. There are many varied recipes for Raita. It can...

Salad Dressings

"A salad dressing is best described as an uncooked sauce and, like all sauces, its role is to enhance the flavor of the food." -- 1997 edition, Joy of Cooking. The American Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) recognizes and defines three types of salad...

Aemono

Aemono is a Japanese cooking term that can refer either to an uncooked sauce used as a salad dressing, or to the salad itself made with it. As a dressing, it's a thick dressing (often based on puréed tofu) to coat the food items in a salad. When used ...

Aioli à la greque

Aioli à la greque is a very thick vinaigrette sauce served with fish that has fried or boiled. The sauce is made with fresh breadcrumbs that have been sieved and soaked in milk, ground nuts (a mixture of walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts), and crushed ...

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...

Green Goddess Dressing

Green Goddess Dressing is a creamy herbed salad dressing. The main ingredients are anchovy, garlic, mayonnaise and vinegar, along with parsley, tarragon and chives for colour, and other seasonings.some versions will combine the tarragon and vinegar by...

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a very thick, creamy sauce served at room temperature or chilled. It can be used as a sauce, a dressing, and or a condiment. It is made from oil and raw egg with something acidic added such as vinegar or lemon. The oil and the vinegar...

Aioli

Aioli is a thick creamy garlic sauce used in the cooking of Provence, France, and of Catalonia in Spain. It is usually served on the side at room temperature. It is often compared to mayonnaise in its texture, but it is not actual mayonnaise. It is...

Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Hellmann's Mayonnaise © Denzil Green Hellmann's Mayonnaise is a commercial brand of bottled, shelf-stable mayonnaise. It is sold in many countries of the world. There are many variations now on offer. In America, Hellmann's is called and ...

Horseradish Mayonnaise

Horseradish Mayonnaise © Denzil Green Horseradish Mayonnaise is mayonnaise with a little prepared horseradish, creamed horseradish or horseradish powder stirred in. You can make it yourself, or buy it commercially prepared. Cooking Tips Per ...

Miracle Whip

Miracle Whip is a bottled, commercial salad dressing that looks like mayonnaise. Made by Kraft, it is sweeter, tangier, and somewhat less expensive than mayonnaise. It has been sold for over 70 years now, and has been used so widely that many people...

Ranch Dressing

Ranch Dressing is a thick, creamy, rich-tasting dressing made from mayonnaise, buttermilk and herbs. It is popular as a condiment on burgers and sandwiches, and as a dip for vegetables, pizza slices, deep-fried bar foods, etc. There are many brands,...

Russian Dressing

There are a bewildering number of opinions as to what constitutes Russian Dressing, so many in fact that one might be tempted to say that this can't be considered an actual, defined item in the kitchen. But then, without Russian Dressing, there'd be...

Salad Cream

Salad Cream is a pour-able, pale yellow boiled dressing sauce with a creamy consistency. It's a close cousin to Miracle Whip, though it's not thick like either Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise. Rather, it has the thickness of a very thick pouring cream...

Thousand Island Dressing

This is a North American mayonnaise-based salad dressing that is flavoured with tomato purée, chopped boiled eggs, and other seasonings. It is mostly obtained commercially. Kraft is a major seller of the bottled dressing. As well, the Inn where it was ...

Salmuera

Salmuera is Spanish for brine, or put even more simply salt water. You'll see it called for sometimes in Latin American recipes, especially Argentine ones. Cooking Tips Because it's just salt water, it's very easy to make. Whisk 2 teaspoons of...

Salsas

Salsa means sauce, in Spanish. Though the Spanish do make sauces, generally when you see the word Salsa there will be a Mexican sauce involved. There are raw sauces and cooked sauces. If you see the word "cruda" in the name of a Salsa recipe, "cruda"...

Sambals

Sambals are Indonesian sauces. The ingredients vary wildly depending on what kind of Sambal is being made, but chile is common in many of them, and thus they tend to have a hot flavour. Not all, though,are incredibly hot. Mild ones include Sambal Oelek...

Sambal Bajak

Sambal Bajak is an Indonesian sauce that is more like a slightly chunky brown paste. You can use Sambal Bajak as a side condiment on a plate, or spread it on crackers. Sambal Bajak is made from red chile, powdered galangal, garlic, nutmeg, palm sugar,...

Sambal Bawang

Sambal Bawang is a red sauce, more like a chunky relish or chutney, based on shallots. It is made from Dried Shrimp paste, shallots, garlic, oil, salt, red chiles and lime juice. The garlic and shallots are sliced. You heat the oil, add everything...

Sambal Belacan

Sambal Belacan is a sauce or paste based on dried shrimp paste made in Malaysia and Singapore. You toast dried shrimp paste, and purée it with chopped, seeded red chiles, season it with salt and pepper, and adjust taste with lime juice. Sambal Belacan ...

Sambal Brandal

Sambal Brandal is a spicy Indonesian condiment relish. It is served as a side condiment, not mixed into other food as an ingredient. It is made from ground fresh small chile peppers often called "Dutch Hot Peppers." These, along with shallots, shrimp...

Sambal Dabo Lilang

Sambal Dabo Lilang is an uncooked Indonesian relish made from chopped onion, tomato, and red and green chiles, flavoured with fresh basil and lime zest. It has a hot but fresh taste. You let the flavours marry for several hours before using. Cooking...

Sambal Djeruk

Sambal Djeruk is an uncooked Indonesian sauce made from chiles (red or green), lime juice and dried shrimp paste. Language Notes "Djeruk" means "lime."

Sambal Goreng Dadar

Sambal Goreng Dadar is a chunky Indonesian sauce. Eggs are beaten with salt, pepper and parsley, then let stand 15 minutes. The egg is then fried without stirring to make a omelette, and browned on both sides. While still warm, the omelette is rolled...

Sambal Kacang

Sambal Kacang is a hot, spicy Indonesian peanut sauce. The peanuts are stir-fried first, then pounded into a paste along with peeled garlic, sliced and seeded bird's eye chiles, and Kaempferia Galangal. put into a pan and simmered for an hour with kaffir...

Sambal Kecap

Sambal Kecap is an Indoneisan dipping sauce. It is made from a sweet version of soy sauce, chopped fresh red chile, lime juice and shallots. Cooking Tips 5 birds eye red chiles, seeded and finely chopped 4 small shallots, peeled, thinly sliced 4 tablespoons...

Sambal Lada Hijau

Sambal Lada Hijau is a cooked Sambal (Indonesian sauce or relish.) It is made from dried anchovies, sautéed in oil, with sautéed shallots, green bird's-eye chiles, and tomatoes.

Sambal Limau

Sambal Limau is an Indonesian relish. The name of the relish should actually be Sambal Limau "Napis", to be more precise. It is served with salads with fried fish or chicken. Cooking Tips 4 red chiles 2 teaspoons of belacan 2 key limes (juiced) sugar...

Sambal Luat

A Sambal with luat (jicama) in it. It is like a relish. Cooking Tips 1 jicama, about 4 oz (100g) 1 dozen small red chiles, sliced 1/2 teaspoon dried shrimp paste 2 cloves garlic 1 1/2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice 2 sprigs basil, washed. Peel...

Sambal Manbo

Sambal Manbo is an Indonesian condiment sauce. It is made from finely chopped birds-eye chiles, a souring agent such as tamarind juice, fried, ground peanuts, soy sauce, onions, dried shrimp paste, and garlic. The onion and garlic are cooked until soft,...

Sambal Mangga

Sambal Mangga is an Indonesian chile relish based on unripe mangos. It is made from shredded unripe mango, onion, red and green chiles (seeded and de-stemmed), dried shrimp paste, and salt. The shredded mango has salt sprinkled on it, and is left for...

Sambal Manis

Sambal Manis is a dark, bright red hot sauce made in Indonesia from chiles, onion, tomato, spices, sugar and vinegar. The chile peppers are ground up. In Indonesia, Palm Sugar will be used instead of white sugar (try dark brown sugar), and tamarind paste...

Sambal Soto

Sambal Soto is an Indonesian chile sauce traditionally served as a side dish to noodle soups. It's made from fried candlenuts, shallots, bird's-eye chiles, garlic, salt, white sugar and citrus juice (lemon or lime.) To make, you whiz all the ingredients...

Sambal Tauco

Sambal Tauco is an a Indonesian salty relish made with salted yellow soy beans (which you buy in a can.) It is made from shallots, garlic and green chiles that are puréed together into a paste, then heated for a short time with lemon grass, tamarind ...

Sambal Terong

Sambal Terong is an Indonesian sambal sauce based on eggplant (aka Aubergine.) It is made from eggplant, green chiles, onion, garlic, dried shrimp paste, brown sugar and tomatoes, simmered together.The sauce can be served hot or cold.

Sambal Tomat

Sambal Tomat is an Indonesian tomato-based condiment. There are two versions, fresh and cooked. Both are made from tomatoes, red birds eye chiles, shrimp paste, lime juice, shallots, garlic and oil. For the cooked version, the ingredients are sautéed ...

Sambal Udang

Sambal Udang is an Indonesian sauce made from chiles, garlic, shallots, tamarind, tomatoes and either dried shimp or dried shrimp paste (blachan.) The shrimp and tamarind are soaked in water to soften them, then drained, and ground to a paste. The paste...

Sambal Ulek

Sambal Ulek is an Indonesian savoury paste. One of the most common of Indonesian Sambals, it is relatively mild as Sambals go. It is made from fresh hot red chiles (chopped, but seeds left in them), ground to a paste. Other ingredients can include...

Soy Sauce

Soy sauce is a dark, pungent thin sauce used as both a cooking and table condiment in Asian cuisine. To make soy sauce, defatted, steamed soybeans are ground together with roasted crushed wheat. This is allowed to ferment, then salted and aged for...

Mentsuyu

Mentsuyu is a Japanese sauce, made of dark soy sauce, white cooking sugar ("san-on-to")and mirin (this base is called "Hon Gaeshi"), to which dashi (typically ichban dashi, aka Primary Dashi) is added. It can be used warmed, as a base for soup, or chilled,...

Tosa Soy Sauce: Tuna and seaweed flavoured soy sauce

Tosa Soy Sauce is Japanese soy sauce with shaved bonito and kelp added to it. It has a stronger, fuller flavour than regular soy sauce. Cooking Tips To make: 1/2 cup (4 oz / 125 ml) regular soy sauce 2 tablespoons mirin 4 tablespoons shaved bonito Mix...

Ume Shoyu

Ume Shoyu is a condiment sauce made from 1 pickled plum (Umeboshi), 2 tbsp soy sauce and a dash of sake.

Usukuchi Soy Sauce: Japanese wheat and bean soy sauce

Usukuchi Soy Sauce ("Usukuchi shoyu") is a Japanese soy sauce. It is lighter in colour than other soy sauce, but not lighter in taste -- it's actually saltier than regular soy sauce (which is referred to as "koikuchi shoyu.") It is made from equal amounts...

Sriracha Sauce

Sriracha is a generic name for a commercial, orangey-red coloured hot sauce made in Thailand. It is somewhat sweet, and not as tart and vinegary as Tabasco sauce, which makes it better with Asian food. There are both mild and hot versions. It...

Tabasco

Tabasco is a hot pepper sauce that is common on grocery shelves on both sides of the Atlantic. It is made from Tabasco peppers, vinegar and salt. When the peppers turn red, they are harvested, mashed, mixed with "Avery Island" salt, and let ferment...

Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce

Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce has the same taste as regular Tabasco Sauce. It is not as hot, though, because it is made from mild Jalapeno peppers. Its colour and mildness allows it be used in dishes such as guacamole, which the red Tabasco Sauce might...

Tapenade

Tapenade is an olive paste or spread most associated with Provence, an area in the south of French, though it is popular in other Mediterranean countries such as Spain. You can use it as a dip for vegetables, mix some into pasta, salad dressings,...

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce is a sauce based on tomatoes. There are many types: what most have in common is that they are meant to be thick. Tomato sauce is usually a cooked sauce, but there are uncooked ones such as some fresh tomato Mexican salsas. Tomato...

Vatapá

Vatapá is a thick, very rich tasting Brazilian sauce based on puréed shrimp. The ingredients are dried shrimp, onion, dende oil, peanuts, coconut milk, plus spices and seasonings. It is thickened with bread. You can use Vatapá as a sauce on top of ri...

Vinaigrette

A Vinaigrette is a salad dressing made from oil and vinegar. Use two parts of oil to one part vinegar: any higher amount of oil and it won't emulsify into the vinegar. The addition of mustard and of finely chopped ground herbs, onions or garlic will...

Walnut Sauce

Walnut Sauce is a speciality in Liguria, Italy. It is a simple, thick, uncooked sauce, made from walnuts, marjoram, garlic, olive oil or water, and grated Parmesan. It is often served on chestnut gnocchi, or drizzled over a triangular-shaped, cheese-stuffed...

XO Sauce

XO Sauce is a spicy seafood sauce that can be used as an ingredient or a table condiment. It is made from dried shrimp, dried scallop, garlic, chile, onion, dried fish, and oil. In restaurants, the sauce may include some brandy, either in the sauce or...

Spreads

In the food world, the term "Spreads" generally means "spreadable fats." The fats can be vegetable or animal in origin. Though one might immediately think of butter or margarine when one thinks of spreads, there are also meat spreads, such as potted...

Yeast spreads

Aussie Mite

Aussie Mite is an Australian yeast spread, made by All Natural Foods of Stirling, South Australia. The ingredients are: vegetable protein extract (corn), maltodextrin (tapioca), corn thickener (1401), sugar, sea salt, yeast extract, yeast, food...

Marmite Spread

Marmite is a thick, brown paste with a strong, salty flavour. It is the original yeast spread, made from yeast extract, salt, vegetable extract, and spices. It is sold in distinctive, bulb-shaped glasses with yellow lids. A French stock pot called a...

Ozemite

Ozemite was an announced Australian version of Marmite. The product was planned and announced, but either did not hit the stores, or hit the store briefly for a period in 2001. Staff with Dick Smith Foods were themselves unclear and unable to confirm...

Promite

Promite is a yeast spread similar to Vegemite and Marmite. It is darker and sweeter than Vegemite, and a bit thinner than Vegemite and Marmite. It has less of a harsher salt taste than other yeast spreads. Ingredients include hydrolised vegetable protein...

Vegemite

Vegemite is a yeast spread, an Australian competitor to British-made Marmite. It is a very shiny, very dark, reddish, deep-brown spreadable paste. It is so thick that if you were to tip a jar up, it might take hours or days for it to run out of...

Tracklements

Tracklements is a word for savory sauces or relishes. They are usually served with either cold or hot meats, or with cheese. Items such as mustard, horseradish, mint sauce, Cumberland Sauce, Brown Sauce, Ketchup, Roasted Onion Marmalade, Chili Jams,...

Vinegar

Vinegar is an acidic liquid used in cooking for its sour taste, as well as its cleaning, sanitizing, and preservative qualities. The vinegar making process starts with fermented liquids such as wine, ale, beer, cider, or fermented fruits and grains....

Arengga Vinegar

Arengga Vinegar is made from a variety of sugar palm tree (Arenga pinnata) called "kaong" or " irok" in the Philippines. The tree needs 10 to 15 years of growth first. It will live for 15 to 22 years in the wild (it has a shorter life in cultivation.)...

Balsamic Vinegar

Balsamic Vinegar is a sweetish, syrupy brown vinegar made in Italy made from grapes. There are three types of genuine Balsamic Vinegar: Tradizionale ("traditional") balsamic vinegar of Modena, made in Modena ("Aceto Tradizionale di Modena"); ...

Banyuls Vinegar

Banyuls Vinegar is a wine vinegar that tastes somewhat like a cross between balsamic and sherry vinegar. It has an underlying taste of walnuts, with a hint of sweetness. It is not as harsh as red wine vinegar. The colour varies from a rosy colour to...

Black Rice Vinegar (aka Jinjiang)

Black Rice Vinegar © Denzil Green Black Rice Vinegar (aka Jinjiang) is a very dark coloured, dark brownish-red, fragrant vinegar. The most well-known versions are Chinese, but it is also made in Japan. The vinegar is particularly popular in ...

Blueberry Vinegar

Blueberry vinegar is purple. It is made from fermenting blueberries into alcohol. Vinegar starter is added to this alcohol, which is then allowed to ferment into vinegar. Then, it is filtered and bottled. It's a specialty of the Valle d'Aosta in...

Borage Vinegar

Borage vinegar is an herb vinegar, flavoured with borage. The flowers from the borage give it a blue tint. Some people cheat and add a drop or two of blue food colouring as well. Use for salads, marinating fish in. Cooking Tips 3 handfuls (about...

Burnet Vinegar

Burnet vinegar has the taste of cucumber to it from using the herb called salad burnet. Cooking Tips 5 tablespoons of chopped fresh salad burnet 3/4 cup (6 oz / 175 ml) white wine vinegar Well in advance: wash the salad burnet leaves, shake and...

Cane Vinegar

Cane vinegar is made from syrup from sugar cane. The cane is harvested, crushed to extract the juice, simmered down into a syrup, and the syrup fermented into vinegar. Good ones are also aged in oak barrels. It has a mellow flavour like malt...

Champagne Vinegar

Champagne vinegar isn't actually made from champagne, though all the marketing would invite you to believe that it is, with words such as sparkling, crisp, clear, etc. Rather, it is a mild-tasting, slightly dry white wine vinegar that happens to be...

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...

Coconut Vinegar

Coconut Vinegar © Denzil Green Coconut Vinegar is made from coconut water, found inside the coconut shell. The coconut water is filtered, sugar is added, and then it is brought to the boiling point to pasteurize it. After this, it is cooled, ...

Date Vinegar

Date vinegar is made from date juice. The juice is allowed to ferment into alcohol. Then, vinegar starter is added and it is allowed to stand to convert into vinegar. Both red and white date vinegars are available. Popular in the Middle East, particularly...

Fennel Vinegar

Fennel Vinegar is fennel-flavoured vinegar. It can be made from white wine vinegar infused either with fresh fennel leaves, or with fennel seed. Cooking Tips Fennel Seed Vinegar 2 cups (16 oz / 500 ml) white wine vinegar 1 1/2 tablespoons of...

Fig Vinegar

Fig Vinegar is a bit like balsamic vinegar, in that it's thick and sweet, and has a sweet and sour taste to it. It is sometimes called "balsamic fig vinegar" or "black fig vinegar." It is quite expensive, about £10 / $20.00 US per 250ml (8 oz) ...

Herbed Vinegars

Herbed Vinegars are vinegars that flavoured with herbs, and sometimes spices as well. They are usually based on white wine vinegar, but can also be made with any other type of vinegar as the base. Usual herbs include basil, chives, dill, elderflower,...

Horseradish Vinegar

Horseradish Vinegar is vinegar flavoured with horseradish and a few additional seasonings. You started with freshly grated horseradish from a horseradish root. For this reason, most recipes advise that it be made in the late fall, when horseradish...

Malt Vinegar

Malt Vinegar © Denzil Green Malt vinegar is very popular in England and Canada. In many people's minds, it is the best vinegar to put on fish & chips, and on chips (aka French fries) in general. It is made from malted barley and grain ...

Mint Vinegar

Mint Vinegar is vinegar flavoured with mint. Good for salads, particularly fruit salads, in gravy for lamb, and to brush on lamb while it's cooking. Cooking Tips Per 2 cups (16 oz / 500 ml) of vinegar, use 1 to 2 handfuls of fresh mint, crushed...

Mother of Vinegar

Mother of Vinegar is a bacterial starter culture used to make vinegar. Mère de vinaigre is a slimy, gummy substance, that you wouldn't normally want to pitch into something you are later going to consume. When added to the liquid to be made into ...

Palm Vinegar

Palm Vinegar is a white, cloudy vinegar made and used in the Philippines. Some are mild, some have a sharp, acidic taste, All have a faint yeasty or musty taste. The vinegar is made from sap from coconut palm trees. The sap is collected from a main...

Perry Vinegar

Perry Vinegar is made from Perry, that has vinegar starter culture added to it and that is then allowed to ferment. It has a faint pear flavour. Substitutes Cider vinegar

Pineapple Vinegar

Pineapple vinegar is vinegar with a light pineapple flavour. It is made from the peelings from pineapples that would otherwise be discarded, in preparing them to be canned pineapple. The pineapples need to have been washed before peeling. No leaves...

Plum Vinegar

Plum Vinegar is a Japanese red vinegar with a mild, salty taste and a sour, fruity aroma. It's not a true vinegar, as there is actually no acetic acid in it. Instead, the acid in it is citric. Plum Vinegar used to be made from the juices created...

Raisin Vinegar

Raisin vinegar is a mild-tasting, cloudy brown vinegar made from raisins. It is used in the Middle East and in Greece. Turkish brands such as Sultan are sold in 16 oz (500 ml) bottles.

Raspberry Vinegar

Raspberry vinegar is made from white wine vinegar flavoured with raspberries, sweetened with some sugar. It is fruity and tart at the same time. Usage suggestions: It is good with duck and pork; Use to deglaze pans; Use on fruit salads;...

Red Rice Vinegar

Red Rice Vinegar is brownish-red. It has both a sweet and sour taste with a bit of saltiness. It can be used on its own as a dipping sauce, or as an ingredient in dishes. Substitutes White rice vinegar, cider vinegarHistory Notes Red Rice Vinegar was...

Red Wine Vinegar

Red Wine Vinegar is made from red wine, as the name would hint. There are red wine vinegars that are made more quickly, using so-so wine, that are sold cheaper, and there are more expensive ones, aged for a few years in oak barrels, etc. In general,...

Rice Vinegar (aka Rice Wine Vinegar)

Rice Vinegar (aka Rice Wine Vinegar) is a vinegar made from either fermented rice or from rice wine. There are three different kinds: red, white and black. Red rice vinegar is used as a dip for foods. It has a sweet and sour taste; Black rice...

Sherry Vinegar

Sherry Vinegar is a vinegar made from a blend of wines from Palomino Fino grapes. It is aged for a minimum of six years in wooden barrels that previously held sherry. The barrels are arranged in tiers, with the oldest vinegar being in the bottom...

Suka Vinegar

Suka Vinegar is made from sap from coconut palm tree flowers in the Philippines. It is not as acidic as most other vinegars. Therefore it is less tart, with more of a sweet taste coming through. To make Suka Vinegar, the sap is allowed to ferment naturally...

Tarragon Vinegar

Tarragon Vinegar is a vinegar flavoured with tarragon. Some may taste stronger and more anisey than others. Some are mild; some quite intense. More intense-tasting ones are those that have been allowed to steep for 3 to 4 months -- these may be too strong...

Verjuice

Verjuice is unfermented grape juice made from unripe green grapes. It is very acidic, making it tart like sour apples, but less tart and acidic than vinegar. It is currently enjoying a small amount of popularity, as it can be used in places where vinegar...

Vinaigre d'Orléans

Vinaigre d'Orléans is vinegar made in Orléans, France. It is 7% acid. To make it, 240 litre barrels are laid on their side, with the bung hole (the hole that can be plugged) on the side that is up. Holes in each end of the barrel, above what will b...

Whey Vinegar

Whey Vinegar is an amber-coloured vinegar made using whey left over from making cheese, or from skim milk. The whey is first made alcoholic by adding a yeast such as "Kluyveromyces fragilis" to induce fermentation. Then, then after it's alcohol, a starter...

White Balsamic Vinegar

White Balsamic Vinegar is not officially a balsamic vinegar. It is thinner, and a pale gold or amber colour. It is less sweet than proper balsamic, having a mellow flavour with a bit of tang at the end. It is made from must from white grapes,...

White Vinegar

White Vinegar © Denzil Green White vinegar can be a generic term for any vinegar which is clear or light yellow in colour. In North America, however, it usually means white distilled vinegar. All throughout North America, this is the one vinegar ...

White Wine Vinegar

White Wine Vinegar is a tangy vinegar made from white wine. It is used in light-coloured sauces (such as Hollandaise and Béarnaise), and light-coloured dressings, where a darker vinegar such as red-wine vinegar would give the wrong colour. It ...

Yuzu Vinegar

Yuzu Vinegar is a dark, gold-coloured vinegar with a citrus taste to it. It's made from Yuzu juice, which is more acidic than other citrus fruits, with some rice wine vinegar added to it. The proportion is a few drops of vinegar per teaspoon of Yuzu...

Cooking Techniques

Cooking techniques are a set of methods and procedures for preparing, cooking and presenting food. Good techniques also take into account economical use of food and cooking fuel resources, as well as food safety. We tend to call them "techniques" in...

À la Cooking Terms

À la Cooking Terms List French cooking, Julia Child maintained, is the only Western cuisine that is highly codified. Part of that codification is the extensive list of "À la" terms used in the French haute cuisine kitchen. French "À la" an...

À Blanc

À blanc is a French phrase meaning to cook something to a stage of being "white." When used in reference to meat, it means cooked but not browned. When used in reference to a pie crust, it means to "bake blind" (partially cook it, but not brown ...

À l'Africaine

À l'Africaine is a French phrase in cooking that now has many different meanings, varying from flavouring to garnish. There used to be an assumption by some writers that it meant accompanied by cucumber, eggplant, potatoes and zucchini. Larousse ...

À l'Agnès Sorel

When used to describe a garnish, à l'Agnès Sorel is a French phrase that means mushrooms, truffles and pickled tongue, along with small amounts of white rice. When used to indicate a sauce, the phrase means stock taken from the meat you have cooked, i...

À l'Aillade

À l'aillade is a French expression meaning with garlic. Pain à l'aillade, for example, is bread rubbed with garlic, and drizzled with olive oil. Language Notes "Ail" is French for garlic.

À l'Ailleule

À l'Ailleule is a French expression meaning prepared in the manner of your ancestors (more literally, of your great-grandmother.) In terms of meaning "old-fashioned cooking", it is perhaps somewhere between à l'ancienne and à la bonne femme. À l'a...

À l'Albigeoise

À l'Albigeoise is a French phrase that can indicate a side accompaniment to meat of stuffed onions and puffed potato balls (croquettes.) Larousse Gastronomique, however, plumps for stuffed tomatoes instead of onions. Language Notes Albigeois means ...

À l'Albufera

À l'Albufera is a term that can mean two completely different types of garnishes. Larousse Gastronomique defines it as a garnish of small pieces of truffle and ground chicken, with the pieces shaped into the size and shape of peas. Another more ...

À l'Algérienne

À l'Algérienne is a French food expression that often means something with orange zest or juice in it. Other times, people just use the phrase to describe a dish that seems vaguely Arabic to them. More traditionally, it was used to describe a garnish m...

À l'Alsacienne

A meal which perhaps sums up 'À l'Alsacienne', with sauerkraut, sausage, and ham/bacon. © Rama / 2005 / [CeCILL via Wikimedia Commons] À l'Alsacienne is a French cooking expression that is often applied to dishes containing sauerkraut, sausage an...

À l'Ambassadrice

À l'Ambassadrice is the term used to describe a garnish made from truffles, mushrooms and chicken parts such as chicken livers, and the combs and kidneys from cocks. Language Notes À l'Ambassadrice means literally "in the style of the (female) amb...

À l'Américaine

À l'Américaine is a French expression that means "American style." It can be applied to meats, vegetables or seafood. It is sometimes also used ironically, as in "pancakes à la Américaine", to indicate big, thick pancakes (as opposed to crêpes.) These days...

À l'Ancienne

À l'Ancienne is a French expression meaning "old-fashioned." When referring to bread or mustard, it usually means whole grain. When À l'Ancienne is applied to meats, it often means braised meat, stews or fricassées. When applied to Pilchards, it...

À l'Andalouse

À l'Andalouse is a French expression for a side garnish on a plate accompanying a main dish. It refers to Andalusia, in southern Spain. Andalusia is known for the quality of its tomatoes, so the garnish will include tomatoes, either in cooked pieces ...

À l'Anglaise

À l'Anglaise is a French expression meaning something cooked "in the English manner." It can refer to wildly different cooking methods with no real common element, except that in the French mind it's how the English would cook that particular food ...

À l'Anversoise

À l'Anversoise is a French expression meaning a dish accompanied by a side garnish of potatoes and hop shoots fried in butter or cream. À l'Anversoise garnish usually accompanies pieces of meat (including offal,) eggs, or mussels. Language Notes ...

À l'Ardennaise

À l'Ardennaise is a French culinary term that has several different meanings: cooked in a sauce that has juniper berries or extract in it; a dish with Ardennes ham in it (the French kind -- "Jambon sec des Ardennes", as opposed to the ...

À l'Argenteuil

À l'Argenteuil is a French expression for a dish accompanied by asparagus as a side garnish. Lamb Argenteuil is lamb with asparagus. Language Notes Argenteuil is a region in the Seine-et-Oise area of northern France, 11 km northwest of Paris on ...

À l'Ariégeoise

À l'Ariégeoise is a French expression for side garnishes that mostly have green cabbage and pickled pork in common. Some use kidney beans as well. Veau en Aillade à l'ariegeoise, a popular French dish, comes somewhat close to the traditional definition of...

À l'Arlésienne

À l'Arlésienne means a garnish that includes tomatoes. The other components of the garnish can be sautéed eggplant and rings of onion, fried endive hearts, or olives stuffed with ground chicken and potatoes. À l'Arlésienne may also refer to a ga...

À l'Armenonville

À l'Armenonville refers to an accompaniment of small potato cake mounds (Pommes de terre Anna), morels cooked in cream, and small tarts filled with cocks' combs and kidneys.

À l'Armoricaine

À l'Armoricaine means Brittany style cooked with butter, cognac, tomatoes, white wine and apple cider or Calvados. When using À l'Armoricaine to refer to lobster, it means with oil, onions, tomato and wine.

À l'Arrabiata

À l'arrabiata is a French cooking term meaning a dish of food is served with a spicy tomato sauce. Language Notes "Arrabiata" in Italian means "angry".

À l'Autrichienne

À l'Autrichienne describes a dish seasoned with peppers or paprika. Sometimes ingredients will include sour cream, sautéed onion and fennel. Language Notes "À l'Autrichienne" translates from French to "Austrian style."

À l'Auvergnate

À l'Auvergnate indicates either a garnish of, or cooked with some kind of pork, such as smoked ham or pork fat. The dish will often include cabbage as well. Language Notes À l'Auvergnate refers to the Auvergne region of France. An "auvergnat" is b...

À l'Encre

À l'Encre is a French expression that means literally "with ink." The ink is from the ink pouches of a cuttlefish, octopus or squid. When the term is applied to pasta, it means Black Pasta. Risotto à l'encre (Risotto negro in Italian) is Risotto w...

À l'Espagnole

À l'Espagnole is a French cooking term that means accompanied by a garnish of tomates, garlic, onions and sweet red peppers, all usually sautéed in olive oil. Language Notes "À l'Espagnole" means "in the Spanish fashion".

À l'Étouffée

À l'Étouffée is a French term that is sometimes translated as stewed but actually means braised, with only a small amount of flavoured liquid used, when cooked covered on low heat. The cooking method can be applied to fruit, vegetables, meat or fi...

À l'Imperiale

À l'imperiale is a French term indicating a fancy, rich garnish. A higher-class combination of the garnish will draw on cocks' combs, foie-gras, kidneys and truffles.

À l'Impériatrice

À l'Impériatrice is a French expression that means literally in the "Empress's style." In practice, it means with cream or custard. Riz à la impériatrice (sic) is a rich, cold rice pudding. Language Notes "Impériatrice" means "Empress" in Fren...

À l'Indienne

À l'Indienne is a French expression meaning cooked in the Indian (as in India) style. Ingredients may include spices such as ginger, coriander, cumin, basically creating a light curry. It may also mean vegetables cooked for a long time in yogurt ...

À l'Italienne

À l'Italienne is a French term that means in the Italian style. It sometimes means that ingredients will include finely-chopped, sautéed mushrooms, but really the term can mean anything, such as being served with prosciutto or with pasta.

À l'Ivoire

À l'ivoire is a French cooking term for poultry breasts poached in poultry stock, then served with white sauce. A slight modification makes it "à la Chirac." Language Notes "Ivoire" means "ivory", referring to the white colour. The term has b...

À l'Occitane

À l'Occitane is a French expression meaning an old Provençal style; in fact, very old, as in Medieval. Language Notes The language spoken in Provence is known as "l'Occitane" or "la langue d'oc". "Oc" means "oui" in Provençal.

À l'Orly

À l'Orly is a French cooking term used to describe a preparation method usually used with fish fillets. The fish is usually a white fish such as sole, perch or cod. The fillets are skinned, battered and deep fried. The usual accompaniment on the ...

À l'Os

À l'os is a French cooking term that refers to meat that is cooked and served still on the bone. Language Notes "Os" in French means "bone."

À l'Oseille

À l'Oseille is a French cooking term that means garnished with sorrel. The sorrel is often cooked and puréed. Recipes will often suggest using spinach as a substitution for the sorrel when unavailable. Language Notes "Oseille" is French for "...

À la Banquière

À la banquière is a French expression that means "in the style of a banker." The term is used in cooking to describe a garnish made from banquière sauce, mushrooms, quenelles and truffles. The garnish is mostly served with dishes made from poultry or...

À la Basquaise

À la basquaise is a dish whose ingredients will include tomatoes, sweet peppers, garlic, and cubes of ham or sausage. If the dish in question is an egg dish, the items above may be restricted to just sweet peppers, or perhaps sweet peppers and tomato. When ...

À la Béarnaise

À la Béarnaise is a French cooking term that means "in the style of Béarn." Béarn is the former name for a region in the Pyrenees mountains of France. Now the area is roughly occupied by the département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The term usually means ...

À la Béatrix

À la Béatrix is a term meaning served with an accompaniment of new potatoes that have been browned, braised artichokes, glazed carrots and sautéed Morel mushrooms.

À la Beauceronne

In France "À la Beauceronne" means prepared with corn shoots and baby corn cobs. In Québec "À la Beauceronne" seems to mean prepared with maple syrup. Language Notes In France, the Beauce region is southwest of Paris. It is to France what the gr...

À la Beauharnais

À la Beauharnais is a French cooking term for an accompaniment of small, browned potato balls (sautéed in butter) along with artichoke hearts. The artichoke hearts are filled with a Béarnaise sauce to which a small amount of puréed tarragon has bee...

À la Beauvilliers

À la Beauvilliers is a French cooking term used to describe a side garnish on a plate. The garnish consists of: round slices of salsify browned in butter; small tomatoes that have been stuffed with brain and then sprinkled with breadcrumbs; ...

À la Bénédictine

This has nothing to do with Bénédictine liqueur. Rather, it signifies cod in some form: A main dish served with very small savoury tarts garnished with a mixture of salt cod and truffles. If fish is being served, there is also a white wine sauce. I...

À la Berny

À la Berny is a French cooking term for a side garnish used as an accompaniment for game and marinated meats. To make it: butter is worked into a chestnut purée ; cooked pastry cases are filled with the chestnut purée; then the ca...

À la Berrichonne

À la Berrichonne is a French term meaning served with braised cabbage, chestnuts, onion and lean bacon.

À la Biarrotte

À la Biarrotte is a French cooking term meaning to serve on a mound of Duchess Potatoes with Porcini (aka Cèpe Mushrooms.) It usually serves as a foundation for small portions of meat.

À la Bizontine

A plate garnish, to accompany meat, consisting of potatoes, cauliflower, and lettuce. Peel and cook potatoes and mash them. Pipe the potato onto a greased baking tray to make cases; Cook cauliflower, drain, then purée, then press to remove ...

À la Bohémienne

À la bohémienne is a French cooking term that is used to describe several different garnishes. One version consists of eggplant, red peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, oil, salt and pepper. You cut into fine dice the eggplant and red peppers; cut t...

À la Bonne Femme

À la Bonne Femme is a French term used to refer to a homey and simple but honest cooking style. It is often used in reference to poached foods, particularly fish. Any sauce would be a simple one, such as lemon juice and white wine. Compare this ...

À la Bordelaise

À la Bordelaise is a French cooking term that can be used to mean: served with mushrooms and small potato balls the size of olives. The sauce is the plain juices from the meat being served, such as beef or pork; served with artichokes and thin ...

À la Boulangère

À la boulangère is a French cooking term that means literally "in the manner of the baker's wife." It is usually something baked, as the phrase "baker's wife" would imply access to and use of an oven (and remember, such access was until relatively r...

À la Bouquetière

À la bouquetière is a French cooking expression that indicates a dish accompanied by small pieces of vegetables. The vegetables usually include carrots, turnips, cauliflower, green beans and potatoes sautéed in butter. Variations will add peas, as...

À la Bourgeoise

À la bourgeoise means prepared in the style of the middle-class, urban family. Vegetables are cooked along with the meat. The vegetables will always include carrots and onions, and sometimes other vegetables such as celery as well. The meat will ...

À la Bourguignonne

À la bourguignonne has two different meanings. One meaning indicates served with glazed onions, sautéed mushrooms, and sometimes fat or salt pork that has been chopped finely, blanched and then fried. The second refers to a dish cooked with red w...

À la Brabançonne

À la Brabançonne refers to (usually, larger cuts of meat) accompanied by braised chicory.

À la Brancas

À la brancas is a French cooking term. It means that a dish of food is served with a side garnish of Anna potatoes and lettuce with a cream dressing. The food it is served with is usually poultry.

À la Bréhan

À la Bréhan is a cooking term referring to a side garnish served with meat, particularly veal. It is made from artichokes, broad beans, potatoes, cauliflower and Hollandaise sauce. boil peeled potatoes in water; boil cauliflower in water; ...

À la Bretonne

À la Bretonne can mean garnished either with white beans, cauliflower and artichokes if served with meat, or with celery, leeks, mushrooms and onions, if served with fish.

À la Brillat-Savarin

À la Brillat-Savarin refers to puréed potatoes made into hollowed nests that are fried, then in the hollow is placed a thick sauce made from foie gras and truffles. It is usually served with meat such as game or lamb noissettes. Alternatively, à la...

À la Broche

À la Broche, when used in reference to smaller dishes, means cooked on a skewer over flame. When used in reference to larger meats, it can mean spit-roasted.

À la Brousse

À la brousse means with brousse (cheese.) A few sources define À la brousse as meaning using wild herbs.

À la Bruxelloise

À la Bruxelloise refers to a dish accompanied by small rounds of potatoes fried in butter, plus buttered brussels sprouts.

À la Cancalaise

À la cancalaise is a French term for shrimp tails and oysters served with Sauce Normande.

À la Cardinal

À la Cardinal is a French cooking term referring to either: an accompaniment of mushrooms, truffle slices and coquilles cardinal; or poached fish topped with white sauce and then tomato sauce. Literature & Lore The "à la Cardinal" m...

À la Carte

Carte is the French word for a menu. À la Carte means you pick the separate items you want from the menu. They will each be priced differently, and your bill is the sum of what you picked. The opposite of this would be "prix fixe", where all ...

À la Castiglione

À la castiglione is cooking term referring to mushrooms stuffed with risotto and ham and browned, along with sautéed rounds of eggplant topped with rounds of poached bone marrow. It usually accompanies meat.

À la Catalane

À la Catalane is a French cooking term that indicates an accompaniment of chopped eggplant fried in oil. Sometimes it also includes rice and tomato.

À la Chalonnaise

À la Chalonnaise is a French cooking term that indicates an accompaniment of small tarts filled with roosters' combs, slices of truffles and mushrooms, bound with a Velouté sauce. It is served with either poultry, or offal from calves.

À la Chambord

À la Chambord is a French cooking term that indicates an accompaniment of small pieces of fish, mushrooms, truffles, crayfish and croutons.

À la Chanoinesse

À la Chanoinesse is a French cooking term indicating that a dish will be served with small tarts filled with carrots and truffle slivers in cream.

À la Châtelaine

À la châtelaine is a French cooking term that indicates an accompaniment of artichoke hearts stuffed with rice and puréed chestnuts, sprinkled with bread crumbs and browned. À la châtelaine can also mean served with sautéed balls of potato, and brais...

À la Chipolata

À la chipolata is a French cooking term that indicates an accompaniment of onions, chestnuts, mushrooms and chipolata sausage, cooked in a demi-glace sauce. It is used as a garnish for meat and poultry. Cooking Tips 12 small onions 4 chipolata ...

À la Chirac

The foundation of this cooking method is an "à l'Ivoire" presentation (poached poultry breasts with white sauce.) The white sauce, though, is modified with the addition of a meat glaze or a veal stock. It is named after the 17th century doctor, ...

À la Choisy

À la Choisy is a French cooking term that indicates an accompaniment of lettuce and potatoes served with Tournedos or veal. The lettuce is shredded and braised. The potatoes are peeled, cut into olive-sized chunks, parboiled for 2 minutes, then ...

À la Clamart

À la Clamart is a French cooking term for a garnish containing peas -- what the other ingredients are will vary. One version is hearts of artichoke stuffed with peas and with small sautéed potato balls. Another version has, instead of the artichokes, p...

À la Colbert

À la Colbert is a French cooking term for which we have found at least three possible meanings. A method of trimming and presenting a fish, often an inexpensive one, such as codfish, whiting (a member of the codfish family) or sole. You make a slit ...

À la Compote

À la compote means accompanied by a compote. The compote can be of fruit, such as apples or strawberries, or of vegetables such as tomatoes or carmelized onions.

À la Conti

À la Conti is a French cooking term that means accompanied by small croquettes made of puréed lentils, and with potatoes carved into small olive-sized balls and sautéed.

À la Crécy

À la Crécy is a French cooking term that describes a dish that is served with carrots, or that has carrots in it. Language Notes Crécy is in the Picardie area in northern France; it is famous in France for its carrot production.

À la Crème de Brebis

À la Crème de Brebis is a French cooking term that indicates made with cream from sheep's milk. Language Notes In French, a female sheep ("ewe" in English) is a "brebis."

À la Crétoise

À la Crétoise is a French cooking term that means in the manner of Crete (the island.) There are several interpretations of what it can mean, though all seem to involve olive oil: sometimes it means with olive oil, herbs, salt, pepper; ...

À la Cuillère

À la cuillère is a French cooking expression that means "by the spoonful" or "a spoon at a time", as in "add chocolate by the spoonful", or "add chocolate one spoon at a time." It can also be used to mean either to spoon feed someone, or something m...

À la Dauphinoise

A dish termed "À la Dauphinoise" will contain crème fraîche, cheese, and often cheese on top. It usually also contains garlic, and is baked.

À la Diable

À la diable is a French term indicating a spicy dish, but spicy according to the French scale of things, not the Mexican one. Pepper will provide the spiciness, either black or cayenne pepper. Language Notes Means literally, "in the style of the ...

À la Diane

It is very difficult to try to hold "À la Diane" to too tight a definition, other than that the meat in a dish with this name will be game. The meat is often, but by no means necessarily, venison. The meat is often sautéed and served with "sauce d...

À la Dieppoise

À la Dieppoise indicates that a dish is accompanied by mussels cooked in white wine, shelled crayfish tails, and mushrooms.

À la Doria

À la Doria: has two possible meanings. One is a garnish for fish made of cucumber and lemon. You peel the cucumber, and scoop out small balls of it. You soften the balls for 10 minutes over low heat in butter. Meanwhile you peel the lemon and cut ...

À la Dubarry

In the most classical sense, À la Dubarry means served with balls of cauliflower covered with mornay sauce and grated cheese, then grilled. In a broader sense, it is now used for any dish with cauliflower in it, or served with cauliflower.

À la Duchesse

Served or garnished with Duchess Potatoes (puréed potatoes with egg in them) that have been formed into different shapes or piped out as a border.

À la Duglere

À la Duglere is a French cooking term. It indicates a garnish of onions, shallots, and tomatoes.

À la Favart

"À la Favart" is a side accompaniment of smart tart shells filled with small poached quenelles (made of chicken and tarragon), and mushrooms in a simple thickened cream sauce.

À la Favorite

"À la Favorite" is a French cooking term for an accompaniment of braised artichokes and lettuce, plus whole mushrooms sautéed in butter then stuffed with small vegetables, and a small, moulded Potatoes Anna.

À la Fermière

A side accompaniment of carrots, celery, onions and turnip sautéed slowly in butter. Used to accompany braised meat. Language Notes "À la Fermière" means in French "in the manner of the farmer's wife".

À la Ficelle

Ficelle in French means "string." The term "à la Ficelle" is used to describe several cooking techniques. Boeuf à la Ficelle Boeuf à la Ficelle is a boiled dinner or a poached piece of beef. It is a very rich and flavourful dish. You make a ...

À la Financière

Quenelles de faisan à la financière À la Financière is a French cooking term that can mean a garnish, a presentation method, or that a food is served with a sauce called "financière." As a garnish, used for poultry and meat, it consists of cock...

À la Flamande

À la Flamande is a French cooking term that is used by various sources to mean different things. Some use it to indicate braised, stewed or hot-pot dishes that contain root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and turnips, as well as cabbage. Other ...

À la Florentine

À la Florentine is a French cooking term used to indicate that spinach is an ingredient. Language Notes "À la Florentine" means literally "in the manner of Florence". Some wags have observed that it might also be applied to various means of disposing o...

À la Florian

A side garnish of carrots, lettuce, onions and potatoes, used with lamb. Cooking Tips 1 head lettuce 4 carrots 12 small onions 8 very small potatoes Wash the lettuce, take the leaves off; set aside. Scoop small balls out of the carrot, parisienne-style....

À la Forestière

À la Forestière is a French cooking term used to indicate a side garnish of morels and potato balls (some say diced potatoes) sautéed in butter. Occasionally the mixture also includes diced, sautéed salt pork. Sometimes it indicates a simpler garnish jus...

À la Frascati

À la Frascati indicates that a dish will be served with a side garnish of baked mushrooms, stuffed either with truffles or green asparagus tips, along with thin slices of foie gras sautéed in butter. It is used as an accompaniment for meat.

À la Ganache

À la ganache is a French cooking term that means served with a pastry cream enriched with butter, chocolate, and crème fraîche.

À la Gauloise

À la Gauloise is a French cooking term used to indicate a side garnish, though there are several variations of what it might actually be. Small tarts filled with either truffles and mushrooms; Truffles and mushrooms along with the combs and ...

À la Genevoise

À la Genevoise is a French cooking term that indicates fish served with a sauce made from a fish fumet , with mirepoix and red wine , finished with butter . Variants on the sauce may be made with the broth that the fish was poached in, thickened with ...

À la Goldenrod

Toast, with white sauce poured over it, then garnished with sprinkles of egg yolk pressed through a sieve.

À la Grand Duc

À la Grand Duc is a French cooking term used to indicate an accompaniment for fish. It consists of peeled, boiled asparagus, along with cooked shrimp warmed up in Mornay Sauce, and truffle slices. Cooking Tips Lay asparagus in place, lay the shrimp ...

À la Grecque

À la Grecque is French for "Greek style", though it very seldom means dishes of actual Greek origin. It often means room-temperature food made with olive oil and lemon juice, and flavoured with herbs such as oregano and thyme.

À la Grenobloise

Fine-crumb bread, capers, lemon, parsley, all diced and moistened with beurre meunière. Used as a garnish either for fish or sautéed offal.

À la Helder

À la Helder is a French cooking term for a garnish used with small cuts of meat. The cooked meat is drizzled with a circle of Béarnaise sauce, and tomato purée is put in the middle of the circle. Sautéed potato balls are served on the side.

À la Henri IV

A garnish of shredded truffles, sautéed potato balls, and artichoke hearts filled with Béarnaise sauce.

À la Hongroise

À la Hongroise is a French cooking term to which varying meanings have been applied. Larousse Gastronomique says it is cauliflower with Mornay sauce with paprika added. The cauliflower is then sprinkled with bread crumbs, and grilled; Others ...

À la Japonaise

À la Japonaise is a French cooking term that means "in the Japanese style." It does not mean actual Japanese dishes. It can mean for instance decorated in a Japanese fashion, such as with a flower made of thin ginger slices, or presented in a style ...

À la Jardinière

À la jardinière is a French cooking expression that means literally "in the manner of the gardener's wife." It means the dish is accompanied with "garden vegetables." This means normally simple, everyday vegetables such as carrots, green beans, o...

À la Joinville

À la Joinville is a French cooking term for a garnish usually used with baked fish. It consists of Velouté or Normande sauce, into which shrimps, truffle and mushrooms have been blended. The fish is garnished first with the sauce, then with a f...

À la King

À la King means garnished with a white creamy sauce containing diced green pepper, mushroom, onion and pimiento. Sometimes a bit of sherry is included for more flavouring. It is usually used in dishes containing poultry such as chicken or turkey.

À la Laitière

À la Laitière indicates a dish made with a fresh cheese such as fromage frais, or with cream or milk. "Laitière" means a "milk maid" in French.

À la Languedocienne

À la Languedocienne is a French cooking term used to describe a garnish. In a "grand cuisine" context, it's a side accompaniment of cèpe mushrooms and sliced eggplant sautéed in butter or oil, along with potato balls the size of olives sautéed in ...

À la Liegeoise

Classically, and mostly still in the English-speaking world, "À la Liegeoise" has indicated that a dish has been flavoured with juniper berries. Dishes such as "Ecrevisses à la Liégeoise", "Rognons de veau à la liégeoise" and "Cailles à la Liégeoise", call f...

À la Limousine

"À la Limousine" is a French cooking term used to indicate a garnish of red cabbage and chestnuts. The red cabbage is shredded and lightly steamed; the chestnuts are braised. Sometimes Brussel Sprouts are used instead of red cabbage. The chestnuts ...

À la Lorraine

À la Lorraine refers to dishes served with potato and red cabbage cooked in red wine.

À la Lyonnaise

À la Lyonnaise is a French cooking term used to describes a dish that uses onions in some way. In the grande cuisine sense, it means either a side accompaniment of onions that are stuffed and braised, plus potatoes, or garnished with chopped onions ...

À la Maconnaise

À la Maconnaise is a cooking method for fish. The fish is poached in wine and garnished with onion. The wine can be red or white, depending on the fish. For instance, a red wine might be used with Red Snapper. Language Notes Refers to the Maconnaise ...

À la Madeleine

There are two interpretations of what an "À la Madeleine" dish is. One involves artichokes, egg yolks, white beans and Soubise sauce. The beans are cooked and mashed with egg yolk and butter, then put in small dishes which in turn are cooked in a ...

À la Madriléne

In the simplest sense, "À la Madriléne" means that a dish includes tomatoes or at least tomato juice or sauce. In a stricter, more traditional sense, in addition to tomatoes, the dish will include as well garlic, olive oil, onion and peppers. Language N...

À la Maillot

À la Maillot indicates an accompaniment of sautéed carrots and turnips, along with French beans. Language Notes "Maillot" can mean "shirt", a one-piece bathing suit, or dancer's tights. Absolutely no idea what any of these would have to do with tu...

À la Maraîchère

À la Maraîchère indicates an accompaniment of glazed carrots and onions, braised cucumber and sautéed artichokes. Language Notes Means in the style of the "market gardener".

À la Maréchale

À la Maréchale is a French cooking term that can be used to indicate a garnish or a food preparation method. As a garnish, it consists of asparagus tips and truffle slices. As a preparation method, it involves coating a food item in a mixture o...

À la Marengo

À la Marengo is a French cooking term used to describe a garnish for sautéed veal, rabbit or chicken. The ingredients for the garnish are garlic, mushrooms, olives and olive oil, onions and tomatoes. Sometimes mushrooms and / or crayfish are included; s...

À la Marie Louise

À la Marie Louise indicates a side garnish of artichoke hearts filled with diced, sautéed mushrooms in Soubise sauce. It is traditionally served as an accompaniment for veal or poultry. Cooking Tips 100 ml Soubise sauce 300g mushrooms 8 artichoke h...

À la Mariniére

À la Mariniére is mussels cooked in white wine, and shelled crayfish tails. Often flavoured with onions or shallots, and herbs. Language Notes Means in the style of a mariner.

À la Marivaux

À la Marivaux is a French cooking term for a side accompaniment to a dish. The accompaniment is made as follows: Small nests made of puréed potato are baked in the oven, then filled with finely chopped, sautéed carrots, onion, mushrooms and artichoke he...

À la Marquise

À la Marquise is a French cooking term for a garnish. It has, however, at least two interpretations. One simple interpretation is a dish garnished with a sauce. The sauce is Hollandaise Sauce into which cooked asparagus tips and either caviar or truffles ...

À la Marseillaise

À la Marseillaise is a side-dish accompaniment meant to conjure up the tastes of Marseilles, in the south of France. Used to accompany meat. Served with Provençal Sauce. Cooking Tips 2 small tomatoes 1 clove garlic 4 large stuffed olives 4 a...

À la Mascotte

À la Mascotte is a side accompaniment of artichoke hearts and potatoes sliced and sautéed in butter; along with truffle slices.

À la Massena

À la Massena is a garnish consisting of pieces of poached bone-marrow along with artichoke hearts and thick béarnaise sauce.

À la Matelote

"À la Matelote" means "À la façon des matelots", which is say, "in the style of sailors." A matelote is fish dish, either freshwater or sea, but usually freshwater, that is chopped and cooked in red or white wine. The fish used can be mixed, and ca...

À la Medicis

À la Medicis is a garnish for a dish. One version (see below) has it as pasta and goose liver in pastry shells, with peas, used as an accompaniment for meat. Alternatively, in the dish called "chevreuil à la Medicis", it is a side dish-type garnish t...

À la Melba

À la Melba is a garnish of tomatoes stuffed with chicken, mushrooms, truffles and velouté sauce, dusted with bread crumbs, and grilled. Served along with braised lettuce. Language Notes Presumably named after the opera singer, Dame Melba.

À la Mentonnaise

A side garnish consisting of all of the following food items: small pieces of vegetable marrow stuffed with tomatoes and rice; artichoke hearts sautéed in butter; potatoes cut into small olive-sized rounds and sautéed.

À la Meunière

À la Meunière © Denzil Green À la Meunière is a French cooking term that means literally "in the manner of the miller's wife", which in turn indicates that there is flour involved. More specifically, it refers to fish that has been lightly flou...

À la Mignon

À la Mignon is a French cooking term for a side garnish consisting of artichokes filled with garden peas, accompanied by small chicken balls and a flourish of truffle. The garnish is typically served with Tournedos and veal. Cooking Tips 4 artichoke ...

À la Milanaise

There are varying interpretations as to what "À la Milanaise" means. a thick veal stock flavoured with tomatoes, then strips of ham, pickled tongue, mushrooms and truffles mixed in, and served with pasta; cooked ham in moulds; pasta gnochi ...

À la Minute

À la Minute is an expression used to describe a dish that is prepared right away when you order it. This is in contrast to the usual, which is restaurant food that has been mostly "prepped" (and in fact often cooked) in advance of the customer entering ...

À la Mirabeau

À la Mirabeau is a garnish of pitted olives, anchovy fillets and tarragon. Occasionally it is also served with watercress and matchstick potatoes.

À la Mirepoix

À la Mirepoix © Randal Oulton À la Mirepoix indicates that a food item has been cooked with a mirepoix. Other ingredients will probably be present as well, but one of the items will be a mirepoix. A mirepoix is a mixture of finely diced vegetables me...

À la Mode

In North America, "à la mode" is likely to mean with ice cream, usually vanilla unless specified. It really just means according to the current fashion, however: beef à la mode is beef marinated in red wine then braised with onion and carrot, reflecting a...

À la Moëlle

À la Moëlle means a dish or sauce that has been cooked and thickened with bone marrow. Language Notes "Moëlle" means marrow.

À la Moissonneuse

À la Moissonneuse is a garnish of shredded lettuce, potato and peas to accompany meat. Cooking Tips 1 1/2 tablespoons (20g) butter 1 1/2 tablespoons (20g) flour 1 head lettuce 2 oz (70g) thinly sliced bacon 10 oz (300g) potatoes 10 oz (300g) ...

À la Monselet

À la Monselet is artichoke bottoms (hearts) stuffed with potatoes sautéed in butter, and truffles. Literature & Lore Named after French writer Charles Monselet (born 1835 in Nantes; died 1888 in Paris.)

À la Mont-Bry

À la Mont-Bry is a double-side combination served with small cuts of meat. The two sides are spinach and cheese, and mushrooms in cream sauce. Cooking Tips Pound and a bit (500g) of spinach 2 oz (50g) grated cheese 1/2 pound (200g) mushrooms 3 ...

À la Montmorency

À la Montmorency means a dish that has sour cherries either in its ingredients or as a garnish. The name connection here is that Montmorency cherries are sour cherries. Language Notes Refers to either Montmorency, a small town just 13 km north ...

À la Montreuil

À la Montreuil is a side of potatoes in shrimp sauce served with fish. Cooking Tips 8 potatoes 7 oz (200 ml) shrimp sauce Peel the potatoes, slice them lengthwise into equal pieces. Simmer in salted water for 20 minutes. Toss the potatoes ...

À la Morvandelle

À la Morvandelle indicates ham served with a sauce, of which there are two versions: a cream sauce with pepper, salt, and herbs such as garlic, chives and parsley; a cream sauce with juniper berries, shallots, vinegar and white wine. Language ...

À la Nage

Seafood, particularly lobster, cooked in a "court bouillon" flavoured with a Bouquet Garni and served with the vegetables that were in the cooking broth. The vegetables in the court bouillon, which are normally just chopped without regard for their...

À la Nanette

À la Nanette is a French cooking term describing a side garnish to be served with a dish. The garnish consists of artichoke hearts and mushrooms sautéed in butter.

À la Nantaise

In a strict, classical French-cooking sense, "À la Nantaise" means with mussels, mushrooms, truffles and Hollandaise sauce, such as in the dish called Coquilles ("Scallops") Saint-Jacques à la Nantaise. There are, though, many other working definitions o...

À la Nantua

À la Nantua is a French expression that indicates a dish is served with crayfish tails and sometimes thinly sliced truffle.

À la Napolitaine

Can be a method of preparing pasta to be served as an accompaniment to meat and poultry (see Cooking Tips below), or be used to refer to desserts, pizzas, etc, cooked in a neapolitan way. Cooking Tips 1/2 pound (250g) spaghetti 2 tablespoons (30g)...

À la Navarre

In Spanish, "A la Navarra" means "with tomatoes." Navarre, a region of Spain, is the largest tomato-producing area in Spain. A classic trout dish, "Truchas a la navarra" ("Navarre-style trout") is a whole trout that is cleaned, stuffed with a slice...

À la Niçoise

À la Niçoise is a French cooking term that can be used to describe the various elements of a side garnish, usually either: sautéed tomatoes, artichokes, sautéed potato balls (Pommes Parisiennes), vegetable marrow ; or sautéed tomatoes, artichokes, saut...

À la Nivernaise

À la Nivernaise means "glazed." Typically, the food item being glazed is a vegetable, and typically, the glaze is made from butter and sugar, though butter and a citrus juice, or butter and wine, may also be used instead of sugar to make the glaze. "Carottes ...

À la Normande

There are at least three possible interpretations to what "À la Normande" means: A garnish consisting of poached shellfish, such as oysters and mussels, along with shrimp, mushrooms, crayfish tails, truffles, croutons (in this case, small pieces ...

À la Norvegienne

There are several interpretations of what this can mean: Food served cold, particularly fish or seafood (like a salmon or lobster); Something with ice cream, particularly inside it, such as Omelette à la norvegienne, which some postulate ...

À la Paloise

This garnish consists of two vegetable sides: French (aka green) beans simmered in cream, plus balls of potato sautéed and browned in butter. Both are served with Paloise sauce. The garnish is served with small cuts of meat.

A la Parilla

"A La Parilla" is a Spanish cooking term. It means grilled or char-broiled so that the food has grate lines in it. Language Notes "Parilla" means "grill" in Spanish.

À la Parisienne

À la Parisienne is a side garnish. It will always involve "Pommes Parisienne" (small, olive-sized balls of sautéed potatoes.) The other components of the garnish will vary, though they usually include braised lettuce or artichoke hearts.

À la Parmesane

À la Parmesane usually means, as the name would imply, "with Parmesan cheese." It can mean, however, a much more elaborate garnish consisting of grilled slices of eggplant with lemon juice squeezed on them, then covered with mozarella and tomato rounds, ...

À la Paysanne

A garnish consisting of: sliced carrots, celery, onions, turnip, sautéed in butter; plus pieces of lean bacon, fried; plus potato uniformly diced. It is used to accompany braised meat

À la Périgourdine

À la Périgourdine means a dish either whose ingredients include, or that is garnished with, black truffles. Foie gras, for which the Périgord region is also known, is often included as well. Language Notes The Périgord region in south-western Fra...

À la Piemontaise

À la Piemontaise means that a dish comes with white truffles. Language Notes Refers to Piedmont in Italy being the region where white truffles are found.

À la Polonaise

Usually means 1 of 2 things: A dish, usually vegetable, topped with a mixture of minced parsely, chopped boiled egg, and breadcrumbs fried in butter. The vegetables are often cauliflower or asparagus; Alternatively, it can mean a sauce made of...

À la Poutargue

À la Poutargue means garnished with gratings or slices of a dried pocket of mullet eggs.

À la Poutine

Means garnished with cheese, and drowned in a meat gravy sauce. The reference is to "Poutine Québécoise." Language Notes Means "poutine style".

À la Printanière

À la Printanière in classical French cooking terms indicates a side dish of turnips and carrots cooked in a stock, then buttered, along with asparagus tips and green peas. In the latter half of the 1900s, outside of French haute cuisine, it came t...

À la Provençal

A garnish of eggplant stuffed with tomato purée, dusted with bread crumbs and then grilled, along with buttered, cooked French beans and potatoes cut olive-sized and browned in butter. It can also mean simply just with garlic and olive oil.

À la Rachel

Slices of bone marrow that is poached then grilled, along with artichoke hearts. The meat being served as the main course is placed on top the artichoke hearts, and the bone marrow on top of the meat.

À la Raimu

À la Raimu indicates that a dish will be served with a garnish made from garlic, peppers and crème de brebis (sheep's milk cream.) A typical dish is "Sar (white seabream) à la Raimu", which is cooked in a frying pan. The garnish is named after a ...

À la Régence

A garnish of: chicken quenelles sautéed slices of foie gras rooster combs mushrooms truffles allemande sauce

À la Reine

A cooking method involving chopped egg, bread or cracker crumbs, or cooking in milk. Applies to soup, poached eggs, artichokes, soufflé, spinach, lamb chops, etc.

À la Richelieu

Accompanied by stuffed tomatoes sprinkled with bread crumbs and grilled, along with braised lettuce and fried potatoes.

A la Riojana

A la Riojana means "in the style of Rioja." Rioja is a region in northeastern Spain. In food terms, this often means with red peppers (pimentos, not hot chiles) and / or paprika. The dish will often include chorizo or ham or some form of pork as well. ...

À la Rossini

Accompanied by slices of truffle and foie gras sautéed in butter.

À la Russe

À la Russe can refer a sauce or a way of serving a meal. In referring to a sauce, it means served with Rémoulade Sauce (the classic version, not the Cajun version) to which horseradish has been added. For the method of serving a meal, see: Russian S...

À la Sagan

Veal or chicken breasts served on a bed of risotto, in which there is mushroom, brain and truffle.

À la Saint-Germain

À la Saint-Germain is a side garnish in classical French cooking. It consists of a purée of garden peas, either by itself or with sautéed artichoke hearts. Language Notes Saint-German is a district in Paris.

À la Saint-Mandé

An accompaniment of potatoes, peas and green beans. Cooking Tips 10 oz (300g) potatoes 7 oz (200g) peas 7 oz (200g) green beans Peel the potatoes, make small potato balls from them with a baller or small melon scoop, and sauté the potato balls ...

À la Strasbourgeoise

Sauerkraut cooked with pickled pork, along with sautéed slices of foie gras.

À la Syrah

Cooked with Syrah wine. Syrah is a type of wine grape specific to the Côtes du Rhone region of France.

À la Tagale

Means "Tagalog style." Referred to on the menu for the inaugural banquet of the First Philippine Republic on 29 September 1898. Aside from that, it's not certain what this meant.

À la Talleyrand

Macaroni with cheese and goose liver, served as a side accompaniment with meat or poultry, accompanied by a demi-glace sauce with truffles in it. Cooking Tips 3 oz (100g) goose liver 2 truffles 5 oz (150g) macaroni 2 oz (40g) grated cheese 2 oz...

À la Tivoli

A side accompaniment of asparagus tips, kidneys, mushrooms, and supreme sauce. More modern versions seem to define it as a side accompaniment for steak consisting of French fries, fried mushrooms, peas and salads.

À la Toulousaine

Classically, means a garnish with quenelles of chicken, rooster combs and kidneys, offal from lamb or calf, mushrooms and truffles. These items are cooked separately and arranged separately on the plate. It appears that it is also being used to mean...

À la Tourangelle

A side accompanient of cooked green and flageolet beans served in a white sauce served with meat. Cooking Tips 7 oz (200g) green beans 7 oz (200g) flageolet beans 1 cup (300ml) white sauce Top and tail the green beans, chop them, and cook them...

À la Trouvillaise

A garnish of shrimp, mushrooms and mussels served with fish.

À la Tyrolienne

Served with sautéed quartered tomatoes, and fried onion rings.

À la Valdôtaine

À la Valdôtaine can mean several things: With prosciutto and a cheese, such as mozzarella; or With Fontina cheese. Fondue à la valdôtaine means made with Fontina cheese; or "Café à la Valdôtaine" is a coffee with brandy, sugar and spices...

À la Valencienne

Rice, either cooked in a stock or plain water, with sweet peppers. Language Notes Means "in the style of Valencia, Spain".

À la Vapeur

À la Vapeur is a French cooking term. It means "steamed food"; that the food was cooked using steam. Language Notes "Vapeur" is French for "steam."

À la Vichy

Food that is simmered in a covered pan with a small amount of Vichy water, butter and sugar (no salt), then drained and sprinkled with minced parsley for flavour, texture and colour. The food comes out glazed. Purists insist that Vichy water makes...

À la Viennoise

Hard-boiled egg whites and yolks, chopped up separately, along with anchovies, olives, lemon, capers and parsley. These items are arranged separately on the plate as a side garnish.

À la Vladimir

Served with pieces of cucumber and zucchini or vegetable marrow, both sautéed in butter. Used to accompany meat.

À la Voironnaise

Meat garnished with grated cheese and lightly-cooked beaten egg.

À la Walewska

À la Walewska is a simple garnish for fish, which is often sole. It consists of poached langoustines and sliced truffle. Nowadays, largish shrimp and sautéed mushroom are more typically used instead of the langoustine and truffle. In a few recipes, s...

À la Zingara: A gypsy-style garnish for food

À la Zingara is a French phrase used in cooking to describe an accompanying garnish that is generally meant to be rich, exotic and slightly peppy. The phrase means "gypsy-style." What makes up an "à la zingara" garnish varies wildly. Often it is m...

À Point

À Point means "just right", "ready" or "exactly right." What that means varies by context: "To know if the oil is à point, put a piece of bread in it" "Bring the sauce à point by adding some butter to it" "When the sauce is almost à point, add...

Abaisse

A French pastry-making term used to refer to a piece of rolled-out pastry. The pastry can be any pastry: pie pastry, pâte brisée, or puff pastry. A piece of rolled-out pastry is "une abaisse de pâte." To roll out pastry is "abaisser la pâte." Sometimes, Aba...

Al Carbón

"Al Carbón" is an expression in Spanish meaning cooked over charcoal or wood coals. Generally, this implies the food has been grilled (with the heat coming up from below), causing some surface charring, and has a smokey taste.

Al Dente

"Al dente" is an Italian term that means literally "to the tooth." An English equivalent phrase is "Tender To The Bite."There are a variety of ways that you can try to express what the phrase actually means, given that "to the tooth" is meaningless in...

Al Fresco

Al fresco" usually refers to dining outside. It can also be used to mean a picnic in the country, eating at outdoor tables at a café, or in your own back-yard or garden.

Al Pastor

"Al Pastor" means "shepherd-style" -- more precisely, cooked over an open fire, either on a grill, on a spit or on a rotisserie."Tacos al Pastor" is a Mexican dish that is a small corn tortilla filled with pork cooked on a rotisserie.The term is the same...

Alla Bolognese

Alla Bolognese generally means "with ground meat."In Italian, a Bolognese sauce is a tomato-based sauce with meat in it. It may be called either "sugo OR ragù (both mean sauce) alla Bolognese."Though ground meat is used now, originally it was meat cut ...

Au Beurre

"Au Beurre" is a French expression that means "with butter."It can mean that a food item has been cooked or glazed in butter, or some butter added as a finishing touch.Sometimes the type of butter used might be specified: for instance, "au beurre salé" ...

Au Blanc

Au Blanc is a French term for a cooking method that results in "white" food.When used in reference to meat, the meat is poached or simmered in either a white stock or white sauce, so that the meat won't colour. The meat might also be served with a white...

Au Bleu

In classical French cooking terms, "Au Bleu" is an expression usually applied to a method of cooking and presenting fish -- especially trout, though now you will see it applied to salmon as well.The trout is cooked in salted water with vinegar and seasonings...

Au Four

Au Four is a French term that means "baked in an oven."Language Notes In Italian, "al forno."Oven is "four" (pronounced "foor") in French; "forno" in Italian (pronounced the way its spelt.)

Au Gratin

Au Gratin means garnished with crumbs (usually bread) and grated cheese, then baked or grilled (aka broiled.)As the mixture sets, a thin crust forms on top and browns.It can be done at home in an oven or under a grill / broiler. In restaurants, it is...

Au Jus

"Au Jus" literally means "with juice."It refers to the juices in a pan from cooking meat, served as they are with the meat, as opposed to being made into gravy.The "jus" may have been flavoured from any herbs, etc, that were cooked with the meat.The most...

Au Lait

"Au Lait" means "with milk."The milk can be used in the preparation of a food item. For example, "pocher au lait " is to poach something in milk.Or the milk can be used as a significant ingredient. For example, "café au lait" is coffee with a lot of ...

Au Naturel

Au Naturel is a French word for food served simply, with no sauces, no seasoning and no added flavouring. Sometimes, it means even no cooking, in which case essentially it means "raw food."If the term is applied to a vegetable or fruit, it may have been...

Au Poivre

A French term meaning "with pepper."The pepper meant here is pepper the spice, rather than peppers the vegetable.The pepper can be applied through means such as crushed peppercorns, as happens with Steak au Poivre, or through a pepper sauce ("poivrad...

Au Torchon

Au Torchon is a French phrase used to describe a cooking technique.A "torchon" is a cloth, such as a dish towel, that a food is wrapped in for cooking.A cheesecloth can be used, or a pudding cloth (which has a tighter weave), or a clean kitchen towel....

Paner à l'Anglaise

Paner à l'anglaise is a way of preparing a food item (usually a piece of meat or fish) to be fried or sautéed by coating it in very fine fresh breadcrumbs. The item is dipped first in flour, then in an egg dip, then finally in the breadcrumbs.First y...

Aceto Dolce

In Italian, whenever you see "un cucchiaio di aceto dolce" (1 teaspoon of aceto dolce), what is meant is "sweet vinegar." This can be a fruit vinegar -- say, Raspberry Vinegar -- or even Balsamic Vinegar. Italians would regard the Japanese wine vinegar,...

Acetomel

Acetomel is a sweet and sour syrup made from vinegar and honey and is used to preserve fruit. Fruit such as apples, grapes, pears and quinces used to be preserved this way. The combination of flavours reflects older tastes surviving from the Middle...

Acidulate

Acidulate Acidulate means to add acid in small amounts. In cooking, the acid can be a vinegar, a citrus juice or even wine. It will always be an acid that is food safe, and have levels of acidity that are low enough to be safe for people to touch...

Acidulated Water

Acidulated Water © Randal Oulton Acidulated Water is cold water mixed with a small quantity of food-grade acid such as vinegar, lemon juice or another citrus juice or acid. It's used for dipping cut fruit or vegetables into, in order to stop ...

Adjust Seasoning

Adjust Seasoning are instructions to check the taste of a dish, to see if it is to your taste, and if not, to adjust the taste. Adding additional flavourings is inferred, because of course flavouring cannot be removed from a dish -- though an excess of...

Adjusting the Taste of Dishes

There are four basic taste areas of the tongue: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. You taste sweet at the tip of the tongue; sour and salty at the sides, and bitter at the very back of the tongue. What you want to do most times is round out the taste, so...

Affriander

Affriander is a French verb that means to "make something alluring or enticing." In English, it is perhaps best translated as "to gussy something up", or more prosaically, "to garnish." Language Notes "Friand" by itself means "fond of" -- as in,...

Alambre

Alambre literally means "wire" and refers to a skewer. This is a Spanish and Mexican term that can also mean a dish made with a wire or skewer. It is what in English would be called "shishkabob."

Bake / Baking

Bake © User: Merlize / freerangestock.com Baking is a method of cooking done in an enclosed, heated space using dry heat. The temperature is usually controlled to meet the specifications set by a recipe (whether written or unwritten.) An oven ...

Bake Blind

Baking blind is to bake a pie shell empty of any contents in it, to harden and dry it. You do this for this pies whose contents -- such as Lemon Meringue -- wouldn't stand up to the full cooking time required for the crust. So you give the crust a head...

Ballotine

Ballotine is a cooking term used to describe a method of cooking and presenting meat. "Ballotine" in French means parcel or bundle, and that's what this is -- a bundle of meat. The meat you start with must be boneless, and flattened -- it can be meat,...

Battuto

A battuto with parsley and pancetta added © Denzil Green In Italian cooking, a "battuto", which means a "minced" (mixture), is a finely chopped, uncooked mixture of food items. The mixture is typically of onion, celery and carrot. Sometimes ...

Baveuse

Baveuse is a French cooking term meaning moist, juicy, just a bit runny or undercooked. It is most used to describe a desirable state of doneness for omelettes or baked custards. Language Notes "Baveuse" comes from the French verb "baver" which...

Beat

To beat in cooking is to mix something up with great zeal and abandon. Beating both mixes all the ingredients together evenly, and introduces air, to help a food item either develop body (such as whipped cream and meringue) or to help it rise when...

Bench Proof

"Bench Proof" is a term used to describe an intermediate rising between the first rising (or "ferment", during which you allow the yeast to grow numerous enough eventually to leaven the dough) and the final rising in the pan or its shaped form (called...

Blanch

"To blanch" means to very briefly cook vegetables (sometimes fruit) in boiling water. You can also steam or microwave, but boiling water is the usual method at home. (Though some of my acquaintances have ex's who can make vegetables blanch just by looking...

Braising

Braising is a method of preparing food through low and slow cooking with a small amount of liquid. The purpose of the liquid is to moderate the heat. It's important to note that the liquid does not add to the moisture of what is being cooked. That...

Brine

Brine is water with a great deal of salt dissolved in it -- in fact, at a higher ratio than even ocean water. The ratio required to be "brine" varies depending on who defines it, but many sources say that it is a salinity greater than 50 parts per thousand....

Brining Beans

There's an ongoing conversation in the cooking world about whether to simmer dried beans in salted or unsalted water. Conventional wisdom has said that dried beans simmered with salt in the water won't soften well. But experiments done by Russ Parsons...

Broasting

"Broasting" is a registered term for deep frying in a pressure-cooker called a Broaster, made by the Broaster company of Beloit, Wisconsin, founded in 1954. Broasting can only be done commercially, because the company does not sell the equipment to...

Broil

Broiling arrangement in a North American electric oven © Randal Oulton Broiling is a North American term, not really used or understood elsewhere in the world. It means cooking something directly under a very high heat source (what in the UK would ...

Chopping Techniques

There are a variety of chopping techniques in cooking. Many of them have a precise name and a precise definition of how large or small the chopped vegetables (or fruit) are to be, and what shape. The goal is to have the vegetables in a size appropriate...

Allumette

To allumette a vegetable means to cut it into small, thin pieces the size of matchsticks. If the vegetable is to be cooked, an allumette cut allows for a vegetable to cook rapidly and evenly, and integrate well into a mix of other ingredients, for...

Bâtonnet

Bâtonnet is a French vegetable cut with a precise meaning. It means a vegetable cut into batons or sticks. The purpose of this is to allow rapid and easy cooking, or for a vegetable which can be eaten raw (such as a carrot, zucchini or cucumber) ...

Brunoise

Brunoise is a French cooking term meaning to cut a vegetable into small cubes of precise and uniform measurement. A regular brunoise gives you cubes 3 mm (1/8th inch) in size; a fine brunoise gives you cubes 1.5 mm (1/6th inch) in size. In France,...

Chiffonade

Chiffonade is a cooking technique for cutting vegetable leaves into long, thin, fine strips, shreds or ribbons, in effect shredding the leaves. Its name comes from the French word "chiffon", meaning "ribbon." In strictly classical French cooking, a...

Coining

Coining in cooking means to slice a vegetable through the diameter into small, thin pieces about the size of coins. Usually the vegetables that you're asked to "coin" are stalk vegetables. You wouldn't get very far in applying coining to a tomato. Usually...

Dice

To dice is to cut a fruit or vegetable into small squares or cubes. To dice, you wash, then peel the fruit or vegetable, then cut it into sticks whose width is the size of the dice you want to end up with, then stack those sticks three or four high...

Emincer

Emincer is a French cooking term that means to slice thinly. It is often mistakenly thought by English-speakers to mean "chop finely", based on what the English word "mince" means. But to mince / émincer are what French teachers used to call "faux ...

Jardiniere

Jardiniere is a French cooking term meaning to cut a vegetable into thickish batons. This is the size of vegetables commonly used in frozen vegetable mixes. Peel and wash the vegetable, then regularize its shape into a rectangle or square by topping...

Macédoine

A Macédoine is a French cooking term meaning a mixture of vegetables, or fruit, or both, cut or chopped up, and served raw or cooked, cold or hot. The size that the food item is cut into can vary, depending on the intended application. Fine Macédoine o...

Mince

To mince something is to chop it into very small pieces, smaller than what you would get by chopping or dicing. The pieces should end up 1/8 inch (30 mm) or less in size. At home and in restaurants, vegetables are minced with a knife, a blender or...

Mirepoix

Mirepoix © Randal Oulton A "Mirepoix" is a classic French combination of vegetables meant to subtly add flavour to a dish. Onion and celery were selected for their aroma; carrots were selected for their sweetness. The celery also helps to boost ...

Mirepoix au gras

Mirepoix au gras © Denzil Green Mirepoix au gras is a combination in classical French cooking of uncooked vegetables and meat used as a flavouring component for dishes. The usual proportion was 1/2 onions, 1/4 celery, 1/4 carrots, along with ...

Paysanne

Paysanne is a French cooking term used to describe a style of cutting vegetables. The word paysanne means "country style", indicating that this is a rougher, more informal cut that other more precise cuts that exist in French cooking. To cut vegetables...

Pulverize

Pulverize is a cooking technique that turns something into a very fine powder. It can be done manually or with a machine, by crushing, grinding or pounding. Pulverizing a food item allows the taste of things such as spices to be more evenly distributed...

Salpicon

Salpicon in cooking has three different meanings, depending upon the cuisine. In French cooking, Salpicon means one or more food items diced finely, and bound together with a sauce. The sauce can be thick or thin, white or brown, hot or cold. The...

Top and Tail

To 'top and tail' is an expression that in cooking means to trim both ends off of something. For instance, you would top and tail green beans, or runner beans. You top and tail carrots. You top and tail green (or spring) onions by trimming off the...

White Mirepoix

White mirepoix of onion, mushroom, parsnip © Denzil Green A White Mirepoix ("mirepoix blanc") is a component in French classical cooking. It is a combination of lightly coloured, chopped, uncooked vegetables designed to add flavour and aroma to ...

Coddle

The word coddle means to simmer or stew a food item gently in a liquid. It's only used today to refer to eggs, but in the past recipes would direct you to coddle fruit, and a sort of Irish stew consisting of potatoes and bacon became known as Dublin...

Curing

Curing, whether done to meat or olives, means treating something with salt to help preserve it. When curing meat or fish, the salt draws the moisture out, leaving bacteria less moisture to grow on. It also penetrates the meat, making an inhospitable...

Dredging

Dredging is coating something, usually meat, with a flour before browning the item. The purpose of dredging is to make a meat's surface a more attractive brown colour, and to create flavourful carmelized [1] flour bits in the pan that can be used in...

Egg Wash

Egg Wash © Randal Oulton An egg wash in cooking is a liquid mixture based on raw egg used to brown pies, etc. You vary the mixture easily to achieve exactly the effect you want. How to make an egg wash First, a summary of the principles. Sometimes ...

Emulsify

Most liquids will dissolve into one another. Some, however, won't. They have to be encouraged to bind together. This encouragement process is referred to as "emulsifying" and the result can be called as "emulsification." The process involves dispersing...

Firm-Ball Stage

Firm-Ball Stage © Randal Oulton Firm-Ball Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 118 – 121 C (245 – 250 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it. At this point of h...

Fold

To fold is to combine something very gently. It is done when you don't want ingredients to break up; you are incorporating rather than mixing. You do it with a broad instrument, such as a rubber spatula or a large, solid spoon, rather than a fork or...

French Trimmed

French trim is a decorative preparation method done to meats, so that a bone protrudes from it. Often fancy paper frills are placed on the bone for serving aesthetics. To make a French trim, fat, meat or skin is cut away to expose a piece of bone,...

Frissonne

A French word that literally means "shiver." Used particularly in reference to poaching. During poaching, the liquid should be at a very low simmer, at a high just hot enough to make the top of the liquid "shiver", but not break with bubbles. The French...

Frying

The verb 'to fry' denotes a cooking process whereby food is cooked in a wide, shallow pan on top of a heat source, usually high-heat. Variants include sautéing, stir-frying, steam-frying and deep-frying. Sometimes regular frying is referred to as ...

Deep-Fry

To deep-fry is to cook foods in a large quantity of hot oil or melted fat. There needs to be enough fat so that the food can "swim" around in it. It is like boiling in a way, except instead of using a large quantity of water, you are using a large quantity...

Deglazing

Deglazing is a professional term used by chefs, for which no real everyday word has yet come into play. It is the technique of adding a liquid to a pan that has been used to brown food, either meat or veg, after the food has been removed. The pan is scraped...

Dry Sauté

Dry sautéing is frying with little or no added fat. Some describe the technique as frying with only the fat that melts out of the meat being cooked, with no added fat. Mushrooms are an easy vegetable to dry fry, as they sweat easily and release ...

Pressure Frying

Pressure frying is deep-frying under pressure. It is not a low-fat way of deep-frying, nor a healthier way: it simply speeds up frying time, and so saves on cooking fuel. It is used primarily for frying chicken under pressure. For instance, Kentucky...

Sauté

To sauté something is to sear or brown it quickly and briefly in a wide, shallow pan on the stove top at medium to high heat. The act of doing this is known as "sautéing." You cook the food for a brief amount of time, compared to regular frying. You s...

Steam Frying

Steam frying is a Chinese method of cooking which combines both frying and steaming. Just enough frying happens to give the surface area of the food some interest, though most of the cooking is done by steam. Steam frying is best done in a non-stick...

Stir-fry

Stir-frying is an Asian cooking method that involves tossing food items in a high-sided frying pan called a wok with some heated oil over very high heat, to cook the food quickly. In Shanghai, stir-frying is done over a medium heat and more slowly,...

Galantine

Galantine is a way of preparing and presenting meat. It is meat (fowl or other), or fish, that is boned, flattened, then has a layer of stuffing put on top of it, then it's rolled up like a Swiss roll (aka jelly roll) and poached. Often it's wrapped...

Garnishes

Classical French Garnishes A Garnish is an element added to food when it is served. In modern times, the main purpose of a Garnish is visual, but a Garnish may sometimes also serve to complement or contrast with the taste of the main dish. The...

Marseille Butter

This is an in-joke amongst cooks: it's oil. Butter isn't used in Marseille very much; oil is used instead.

Melba

Melba is a French cooking term for a particular side garnish served with small cuts of meat. It consists of very small tomatoes stuffed with: chopped chicken chopped truffles chopped mushrooms stirred in Velouté sauce The tomatoes ...

Grill

Grilling is a cooking method that involves a grate of connected metal bars. Whether the heat source in grilling comes from above or below depends on where you live. Grilling in North America In the U.S. and Canada, to grill is to cook something on...

Hard-Ball Stage

Hard-Ball Stage © Randal Oulton Hard-Ball Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 121 - 130 C (250 - 266 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it. At this point of ...

Hard-Crack Stage

Hard-Crack Stage © Randal Oulton Hard-Crack Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 149 - 154 C (300 - 310 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it. At this point of ...

High Altitude Baking

Being at a high altitude poses special challenges when Baking. The challenges are caused by the weight of air, better known as "air pressure." The higher up you are, the less air there is weighing down on you (and your Angel Food Cake); which is to...

Julienne

To Julienne a vegetable means to cut it into small, thin pieces the size of matchsticks. If the vegetable is to be cooked, a julienne cut allows for a vegetable to cook rapidly and evenly, and integrate well into a mix of other ingredients, for instance...

Knead

Knead © Randal Oulton To Knead is to "work" and stretch a piece of dough. The purpose is to develop the gluten in the flour used in the dough. It causes the dough to get smoother and more elastic. It is done mostly with yeast-risen doughs. ...

Liaison

A Liaison in cooking is a binding agent. Tn theory, a binding agent in cooking can be anything, such as bread crumbs or flour, but the term "liaison" is used almost exclusively to refer to a mixture of cream and egg yolks use to thicken soups or sauces. The...

Meat Cooking Techniques

Meat Cooking Techniques © Denzil Green Meat can be cooked by moist heat or dry heat. What method is used will depend on what type of meat it is, what part of the animal it is from, and what the desired taste and appearance outcome are for the dish ...

Barbeque

Barbequing a pig © Roy Schuurhuis Barbequers tend to hold very strong opinions about what does and does not qualify as barbeque. Most people use the word "barbeque" to mean anything cooked on an outdoor grill. Included in that number are Brits, ...

Basting

Basting is "anointing" food that you are cooking with a liquid, either a sauce, a broth, or the drippings of juices and fats from the meat. It is done when roasting, grilling and barbequing. Basting a turkey or chicken Basting poultry does...

Beer Can Chicken Roasting

Beer Can Chicken Roasting involes poking the neck cavity of a chicken down onto an opened beer can, and roasting the chicken upright. The idea is that you have the can half filled with beer, and the steam and aroma from that flavour the chicken (disregard...

Brining a Turkey

Brining a turkey is a process that draws water into the raw turkey to plump it out, while seasoning the meat all the way through. Fans swear that turkeys that have been brined turn out seeming more tender, and moist. They also say that for salt lovers,...

Carving a Turkey

Carving a turkey means to cut thin slices with a long, sharp knife from a cooked turkey for serving. The carving is almost always done while the cooked turkey is still warm from the oven.

Dress

In cooking, "to dress" is to add salad dressing to a salad, or to prepare a whole animal or aquatic life for cooking. To dress an animal, usually the head and feet are chopped off and discarded, any feathers, fur or fins are removed, and the inside...

Roast Goose

The trick to roasting a goose is dealing with the incredible amount of fat that will render off it. But do as the French do -- see that as a blessing. Put the fat in a bottle and pop it in a fridge for future cooking use. This is a very basic roasting...

Roasting Meat

Roasting is a slow method of cooking meat that is well-suited to larger cuts where the heat needs time to reach through to the middle without charring the outsides. Roasting can be done in pans in ovens, or on spits over open-fires; it can also be...

Safe Cooking Temperatures

Safe cooking temperatures are the minimum temperatures that you are advised to cook meat to in order to ensure that it is safe to eat. Here are some absolute base minimums that lab results have show researchers will kill nasties. Beef130°F54°CEggs140°F60°CLamb and...

Searing Meat

Searing Meat gained popularity with a theory originally put forward by Justus von Liebig, a German chemist, in a book he published in 1847. Von Liebig believed that he had proven that searing meat creates a "crust" on the surface of the meat which...

Self-Basting

Self-basting is an expression used to describe a piece of meat that has been prepared or cooked in such a way as to negate the need for basting . Normally the meat is fowl, particularly turkey, which in consumers' minds is renowned for being dry. The...

Meat Tenderization Techniques

The best way of tenderizing meat is still to attack it physically. The most extreme method, grinding, will shred all the muscle tissue into tiny bits. This is what makes tough cuts of beef into tender minced beef. Pounding will also break down muscle...

Barding

Most meat needs a certain amount of fat in it to prevent it from drying out during cooking. Barbeque connoisseurs will never look for lean steaks; they look for steaks with good marbling. Barding is a fancy word for a technique you probably already...

Braising Meat

Braising involves cooking meat in a closed container with some liquid in it. The steam produced keeps the temperature relatively low compared to air heat, and this allows the inside of the meat to cook and tenderize without the outside of the meat overcooking...

Jacquarding

Jacquarding (aka Needling) is a mechanical way of tenderizing meat (as opposed to tenderizing it "chemically" with a marinade.) Commercially, Jacquarding is done with machines called "Jacardi." Meat is passed through rollers with needles on them. The...

Larding

Larding is the cooking technique of inserting strips or pieces of fat into a piece of meat that doesn't have much fat of its own. Fat is important in cooking, as it melts and keeps the meat from drying out. It's a myth that braising or even boiling...

Marinades

Marinades © Denzil Green A Marinade is a medium, often wet, used to prepare meat or vegetables for cooking, usually by grilling on a barbeque. Using a Marinade is called "Marinating." There are three goals that people have traditionally aimed ...

Tumbling

Solid meat (as opposed to hamburger or sausage meat) is placed into a mechanical tumbler along with a cold, seasoned liquid such as brine or crushed ice. The liquid needs to be cold to keep the meat at a safe temperature. The Tumbler is a drum that...

Mise en Place

Mise en Place © Randal Oulton Mise en Place means literally "putting (things) in place" (ready to be used.) In a kitchen, it means getting ingredients out, and ready to use. In the strictest sense, the ingredients are not only set out, they ...

Mitonner

Mitonner is a French cooking term meaning to simmer something in a liquid very slowly and gently over low heat. Similar to the English word "coddle." Literature & Lore "41. Potage de marmitte [sic]: Faites mittonner des croustes de gros pain...

Mochitsuki

Mochitsuki is a Japanese cooking technique. It is the act of pounding steamed sticky rice, in order to make "mochi" rice cakes. The steamed rice must be pounded when it has cooled down a bit, but is still hot. It is put into a mortar called an "usu"...

Open-Faced

Open-faced is a term usually used to refer to some kind of sandwich, be it based on bread, bagel, croissant, or tortilla. If it's a sandwich, just one piece of bread is used. The sandwich fillings are put on that, and in the absence of a top piece...

Pan Broil

Pan Broil is a cooking technique used for thin steaks, thin chops and fish fillets. It is a dry cooking method done in a frying pan on top of the stove with no added fat or liquid. It sears the surface of the meat, sort of like proper broiling would. Not...

Parblanch

Parblanch is a cooking technique, but one that doesn't cook a food item. Its purpose can be to soak off salt, blood or flavour. It is not always entirely clear how this differs from just plain "blanch", because the two terms can be used to describe...

Parboil

Parboil is to boil a food just until it is partially done. What "partially done" means depends on the food item, and the use it will be put to in a given recipe. It generally implies a longer cooking time than parblanching or blanching, though sometimes...

Pâton

A French term for pastry ready and waiting to be used. The pastry can be any pastry: pie pastry, pâte brisée, or puff pastry. In the French sense, "ready and waiting" also implies that the pastry has had an hour or so resting period in the fridge. O...

Peroxide and Vinegar Sterilization

Peroxide and vinegar applied one after the other can help to safely sanitize produce without resorting to chemicals.

Pickled

The word "pickled" in English is an adjective used to describe a food item which has been preserved through pickling. See pickling for a full discussion. Language Notes For the sake of thoroughness, we point out that "pickled" can also be used to...

Pickling

Pickling is a preserving process that can be applied to vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, fruit and even nuts. It also adds flavour to the item being preserved, and can transform one food item, such as cucumbers, into another, such as "pickles." The following...

Pittsburgh Rare

Pittsburgh rare is a term describing a degree of doneness for beef steaks. It is considered to be an internal temperature of 110 F (43 C.) The steak should be very charred on the outside, even having black bits on it, but very rare (as in blood red)...

Poaching

Poaching is cooking in a gently-heated liquid. The liquid protects what you are cooking from being exposed to high heat. Most people think immediately of Poaching eggs in water, but the process was actually perfected by the French to cook fish or poultry. The...

Preheat

Preheat © Randal Oulton Preheat means to heat before cooking. The purpose is to get a pan or oven to a specified temperature before you use it to cook with. Many North American recipes are starting to show their age, in that they advise you ...

Preserving Eggs

There are several techniques for preserving whole shell eggs, raw and uncooked, without refrigeration. You can coat the egg shells with a substance that prevents air from getting into the egg. Traditionally, fats such as lard or butter were used. You'd...

Proof

In cooking, the word "proof" has at least 3 meanings, all involving yeast in one way or another. A test you do to yeast to see if it is still alive. You do this either to yeast that you're suspicious of, either because you've had it on hand a long...

Pulse

For the definition of pulses, see the entry on Legumes. Pulse as a kitchen verb may have come into play first with blenders, then with food processors. Before those machines, cooks would have been quite perplexed by directions in the middle of a recipe...

Punch Down

In food terms, Punch Down can mean two means. The first mean involves dough, or more precisely, forcing the air (technically, C02) out of risen dough. You don't actually punch the dough -- you might hurt your wrist against the work surface. You...

Quadriller

Quadriller is a term that means to make criss-cross lines on the surface of food. It is just a way of improving food presentation and making it look more interesting. It usually refers to food cooked on a grill over top a fire. The bars of the grill...

Raidir

Raidir is a French verb that means "to stiffen." When referring to a heating process, to "Raidir" something could be to to stiffen just a bit the skin on a piece of chicken in a frying pan, but without any coloration allowed to happen at all. You...

Reconstitute

The terms "reconstitute" and "rehydrate" are usually used interchangeably in food language, and that's usually fine, as there's only a slight difference in meaning. Both mean to add liquid to something. When you rehydrate something, that something...

Reconstitute

Reducing

To thicken a liquid by heating it so that some water evaporates away, leaving the body of the liquid thicker. Unless otherwise specified, it means to do so with a quick boil. This is usually only expedient, as this kind of futzing usually has to go...

Rest

Rest is a cooking term that describes allowing something to sit undisturbed for a few minutes. Usually it applies to something that has just been cooked. You let roasted meat rest for a few minutes when removed from the oven, or the flame. It lets...

Ribbon Stage

Ribbon Stage is a cooking term used to measure how well egg yolk and sugar are beaten together. Occasionally, a more other-worldly food writer will refer to it as a "sabayon consistency." The purpose of reaching this stage in beating is both to ensure...

Ribbon Stage

Roasted Garlic

Roasted Garlic is garlic that has been baked. The taste of most types of garlic will mellow and get milder when baked. Some varieties of garlic will become almost sweet. There are specific varieties of garlic that are highly rated for roasting....

Roasted Peppers

Roasted Peppers © Denzil Green Roasted Peppers are peppers that have been cooked by roasting over an open flame, or more usually, by baking to produce a similar "roasted" effect. The peppers could be sweet peppers or hot peppers. The roasting deepens ...

Rolling Boil

Rolling Boil © Randal Oulton Rolling Boil is a term that describes one of the stages encountered when boiling a pot or kettle of liquid -- usually water. When being boiled, water will reach a stage where it has started to produce bubbles that ...

Scald

"Scald" can mean a cooking technique, or a disease that hits fruit. In cooking, though usually used in reference to milk, it means to heat a liquid to a point where it's just about to reach the boiling point. At this point, small bubbles will start...

Scalding Milk

Scalding milk is bringing milk to just below a boiling temperature, then removing it from the heat. It is no longer needed these days: older recipes would have you do it before the days of pasteurization. Some people, however, feel that scalding milk...

Scallop

Scalloped Potatoes © Denzil Green To scallop has two different meanings in cooking. One possible meaning could be to give something an edge consisting of a series of semi-circles. This is how the term is used in furniture making and dress-making. ...

Separating Eggs

Egg Separators © Denzil Green Separating Eggs refers to the process of separating egg yolks from egg whites. For the process of selecting desirable eggs from undesirable ones, or of grading eggs, see the entry on Candling. Egg yolks have very ...

Skimming

Skimming means to remove a small amount of something from the surface. In cooking, it usually refers to removing fat from the surface. That's if you don't just whisk it back in quickly, before the Health Police see. In any event, if you have a plastic...

Smoking

Smoking meats and fish is a way of flavouring them, or helping to preserve them, or both. The meat or fish is first cured in salt, either "dry-cured" by having salt rubbed into it and let stand, or "wet-cured" in a brine. The salting before smoking...

Soaking Beans

There are two schools of thought as to whether dried beans should be soaked in water for a while before cooking. When you cook beans, the first part of what happens is the beans rehydrate themselves by drawing in water. The pre-soak or no pre-soak...

Soffritto

Soffritto © Denzil Green In Italian cooking, a "soffritto" is a finely chopped, lightly sautéed mixture of food used as a flavourful base to a dish. It will usually be sautéed in olive oil. It's close to, but not the same, as what is called a ...

Soft-Ball Stage

Soft-Ball Stage © Randal Oulton Soft-Ball Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 112 - 116 C (234 - 240 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it. At this point of ...

Soft-Crack Stage

Soft-Crack Stage © Randal Oulton Soft-Crack Stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 132 - 143 C (270 - 290 F.) It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it. At this point of ...

Sous Vide

Sous vide is both a method for storing fresh food, and for cooking it. As a storage method, it can be for short-term or long-term storage. It involves putting fresh food in bags, using a device to pump the air in the bag out leaving a vacuum behind,...

Souse

Souse (the verb) can mean to cover a food in liquid, to plunge a food in liquid, or it can refer to the liquid that is used. Sousing something can be for the purposes of cooking or pickling. For cooking, the liquid is often a spiced vinegar solution....

Spatchcock

Spatchcocking is a cooking technique that involves splitting open poultry and flattening it before grilling it. The preparation before cooking allows the bird to be cooked quickly and evenly.

Spitchcock

To spitchcock is to take a fresh eel, split it along its back and cut into it pieces, and then to grill, broil or fry it.

Sterilizing Jars

Sterilizing jars can be a necessary procedure for preserving food in jars. It helps ensure the destruction of microbes that could either degrade the food, or render the food dangerous to eat, or both. It is not necessary to sterilize: if you will...

Stir

To stir is to move ingredients in a dish around. It can be done while preparing the dish, cooking the dish, or afterwards to help the dish cool faster. The purpose is usually to either combine the ingredients, or to move them around so that they...

Straining

Strainer © Denzil Green "Strain the mixture through a sieve..." People often use the words strainer and sieve interchangeably. A whole lot of it even depends on what you are doing. The same person can use the same mesh strainer for straining ...

Temper

In the kitchen, the word "Temper" can be applied to many different things other than the mood of the cook. As a foundation, it's good to have a quick, simple look at where the word comes from, to understand how a word that we normally use as a noun...

Tezu

Tezu is a very weak vinegar solution made from water, rice vinegar and salt. It is used when making sticky items such as sushi, mochi or omusubi. In making sushi, it is used to wipe the insides of the rice bowl (Sushi-oke) before starting, to dip...

Unmould

To unmould, in cooking, is getting something you made out of the vessel you made it in, and attempting to do so in one piece. It is also the point at which all your hard work is mostly likely to go pear-shaped. You can unmould cakes, ice-creams, dessert...

Usu-Zukuri

Usu-Zukuri is a Japanese term that means "thinly-sliced." It's used in reference to fish cut paper-thin. The fish used will be a white fish. If the fish is specified, the name of the fish will appear along with this term. For instance, halibut...

Warm

To warm in cooking means to raise the temperature of something, though occasionally you will be instructed to let the temperature of something cool from hot down to warm. What is considered "warm" depends on what you are talking about. A warm oven...

Wash

In a kitchen, the word "wash" has two senses. One is that of a cooking sense that means to apply something like a light glaze; the other is that of actually cleaning. In the cooking sense, a wash can be mixed up from an egg, egg and milk, milk, milk...

Water Bath

Food in a dish or container is set into a larger dish or container. All dishes used are ovenproof. The larger container is filled with hot or boiling water so that the water comes about halfway up the side of the smaller dish in which the food is. Surrounding...

Whip

There are three culinary meanings of "to whip" in a kitchen. Add Air To whip is to beat something with a utensil. The purpose is to incorporate air into it to provide body. Usually it's something liquidy being whipped that will hold air, such as...

Wok Hay

Wok hay is a Chinese expression that describes capturing into the food the "hot breath" of a seasoned wok. Hay means "breath", "energy" or "spirit" in Cantonese. Wok Hay describes food that has been "wokked" properly. The food must have the...

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Cuisines

Acadian Food

Acadian cooking is country-class food, accompanied by lots of bread, with main dishes often being one-pot meals. The Acadians are French-speakers who live in the French-speaking areas of Atlantic Canada. This takes in parts of Nova Scotia,...

American Food

Some food writers say it can be argued that there's no national cuisine in America: rather, it's a collection of regional cuisines. Others counter that you can say that of any cuisine.

Australian Food

No strictly regional foods have developed yet in Australia, though there is the start of an awareness of local products. Many new dishes being created in Australia are a blend of Asian and Mediterranean cooking classes, but there is no new...

British Food

Lea & Perrins © Denzil Green North Americans pat themselves on the back for having revolutionised their cooking in the past few decades. Pasta, olive oil and designer sea salts are now taken completely for granted. They feel even more on ...

British Wartime Food

British Shopkeeper cancelling coupons. April 1943 United States Office of War Information, Overseas Picture Division. In Britain, during the First World War, 1914 to 1918, queues for food had become dangerously long. A Ministry of Food was created...

Byzantine Food

This brief discussion on Byzantine food, far from in-depth, is designed to give some background to what is now classed as Greek and Turkish food. Byzantium, later named Constantinopole (in modern times: Istanbul), was a city on a peninsula, surrounded...

Cajun Food

Cajun Food is one of the two major cuisines of the state of Louisiana, the other being Creole. Both cuisines draw on the same ingredients: both use roux a lot as a base, both use rice, seafood, and spice. They differ in preparation methods, Cajun being...

Canadian Food

Potatoes on Prince Edward Island © Denzil Green The roots of English-Canadian cooking are British-American. Ethnic food started came to the fore in Canadian food magazines and kitchens in the 1970s. Still, when Canadians talk about "good old-fashioned ...

Chinese Food

Cooking hasn't been codified into an art or a noble activity in China, the way it became in France. Restaurants might become well-known known, but there is still no equivalent of a "Michelin Star" system in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, and there hasn't...

Egypt (Ancient)

Ancient Egypt was around far longer than Rome -- several thousand years compared to Rome's short 1,000 years. Ancient Egypt, though, was static compared to the dizzying change of pace of Roman fashions and tastes. Consequently, both what was available...

Food in Ancient Greece

What we know about food in Ancient Greece comes from their literature. No book specifically on food or recipes is extant from that period, but food is talked about a great deal by characters in Greek plays. Greeks had two kinds of symbolism...

French Food

Unlike other cuisines of the world, French cuisine is codified, organized and set out in almost canonical terms -- at least, the "grande cuisine" part of French cooking is. It's owing partly to the politically centralized nature of France itself, and...

Gascony Cooking

Gascony is a region in far southwestern France. Its south side borders Spain; its west side is on the Atlantic coast. [1] It used to be more or less a defined political region, but since the French revolution the area has been parcelled out amongst different...

German Food

Food preferences in Germany aren't universal. In areas closer to the French border, noodles are popular, as well as snails and quiche-like tarts. Wine is used instead of vinegar in sauces and marinades. In areas closer to the eastern Europe borders, people...

Greek Food

Like Chinese food, Greek food in North America has been reinterpreted to meet North American expectations of a food richer in meat and dairy. For instance, Greek Salad is called Horiatiki in Greece. While in Greece the salad has feta and cucumber, it...

Irish Food

It's important not to let images of the Irish potato famine cloud your picture of Irish food, as useful as it is still for beating the British over the head with. The fact is, Ireland is a land of plenty and abundance. Even at the time of the great...

Irish Food (Northern)

Food in Northern Ireland is traditionally food that is simply prepared, served with strong tea. The country of Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom (UK). The Northern Irish have traditionally been heavier consumers of dairy products, meat,...

Italian Food

Perhaps more than any country, it's hard to say of Italy that there is a national cuisine. While it is also hard to say this of France, Italy has had far more history and civilisations roll through it, with each leaving small pockets of themselves...

Japanese Food

Japanese Food is a very elegant cuisine. When anyone debates, "what are the great cuisines of the world", Japanese has to be up there on the list. It even influenced the 20th century movement in France called "nouvelle cuisine", in terms of both...

Jewish Food

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as "Jewish food", but rather perhaps "Jewish foods." There are different culinary worlds and traditions within Judaism, just as there are for instance within Catholicism -- Scottish Catholics cook very differently...

Lancashire Food

Lancashire is a county on the west coast of England, on the Irish sea. The county is smaller now that it used to be. The size was reduced politically in 1974. It used to include Manchester and Liverpool to the south, and northern bits of it were taken...

Medieval Food

At some point in the early Middle Ages, as Germanic cultures prevailed over southern cultures, the rich abandoned the Greek and Roman custom of lying on sofas at banquets, and sat upright instead. This freed up the other hand for cutting and made...

Mexican Food

Mexican food is fusion food. It's a blend of Spanish, other European and even Mennonite traditions tossed in with the indigenous food and cooking traditions. While Mediterranean food was founded, though, on the trinity of wine, bread and the olive, the...

New Zealand Wartime Food (WWII)

New Zealand (NZ) introduced rationing during the Second War World, largely in order to create a surplus of food that it could use to feed its British and American allies. It was in a way the mirror image of British wartime rationing: in Britain,...

Norwegian Food

About two-thirds of Norway's land-mass is mountains; only 5% of the land is arable. In the north of Norway, the growing season is 100 days; in the south, 190 days. The days are long, though in a Norwegian summer: the sun will rise as early as 2...

Québecois Food

Québec is bordered on the top by the Arctic, on the west by the Canadian province of Ontario, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the American states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. It is a very cold climate. In early ...

Raw Foods

Raw Foods is a special lifestyle diet whose adherents eat only uncooked food. The principle of Raw Foods is to ensure that enzymes and electrolytes in the food are eaten alive. You are advised that, given that these enzymes and electrolytes start to...

Roman Food

This entry is about food in Rome, the ancient empire. There will be at some point a separate entry on food in modern-day Rome, the city. Rome was founded, historians believe, by 625 BC (though the Romans themselves believed their city was founded in...

Scottish Food

Scots get tired of their food being summarized as haggis, whiskey, deep-fried Mars bars, and shortbread in tartan tins. Yet there is something to it. Haggis is oatmeal and offal, both of which the Scots both eat a lot. Scots are very proud of their whisky...

Sicilian Food

Sicily is known for its simple cooking and good street food. Some say the national dish is pasta with sardines ("Pasta con le Sarde.") It is also known for its desserts, particularly its frozen desserts, made possible earlier than in most of the...

Slow Food

Slow Food is a political and cultural food movement that claims to have 85,000 members in 132 countries (as of 2009.) The movement was founded by people who felt that traditional foods were disappearing. It aims to be an international organization, though...

Southern Food

Southern cooking, in American parlance, is generally seen as any food in the US prepared south of the District of Columbia. It's far from a homogenous body of cooking. There are many regional, sub-regional and class differences. The main cities...

Spanish Food

The Romans set the Spanish cooking base of wheat, olives and grapes. The Muslims added almonds, oranges, rice and saffron. The New World tossed in chocolate, corn, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. Food in general is not spicy, though the use of garlic...

Tex-Mex Food

The name "Tex-Mex" is a combination of "Texas" and "Mexico." It's used to describe a cuisine which is an Americanized form of Mexican cooking -- or more precisely, Mexican food, largely from northern Mexico as it has come to be made in Texas. Or, as some...

Turkish Food

Some people distinguish between Turkish food -- the original nomadic food base from central Asia -- and Ottoman Cuisine, the cuisine that absorbed the riches of Byzantine culture, plus all the other countries that were conquered and absorbed into the...

Tuscan Food

Italian cooking is very regional. The food of Tuscany can be very different from that prepared in the rest of Italy. Yet, even Tuscan food is not monolithic but rather regional within itself as well. Tuscany is divided administratively into the following...

Dairy

Dairy is a category of milk and milk products made from the milk of cows, sheep and goats. In some parts of the world, milk from other milk-producing animals may be included. Eggs are often lumped in with dairy in North America, if only because...

Butter

Butter © Denzil Green Butter is a spread made from solidified cream. It can be used at the table as a "condiment", or in the kitchen as an ingredient. To make butter, the fattier part of milk called "cream" is taken from the milk, and then churned. ...

Butter Stick

Stick of butter © Denzil Green Butter Stick / Stick of Butter A stick of butter is the result of taking a one-pound (450g) block of butter, and cutting it lengthwise into quarters (actually, it's made that way). Each stick of butter therefore ...

Butterfat

Butterfat is the term used to describe the fat content that occurs in milk naturally. It's what gives dairy products their body, structure, mouth feel and richness of texture. It's a difficult fat to "fake" because it's actually made up of a bunch...

Clarified Butter

Clarified Butter is made by heating butter. Heat breaks the emulsion holding together the elements in the butter: butterfat, water and milk solids. As water is heavier than fat, it will sink to the bottom. Some of the milk solids will also sink to the...

Compound Butters

Compound butter is butter combined with flavouring ingredients. It can be used to butter canapés, finish off sauces, or put in pats for melting on a piece of meat or fish in place of a sauce. There are savoury versions and "sweet" versions. Compound ...

Anchovy Butter

Anchovy Butter is a flavoured butter made by mixing 1 part puréed anchovies with almost 3 parts butter. This blended mixture is then forced through a sieve. It's used as a garnish for grilled meats and fish. More modern versions will add a touch of ...

Bercy Butter

Bercy Butter is a complex compound butter. To make it, chopped shallots are added to white wine, and simmered until the wine is reduced by half. The wine and shallot mixture is then allowed to cool, then mixed with: softened butter; poached...

Beurre Pommade

Beurre Pommade © Randal Oulton Beurre pommade is butter that has been let come to room temperature (20 to 30 Celsius / in the 60s F range) so that it is quite soft, like a face cream. If you wish, think of it as butter that has softened to the ...

Beurre Ramoli

Beurre Ramoli © Randal Oulton Beurre Ramoli is a very common, and very important, ingredient in French recipes, because it's nothing other than softened butter. Language Notes "Ramoli" comes from the French verb, "ramollir" (which in turns come ...

Caviar Butter

Caviar butter is a garnish for cold hors-d'oeuvre, some canapés and some fish dishes. It consists of 1 part caviar ground in a mortar, blended with 2 parts beurre pomade (soft butter), then pressed through a sieve.

Chive Butter

Chive butter is 1 part chives that are shredded, blanched, drained and puréed, blended with 1 part beurre pommade (the parts being equal by weight), then pressed through a sieve.

Chivry Butter

Chivry butter is butter that is mixed with blanched shallots, burnet, chervil, chives, parsley and tarragon, then pressed through a sieve. It is used as a garnish for cold hors d'oeuvres, and as a flavouring for white sauces.

Colbert Butter

To make Colbert butter, start with Maître d'Hôtel butter, and blend in some chopped tarragon and some jellied meat. It is used as a garnish for grilled meat and fish, and for fried fish dishes such as "Sole à la Colbert."

Crayfish Butter

There are two versions of Crayfish Butter in the classical French canon. Cold version (à froid): 1 part cooked crayfish puréed, blended with an equal amount of butter, then pressed through a sieve. Use for cold hors d'oeuvres, cold fish and fish s...

Filbert Butter

Filbert Butter is 1 part filberts, ground to a paste, combined with two parts butter. The mixture is then forced through a sieve. Filbert Butter is used as a garnish on hors d'oeuvres, soups and sauces.

Garlic Butter

In classical French cooking, Garlic Butter is made from butter blended with puréed garlic cloves that have first been peeled, blanched, drained and dried, then pressed through a sieve. It is used as a garnish for cold hors d'oeuvres and as a flavouring ...

Gascogne Butter

Gascogne Butter is a butter mixture (technically, a "compound butter") made from peeled, blanched garlic cloves, puréed with some butter, and then seasoned with salt and pepper. It is used with grilled mushrooms and with kidney beans (sic.)

Green Butter

In the classical French-cooking version, to make Green Butter, spinach leaves are washed, dried, crushed, then juiced by twisting them in a cloth. The spinach juice is then reduced and thickened through simmering over a bain marie, then strained through...

Hazelnut Butter

Hazelnut Butter is 1 part lightly roasted hazelnuts, ground to a paste, combined with two parts butter. The mixture is then forced through a sieve. Hazelnut Butter is used as a garnish on hors d'oeuvres, soups and sauces. Cooking Tips Hazelnuts...

Herring Butter

Herring butter is a flavoured butter made by mixing 1 part puréed herring with almost 3 parts butter, then forced through a sieve. It's used as a garnish for grilled meats and fish.

Horseradish Butter

Horseradish butter is butter mixed with puréed, grated horseradish then forced through a sieve. It is used as a garnish for cold hors d'oeuvres and as a flavouring for some sauces. Cooking Tips Proportions: 75 g (3 oz / 1/2 cup) grated horseradish ...

Lemon Butter

Lemon Butter © Randal Oulton Lemon Butter is butter blended with lemon zest, salt and pepper. It has just a light, subtle, aromatic taste of lemon. In classical French cooking, it is used as a garnish for cold hors d'oeuvres. It's also good ...

Lobster Butter

There are two versions of Lobster Butter in the classical French canon. Cold version of Lobster Butter (à froid) 1 part cooked lobster puréed with an equal amount of butter, then pressed through a sieve. For the cooked lobster, use the coral, e...

Maître d'Hôtel Butter

Maître d'Hôtel Butter is butter that has been blended with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. In classical French cooking, it is used to accompany boiled vegetables, grilled meat, and fish that has either been grilled or cooked in breadcrumbs. Maître d'...

Marchand de Vins Butter

Marchand de Vins Butter is butter mixed with: diced shallots that were first simmered in red wine; thick veal stock or meat jelly; parsley; lemon juice. The mixture is then seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.

Montpellier Butter

Montpellier Butter is butter blended with all of the following: chervil, chives, cress, parsley, tarragon, spinach leaves that have been drained and had all the water pressed out of them; capers, gherkins, anchovy fillets, garlic clove; hard...

Mushroom Butter

Mushroom Butter is butter blended with an equal weight of puréed fresh mushrooms seasoned with salt and pepper, then pressed through a sieve. It is used as a garnish for cold hors d'oeurvres, and to flavour white sauces.

Mustard Butter

Mustard butter is softened butter with mustard blended in. Cooking Tips Proportions: per 200 g (7 oz / 1 cup minus 2 tbsp) butter, 2 tablespoons mustard.

Paprika Butter

Paprika butter is butter with paprika blended into it. It is used as a garnish for cold hors d'oeuvres such as canapés. Cooking Tips Proportions: Per 200 g (7 oz / 1 cup minus 2 tbsp) butter, 1 tablespoon of paprika.

Pistachio Butter

Pistachio butter is a flavoured butter made from 1 part blanched pistachios, ground to a paste, combined with two parts butter. The mixture is then forced through a sieve. It is used as a garnish on hors d'oeuvres, soups and sauces.

Printanier Butter

Printanier butter is butter blended with an equal weight of cooked, drained and puréed vegetables. The vegetable might be all or some including peas, green beans, asparagus, etc. It is used for flavouring some white sauces and some soups; it can also ...

Red Butter

This can be the same as Lobster Butter, or it can be butter coloured red by blending in the eggs (aka coral) of some shellfish. The shellfish eggs are gently cooked first by simmering them in a court-bouillon.

Salmon Butter

Salmon butter is a flavoured butter made by mixing 1 part puréed cooked salmon (fresh or smoked) with almost 3 parts butter. This mixture is then forced through a sieve. It's used as a garnish for grilled meats and fish.

Sardine Butter

Sardine butter is a flavoured butter made by mixing 1 part puréed sardines with almost 3 parts butter. This blended mixture is then forced through a sieve. It's used as a garnish for grilled meats and fish. The sardines used are canned ones that ...

Shallot Butter

Shallot butter is butter blended with an equal weight of shallots that have been peeled, sliced, blanched and puréed. It's then pressed through a sieve. Shallot Butter is used to accompany grilled fish and meat.

Shrimp Butter

There are two versions of Shrimp Butter in the classical French canon. Cold version (à froid): 1 part cooked shrimp puréed with an equal amount of butter, then pressed through a sieve. Use for cold hors d'oeuvres, cold fish and fish sauces. Hot v...

Smen

Smen is an aged butter made throughout Middle East, particularly in Morocco. It turned the necessity of preserving butter in warm climates into a culinary creation. It smells like a stinky cheese, and is used in small amounts as a condiment for flavour,...

Snail Butter Bourguignon Style

Snail Butter Bourguignon Style is butter blended with finely chopped shallots, chopped parsley, 2 pressed or pounded cloves of garlic, and salt and pepper. It is used to fill the shells of snails being cooked in the bourguignonne style.

Soft Roe Butter

Soft Roe Butter is butter blended with an equal weight of roe from pickled herrings, then pressed through a sieve. Soft roe from other fish can also be used, though in that case almost twice as much butter as roe is used. It is used to garnish cold...

Spiny Lobster Butter

Spiny Lobster Butter is 1 part cooked puréed lobster, blended with an equal amount of butter, then melted in a bain marie, then strained through a cloth into a bowl filled with iced water. The melted, strained butter will congeal: collect it out of ...

Sweet Pimento Butter

Sweet Pimento Butter is butter blended with sweet peppers (red or green) that have been completely softened through gentle simmering in butter. It's then pressed through a sieve. It's used as a garnish for cold hors d'oeuvres and as a flavouring...

Tarragon Butter

To make Tarragon Butter, butter is blended with blanched fresh tarragon leaves that have been plunged in cold water then drained. It's then pressed through a sieve. Tarragon Butter is used to flavour sauces, and as a garnish for cold hors-d'oeuvres. Cooking...

Tomato Butter

Tomato Butter is butter blended with tomato juice. It is used for thickening some soups, for flavouring sauces, and as a garnish for grilled meats and fish. Cooking Tips Proportions: 200 ml (7 oz) tomato juice to 200 g / 7 oz (1 cup minus 2 tbsp)...

Truffle Butter

Truffle Butter is butter that is flavoured and scented with truffle shavings. Some versions are also mixed with olives, anchovies, etc. In a classical French version, 100g of fresh truffles are blended with 150g of butter, then forced through a sieve. Black...

Tuna Butter

Tuna butter is a flavoured butter made by mixing 1 part puréed tuna with almost 3 parts butter. This blended mixture is then forced through a sieve. It's used as a garnish for grilled meats and fish. The tuna used is tuna that has been tinned and ...

Walnut Butter

Walnut butter is a flavoured butter made from 1 part blanched walnuts, ground to a paste, combined with 2 parts butter. The mixture is then forced through a sieve. It is used as a garnish on hors d'oeuvres, soups and sauces.

Concentrated Butter

Concentrated butter is an industrially-made butter similar to clarified butter . It is made in every country where there is a butter industry, from New Zealand to England. The water, lactose and casein protein are removed from the cream or butter....

Cultured Butter

European butters are churned from milk that has first been "soured" with bacterial starter cultures. This not only gives the butter a bit of a tangy-taste, it lets the butter keep better without the addition of salt being necessary. Butterfat cream...

Dehydrated Butter

There are two different meanings to Dehydrated Butter, depending on where you are. In France, this is called "Beurre Déshydraté", and means butter that the water has been take out of ("de" meaning "from", and "hydro" meaning water.) It is made by m...

French Butters

Butter is a legally-defined term in France, not just a word in the dictionary with subjective interpretations. The first definition of butter in French law was in 1924, expanded later by the decree of 30 December 1988. [1] The decree defined butter...

Beurre Charentes-Poitou

Beurre Charentes-Poitou is a cream-coloured, 82% butterfat, easy-to-spread butter made from pasteurized cream. No additional substances, including colouring or preservatives, are allowed. It has to be made in the French départements of Charente, Deux-Sèvres, V...

Beurre Cuisinier

Beurre Cuisinier is a commercial-use butter made for professional chefs and pastry cooks by the food industry. Beurre Cuisinier may be made from either pasteurized or unpasteurized milk. All water is removed from the milk, but not quite all milk solids,...

Beurre d'Échiré

Beurre d'Échiré is an AOC butter made by a cooperative, Société de Laiterie Coopérative d'Échiré, that produces only 950 tons of it a year. The butterfat content is 84%. The milk must come from cows that have grazed within 19 miles (30 km) of Échiré...

Beurre d'Isigny

Beurre d'Isigny is a French butter that is used both as a spread and as an ingredient. It is sold in round paperboard tubs with replaceable lids (designed in Finland but made in Habsheim, France), in foil logs and in low, rectangular plastic tubs. There...

Beurre de Baratte

Beurre de Baratte is a process used in French dairies to make a certain type of butter. Milk is "soured" with bacterial starter cultures. This develops the flavour, thickens the cream and the butter globules begin forming. The buttermilk is then...

Beurre Extra Fin

"Beurre Extra Fin" is a classification used in France for classifying butter. As for "regular" "Beurre Fin", the butter is made from pasteurized cream, none of which can be recovered from whey, and a maximum of 30% of the cream used overall can have been...

Beurre Fermier

Beurre Fermier is "Farm Fresh Butter", or more literally, "farm butter." It is made and sold in France and Québec, Canada, by small producers right on their farms. It's often made by hand without the use of electrical machines, just as it would have ...

Beurre Fin

"Beurre Fin" is a term used in France to classify butter made from pasteurized cream. None of the pasteurized cream can be recovered from whey, and a maximum of 30% of the cream used can have been previously frozen.

Beurre Laitier

Beurre Laitier is a French term used to describe butter made in a creamery or small dairy, as opposed to on a farm or in a factory; so it's half-way between artisanal and industrial. In effect, it's the English expression "creamery butter", though it...

Beurre Pâtissier

"Beurre Pâtissier" is butter that is 99.8% butterfat made specially for raised pastries, cakes, brioches, and choux pastry. It is made through centrifugal force that forces out almost all water and milk solids other than fat. It will be 25% reconstituted ...

Demi-Beurre

Demi-Beurre is half-fat butter. It's a term used to describe a butter that is "light" in fat. By law though in France, the packaging must still give the actual butterfat content. In France, the butterfat content of Demi-Beurre is 41% -- which is...

Ghee

Ghee © Denzil Green Ghee is butter that has been clarified, then browned a bit, then strained of the browned milk solids at the bottom, resulting in pure butter fat with a high smoke point. The browning of the milk solids gives the Ghee a nutty, ...

Light Butter

Light Butter is a term used to refer to a butter with less butterfat content than normal. It does not refer to the colour, so don't go looking for the opposite, a "dark butter", unless you mean "brown butter." Light Butter is made from pasteurised...

Margarine

Margarine © Denzil Green Margarine is a product meant to be an alternative to butter. More than that, though, it become the product that launched a thousand political battles. The dairy industry is ever vigilant about margarine claiming to be ...

National Margarine

Special Margarine. April 1943 United States Office of War Information, Overseas Picture Division. National Margarine was a national margarine commissioned by the British Ministry of Food during World War Two. There were actually two kinds of...

Pasteurized Butter

Pasteurized butter is made in factories, and is almost always government inspected. It's not actually the butter that is pasteurized, but rather the milk / cream that the butter is made from. The milk or cream can be pasteurized using HTST or UHT...

Plugrá Butter

Plugrá is a brand name of butter. Butter made in North America has to have a minimum 80% butterfat, and almost all have just that, the minimum amount required by law. Plugrá Butter has 82% butterfat, and has 10% less water in it than regular butter. It i...

Raw Butter

Raw Butter is butter made from unpasteurized milk (aka "raw" milk.) It has bit more of a tart taste, and goes rancid much more quickly, than butter made from pasteurized milk. Raw Butters tend to also be sold as organic, unsalted and uncoloured,...

Rendered Butter

Rendered Butter is a term with both an older meaning, and a more modern one. Previously, rendering butter (melting it to remove the water and milk solids, e.g. clarifying it) was a good method of storing butter without refrigeration, because it would...

Renovated Butter

Renovated butter is a product made from butter that either has gone rancid, or that was impure. The purpose is to end up with a butter that is usable for human consumption. The butter is melted. The butterfat is collected from the resultant liquid...

Salted Butter

Salted Butter © Denzil Green Salt acts as a preservative, in butter as in everything else. Adding salt to butter gives it a longer storage life, of up to 5 months under normal refrigeration, provided it's still in its factory packaging unopened. ...

Semi-Salted Butter

Semi-salted butter is butter with some salt in it, but not enough to meet the legal definition of salted. In France, it means .5 to 3% of salt has been added. In America and South Africa, it means the butter is 1% salt.

Spreadable Butter

Normally, butter is only spreadable if left out of the fridge for those blessed few months of the year when the cold will not make it hard, or the heat turns it into a puddle of rancid yellow oil. Consequently, many people, tired of massacring a poor...

Summer Butter

Summer butter essentially just means butter made in the summer. Winter butter is pale, because the cows are fed hay at that time of the year (though colouring such as annatto is added to the butter to compensate for that.) Summer Butter naturally has...

Sweet Cream Butter

British and North American butters are churned from fresh Butterfat Cream (the cream in which the butterfat in the milk has been extracted from the rest of the milk.) The Butterfat cream is pumped into churns, which churn out Sweet Cream Butter and...

Three-Quarter Fat Butter

Three-Quarter Fat Butter is a term used in France, Switzerland, Germany and in the UK. It means the butter will have three-quarters of the 80 to 82% butterfat content that it normally would. Therefore, the butterfat content will be between 60 and 62%....

Unsalted Butter

Unsalted Butter is butter with no salt added. It will therefore, in theory, have only one ingredient: cream. This results in a shorter shelf-life then salted butter. [1] Unsalted Butter has to be fresh, or you know right away if it's off; there's no...

Whey Butter

Whey butter is butter made from whey separated from curd during the making of cheese. It is a strong tasting with a bit of a cheesy flavour to it. It can be salty tasting, if salt was added to the cheese-making process before the whey was drained off....

Whipped Butter

Whipped butter is butter that is whipped to incorporate either nitrogen gas or air. The goal is to make it easy to spread even when chilled, and to increase its volume. That being said, it is not really spreadable straight from the fridge, but it will...

Cheese

Cheese © Leclaire & Schenk Cheese is a dairy product made from the curdled milk of animals such as cows, sheep, goats and water buffalo. When making cheese from unpasteurized milk, the milk is often let stand for several hours first -- ...

American Cheeses

Cover illustration. Cornell Reading Course for the Home. April 1920. © Div. Rare & Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library There was a time when the term "American Cheese" pretty much just meant cheddar. "American Cheese" (singular) ...

British Cheeses

Before World War One (1914 - 1918), there were 3,500 independent British cheesemakers. The British Milk Marketing Board was established in 1933; everyone in England and Wales producing milk or cheese was compelled to belong to it, and pay a levy to...

Cheese Curds

White Cheese Curds © Denzil Green Cheese Curds are randomly-sized chunks of cheese about the size of unshelled peanuts. The chunks are actual fresh, unaged curds of coagulated milk that have been separated from the whey in the milk, but not ...

Cheese Rinds

Cheese rinds are leftover rinds from cheeses such as Parmesan or Romano. They make a great addition to a soup: they thicken it and add flavour. As you have leftover cheese rinds, pop them in the freezer until you make a soup, then add to the soup while...

Cheese Technical Terms

Humans have been making cheese for millenia, and as can be expected, a variety of techniques in the making of it have evolved. Technical terms have arisen in all languages in order to define and explain the various techniques, so that knowledge can...

Affinage

Affinage is a French word meaning the ripening or maturing period, usually used in reference to cheeses. An "affineur" is a cheese ager -- someone who purchases young cheeses, and then matures then in certain conditions to achieve desired tastes. Some...

Casein

Casein is a protein that is in milk. It is vital to the cheese-making process. Acids and enzymes cause the protein to coagulate and form curd. It is also extracted from milk, and used an ingredient in many other items. Food-grade and industrial-grade...

Cooked-Curd Cheeses

Cooked-Curd Cheeses is a cheese-making term. It refers to milk curds that have been heated during the cheese making process to a temperature between 48 and 56 C (118 to 132 F.) Generally, cheeses made from curd that has been cooked end up to be harder...

Creamery

Creamery is a term used to describe a company that buys milk from farmers to make dairy products, such as cheese. This term is contrasted with "farmhouse", which means that a farmer uses milk from his/her own herd to make dairy products with.

Double-Cream Cheese

The term "Double-Cream Cheese" does not refer to the type of cheese called "cream cheese." Rather, the term describes the butterfat content of a cheese. Double-cream means that the cheese is made from milk with at least 60% butterfat in it. This...

Fat Content of Cheeses

In modern times, we have a love/hate relationship with cheese. We love fat in our cheese for the mouth feel and the taste, and for the way the fat in cheese acts when it is cooked. At the same time, though, we are leery of the effects of fat on us, both...

Longhorn Cheese

Longhorn Cheese is not a type of cheese, but rather an American term used to indicate the size of a block of cheese. It is a long cylinder about 1 1/2 feet (45 cm) long, and 8 inches (20 cm) wide, weighing about 13 pounds (6 kg.) To make Longhorn...

Pate (of a Cheese)

Pate is a word used to refer to the actual inside of the cheese -- what's inside the rind or crust. It's only used in the context of cheeses that do develop a surface rind. You wouldn't, for instance, use it to talk about Cream Cheese. It is borrowed...

Pressed-Curd Cheeses

Pressed-Curd Cheeses is a cheese-making term. It refers to milk curds that have been pressed during the cheese making process to force the liquid called whey out of them. Generally, cheeses made from curd that has been pressed end up to be semi-firm...

Raw Curd Cheeses

Raw Curd Cheeses is a cheese-making term. It refers to milk curds that have not been heated during the cheese making process. After milk has been coagulated to separate into curds and whey, the whey is drained away. For some varieties of cheese,...

Rennet

Rennet is a substance used to get milk to curdle in cheese making. There is an active enzyme called "rennin" in rennet which acts on the casein protein in milk. Casein protein is found in minute globules known as "micelles", which are bunches of casein...

Semi-Cooked Curd Cheeses

Semi-Cooked Curd Cheeses is a cheese-making term. It refers to milk curds that have been heated during the cheese making process to a temperature between 37 and 48 C (98 to 118 F.) Generally, cheeses made from curd that has been cooked end up to be...

Skim-Milk Cheeses

The legal definition of Skim-Milk Cheeses varies wildly. In general, it can just mean that some fat has been removed from the milk, though you may not know if all fat or even how much was removed. It can also mean whole milk has been used, with some...

Smear-Ripened Cheeses

Smear-Ripened Cheeses are softer cheeses that were made in lowland areas. These were cheeses that didn't need as long a storage life, as they were being made very close to where the markets where (cheeses made in highlands and the mountains often had...

Stretched Curd Cheeses

Stretched Curd Cheeses is a cheese-making term. It refers to milk curds that have been kneaded and pulled before being formed into a cheese. Generally, cheeses made from curd that has been cooked end up to be stringy, or fibrous, and / or layered inside. After...

Sweet Curd Cheeses

Sweet Curd Cheeses is a generic term for cheeses that have no starter bacteria added, just rennet. They are processed very quickly before acid can develop. The cheeses are not really sweetened; rather, with less acid, which would make the cheese taste...

Triple-Cream Cheese

A "Triple-Cream Cheese" is around 33% milk fat, or higher. The term describes the percentage of a cheese that would be fat if moisture were removed from a cheese. It means the cheese is 70% fat or more "in dry matter" (aka Fat in Dry Matter, FDM.)...

Truckle

When used in relation to food, a truckle is generally a whole cylinder of cheese as sold by the cheesemaker, though it can also be a wheel. In North America, people are more inclined to just say a "wheel" of cheese, even if it's a cylinder. Language...

Turophile

Turophile means "cheese lover." Language Notes Turophile is a recently invented word in English, drawing on the Greek words "tyros" (cheese) and "philos" ("love"). It's not known exactly who made it up. The word was around in the late 1930s, though...

Washed-Curd Cheeses

Washed-Curd Cheeses are cheeses that are made somewhat like Cheddar, except the curds are washed before being salted. The washing takes away lactose sugar that the bacteria could change into acid; it also allows the curds to absorb water. These cheeses...

Colby Cheese

Colby Cheese is somewhat like a cheddar, but milder, more elastic and moister. To make Colby, cow's milk is pasteurized and a bacteria starter culture is mixed in. The milk is heated, with food colouring being added when the milk reaches 86 to 88 F...

Extra-Hard Cheeses

Extra-hard is a term used to describe a group of various cheeses that are hard and brittle. These cheeses get so hard because they are low-fat and low-moisture. In addition to grating well, they are usually aged up to 3 years to develop a sharp flavour. Some...

Asiago Cheese

Asiago cheese, a speciality of the Italian regions of Vicenza, Pavova, Treviso and Trento, is made from cow's milk (it was originally made of milk from sheep.) The original cheese is a sweet curd, semi-cooked, unpasteurized cheese. Both the cheese and...

Cotija Cheese

Cotija Cheese is a hard Mexican cheese good for grating. It is like Queso Añejo, but Añejo has a milder flavour, is softer and less crumbly. Cotija Cheese is made from whole cow milk and/or goat's milk. The milk is either boiled at 199 F (93 C), o...

Grana Padano

Grana Padano is a hard cheese used for grating. It is like Parmesan, but it is not aged as long, it has a milder flavour, and its texture is a little coarser. The cheese is made from raw, semi-skim cow's milk. The milk is put in large pots made of...

Manchego Viejo

Manchego Viejo is Mexican Manchego cheese that has been aged, giving it a sharp taste and firm body that can be grated, shaved or sliced. The cheese is yellow, whereas unaged Manchego is whitish. There is also a Spanish "Queso Manchego Viejo", which...

Parmesan Cheese

Parmesan Cheese is made from raw skim milk. Calf Rennet is added to the milk, and the milk heated until it curdles. The curd is cut, heated to 125 F (51 C), stirred, then heated further up to 131 F (55 C.) The curd is packed into moulds lined with cheesecloth,...

Sapsago Cheese

Sapsago is a hard cheese used as a garnish or flavouring cheese. It can be grated on top of dishes, or blended into soft, fresh cheeses, or into butter, to make spreads. The cheese is sold in small 3 oz (85g) cone-shapes, wrapped in silver foil. Each...

Sbrinz Cheese

Sbrinz cheese is a Swiss cheese made from whole, raw cow's milk. The milk is heated to 89 F (31.5 C), at which point starter bacteria and Calf Rennet is mixed in. After being allowed to curdle for 40 minutes, the curd is cut into large pieces, drained...

Firm Cheeses

This group or category of aged cheeses is also known as hard cheeses. They have more moisture and fat than extra-hard cheeses , but less than semi-firm cheeses . Cheddar is the most well-known example in the English-speaking world. Cooking Tips...

Battelmatt Cheese

Battelmatt Cheese has a rough, chestnut-coloured, rind. Inside, the cheese's colour ranges from straw yellow to gold. It is made from unpasteurized whole cows' milk. The curd is heated at a lower temperature than that for other cheeses. Battelmatt...

Beaufort Cheese

Beaufort Cheese is a semi-firm, smooth French cheese, made in the Beaufort "commune" (township) of the Savoie region of France along the Alps. The cheese is made year round. The summer version of Beaufort Cheese is sometimes referred to as Beaufort ...

Bergkäse

Bergkäse is the generic name for a group of cheeses originally made in the Bavarian Alps in Germany. Generally, cheeses in this grouping are taken to be firm, pliable, and pale yellow, with a texture similar to Emmenthal. The cheeses are usually ...

Bitto Cheese

Bitto can be a semi-hard or a hard cheese, depending on how long it was aged. Bitto Cheeses are sold anywhere from 40 days to 3 years in age. When young, the cheese is called "giovane" (which means "young" in Italian.) It is soft, white-coloured and...

Brick Cheese

Brick is a sweet, nutty tasting cheese. Milk is first pasteurized, then mixed with lactic bacteria and rennet to make it curd. When curd has formed, the curd is removed and drained, then salted and pressed into shape. It is let stand for a few days...

Cheddar Cheese

There are entire books and articles dedicated to Cheddar cheese, so loved is it throughout the English-speaking world. It originated in Cheddar, Somerset. An unprotected cheese name There are many varieties of Cheddar, and anyone can make it. Even...

Applewood Smoked Cheddar

Applewood Smoked Cheddar © Denzil Green Applewood Smoked Cheddar is a semi-firm, white, smoked cheddar cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk. The cheese is made with Natural Smoke Flavouring added to it (i.e., it is not actually smoked.) It ...

Bandon Vale Cheddar Cheese

Bandon Vale Cheddar Cheese is a pale yellow farmhouse cheese with a crumbly, soft texture. It is made from pasteurised cow's milk curdled with vegetable rennet. The cheeses are formed into wheels and then aged for 12 months. For sale, the 3 pound...

Canadian Cheddar Cheese

The best Canadian Cheddar is made from unpasteurized milk and matured for 24 to 27 months. It is not usually available in Canada. The Canadian cheddar available in Canada tastes nowhere near as good as the Canadian cheddar that is exported for consumption...

Daylesford Cheddar Cheese

Daylesford Cheddar Cheese is a hard, dense, creamy cheese similar to cheddar. It has a sharp, nutty taste and is the colour of pale butter. Daylesford Cheddar Cheese is made in England from unpasteurized milk curdled with calf's rennet. The milk...

Dunlop Cheddar Cheese

Dunlop Cheddar is a cheddar cheese that is made from raw milk from Ayrshire cows. It is usually sold young, before it has fully ripened, when it is semi-firm and mild and creamy. It was meant to be a hard cheese with a stronger flavour, which requires...

Fountains Gold Cheese

Fountains Gold Cheese is a semi-firm cheddar made from Jersey and Guernsey cow's milk. The herd is located in Yorkshire, UK. It is a smooth, creamy, full-flavoured cheese and is sold both waxed and unwaxed. Fountains Gold Cheese is made by Wensleydale...

Government Cheddar Cheese

During World War Two, the British government decreed that as part of war economies and rationing, only cheddar cheese made in a certain way would be available to the populace. All milk produced that normally went to make many different kinds of cheeses,...

Irish Porter Cheddar

Irish Porter Cheddar © Denzil Green Irish Porter Cheddar is a firm white cheddar cheese made with porter added to it. The porter is brewed by Guinness in Dublin. It is made by Marion Cahill at Cahill's Farm in Limerick, Ireland, from pasteurized ...

Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese

Lincolnshire Poacher is a cheddar cheese that combines a sweetness like Gouda, with a touch of bitterness. It is pale yellow inside, with a brownish rind. It is made using unpasteurized milk from Holstein Cows. The milking is done at 5 am each morning....

Old Cheddar

Old Cheddar means "aged cheddar." There is no standard definition of what constitutes "old", given that Cheddar is made in many different countries under many different jurisdictions. The only thing you can count on is that the Cheddar labelled "Old"...

Old Speckled Hen Cheese

Old Speckled Hen Cheese © Denzil Green Old Speckled Hen Cheese is a mild white cheddar with whole grain mustard seeds in it. 10% of the cheese mixture is "Old Speckled Hen" bitter ale made by the Greene King Brewery. It is sold in 7 oz (200g) ...

Red Dragon Cheese

Red Dragon or Y-Fenni is a Welsh white cheddar cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk. It has a creamy, buttery cheddar taste, combined with a tang from the brown ale and a bit of piquancy from the whole mustard seed mixed into it. The milk is...

Tillamook Cheese

Tillamook is the name of a brand of American cheddar. It is made from thermalized milk, not pasteurized. The milk is heated to only 152 F (67 C.) Therefore, it is aged a minimum of 60 days as per American law for unpasteurized milk cheeses. It is...

White Cheddar

White-cheddar is cheddar cheese that has not been coloured orange. It can come in all the ranges, flavours and varying qualities that orange cheddar can. Cooking Tips Use where you want a cheese sauce to stay white instead of turning orange.

Yeoman Cheese

Yeoman Cheese is a Somerset cheddar, aged, with parsley and pickled silverskin onions. It is made by the Ilchester Cheese Company. Literature & Lore "Tish tish. No matter. Well, stout yeoman..." -- Customer in Monty Python's Cheese Shop sketch, ...

Clonmore Cheese

Clonmore is an Irish cheese made from pasteurised goat's milk and curdled with vegetarian rennet. It is a firm, white cheese with small holes in it, sold coated in beige wax. The production process is similar to Gouda cheese. The cheese has been...

Coolea Cheese

Coolea is an Irish Gouda-style cheese made in Coolea, County Cork, near the Kerry border. It is made from cow's milk that they procure from their neighbours' Holstein and Freisian cows. The cheese comes in two sizes of yellow-wax coated wheels,...

Emmenthal Cheese

Emmenthal Cheese is the famous Swiss cheese with the big holes in it. Partly-skimmed unpasteurized cow's milk is heated to 31 C (89 F.) Rennet and starter bacteria are then added. The milk is let sit to curdle for half an hour. The curd is then cut...

Allgäu Emmentaler

Allgäu Emmentaler is a yellowish Bavarian cheese with large round eyes that are anywhere from 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches (1 to 3 cm) wide. It has a smooth rind, and is mild tasting when young, strong when aged. A wheel will be between 5 to 5 3/4 inches ...

Jarlsberg Cheese

Jarlsberg Cheese is a Norwegian version of Emmenthal cheese made from cow's milk. It is a pale yellow colour with large holes, like Emmenthal, and has the same supple texture, but is milder in flavour. However, it is still a step up in taste from American...

Swiss Cheese

Swiss Cheese © Denzil Green Swiss Cheese is a North American generic imitation of Emmenthal, just as Jarlsberg is a Norwegian version of Emmenthal. In the UK, and in Europe, "Swiss Cheese" has no meaning as a specific cheese. It would be like saying ...

Etorki Cheese

Etorki is a hard cheese made in the French Basque region of the Pyrénées from the milk of black-headed sheep (sic.) The curds are put into moulds, and pressed to drain off the remaining whey. Then, they are soaked in brine for two hours, then rubbed i...

Farmhouse Cheese

Farmhouse isn't a distinct type of cheese; the term "farmhouse" refers to the process of its being produced on farms, often with much manual work or intervention, rather than through a completely automated process in factories. The farmer will have...

Gloucester Cheese

Gloucester Cheese has been made in Gloucestershire since the 1500s. There are two versions: Single Gloucester and Double Gloucester. Both cheeses are round. Double Gloucester was called "double" because, at 5 inches (13 cm) thick, it was double the...

Gouda Cheese

Gouda Cheese is a hard cheese made from whole cow's milk. The milk has starter bacteria added to it, and is then heated to help the curds separate from the whey. The curds are pressed into circular moulds for a few hours, then soaked in brine. The cheeses...

Halloumi Cheese

Halloumi Cheese © Denzil Green Halloumi is a cheese that is popular in Greece and Cyprus. It is a mild, semi-hard cheese made from goat's, sheep's or cow's milk. After being made, it is preserved and shipped in brine. It is almost always ...

Havarti Cheese

Havarti Cheese © Denzil Green Havarti Cheese is a milder version of Tilsit Cheese. It is a rindless, semi-firm cheese made from cow's milk. The cheese is a pale yellow colour with tiny holes. It is very pliable, almost rubbery. It's aged ...

Hoop Cheese

Hoop Cheese is a term that is used to refer to either an American Hard Cheese or an American Soft Cheese. Hard Hoop Cheese Hoop Cheese is considered a hard cheese in the American South-East. Hard Hoop Cheese comes in large wheels of about 20 pounds...

Isle of Mull Cheese

Isle of Mull is a dense, hard farmhouse cheese with some occasional blue veins. The cheese is made by a Jeff Reade at Sgriob-ruadh [1] Farm on the Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland. It is the only dairy farm on the island. Isle of Mull...

Kambera Cheese

Kambera Cheese is an Australian version of Jarlsberg or American Swiss.

Killeen Cheese

Killeen Cheese is made by Marion Roeleweld at Killeen Millhouse outside Balinasloe, Ireland. It is a firm, Gouda-style cheese. Inside, it is cream-coloured with small holes. There are two versions: one made from goat's milk, another from cow's milk. Sources...

Lamb Chopper Cheese

Lamb Chopper Cheese is smooth, firm and yellow inside, with a mild, almost sweet taste. On its label, the cheese has a lamb on a motorcycle complete with helmet and scarf. It is similar to Gouda. Though Lamb Chopper is sold as an American cheese, it...

Lord of The Hundreds Cheese

Lord of The Hundreds is a hard cheese made from unpasteurized sheep's milk. It can be compared to a pecorino. It is dry and crumbly like parmesan, but with a smooth, mild taste. The milk is curdled using vegetarian rennet. The cheeses are made in...

Manchego Cheese (Spanish)

Manchego Cheese is made in the Spanish regions of Castilla La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Albacete, Cuenca and Toledo in central Spain. It is made from sheep's milk; some versions pasteurize the milk first. It is made in wheels that are 8 to 10 inches...

Mitzithra Cheese (Aged)

Aged Mitzithra is a salty-tasting Greek sheep's milk cheese which is hard and crumbly, with a sharp taste. It is made in very white, dry, and firm balls that can be round or egg-shaped. Mitzithra is made from the whey leftover from making cheeses...

Muenster Cheese

There are several variations on what constitutes Muenster Cheese. In general, it is a washed rind, semi-firm cheese, that is soft, creamy and yellowish inside, with a red sticky rind outside. The rind is edible, though some cut if off because it has...

Murcia al Vino Cheese

A moist, pasteurized goat's milk cheese made in the Murcia region of Spain, with a mild, tangy taste. While the rounds of cheese are maturing, they are immersed twice in red wine, which gives the rind a red colour. The rind is inedible (sadly, after...

Murcia Cheese

Murcia is a Spanish. It may be made from unpasteurized or pasteurized milk from Murciano-Granadina goats. There are two versions -- fresco ("fresh") and curado ("aged.") Murcia Curado ("aged") version is a pressed-curd cheese made in wheel shapes,...

Pinconning Cheese

Pinconning Cheese is an aged, semi-firm cheese made from whole cow's milk. It is somewhere between Cheddar and Colby, but unlike Colby it can be aged. It comes in varying degrees of sharpness, depending on how long it has been aged -- it can be...

Provolone Cheese

Provolone is semi-firm Italian cheese. To make it, whole cow's milk is heated to 100 F (38 C.) Whey from previous batches is added to act as the starter culture, along with Rennet. The Rennet used may be from a calf, a goat kid, or a lamb. When the...

Qurut

Qurut is a Central Asian cheese that is made from Iran and Turkey straight across Central Asia to Tibet. To make Qurut, milk is fermented then dried, yielding round, sour curds. This process is an Asian steppes tradition, in contrast to the European...

Raclette Cheese

Raclette is a mild cheese with a taste similar to that of gruyère. There are French and Swiss versions. Raclette is also used as the name of a meal based on the cheese. See Raclette (Meal.) The cheese is semi-soft, and off-white in colour, with ...

Raclette Jurassienne

Raclette Jurassienne can mean two things: It can be the cheese called "Raclette" when it is made in the Jura region of eastern France on the border with Switzerland. It will be made from unpasteurized cow's milk, by small producers, and have a 45%...

Red Leicester Cheese

Red Leicester Cheese © Denzil Green Red Leicester is a crumblier version of cheddar. Despite its flaky texture, it is still a firm cheese. The rind is reddish-orange with a powdery mould on it. It is made from cow's milk coloured with annatto. Although ...

Royal Windsor Red Cheese

Royal Windsor Red Cheese is two layers of Windsor Red Cheese with a third layer of Stilton sandwiched in between them. The cheese is made from cow's milk curdled with a vegetable rennet.

Salers Cheese

Salers is a farmhouse version of Cantal cheese. Cantal is made in Auvergne, France; Salers is a small village within the Cantal production zone. Salers is like Cantal in almost every way, Cantal is the "commercial, industrial version" made with...

São Jorge Cheese

São Jorge Cheese © Denzil Green São Jorge Cheese is made from unpasteurized cow's milk on the island of São Jorge in the Azores. It is firm but supple, with small holes inside the cheese. The cheese is a pale gold colour, with a natural rind tha...

St George Cheese

St George Cheese is made in Santa Rosa, California, about 50 miles north of San Francisco. It is an American take on São Jorge Cheese. The company that makes it only makes this one cheese. It is a farmhouse cheese. St George Cheese is firm but ...

Sussex Yeoman Cheese

Sussex Yeoman Cheese is a hard, crumbly cheese with a nutty flavour made from pasteurized goat's milk curdled with vegetarian rennet. It is made at Nut Knowle Farm near Horam, East Sussex, England.

Tomme d'Abondance

Tomme d'Abondance is a firm, mild-flavoured cheese with a yeasty, fruity taste made in the Abondance Valley in the Haute-Savoie on the border between Switzerland and France. The wheel-shaped cheese is an ivory-yellow colour inside, with a slightly...

Windsor Red Cheese

Windsor Red Cheese starts off as a cheddar-like cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk. Depending on the maker, a Vegetarian Rennet may be used. Most of the cheese is coloured and flavoured either with a wine such as Bordeaux or Elderberry, or with...

Goat's Milk Cheeses

Goat's Milk Cheese © Denzil Green Goat's Milk Cheeses are generally rindless creamy cheeses, usually sold in log or round slice form, and often coated with something fancy such as cracked pepper, herbs or even ashes. Cheeses made from Goat's ...

Brousse du Rove

Brousse du Rove is a fresh, unaged goat's milk cheese very popular in Marseille, France. It is a soft, liquidy, creamy cheese that melts in your mouth. Brousse du Rove is made in the small village of Rove (population 4,000 as of 2005), just west...

Capricorn Goat's Cheese

Capricorn is a soft English goat's milk cheese with a mild, nutty taste. It is made by the Lubborn Creamery at Manor Farm near Chard, Somerset with goat's milk from neighbouring farms. 20 US quarts (20 litres) of milk is needed to make 2 1/4 pounds...

Chèvre

While many countries make cheese from goat's milk, Chèvre means (at least theoretically) French cheese made from goat's milk. The milk is generally pasteurized, and the cheese aged. The shapes and brand names will vary. Chèvre has a lower moisture c...

Chevre Noir

Though made from goat's milk, Chevre Noir is not like other chevres: it's actually more of a cheddar. The cheese is made in rectangular bricks. Though coated in two layers of black wax, the cheese is bone-china white inside, with a hard, crumbly, smooth...

Chevrot Cheese

Chevrot is a cheese made from goat's milk. The cheese is sold either young or aged. The young version has a mild flavour and is moist, with a bit of a yeasty taste. The rind, which is edible, is somewhat wrinkled and off white or ivory-coloured. As...

Gevrik Cheese

Gevrik Cheese is a mould-ripened cheese from Cornwall, England. Though it is made from whole goat's milk, it has a light, mild taste that is almost lemon-like, with none of the goat-like smell or taste that puts some people off goat cheeses. The...

Humboldt Fog Cheese

Humboldt Fog is a goat's milk cheese, that uses ash, both as a top covering and as a layer through the middle. The milk is pasteurized, then coagulated with lactic acid and vegetable enzyme and allowed to curdle overnight. Cheese moulds are half-filled...

Pantysgawn Cheese

Pantysgawn Cheese is a soft, creamy cheese made in Wales from pasteurized goat's milk. It has a salty taste with a bit of sourness that reminds some people of lemon. A fresh cheese, it is sold in a cylindrical shaped roll, with no rind or crust. It...

Pavé Blésois Cheese

Pavé Blésois is a soft cheese made in Sologney, France from raw goat's milk. It is made in a flattened square brick shape, like a rectangular paving brick -- thus its name. The cheese is 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) wide, 5 inches (12 1/2 cm) long, a...

Pavé de Chirac Cheese

Pavé de Chirac is made around the village of Chirac near Clermont-Ferrand in the Massif Central area of central France. Made from goat's milk, it is a soft cheese sold in rectangular blocks that have a soft rind with light-blue mould. Inside the cheese ...

Picodon de Chèvre

Picodon de Chèvre is a cheese made from whole goat's milk. It has a hard rind, that is covered in mould that can be blue, white or yellow. The cheese inside is firm, with a pungent smell. The taste of the cheese is both slightly sour and slightly sweet; ...

Saint-Loup Goat Cheese

Saint-Loup Cheese © Denzil Green Saint-Loup is a camembert style cheese made from pasteurized goat's milk. It is made in Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet, in the Poitou-Charentes region of France, by the dairy collective called "Groupement Des Laiteries ...

Selles-sur-Cher

Selles-sur-Cher is a semi-firm French cheese made from unpasteurized goat's milk. The cheese is round and thick, with sides that slant upwards. It has a goaty smell and nutty flavour. The rind on it is covered in wood charcoal powder, which darkens...

St Tola Cheese

St Tola is a soft, moist, crumbly cheese made from unpasteurized goat's milk curdled with vegetarian rennet. It is made in Inagh in north-western County Clare, Ireland. It was first made by Meg and Derrick Gordon, in the early 1980s. In 1999, sold...

Italian Cheeses: Types and Uses

Italian Cheeses are a huge part of Italian meals. There is no formal fixed cheese course in Italian dining, as there is in French dining. In Italian cuisine, a cheese can be served before a meal, after, or more likely during, as an ingredient, topping...

Mexican Cheeses

Many Mexican cheeses are fresh, and "designed" not to melt when heated. They keep their shape; they don't ooze and run. This makes them ideal as a cheese to stuff baked dishes with. Not many non-Mexican cheeses will act like this. For those who can't...

Processed Cheese

Processed cheese is a cheese which is made from a blend of other cheeses, often both aged and unripened cheeses such as cheddar, Swiss and brick. Producers like processed cheese because it means they can use up some cheese before it is ripened, which...

Cheez Whiz

Cheez Whiz® is a processed cheese spread used commonly for crackers and sandwiches, and melted for use as a dip or sauce. It is sold in the United States, Canada and the Philippines. Its bright orange colouring is aided by the addition of annatto. It ...

Vache Qui Rit Cheese

Vache Qui Rit Cheese © Denzil Green Vache Qui Rit Cheese is a soft, white processed cheese with a sweet, mild taste and butter-like texture. It is made year round from cow's milk. It is popular owing to the individually-wrapped snack sizes it ...

Queso Fundido

Queso Fundido is a Mexican term that means "melted cheese." The cheese can be any cheese. Language Notes "Queso" means cheese, and "fundido" means melted. Pronounced: "Kayso fun deedo".

Semi-Firm Cheeses

Semi-firm cheeses are those which hold their shape for slicing, and which can be shredded, but which aren't soft enough to spread, and not hard enough to grate. They tend to have a moisture level between 40 and 60%, and can be ripened or unripened. They...

Appenzeller Cheese (Quarter Fat)

In making this lower-fat version of Appenzeller Cheese, less water is added while making the cheese, and a lower cooking temperature is used for the curds. Different starter cultures reduce the speed of the fermentation, which in term lets more water...

Ardrahan Cheese

Ardrahan is a semi-firm, washed-rind cheese. Inside the cheese is butter-coloured, with a texture something like a firm camembert. As the cheese ages, it takes on a smokey, tangy flavour. The thin, crusy rind is slightly sticky, and has a salty,...

Asadero Cheese

Asadero is an off-white, semi-firm Mexican cheese often sold in a log shape for convenient and easy slicing. It is an excellent cooking cheese: when it melts, it becomes quite creamy without giving off any oil, even at higher temperatures. It has a...

Blue Cheeses

A blue cheese is a cheese that has veins or blotches of blue in it, caused by the presence and growth in it of the Penicillium mould. As a result of the mould, it will have a distinctive coloration, aroma and taste. How strong are blue cheeses? There...

Beenleigh Blue Cheese

Beenleigh Blue Cheese is made in Totnes, Devon, England, from sheep's milk from January to July. Crumbly in texture, it is pale yellow with greenish-blue veins, and has a taste that is salty, sweet and tangy. The sheep's milk is curdled with vegetarian...

Blackstick's Velvet Cheese

Blackstick's Velvet Cheese is a creamy, smooth textured sheep's-milk blue cheese with a nutty, mild, slightly sweet taste. It has a light grey powder in patches on the surface. It is made by Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses in Longridge, Lancashire, England. The...

Bleu Bénédictin Cheese

Bleu Bénédictin Cheese has a mild taste compared to a blue cheese such as Stilton. Made from pasteurized whole cow's milk treated with Roquefort penicillium mould, it is a semi-soft blue with a rind of blue mould dusted with whitish-grey. It is cream-coloured i...

Bleu d'Auvergne

Bleu d'Auvergne Cheese © Denzil Green Bleu d'Auvergne is a blue cheese made in the Auvergne region in central France. It is a cream-coloured cheese with streaks of blue in it. It is spicy but not sharp tasting, and milder than Roquefort blue ...

Bleu d'Causses

Bleu d'Causses is a blue cheese made in Peyrelade, a village in the middle of the Gorges du Tarn in the centre of France, on the border of Lozère and Aveyron. This is the same area in which Roquefort is made. In Peyrelade, there are caves aerated by ...

Bleu de Basque

Bleu de Basque is a modern French blue cheese made from sheep's milk. The milk is "thermalized" but not pasteurized, then coagulated with calf rennet. Two sizes of wheels are made, 11 pounds and 4 pounds (5 kg and 1.8 kg.) The 11 pound sizes are...

Bleu de Bresse

Bleu de Bresse (aka Bresse Bleu) is a milk blue cheese. It is made in cylinders weighing from 125 to 500 grams. Outside, it has a smooth, off-white rind similar to the rind on Brie and Camembert cheese. Inside, it is creamy and soft like Brie, almost...

Bleu de Gex

Bleu de Gex is a blue cheese made from the unpasteurized milk of Montbeliardes cows. The milk is heated to 80 F (27 C), Rennet is added, then the curds are cut to the size of small peas, and moulded. It is dry-salted over a period of 4 to 6 days. It...

Bleu de Termignon

Bleu de Termignon is a blue cheese currently (2004) made by one woman with 9 cows in the French Alps. Her cows graze in the National Park of Vanoise. The cheese is not inoculated with a blue cheese mould, as other blue cheeses are. Rather, her cows...

Blue Wensleydale

Blue Wensleydale Cheese was revived in the 1990s from the Wensleydale recipe. It is made from double-cream. It has blue veins like Stilton, though it is much milder. It is aged about 6 months. This is often sold as "Yorkshire Blue." Equivalents...

Buffalo Blue Cheese

Buffalo Blue Cheese is an English blue cheese made in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. It is soft, spreadable and creamy with a mild taste. The white part of Buffalo Blue Cheese is very white because the milk used is water buffalo milk. from water buffalo...

Buxton Blue Cheese

Buxton Blue is a russet-coloured blue cheese, with light blue veins made in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It is cylinder shaped, with a tangy taste. The cheeses are made from cow's milk that comes mostly from the areas of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire...

Byland Blue Cheese

Byland Blue Cheese is firm, but creamy and crumbly blue cheese with greenish-blue veins. It has a somewhat sharp, spicy taste. It is made in wheels 3 1/3 pounds (1.5 kg) big, and sold in pieces wrapped in foil. Byland is made by Shepherds Purse...

Cabrales Blue Cheese

Cabrales Blue Cheese is made in four villages, including one called Cabrales, in the Eastern Asturias region of North West Spain, at the northern point of Picos de Europa in a township called Peñamellera Alta. It is a mix of raw milk from cows, goats ...

Cambozola Cheese

Cambozola Cheese © Denzil Green Cambozola Cheese is a modern, cow's milk cheese made commercially. It is meant to be a cross between Gorgonzola blue cheese and Camembert. It is a triple-cream, full-fat cheese that like Camembert is soft and ...

Canterbury Blue Cheese

Canterbury is a soft, creamy blue cheese with clumps of blue mould in it. It is made in a 5 1/2 pound (2.5 kg) wheel, and washed with brine while maturing, then wrapped in foil for sale, Canterbury Blue Cheese has a grey, gritty rind that is edible. Storage...

Caradon Blue Cheese

Caradon is a creamy, mild Cornish blue cheese. It is made from the pasteurized milk of pedigree Friesian cows in Cornwall, approximately 150 cows in herb (as of 2006.) The milk is curdled with calf's rennet. It is made for Paxton & Whitfield...

Cashel Blue Cheese

Cashel Blue Cheese is a farmhouse Irish cheese made near Cashel in County Tipperary, Ireland. It's made on the farm of Jane and Louis Grubb, with milk from their herd of Holstein-Friesian cows. They started making it in 1984; production has doubled every...

Colston Bassett Stilton Cheese

Colston Bassett is a small Stilton producing dairy. It has been making its Stilton cheese since 1920, using milk from nearby farms. Their Stilton is made from pasteurized milk. The cheese has a dry, crusty rind, with a white mould on it. It is...

Cornish Blue Cheese

Cornish Blue Cheese is a farmhouse blue cheese made from pasteurized milk from a herd of 140 Friesian cows. It has a mild, sweet taste like European blue cheeses as opposed to Stilton, and is meant to be eaten as a relatively young blue cheese. Vegetarian...

Crème de Saint Agur Cheese

Crème de Saint Agur Cheese is a spreadable version of Saint Agur that comes in a tub. Introduced in 2001.

Danish Blue Cheese

Danish Blue Cheese is made from cow's milk. It is aged a minimum of 60 days, then stored up to 10 months at 35 to 38 F (1 to 3 C.) It comes in creamy-white coloured wheels with blue green veins and unevenly spaced holes. The cheese is creamy and spreadable....

Devon Blue Cheese

Devon Blue is made with raw milk from Ayrshire cows. The milk is heated, then Penicillium roqueforti and vegetarian Rennet are added. The curds, with the whey not drained off them, are put into cylindrical moulds. The moulds are turned several times...

Dolcelatte

Dolcelatte is the brand name of Gorgonzola-type blue cheeses in Italy. There are several different cheeses sold under this brand name. One is a mild Gorgonzola called "Galbani Gorgonzola D.O.P Dolcelatte." This cheese is an official Gorgonzola. It...

Dorset Blue Vinney

Dorset Blue Vinney is a blue cheese made in Dorset, England. Most Blue Vinney is made from raw skim cow's milk, though some versions are also made from pasteurized skim milk. Starter is added to the milk, then vegetarian Rennet and Penicillium roqueforti,...

Dunsyre Blue Cheese

Dunsyre is a Scottish farmhouse blue cheese. It is a creamy cheese, with a moist, white rind with bluish-green spicy veins running through it. It has a mild, almost sweet taste. Dunsyre Blue Cheese is made in South Lanarkshire, Scotland by Humphrey...

Ermite Cheese

Ermite blue cheese is made at a Benedictine monastery called Abbaye Saint-Benoît-du-Lac in Saint-Benoît-du-Lac on Lac Memphremagog, Québec It is a mild blue cheese, with tangy aftertones and an aroma of mushrooms. In texture, it is crumbly with a ...

Exmoor Blue Cheese

Exmoor is a creamy yellow farmhouse blue cheese made in different size rounds. It is made from unpasteurized Jersey cow's milk. The milk is heated to 70 F (21 C), at which point the starter culture is added. The milk is then raised to a temperature...

Fourme d'Ambert Cheese

Fourme d'Ambert Cheese is a blue cheese made in the French départements of Loire and Puy-de-Dôme, and in the Cantal region of eastern Auvergne, around Saint-Flour. It is creamy, with a milder and less salty taste than many other blue cheeses. Some p...

Fourme de Montbrison Cheese

Fourme de Montbrison is a firm cheese with a slightly rough, orangish-reddish rind made in a tall, cylindrical shape. Inside, it is supple and pale yellow. It has a mild taste with less hint of salt than many other cheeses. Some people think they taste...

Gorgonzola Cheese

Gorgonzola Cheese is a cylindrical blue cheese made from full-fat, pasteurized cow's milk. The cheese is made in various sizes. The minimum height is 13 cm; the diameter will be between 20 and 32 cm. It has an inedible, rough pinkish-grey rind....

Guler Cheese

Guler Cheese may never really have existed to any great extent, but this whole story is too good to pass up because it involves a messy divorce. A man named Homer Spencer attempted to create, starting in 1940, an American Roquefort in caves at Trout...

Harbourne Blue Cheese

Harbourne Blue Cheese is made in Devon, England, from pasteurized goat's milk. It has a mild taste with a bit of a tang in it. It is almost white with greyish-green veins, and is firm and crumbly. The rind is moist. The goat's milk used comes come...

Jindi Deluxe Blue Cheese

Jindi Deluxe Blue is an Australian blue cheese made in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It is white and crumbly, with veins of blue mould. The company -- Jindi -- also makes a Reserve Blue, a Sapphire Blue, a Heritage Blue, and a Jumbunna Blue. History...

Lanark Blue Cheese

Lanark Blue is a Scottish Blue cheese made from unpasteurized sheep's milk. Unusually for a sheep's milk cheese, it's made year round. It is made in Carnwath Farm near Strathclyde, Lanarkshire, Scotland by H J Errington and Co, The owner, Humphrey...

Lancashire Blue Cheese

Lancashire Blue is a mild, creamy blue cheese. It is made by several producers. The version made by Adrian and Annette Rhodes Inglewhite near Preston, Lancashire is made from pasteurised milk from Holstein cows, curdled with vegetarian rennet and...

Maytag Blue Cheese

Maytag Blue Cheese hails from Newton, Iowa, in central Iowa. The cheese is made from cow's milk, with a vegetarian Rennet and Penicillium roqueforti mould added. It's made in 4 pound (1.8 kg) cylinders that have long holes punched in them with needles...

Mrs Bells Blue Cheese

Mrs Bells is a creamy, smooth cheese with blue veins dotted through it. It is less salty than many other blue cheeses. Made by Judy Bell of Shepherds Purse Cheeses Ltd in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, she named Mrs Bells Blue Cheese after herself. She...

Oxford Blue Cheese

Oxford Blue is a soft, creamy blue cheese that has a mild taste with a bit of sharpness. It is made from pasteurized cow's milk curdled with vegetarian rennet. It is sold in 14 oz (400 g) silver foil-wrapped rounds, in jars, and in smaller cylinders...

Penicillium Glaucum

Penicillium Glaucum is one of two varieties of bacteria that is used to cause blue cheeses to develop blue mould. It is used in Gorgonzola, and is used half and half with Penicillium roqueforti in making Stilton. It is milder-tasting than Penicillium...

Penicillium Roqueforti

Penicillium Roqueforti is one of two varieties of bacteria that is added to blue cheeses to cause it to develop the characteristic blue mould. It is used in Roquefort and Maytag Blue Cheese, and is used half and half with Penicillium glaucum in making...

Point Reyes Blue Cheese

Point Reyes is a farmhouse blue cheese. It is very creamy and not crumbly, with no rind. The cheese body is white, with sparse bluish-grey mould, veining it. The taste has a bit of a tang because the starter cultures, give it a tang like buttermilk,...

Roaring Forties Blue Cheese

Roaring Forties is an Australian Blue Cheese, made on King Island, an island on the Bass Strait to the south of Australia, between the Australian mainland, and Tasmania. The cheese is named after the strong winds that blow along the 40° South Longitude, ...

Roquefort Cheese

Roquefort Cheese © Denzil Green Roquefort Cheese is a blue cheese made from raw sheep's milk curdled with Calf Rennet. The breed of sheep that the milk is taken from is called "Lacaune." The wheels are 8 inches wide by 3 to 4 inches (7.5 x 10 ...

Saint Agur Cheese

Saint Agur Cheese © Denzil Green Saint Agur is a soft, creamy, spreadable, double-cream blue cheese with a slightly milder flavour than other blue cheeses. Less salty tasting than Roquefort, it is made from pasteurized cow's milk enriched with ...

Shropshire Blue

Shropshire Blue © Denzil Green Shropshire Blue is a blue cheese. Despite it's name, it is actually made in Nottinghamshire, by methods similar to Stilton. Pasteurized cow's milk is curdled with a vegetarian Rennet, and inoculated with Penicillium ...

Somerset Blue Cheese

There are two cheeses called Somerset Blue. One is actually a blue cheese. It is semi-firm, and yellowish from the rich Jersey Cow milk used. The rind has a light dusting of white mould on it. The milk is unpasteurized, and curdled with vegetarian...

Stilton

Stilton © Denzil Green Stilton is a British Blue Cheese that is stronger than Roquefort and Gorgonzola. Cow's milk is pasteurized first at 161 F (72 C ) for 15 seconds. The milk is then cooled down to 86 F to 88 F (30 C to 31 C.) Penicillium ...

Strathdon Blue Cheese

Strathdon Blue is a blue cheese, reminiscent of a milder version of Stilton, with a spicy taste and many blue veins. It is made from pasteurized cow's milk (about 70% Friesian and 30% Ayrshire milk.) One version curdles the milk with calf's rennet;...

Troo Bloo You Cheese

Troo Bloo You is an English blue cheese made from sheep's milk. It is firm but moist. The milk is curdled with vegetarian rennet. The mould culture used is penicillium roqueforti, but the maker uses a mixture of different strains of this mould. At...

Valdeón Cheese

This is a salty, Spanish blue cheese with a sharp, strong, salty flavour. It is made from cow's milk, sometimes mixed with goat's or sheep's milk (cow's milk is available year round; the other two milks may be mixed in during the spring or summer when...

Botton Cheese

Botton Cheese is a semi-hard cheese similar to cheddar made from unpasteurized cow's milk. It is made at the Camphill community for people with disabilities in Bolton Village, Danby, Whitby, North Yorkshire. It was developed in the 1980s.

Brunost Cheese

Brunost (meaning "brown cheese") is a smooth, semi-firm cheese that is buff-coloured, like the colour of brown envelopes, with a sweet and sour caramel taste. Made in Norway, Brunost Cheese is 25% of all the cheese eaten there. It is made from whey,...

Burrini Cheese

Burrini is a firm, pear-shaped, mild Provolone cheese with butter in the middle. It is made in the areas of Basilicata, Calabria and Molise, in southern Italy. To make the cheese, the curd is spin, then the cheese is moulded around a small piece...

Buxlow Paigle

Buxlow Paigle is currently (2004) the only cheese made in Suffolk, England. The cheese is made by Margaret Reeve, using milk from the herd of Friesian cows kept by her husband Will at Church Farm in Friston, near Aldeburgh. Will Reeve runs an "automatic...

Cacetto Cheese

Cacetto is a Provolone cheese, often with small fillings in the middle. To make it, the curd is spun, then the cheese moulded around any fillings, then dipped in wax and hung to ripen 10 days. It is made from cow's milk and / or buffalo milk. There...

Caerphilly Cheese

Caerphilly is a variety of cheddar cheese associated with Caerphilly, Wales. There is no legal requirement, however, for the cheese to be made there, or in Wales, in fact. Brand names include Castle Dairies, Gorwydd, Duckett's Farm, Caws Cenarth, Reece's...

Cantal Cheese

Cantal Cheese is a cheese made in the Cantal region in the south of Auvergne, France. It is a semi-firm cheese, but hard by French norms. Cantal Cheese is made from cow's-milk from up to three different breeds of cattle, one of which is Salers cattle....

Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese

Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese is a semi-firm cheese with a spongey-texture from the many small holes in it. It has a mellow, almost sweet taste. It is sold covered in yellow wax; though it's sometimes coated in green wax for export to America. Carrigaline...

Cheshire Cheese

Cheshire Cheese can be made from pasteurized or unpasteurized cow's milk. Milk from the evening milking of the cows is let stand out overnight. The next day, milk from that morning's milking is added, along with starter. It is allowed to coagulate into...

Chihuahua Cheese

Chihuahua Cheese is a Mexican pale yellow, semi-soft cheese with a flavour like that of Chester cheese, or of a mild white cheddar. Whole cow's milk milk is heated to 149 F (65 C) for half an hour. The temperature is then lowered to 95 F (35 C) and...

Cotherstone Cheese

Cotherstone Cheese is a semi-hard cheese with a sharp, slightly tangy taste. It is made in Cotherstone, Yorkshire, England. It has a crust like Camembert, but is covered with yellow wax. Inside, the cheese has an "open" texture, like Wensleydale. It...

Criollo Cheese

Criollo Cheese is a pale yellow, Mexican semi-firm cheese made around Taxco, Guerrero in Mexico. Cheeses named "Criollo" are also made in Peru, Argentina, Bolivia and many other countries. In Bolivia, Queso Criollo is a low-fat cheese produced by...

Danbo Cheese

Danbo Cheese is a semi-firm cheese made in Denmark from cow's milk. It is somewhat like North American "Swiss Cheese." The cheese has a yellow rind coated in red or orange wax. Inside, the cheese is elastic, and a pale yellow with small holes in...

Danish Fontina Cheese

Danish Fontina Cheese is a knock-off of the Italian fontina. It is a little sweeter than the Italian fontina. In fact, it tastes a bit like Gouda. Danish Fontina is made from cow's milk. The taste is milder than its smell. The cheese is creamy yet...

Durrus Cheese

Durrus is a semi-soft cheese with a washed, yellowish-grey rind. Inside, the cheese is dotted with small holes, and has a buttery texture with complex aromas. It is made in two sizes: 380g rounds (5cm x 10cm) and 1.5kg wheels (18cm x 6cm.) The...

Edam Cheese

Edam Cheese © Denzil Green Edam Cheese is a semi-hard, pale yellow Dutch cheese with a mildly-tangy and slightly salty taste. Traditionally the cheese is made in a ball shape, but you may also spot it in squat rounds, or a loaf shape. It is a commercial ...

Farmer's Cheese

Farmer's Cheese can be thought of as a cottage cheese from which most of the moisture has been drained so that the cheese becomes quite dry, and which has then been pressed into a firm loaf shape. There is no rind on the cheese; the cheese's colour will...

Fontal Cheese

Fontal is a semi-firm cheese made commercially in factories from pasteurized cow's milk. It is made in flat cylinders, with concave sides, and a thin rind that may be covered with brownish-red wax, or plastic. Inside the Fontal Cheese is a pale...

Gamonedo Cheese

Gamonedo is a Spanish cheese from the Asturias region on the northern coast of Spain. It is made in two villages, Cangas de Onís and the nearby village of Onís. Both are on the edge of the mountain range called "Picos de Europa." The cheese is l...

Gaperon Cheese

Gaperon is a cheese made in Auvergne, France. It is a hard cheese, but with a spongy, supple texture, moulded into a dome shape,(like an igloo.) The average size is 3 inches (7 1/2 cm) tall and the same wide, weighing approximately 10 oz (300 g.) A...

Grimbister Cheese

Grimbister is a soft, crumbly cheese, somewhat like Wensleydale. It is a farmhouse cheese, made using unpasteurized milk. No rennet is used to curdle the milk. As Grimbister Cheese ages, it develops a slightly fruit taste. Flavours available (as...

Huntsman Cheese

Huntsman Cheese © Denzil Green Huntsman Cheese is a Double Gloucester cheese with a layer of Stilton in the middle. It is sometimes made in 5 layers -- 3 of Double Gloucester and 2 of Stilton, and sometimes in 3 layers -- 2 of Double Gloucester ...

Jalapeño Cheese

Given that this just means cheese with jalapeño peppers in it, there's nothing to prevent you from getting a tub of cream cheese, stirring in a chopped up jalapeño pepper, and calling it jalapeño cheese, because it would be. However, there are a fe...

Leerdammer Cheese

Leerdammer is a new cheese. Development of it started in 1976 by the Baars company; the product was launched in 1984. The cheese was designed to be an Emmenthal-type cheese that could challenge Emmenthal's market share in Europe, particularly France. The...

Liederkranz Cheese

Liederkranz is a defunct American cheese that was meant to be reminiscent of Limburger, while having a far milder taste and aroma. Made from pasteurized whole cow's milk, it was washed with brine as it was matured. When young the cheeses were semi-firm...

Livarot Cheese

Livarot is a soft, creamy cheese with a washed, yellow-orange rind. The rind can be eaten; most of the strong flavour is in the rind. It is made around Livarot in the Auge valley, Normandy, France. Most production is industrial now, though as of 2006...

Maasdam Cheese

Maasdam Cheese is a Swiss-style cheese produced in the Netherlands. Made from cow's milk, it is aged for at least 4 weeks. It has a smooth yellow rind, which is sometimes waxed like Gouda. It is made in 13 and 26 pound (6 and 12 kg) wheels. Inside,...

Manchego Cheese (Mexican)

This is the Mexican version of the Spanish Manchego Cheese from La Mancha. It is a golden-yellow, semi-firm cheese with a slightly nutty taste. It can be used as a table cheese or for cooking. Cooking Tips Melts well. Substitutes Monterey...

Monterey Jack Cheese

Monterey Jack Cheese © Denzil Green Monterey Jack Cheese is a semi-soft cheese made from cow's milk, whole or skimmed. It's normally aged two weeks to a month. It's somewhat like a cheddar, though it's always white. Its main virtue is that it ...

Morbier Cheese

Morbier (full name Morbier du Livradois) is a mild-tasting cheese with a white pine ash layer in the middle of it. The cheese has a golden-brown rind. Inside, it is pale yellow, and semi-firm yet creamy and supple. It is made from unpasteurized...

Mozzarella Cheese

Mozzarella is a fresh, stringy Italian cheese made from buffalo milk. Its full name is buffalo milk mozzarella, or "Mozzarella di Bufalo" in Italian. The cheese is pure white. It has a creamy texture and a slight fresh tang to it, but otherwise little...

Blissful Buffalo Mozzarella

Blissful Buffalo Mozzarella is a British version of Italian buffalo-milk Mozzarella. It is made entirely from buffalo milk at Belland Farm in Tetcott, Holsworthy, Devon. The maker, Mike Greenaway, has a herd of 150 water buffalo (as of 2004.) It...

Bocconcini Cheese

Bocconcini Cheese © Denzil Green Bocconcini Cheese is small balls of Mozzarella, about the size of a chicken egg (thus another Italian name for these, "uvoa di mozzarella", or "mozzarella eggs.") They are usually packed in water to keep them ...

Caciocavallo Cheese

Caciocavallo Cheese is shaped like a small gourd, pear or flask, usually with a definite small ball on top, forming a defined neck between it and the larger body. The process of making it is similar to that for Mozzarella. To make it, unpasteurized...

Mozzarella (North American)

North American Mozzarella Cheese © Denzil Green North American Style Mozzarella is a completely different cheese from Italian Mozzarella. It comes in blocks, looks like a pale yellow cheddar and has a rubbery texture. It looks more like Provolone ...

Scamorza Cheese

Scamorza Cheese is a semi-soft white cheese that is like a firm, drier Mozzarella. It is made throughout Apulia, and in some parts of Campania and Molise. The cheese is made from pasteurized milk. The milk can be cow's milk, or mixed cow and sheep...

Treccia Cheese

Treccia Cheese is a braided version of mozzarella or scamorza cheese. It is pale yellow, and soft and stringy. Generally, the cheese is made of cow's milk. Treccione di Bufala indicates a big version of the cheese, and that the cheese was made from...

Pavé d'Auge Cheese

Pavé d'Auge is a generic name for a square, flat, washed-rind cheeses made in the Auge area of France. The cheeses are semi-soft made from raw cow's milk. They are square, about 5 inches (12 1/2 cm) long on each side, about 2 1/4 inches (6 cm) thick, ...

Pavé d'Isigny Cheese

Pavé d'Isigny is a cheese made in Normandy, France from cow's milk, by the same cooperatives that make the d'Isigny butter. Each cheese weighs about 5 1/2 pounds (2 1/2 kg.) Nutrition 50% butterfat.

Pavé de Berry Cheese

Pavé de Berry is a cheese made around Sancerre and Berry in the Loire, France from goat's milk.It has a mild but pungent taste.It can be eaten fresh, aged a bit or fully aged.Pavé de Berry is closely related to Crottin de Chavignol as it has the same f...

Penyston Cheese

Penyston is an English cheese invented by an ex-pat American by the name of Joe Scheider. It is a fragrant cheese, square in shape and has a rind that is orange owing to being brine-washed. Penyston Cheese is made using milk from Friesan cows on...

Pont-l'Evêque Cheese

Pont-l'Evêque is a washed-rind, Camembert-style cheese made in Normandy, France. The rind has white mould on it, with orangish-brown patches. Inside, the cheese is soft and pale yellow with a fine texture. The cheese is quite whiffy. It comes ...

Quartirolo Cheese

Quartirolo is a soft, crumbly cheese with a slightly sour tang. Made in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, it is made in 3 inch (7 1/2 cm) squares or in a rectangular shape 7 to 9 inches (18 to 22 cm) long, weighing from 3 1/3 to 6 1/2 pounds (1...

Queso con Loroco

Queso con Loroco is a Central American cheese with the herb called "loroco" in it, chopped up. It is a sour white cheese with the texture of Italian mozzarella. Substitutes Grated Monterey Jack with chopped fresh or (frozen and thawed) Lorocco.

Ricotta Salata Cheese

To make Ricotta Salata Cheese, sheep's milk whey and cow's milk are heated until curds form. The curd is then lightly salted, pressed together tightly to form a dense, semi-firm cheese, then aged for 2 months or more. It feels like a dense, dry version...

Tetilla Cheese

Tetilla is a Spanish cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk. The milk is heated to a range between 82 F and 90 F (28 C and 32 C), at which point Rennet is added. The curd is cut, drained, put into moulds, pressed-lightly, then dipped in brine. The cheese...

Vacherin Fribourgeois

Vacherin Fribourgeois is made from cow's milk, either raw or pasteurized. Unpasteurized versions are sold in Europe; the pasteurized versions are sold to North America. Bacteria is added to the milk, then milk is heated to 100 F (38 C), and rennet...

Wensleydale Cheese

Wensleydale Cheese © Denzil Green Wensleydale cheese is a white, moist, crumbly cheese with an uneven surface somewhat like Caerphilly. It has a clean tang behind its mild taste. Wensleydale cheese is sometimes sealed in wax to keep the moisture ...

Sheep's Milk Cheeses

Cheese made with milk from sheep. In French, these are often referred to as "Brebis" cheeses. Hundreds of years ago, these would have been cheaper than cheeses made from cow's milk, as cows weren't kept primarily for milking, and there were no great...

Brebis au piment d'Espelette

Brebis au piment d'Espelette is a firm sheep's milk cheese rubbed with pimento powder. The cheese is made from milk from Manech and Basco-Béarnaises sheep. The curd is cut, moulded and pressed, then salted, and brushed with crushed smoked Espelette ...

Brebis de l'Abbaye de Belloc

Brebis de l'Abbaye de Belloc is a Basque sheep's milk cheese. It is made (now partly made: see history below) at the Abbaye de Belloc in Urt in the Aquitaine area of France by Benedictine monks. The whole milk used is from the Manech breed of sheep. The...

Brebis des Pyrénées Cheese

Brebis des Pyrénées Cheese is a generic term for a group of cheeses. It means "sheep's milk cheese from the Pyrénées", which are mountains in France, on the border with Spain. Brebis means "female sheep" (aka "ewe" in English.)

Brebis du Lavort Cheese

Brebis du Lavort Cheese is a soft, creamy cheese with a sweet, nutty taste. It is so soft that its centre sinks in a bit. It is shaped somewhat like a small pumpkin. It is made at the Fromagerie de Terre-Dieu in Auvergne, France, using unpasteurized...

Brebis du Lochois

Brebis du Lochois is a soft sheep's milk cheese made in Touraine, val de Loire, France. It is round, about 2 3/4 inches wide and just over an inch tall (7 cm wide x 3 cm tall), and weighs about 4 oz (120 g.) The curd is not pressed or cooked. It...

Brebis Pardou

Brebis Pardou is a semi-firm pressed (but not cooked) sheep's milk cheese made in Vallée d'Ossau, Béarn, Aquitaine in France. Pardou is the name of the company that makes it. The milk comes from the local breed of sheep called "béarnaise" and it...

Brousse de Brebis

Brousse de Brebis is a fresh soft cheese. In thickness, it is like a Greek yoghurt, a spoonable cream, or a smooth ricotta. The cheese is made in the Provence region of France, particularly Nice and Marseille, and also in Corsica. It is an unsalted...

Brousse du Var

Brousse du Var is a fresh cheese made from sheep's milk. In fact, it is so fresh, that the cheese is sold on the same day it's made. It is usually made for 1 to 1 1/2 months after Easter. The area of production is the French Varois coast, especially...

Feita Cheese

Feita is a fresh, soft cheese made from raw sheep's milk in Provence, France. It is good in salads or with slices of tomato, basil and oil. Cooking Tips Serve Feita Cheese in slices or cubes. Language Notes Feïta comes from the Provençal word f...

Katy's White Lavender Cheese

Katy's White Lavender is a feta-style cheese made from sheep's milk. Made in 30 oz (850 g) wheels, it has lavender flowers in it to flavour it. Katy's White Lavender Cheese is made by the Shepherds Purse company near Thirsk, North Yorkshire. History...

Mutton Button Cheese

Mutton Button are very small cheeses made from pasteurized sheep's milk from New York State, USA. Each cheese is about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick and 2 inches (5 cm) wide, weighing about 60 g (2 oz.) There are only about 2 bites in each cheese. The cheese...

Ossau-Iraty Cheeses

Ossau-Iraty cheeses are a type of cheese that, like parmesan or Roquefort , are a defined cheese, but made by different producers following the same standards though slight variations in technique arise. The cheeses are made from raw sheep's milk. ...

Pecorino Cheese

Pecorino is the name given to all Italian cheeses made from sheep's milk. Pecorino cheeses distinguished by aging These cheeses can be sold either young or old. The old ones are sometimes referred to as "ripened" ("stagionato".) They are generally...

Pecorino Ginepro Cheese

Pecorino Ginepro is cheese flavoured with juniper and balsamic vinegar. It is made from unpasteurized sheep's milk curdled with calf's rennet in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The cheeses are aged a minimum of four months. During the first month of aging,...

Pecorino Pepato Cheese

This is usually a Pecorino Cheese, which has crushed black peppercorns stirred in. The cheese mellows the flavour of the peppercorns, making them less overwhelming. There is not one single producer or standard, because the name is not protected....

Pecorino Romano Cheese

Pecorino Romano is a creamy-white cheese made from sheep's milk in the vicinity of Rome. The curd is drained, then pierced to make fine holes, then salted. It's often just called "Romano Cheese." The cheese seems a bit like Parmesan, but grates more...

Pecorino Sardo Cheese

Pecorino Sardo is a relatively new cheese, at least "officially speaking", having only received its "Designated Origin" certification in 1991 from Italy, and its EU PDO protection in 1996. It is made from sheep's milk, like all Pecorino cheeses. The...

Pecorino Siciliano Cheese

Pecorino Siciliano is made from sheep's milk, as are all Pecorino cheeses. The unpasteurized milk is curdled with lamb's Rennet, moulded and salted. The cheese is allowed to age for a minimum of 4 months. It's made in Sicily. Cooking Tips Parmesan,...

Pecorino Toscano Cheese

Pecorino Toscano is made from sheep's milk that is heated but not pasteurized. It is then curdled with rennet, put in moulds and pressed. The cheese is then removed from the moulds, and salted or soaked in brine (sometimes they are also steamed.) It's...

Perail de Brebis

Perail de Brebis is a soft, strong-tasting cheese made from raw sheep's milk made in Aveyron in the midi-pyrenées area of France. It is pale yellow with a soft rind, and a soft texture like that of thick, almost runny cream. The curd is not cooked ...

Soft Cheeses

A soft cheese is a cheese with a lot of moisture in it, keeping its texture so soft that it is usually spreadable. Making soft cheeses The process of making soft cheeses differs from making "hard cheeses " in that the curds aren't pressed to squeeze...

Añejo Cheese

Añejo is a firm, Mexican cheese. It is actually the cheese called "queso fresco" (which is usually made from both cow and goat milk) that has been allowed to age. As it ages, it becomes solid, dry, salty and crumbly, almost like Romano or Parmesan, though ...

Añejo Enchilado Cheese

Añejo Enchilado is Añejo Cheese (Queso Añejo) that has been that has been pressed into rectangular blocks then rolled in a mildly-spicy coating, usually either paprika, chile powder or a mild chile paste. The blocks of cheese will be bright red or re...

Banon Cheese

Banon is a soft, almost runny cheese that matures without a rind forming on it. Depending on the Banon, it is made with milk from goats, goats and cows, or just cows, and sometimes any combination of the above can have sheep's milk as well. Curds...

Boilie Cheese

There are two varieties of Boilie Cheese. One variety is made from cow's milk; the other, made from goat's milk, is called "Goat's Boilie." Both are roughly-formed balls of cheese, marinated in sunflower oil, garlic, herbs and pink peppers. They...

Bonchester Cheese

Bonchester Cheese packaging design Bonchester Cheese is no longer in production as of 1998. Bonchester was a Camembert-style cheese made in Scotland. It came in small, thin rounds of two sizes, 100g and 280g. It had a soft white floury rind...

Boursin Cheese

Boursin Cheese is a creamy (75% butterfat), mild cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk to which is added cream and seasonings. It is sold either in 5 oz (150g) cylinders, or in packages of 6 individually-wrapped portion pieces. Either way, it's wrapped...

Brie Cheese

Brie Cheese © Denzil Green Brie is a creamy French cheese popular for its smooth yet tangy, slightly acid taste and its woodsy smell. The cheese ripens quickly, and must be eaten before the flavour and aroma become offensive. The cheese is a pale ...

Brie de Chèvre

Brie de chèvre is a cheese that looks something like Brie , except it is made from raw goat's milk curdled with vegetarian rennet. The cheeses are round, about 1.5 to 2 cm (3/4 inch) tall, and weigh approximately 500 g (17 oz.) The crust is white ...

Brie de Coulommiers Cheese

Brie de Coulommiers is a particular version of Brie cheese made in Seine & Marne, France throughout the year. It has a more pungent smell than other Bries. The cheese comes in two sizes: 2.5 to 3 cm thick by 25 cm wide ( 1 x 10 inches),...

Brie de Meaux

Brie de Meaux is a Brie cheese with a very pale yellow inside and a white velvet rind. It develops a nutty flavour as it ages. It is made from raw cow's milk (the milk has to be unpasteurized to meet its AOC specifications.) Rennet is added, and...

Brie de Melun

Brie de Melun may be the oldest of all the Bries. It has the same look inside and outside as regular Brie, though the white rind may have red or brown blushes on it. It has a stronger, saltier taste than Brie de Meaux, and won't get to the point...

Brie de Montereau

Brie de Montereau is an unpressed, uncooked cheese. It is a raw cow's milk version of Brie with a reddish crust. To make it, the milk is partially skimmed, then curd formed, which is then ladled into moulds that are 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) high...

Brie de Nangis

Brie de Nangis is an uncooked, unpressed cheese. It has a white crust, with reddish brown streaks and is light yellow inside. Of all the Bries , it is the one that is least produced, and has the smallest production area, Seine et Marne, where it...

Brie Noir

Brie Noir is a dark, aged version of Brie . It has a dark brown crust, and inside it is is caramel coloured to very dark brown. The texture is crumbly. It is aged 8 to 10 months in a cave. Brie Noir has a bitter, acidic taste. Locals sometimes...

Brillat-Savarin Cheese

Brillat-Savarin Cheese is a soft, white, triple-cream cheese that looks like brie but is much richer.

Bruss Cheese

Bruss Cheese is a fermented cheese spread made in Piedmont, Italy. Many people dislike it because it has a strong, putrid smell -- and its sharp taste tastes just like it smells. Some people call it just plain nasty, and wives will berate husbands...

Burrata Cheese

Burrata Cheese is a fresh, unaged cheese made in Apulia, Basilicata and Campania in the south of Italy. It is a ball of cheese, ricotta-like in texture, made of milk and cream from cows and unspun mozzarella curds. It is wrapped in a skin made from...

Caboc Cheese

Caboc Cheese is a soft, double-cream fresh cheese which is a deep butter colour with a mild, sour tang. It is formed into logs and rolled in toasted steel-cut oatmeal. It is made from an old, revived recipe by Susannah Stone of the Highland Fine Cheeses...

Camembert Cheese

Unctuous, oozing Camembert Cheese © Denzil Green Camembert is a mild, creamy cheese that is slightly salty. The outside crust will have a few splashes of red. Camembert starts off as a solid, soft cheese formed into thin wheels that have a coating ...

Casu Marzu

Casu Marzu is a cheese made in Sardinia, Italy. To make, you start with pieces of Pecorino Sardo cheese. You set the cheese out in the open, uncovered, and allow cheese flies (scientific name "Piophila casei" ) to lay eggs in the cheese. The eggs...

Chaource Cheese

Chaource Cheese © Denzil Green Chaource is a tall, round Brie-like cheese made in the Champagne and northern Burgundy regions of France, and particularly in its namesake town of Chaource, Champagne. It is made in two sizes: about 1 pound (450g), ...

Chèvre Frais

Chèvre frais is a generic term for unaged French cheese made from pasteurized goat's milk. These cheeses will be milder tasting and have higher moisture content than aged ones. Chèvre frais cheeses are available under many different brand names and i...

Cornish Yarg Cheese

Cornish Yarg Cheese is a semi-firm cheese made from pasteurized Holstein cow's milk with vegetarian Rennet. The curd is cut, then moulded, pressed, set in brine for 18 hours, then dried for 2 days, then wrapped in Stinging Nettle leaves and allowed...

Crottin de Chavignol Cheese

Crottin de Chavignol Cheese is made around Sancerre and Berry in the Loire, France by both dairies and some independent farms (around 140 producers in total as of 2004.) Chavignol itself is a town of just 200 souls (2006 numbers) near the village of Sancerre. The...

Crowdie Cheese

Crowdie cheese is Scottish cheese is a low-fat, soft cheese with a mild sour taste meant to be used as a fresh cheese. It is reminiscent of cottage cheese. It is made with skimmed milk curdled with rennet . Sometimes sour cream is added. It can also...

Crowdie Butter

Crowdie Butter is a soft, fresh Scottish cheese. It is cheese curd with butter mixed into it. Cooking Tips 4 cups full cream milk 2 teaspoon rennet 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon parsley, minced 4...

Galic Cheese

Galic is a type of crowdie fresh cheese. It is made from pasteurized milk with double-cream added, using lactic acid to do the curdling of the milk. Chopped wild garlic leaves are stirred into the curds. The cheese is formed, then rolled in toasted,...

Gruth Dhu Cheese

Gruth Dhu is a type of Crowdie fresh cheese with a slightly lemony taste. It is made from pasteurized milk with double-cream added, using lactic acid to curdle the milk. The cheese is formed into oval shapes, then rolled in toasted oats and crushed...

Highland Crowdie Cheese

Highland Crowdie is a soft, lemony-tasting cheese made from whole, pasteurized milk from Ayrshire cows grazed in the Scottish lowlands (despite its name.) Lactic acid is used to do the curdling. Highland Crowdie Cheese is made by Susannah Stone...

Hramsa Cheese

Hramsa is a fresh cheese (a type of Crowdie) made from pasteurized milk with added double-cream. The milk is curdled with lactic acid. Chopped wild garlic leaves are stirred into the cheese, and it is packed into pots for sale. Hramsa Cheese is...

Cumulus Cheese

Cumulus Cheese is a soft but not runny cheese that looks like Brie or Camembert, with a white bloom on its rind and a slight mushroom smell. It made in rounds from raw cow's milk, and allowed to ripen for 60 days. The rounds end up being approximately...

Edel de Cléron Cheese

This is a small round of cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk. The cheese is aged for about 3 weeks in brine, then wrapped in cloth and then tree bark. Inside, the cheese gets quite runny, so that you eat it with a spoon. The rind is also edible,...

Feta Cheese

Feta Cheese © Denzil Green Feta is a soft, rindless white cheese with holes in it. Some refer to Feta as a goat's cheese, but it is not: it is primarily meant to be a sheep's milk cheese. Feta was originally made from sheep's milk, or sheep ...

Feuille d'automne Cheese

Feuille d'automne Cheese is sold in small rounds, about 180g each. It is a soft, washed-rind cheese with a slightly-brown crust, with small traces of white mould on it, and a slightly nutty taste. The rounds are made from unpasteurized whole cow's...

Fresh Cheeses

Fresh cheeses can be categorized as a sub-group of soft cheeses. Fresh cheeses are ready to eat the same day as the cheese-making process is finished. They are mild, a bit tart, soft and spreadable. They have quite a high moisture level (55 to 80%.) History...

Ayib

Ayib is a soft Ethiopian fresh cheese similar to cottage cheese. At meals, it acts as a simple, cooling foil to many of the complex and sometimes fiery tastes in Ethiopian cuisine. It is usually made at home or through farmhouse production. Like...

Cottage Cheese

Cottage Cheese © Denzil Green Cottage cheese is an un-aged, "fresh" white curd-type cheese made from skim milk. The curds that are separate out of the milk are drained of the whey, then packed into tubs with some milk to the tubs and shipped off ...

Pressed Cottage Cheese

Pressed cottage cheese is a soft, unripened cheese with white, dry curds. It is made from skim milk that is curdled with an acid or rennet. Other cottage cheese has milk added to it after the curd has been formed; pressed cottage cheese doesn't, so...

Pressed Cottage Cheese 10% MF

Pressed Cottage Cheese 10% MF © Denzil Green Pressed Cottage Cheese (10% MF) is a soft, unripened cheese with white curds. It is made from skim milk that is curdled with an acid or rennet. Other cottage cheese has milk added to it after the ...

Pressed Cottage Cheese 78%

Pressed Cottage Cheese 78% © Denzil Green Pressed Cottage Cheese (78%) is a soft, crumbly unripened cheese with white, dry curds. It is made from skim milk that is curdled with an acid or rennet. Other cottage cheese has milk added to it after ...

Pressed Dry Cottage Cheese

Pressed Dry Cottage Cheese © Denzil Green Pressed dry cottage cheese (aka dry-curd cottage cheese) is a soft, crumbly unripened cheese with white, dry curds. It is made from skim milk that is curdled with an acid or rennet. Other cottage cheese ...

Sweet Curd Cottage Cheese

Sweet Curd Cottage Cheese is similar to regular cottage cheese, but Rennet is used to curdle the milk instead of bacteria. This leads to a cheese that has less tang (thus "sweeter"), and larger curds. Larger curds mean more cheese and less whey run-off...

Cream Cheese

Cream cheese is a smooth, spreadable, unripened cheese that tastes mildly tangy. It is made from cow's milk, and contains a minimum of 33 % butterfat. The standard cream cheese is white and unflavoured, though many different colours and flavours are...

Creole Cream Cheese

Creole cream cheese is milk curd mixed with clabber cream. It is generally only available in South Louisiana. It used to be made only by small family dairies there, and it almost died out with them. It would vary a bit between the family dairies; some...

Rondelé Cheese

Rondelé cheese is a North American version of Boursin, made in Wisconsin. It is a smooth, spreadable cream cheese that comes in many flavours and with varying fat content. Literature & Lore Rondelé is a name that the marketing people came u...

Curd Cheese

Curd cheese is a very odd name: what cheese isn't made from curds? If anything, it would give you the impression that the cheese is "lumpy", as though can you see the curds in it, as you can in Cottage Texture, but in fact the texture is smooth. Like...

Fromage Blanc Cheese

Fromage Blanc can be made with whole or skim milk. Starter culture and Rennet are added to heated milk, then the milk is allowed to set and firm up like yoghurt. It is then strained through a cloth until what remains in the cloth is as firm as desired....

Fromage Frais

Fromage Frais is made with whole or skim milk. Depending on which version you buy, you can get 99.9% fat free, 1% fat, or 8% fat, which is the regular version. It looks like and has the same spoonable texture as Greek Yoghurt. The full fat version...

Mascarpone Cheese

Mascarpone Cheese © Denzil Green Mascarpone is a pale cream-coloured soft, spreadable cream cheese made from cream from cow's milk. Unlike other cheeses, Mascarpone uses no starter or Rennet, so it's not really a cheese: it's more akin to Clotted ...

Mató Cheese

Mató is an unsalted fresh Spanish cheese, meant to be eaten the same day that it is made. It looks a bit like Cottage Cheese, Ricotta or a Curd Cheese. It originated in Catalonia. It was made in the past from goat's milk, because no one could afford ...

Neufchâtel Cheese

Neufchâtel is a soft, spreadable French cheese, that's similar to cream cheese, but firmer, and made with whole milk with no cream. Despite the name of Neufchâtel, which leads some to think this is a Swiss cheese, this cheese is actually made in N...

Paneer

Paneer © Denzil Green Paneer is a soft, fresh white cheese made in India, and very commonly made at home there. It is a fresh, unaged cheese. It's essentially just curds from curdled milk, which are then pressed. It is used as an ingredient ...

Panela Cheese

Panela is a fresh, Mexican cheese. It is white with a mild taste. The texture is creamy and soft, somewhat spongy. The cheese has no rind, but you can see on the outsides the marks of the basket that it is moulded in. Cooking Tips When heated, Panela...

Pot Cheese

Pot Cheese is very hard to find now. A soft, fresh cheese, it was basically a higher-fat, slightly salty dry-curd Cottage Cheese, with large curds, sold in small tubs or pots. You may find dry-curd Cottage Cheese these days that is also labelled "pot...

Quark Cheese

Quark Cheese © Denzil Green Quark is a soft, unripened white cheese that usually comes in tubs or vacu-packs. The curds are usually homogenized so that it is smooth and looks like Sour Cream, though some styles leave the curds intact. The cheese ...

Queso Blanco Cheese

Queso Blanco is a fresh Mexican cheese made from skim cow's milk cheese. Lemon juice used to be used coagulate it, giving it a lemon tang. Commercially though, Rennet is now used, so the fresh tang is mostly missing. The cheese is white, creamy, and...

Queso Fresco

Queso Fresco is a soft, crumbly Mexican fresh cheese. It is often made from a mixture of cow's and sheep's milk. Cooking Tips Crumble over salads, or dishes to be cooked, or use as a cheese to stuff things with. Queso Fresco softens when heated...

Queso Quesadilla

Queso Quesadilla melts very well, making it very popular in quesadillas, thus its name. It is a smooth, white and creamy cheese made from cow's milk. Cooking Tips Melts but holds its shape and doesn't run. History Notes Originated in Northern...

Requesón Cheese

Requesón is a Mexican fresh cheese that is somewhat like Ricotta cheese. The cheese is made from whey (sometimes whey which has also been skimmed.) The whey still has some milk proteins in it, which are coagulated by heat to make the cheese. In ...

Ricotta Cheese

Ricotta Cheese © Denzil Green Ricotta Cheese is a soft fresh cheese made from the whey left over after making other cheeses -- usually cow's milk cheeses. The whey is heated to 77 C (170 F.) Citric acid is added, then the temperature raised ...

Yoghurt Cheese

Yoghurt Cheese is thick and spreadable like cream cheese, but has a tart kick to it. Arabs make a Yoghurt Cheese called "Labna." Cooking Tips You can use Yoghurt Cheese as you would ricotta or cream cheese. To make it , buy plain yoghurt with...

Zufi Cheese

Zufi Cheese is a type of ricotta. It is made in Val Formazza, on the Italian / Swiss border, during the summer, while the cows are at pasture. Cow's milk is heated, then taken off the heat. It is added to milk that's just been freshly milked from...

Garrotxa Cheese

Garrotxa cheese is a Spanish cheese made in Catalonia, on the eastern edge of the Pyrenees. It is a semi-soft cheese, made in 18-inch (45 cm) wide wheels, that will weigh up to 2 1/4 pounds (1 kg.) It has a greyish-blue, velvety mound on the rind....

Kirkham Lancashire Cheese

Kirkham Lancashire Cheese is a farmhouse version of Lancashire cheese, actually made in Lancashire. It is very white, with a sharp taste. It is sold aged anywhere from 6 weeks to 12 months. When young, it is creamy and a bit crumbly, with a milder...

La Tur Cheese

La Tur is a very soft cheese made in Alta Langa, Piedmont, Italy. It is off-white to straw-coloured, with a soft, increasingly wrinkled rind as it ages. Inside, its light, airy texture is so runny that it is spreadable or spoonable. It is runniest...

Lancashire Cheese

Lancashire Cheese © Denzil Green Lancashire Cheese is a white, firm but crumbly cheese with a tang to it. It may be sold young, or aged. To make Lancashire Cheese, starter and rennet is added to milk. When the milk has curdled, the curds are ...

Le Cendrillon Cheese

Le Cendrillon is a soft, triangular log-shaped, surface-ripened pasteurized goat's milk cheese. The log is covered in dark ash. Under the ash, the cheese's skin has a white bloom on it. Inside, just under the surfaces, the cheese is almond-paste coloured....

Le Veillon Cheese

Le Veillon Cheese is a soft, reblochon-type cheese with a white bloom on its washed rind, and a butter and almond taste. It is made from raw cow's milk in 200g rounds, which are ripened for 60 days. The cheese is made by Fromages Chaput et Les dépendances ...

Lymeswold Cheese

Lymeswold is a modern but now defunct cheese that was made from pasteurized cow's milk. It was introduced in 1982. It never took off, though, so production was halted in the early 1990s. Lymeswold Cheese was a soft cheese like Brie, modelled after...

Mitzithra Cheese (Fresh)

Fresh Mitzithra is a Greek cheese made from the whey leftover from making cheeses such as Feta and Kefalotiri. The whey is enriched with whole sheep's milk or whole goat's milk. It is similar to ricotta in look and feel. Like ricotta, it is soft and...

Oaxaca Cheese

Oaxaca is a Mexican soft cheese. It's also called "quesillo", as it is the most usual cheese for making quesadillas with. It is made with the same stretching, cutting and "forming into a ball" process as is Mozzarella. It can be made from whole or...

Oxford Isis Cheese

Oxford Isis has a soft, pale yellow creamy inside and a soft, slightly-darker rind on the outside. It has a strong tangy taste and smell. It is made from pasteurized cow's milk and is curdled with traditional rennet. During aging, the rind is sprayed...

Pié d'angloys

Pié d'angloys is a French washed-rind cheese that is somewhat like a Brie. It has a white crust, ivory coloured inside, and is soft and spreadable. It has a mild, creamy taste that is almost buttery in flavour. The cheese is made from cow's milk. ...

Pithiviers Cheese

Pithiviers is a soft, round cheese with a velvety rind like Brie. The curd is uncooked and unpressed. The cheeses are wrapped in twigs. Each cheese is 5 inches (12 cm) wide, 1 1/4 inches (3 cm) thick and weighs about 10 oz (300 g.) They are aged...

Pont Couvert Cheese

Pont Couvert Cheese is a washed-rind cheese made from raw cow's milk. It is soft and white inside, with a creamy taste. The cheese is ripened for 60 days, and washed every 2 or 3 days during that time. Pont Couvert is made by Fromages Chaput et...

Prescinseua Cheese

Prescinseua is a fresh cheese, sort of halfway between ricotta and Greek yoghurt. It is both a clabbered cheese, and a cheese that uses rennet. It is spread on bread, stirred into sauces (even pesto) or served with sugar for breakfast. The cheese...

Saint André Cheese

Saint André is "triple crème" soft cheese, being 75% milk fat. It is made in wheels from cow's milk, pasteurized or raw, with extra cream added during the cheese making. The wheels come in various sizes; small rounds of the cheese are about 4 in...

Squacquerone Cheese

Squacquerone is an Italian fresh cream cheese with a tangy taste. It is very white, and soft, fluffy and spreadable. There is no rind. It is very perishable; it has a shelf life of only 4 to 5 days refrigerated. Squacquerone is made year round...

St-Nectaire Cheese

St-Nectaire Cheese is made in Auvergne, France, in 72 districts in total in the Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme départmentes. The cheese has a soft, milky taste. The average cheese weight is 3 1/2 pounds (1.6 kg), for which about 12 US quarts (12 litres) o...

Tarapatapom Cheese

Tarapatapom is a fresh, unaged cheese with a layer of carmelized apples in the middle. It is made from 75% cow's milk, 25% goat's milk. Both milks are unpasteurized. The apples come from the cheesemaker's orchards. There are two layers of cheese,...

Telemes Cheese

Telemes is a Greek cheese is very much like Feta, in that it is aged and stored in brine, and ends up crumbly. The difference is that while Feta is made from sheep's milk and some goat's milk, Telemes is made from cow's milk (as most Feta around the...

Teviotdale Cheese

Teviotdale Cheese is no longer in production as of 1998. See entry on Bonchester Cheese for information. Teviotdale is a Brie-style, cylinder-shaped cheese made from unpasteurized milk from Jersey cows. It has a tangy, salt taste. The cheese is...

Tornegus Cheese

Tornegus Cheese is a cheese that results from a particular aging process of Caerphilly cheese. It acquires an apricot coloured rind after this process. It is made by Pat Robinson at Godstone in Surrey. The Caerphilly used is an unpasteurized one, made...

Vacherin Chaput Cheese

Vacherin Chaput is a washed-rind cheese made from raw cow's milk. It is soft and has a creamy taste. It is made in a wheel weighing 1.25 pounds (575g) and aged 2 to 3 months. For sale, it is packaged in Norwegian Spruce bark.

Vacherin d'Abondance

Vacherin d'Abondance is a creamy cheese with a pinkish crust and an almost sweet taste. It is made in France, in the village of Abondance, in the Abondance valley close to the Swiss border. It's made in the winter from unpasteurised milk from the breed...

Vacherin Mont d'Or

There is great confusion over what this soft-cheese is called. The cheese has been made since the early 1800s in an area of Europe just to the north of Lausanne, Switzerland and to the west of Neufchâtel, Switzerland. The border in that area went ...

Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries

Wensleydale with Cranberries © Denzil Green Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries is Wensleydale Cheese, made with pasteurized cow's milk, with cranberries folded into the cheese. It is a fresh cheese with a fresh, clean taste, with the tartness ...

Whirl Cheese

Whirl Cheese © Denzil Green Whirl Cheese is a brand name for two cheeses formed together like a Swiss roll. The outside cheese is Red Leicester; the cheese used to make the whirl is a 30% fat cream cheese. Both cheeses are made from pasteurized ...

Surface-Ripened Cheeses

Surface-ripened cheeses are a large group of cheeses for whom the ripening starts on the surface of the cheese, and works its way inward. It includes other groups of cheeses such as washed-rind cheeses and smear-ripened cheeses , as well as Brie and...

The Crumblies

The Crumblies is an expression used in Britain to describe crumbly British cheeses such as Caerphilly, Cheshire, Lancashire, Wensleydale and Lancashire. Cooking Tips These cheeses are loved for the ease with which they melt into a creamy goo when ...

Washed-Rind Cheeses

Washed-rind cheeses are firmer, lower-moisture cheeses that were made in highlands and up in the mountains. The cheeses needed to be able to keep well, as oftentimes travel down the mountains was hard for many months of the year and anyone wishing to...

Appenzeller Cheese

Appenzeller is made from unpasteurized whole cow's milk. The cheese is pressed and formed into wheels that are then bathed in a spiced brine made from wine or cider. After 3 or 4 months of maturing, they are dipped in the brine again. The cheese is generally...

Bishop Kennedy Cheese

Bishop Kennedy Cheese is a soft, round, brie-like cheese with a yellowish runny interior. It is made from unpasteurized cows' milk curdled with vegetarian rennet. Bishop Kennedy Cheese is allowed to mature for 8 weeks. During this time, the rind...

Chue Fladae Cheese

Chue Fladae is a washed-rind, soft, creamy cheese made in Switzerland by the Josef Barmettler Molkerei. Made from raw cow's milk, it is smelly but not overly strong tasting. The cheese is round, weighing from 300 to 350g. It is aged 4 to 5 weeks...

Epoisses Cheese

Epoisses Cheese is a very smelly cheese. Even the French, who are used to aromatic cheeses, consider it smelly. It is a washed rind cheese made in Burgundy from unpasteurized milk, and named after the town of Epoisses. One version of Epoisses Cheese...

Fontina Cheese

To make Fontina Cheese, cow's milk is heated to 36 C (97 F.) Calf's rennet is then added to curdle the milk. The milk is let sit for 1 hour as is, then it is heated to 47 to 48 C (116 to 118 F) and let sit for another two hours held at that temperature....

Gruyère Cheese

Named after a Swiss village, Gruyère is a yellowish, hard cheese made in a large wheel shape from cow's milk. On average, 105 US gallons (400 litres) of milk are used to make 1 wheel of the cheese. The raw milk is heated to 93 F (34 C), at which point ...

Milleens Cheese

Milleens Cheese is a flat, round, Muenster-style, washed-rind cheese. It is made from the unpasteurized milk of Friesian cows curdled with calves rennet. The cheese is allowed to ripen for 4 to 10 weeks after it is made at 55 to 60 F (13 to 15 C.)...

Pied de Vent Cheese

Pied de vent is a soft, washed-rind cheese with a pronounced smell. The cheese is made by made by a company called "Fromagerie du Pied-De-Vent" which is in Havre-aux-Maison, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Québec. The milk used comes from a herd of cows on t...

Port du Salut Cheeses

The term "Port du Salut Cheeses" is used to describe a family of cheeses which began with the cheese called "Port Salut ." It is often called "Port du Salut style ." All are semi-firm, so they can be sliced. Technically, if anything, the commercially-made...

Bel Paese Cheese

This is a mild, Italian semi-soft cheese that is now also made in the US. It is a creamy, ivory-coloured cheese with a bit of a tang to it. It is usually sold in small wheels, though larger ones are available. Varieties flavoured with herbs are now...

Campénéac Cheese

A cheese that is "sister" cheese to Timadeuc Cheese, in that both are "Port du Salut" style cheeses, and the Abbey where it is made by nuns, l'Abbaye de la Joie Notre Dame, is sister abbey to the monastery, l'Abbaye Notre-Dame de Timadeuc The cheese...

Cantonnier Cheese

Cantonnier Cheese is a semi-firm, Port du Salut style cheese, created as an adaptation of Oka Cheese. It is a farmhouse-style cheese, made from one farm, and with milk from a single herd of cows, though no official definition of the term "Farmhouse"...

Entrammes Cheese

Often confused with Port Salut cheese, which it is the same as -- but not quite. In 1959, the monks at Notre Dame du Port-du-Salut Abbey at Entrammes (between Laval and Angers), on the Mayenne river in the département of Mayenne in Brittany, France, ...

Esrom Cheese

Esrom is a semi-firm Danish cheese made from partially skim raw cow's milk. Starter and Rennet are added to the milk, then the curd is cut, stirred, drained and warmed. The cheese is place into moulds and lightly pressed. The surface is then salted and...

Limburger Cheese

Though Limburger Cheese's greatest claim to fame is its smell, most of the smell is in the sticky, brownish rind. The bacteria, "Brevibacterium linens" which causes the colour also creates the smell, which is a strong, rotten odour. Inside the rind,...

Mantecoso Cheese

A Port du Salut style cheese made in Spain, Mexico and throughout Latin America. The rind is oily; the cheese inside is semi-firm with a rich butter-like taste. Substitutes Mozzarella, Emmenthal, Fontina, another Port du Salut style cheese. Language...

Oka Cheese

Oka Cheese © Denzil Green Oka, a Port-du-Salut style cheese, is a semi-firm cheese with a rind and a strong aroma. The rind can be anywhere from straw yellow to orangey-red. Inside, the cheese is a pale yellow. It comes in large rounds that weigh ...

Orval Cheese

Orval is a semi-firm cheese made from pasteurized whole cow's milk. It has an orange rind, and is a pale yellowish-white colour on the inside. It is slightly salty, but otherwise tastes somewhat like a mild gouda. It is made in rectangular loaf-shaped...

Saint Paulin

Saint Paulin is a name for a type of cheese that is not a traditional French cheese, but rather that is based on "Port du Salut" style cheeses. The name "Port Salut", for Port du Salut style cheeses, had been trademarked way back in 1874. Commercial...

Timadeuc Cheese

Timadeuc Cheese is a "Port du Salut" style cheese. The cheese is pressed, and its rind washed with a brine. The rind ends up a light orange/yellow colour, less dark than rinds of other Port du Salut style cheeses. The cheese is aged for up to 3...

Port Salut Cheese

Port Salut Cheese © Denzil Green Port Salut is the cheese that started a whole range of cheeses: see Port du Salut cheese. Port Salut is semi-soft cheese made from cow's milk. The cheese is ripened from the outside in by a smear of surface ...

Reblochon Cheese

Reblochon Cheese is a soft, washed-rind cheese with a mild taste. Its light beige to orangey-yellow rind, which is edible, has white mould on it. The surface texture of the rind comes from the cheesecloth used during making the cheese. Reblochon...

Soumaintrain Cheese

Soumaintrain is a very whiffy French cheese with a taste that is both sweet and salty. Inside, the cheese is soft but not runny. It has a salty-tasting, orangey-caramel-colour rind that is edible. To make Soumaintrain Cheese, unpasteurized cow's...

Stinking Bishop Cheese

Stinking Bishop Cheese is made from pasteurized cow's milk curdled with a vegetarian Rennet. Before being put into moulds, the curds are washed with Perry (pear cider) made from Stinking Bishop Pears (thus its name), which grow on the Gloucestershire-Herefordshire...

Taleggio Cheese

Taleggio Cheese is made in the Lombardy region of Italy, and in Val Taleggio in the Italian Alps, north of Bergamo. Taleggio is normally made from raw whole cow's milk, though sometimes pasteurized cow's milk is used. The milk is heated to between...

Tête de Moine Cheese

Tête de Moine is a cylinder-shaped Swiss cheese that is brine-washed while it is being aged 4 to 6 months. The inedible rind is orangey and sticky; inside, the cheese is a straw-yellow colour and has a spicy flavour. The cheese cylinders are 3 ...

Tilsit Cheese

Tilsit cheese is made from cow's milk -- usually partially-skimmed, but sometimes whole. The milk may or may not be pasteurized, depending on where it is made. The milk is warmed to 85 F / 30 C (95 F / 35 C if whole milk.) Starter is added, along with...

Yak Cheese

Though Tibetans and the Nepalese were historically amongst the few Asians to make use of dairy products at all, they didn't make cheese as we know it and they still don't have much taste for Western-style cheeses. The cheeses now being made from yak's...

Churtsi Cheese

Churtsi is a yak cheese made in Bhutan. It can be made from milk from a dri (female yak) or from a chauri (a cross between a cow and a yak.) To make chursti, a yoghurt which they call "dhai" is first churned for butter. The remaining buttermilk...

Rajya Metok Cheese

Rajya Metok is a yak cheese being developed in Tibet for Western tastes. It is exported to the West and not really consumed in Tibet, aside from a small amount sold to tourists. The cheese is a semi-firm, stirred-curd cheese made in wheels about 16...

Yeel Cheese

Yeel Cheese is a generic term for cheese served at Yule celebrations in Scotland. No specific type of cheese seems to be specified. Instead, it was just the cheese picked out that year for the Yule celebrations. The first cut into it had to be done...

Milk

If a recipe calls for milk, it means cow's milk, unless otherwise specified. Cows can be milked year round; sheep and goats cannot. Dairy production has come a long way from what it historically was. It's estimated that a cow at the turn of...

Buttermilk

Two products result at the end of the butter-making process: butter, and the liquid left over, which is called buttermilk. Butter in North America used to mostly be cultured butter (see entry for butter.) The buttermilk left over from the butter-making...

Chocolate Milk

Chocolate Milk © Denzil Green Chocolate Milk is sweetened, chocolate flavoured milk drink. You can buy it already made up, ready to drink, in cartoons in chillers at stores, or you can mix up your own by adding a sweetened chocolate syrup or ...

Clabbered Milk

Clabbered Milk (aka Loppered Milk) is a product that we no longer really have any more. It was a byproduct of making Clabber Cream. To recap, to make Clabber Cream, you'd set a pail or dish of freshly-milked milk out to allow the cream to rise to the...

Cream

Cream © Denzil Green Cream is essentially butterfat suspended in the more watery milk around it. We think of Cream as being "heavier" than milk because mentally we think about what the fat content can do to us, but it is actually lighter than ...

Aerosol Cream

Aerosol Cream © Denzil Green Aerosol Cream is "whipped cream" that is sprayed out of a can. In North America, the most well-known brand name is Reddi-wip. The cream is not actually already whipped in the can; rather aerosols in the can aerate ...

Chantilly Cream

Chantilly Cream is whipped cream flavoured with vanilla. The French name is Crème Chantilly. In France, housewives have been buying Crème Chantilly in aerosol cans since the early 1970s (though flavoured with natural vanilla pods from Madagascar, b...

Clabber Cream

Clabber Cream is a spooning cream rather than a pouring cream. It isn't made much anymore. To make it, unpasteurized milk was set out to stand until the cream rose to the top. During this time, bacteria in the milk would eat the lactose sugar in...

Clotted Cream

Clotted Cream © Denzil Green While it would be a stretch to say Clotted Cream is practically butter (butter has 80% butterfat and up, while Clotted Cream is "only" 55% butterfat), it is a thick, spreadable cream with the consistency of soft butter ...

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...

Crema Agria

Crema Agria is a fresh, pasteurized cream which has bacteria added back into it to ferment until it is thickened and slightly stiff. Its tang adds a tart flavour to dishes. Crema Agria can used as a food garnish or as an ingredient in dishes, particularly...

Crème de Brebis

Crème de Brebis is cream made from sheep's milk. It is made in the Pyrénées area of France. Language Notes Brebis means "ewe" in French, a female sheep.

Crème Fraîche

Crème Fraîche (pronounced krem fresh, for those whose French is rusty) is a thick cream with between 30 to 40% butterfat in it, usually more towards 40 than 30. It's so thick that you would generally spoon it rather than pour it. It has a slightly s...

Double Cream

Double Cream © Denzil Green Double Cream is a very thick dairy cream. It contains a minimum fat content of 48%. It is produced by centrifugal force to separate the butterfat from the milk. Double Cream may be slightly homogenised under low ...

Extra Thick Double Cream

Extra Thick Double Cream is Double Cream that has been homogenized to produce the extra thickness that makes it spoonable right from the container as a topping for desserts and fruit. For this reason, it's sometimes referred to as a "spooning cream." It...

Extra Thick Single Cream

Like regular Single Cream, this has a butterfat content of 18%, but this Extra Thick version has been homogenized to make it thicker, thick enough to make it spoonable. Cooking Tips Use as a topping for fruits and desserts. Won't whip, but then the...

Frozen Whip Topping

Frozen Whip Topping is a commercial product marketed as a substitute for whipped cream. It has several use advantages: costs less than dairy-based whipping cream; holds its shape longer than real whipped cream can be whipped after freezing,...

Half & Half Cream

Half and Half was generally considered the lightest of all the creams, at 12% butterfat (in many parts of Canada, 10% seems to be the norm), but now there are even lighter creams at 5%. Some people describe "Half and Half" as a mixture of half milk...

Heavy Cream

Heavy cream is a North American generic term for creams that have at least 35-36% butterfat in them. They can be whipped and because of the higher-fat content, aren't as likely to curdle in sauces as lower-fat creams. Heavy cream is a bit too heavy...

Ice Cream

Ice cream is a frozen sweet dish, based on a custard. The most popular flavour is vanilla, followed by chocolate. The most common defect in ice cream is the development of ice crystals in it. The answer on how to prevent this is easy: avoid any temperature...

Butter Brickle Ice Cream

Butter Brickle Ice Cream is an ice cream with Butter Brickle pieces in it. It had its heyday in the 1930s. It started to fade in popularity in North America in the 1960s, and is now getting hard to find. It never became unpopular. Rather, with all...

Eskimo Pies

Eskimo Pies are frozen bars of vanilla ice cream, on a stick, coated in chocolate. They were invented in 1921.

Frozen Custard

Frozen Custard is basically a premium ice cream. Even though it uses more milk and less cream than regular ice cream, because egg yolks are also added, the Frozen Custard ends up smoother and thicker than regular ice cream. The eggs that are used are...

Granita

Granita is a Sicilian, dairy-free frozen dessert with ice granules in it. It is compared to a grainy gelato or sorbet. Your tongue should be able to feel the ice crystals in it. On hot summer mornings, some Sicilians will have it for breakfast,...

Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

In New Zealand, Butter Brickle Ice Cream is called "Hokey Pokey Ice cream." The brickle is made by simmering 1 part golden syrup with 2 parts white sugar until it turns a dark brown, then stirring in a small amount of baking soda, then spreading it...

Ice Milk

Ice Milk is a smooth, sweet frozen dessert very similar to ice cream. It has less milk fat and fewer milk solids than ice cream. It is made the same way as ice cream, but is usually made from skim milk. Consequently, it has fewer calories, but is also...

Maras Ice Cream

Maras Ice Cream is a creamy, smooth Turkish ice cream with an elastic texture. You have to chew it; it melts as you chew. It is served with a knife and a fork. Maras Ice Cream is made from milk, sugar and powder from the tubers of wild orchids ("Dactylorhiza...

Paletas

Paletas are frozen fruit bars on a wooden stick. The frozen substance can be milk or fruit juice based. Prices in Mexico and in America range from $1.00 to $1.40 US (as of 2006); milk ones usually cost more than the fruit ones. Fruit juice based...

Sherbet

In North America, the word "Sherbet" connotes a frozen dessert, which you could categorize somewhere in the middle between sorbet and granita (being the lightest of such frozen desserts) and ice cream (being the richest.) The principle ingredients...

Soft Ice Cream

"Soft ice cream" is purposely designed to stay semi-soft so that it can easily be piped out of machines.

Sorbet

Rhubarb Sorbet © Paula Trites Sorbet is a semi-frozen, dairy-free ice water dish with a smooth texture. It can be served as a dessert or as a small dish to freshen people's taste buds between courses. It is made from a sugar syrup flavoured ...

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream is ice cream that has been flavoured naturally or artificially with vanilla. Most of the ice cream in the world made and consumed is vanilla ice cream.

Light Whipping Cream

Light Whipping Cream has a butterfat content of 30 to 35%. That makes it slightly slower in fat than regular Whipping cream (which is 35 to 40%.) Cooking Tips Use as you would any Whipping Cream. Substitutes See substitutes for Whipping Crea...

Non-Dairy Creamer

Non-Dairy Creamer is a substitute for real dairy cream. In North America, it is primarily used for coffee. It may be powdered or liquid. The most well-known powdered one is Coffee Mate, made by Carnation. In the UK, a liquid Non-Dairy Cream is made...

Nondairy Topping

Nondairy topping is a dessert topping that you use in place of a form of cream, such as ice cream, whip cream, pouring cream or spooning cream. It may be a liquid that you have to whip up, powder that you have to combine with a liquid such as milk...

Reddi-Wip

Reddi-Wip Magazine Advertisement from the 1960s Reddi-Wip is a trademarked brand name of aerosol cream -- whipped cream that you spray out of a can. See main entry on aerosol cream for an explanation of how it works. In North America, there...

Rømmekolle

Rømmekolle is a Norwegian dairy dessert, sometimes translated in English as "buttermilk pudding." It is made from double-cream that's been pasteurized and homogenized. Starter culture is added to the cream to ferment it a bit. The cream ends thick, ...

Single Cream

Single Cream © Denzil Green British Single Cream, with 18% butterfat content, is equivalent to what North Americans call Table Cream or Coffee Cream (if those have 18% fat content as well; some dairy producers will produce a table cream with up ...

Sour Cream

Sour cream has a taste that is mildly acidic or sour. It has been used for a long, long time in Eastern European cooking, and features as well in many German and Russian recipes. The popularity has made its way to America via immigration, even though...

Whipping Cream

Whipped Cream © Denzil Green Whipping cream contains between 35 to 40% butterfat. It is extracted from whole milk by whizzing milk around in centrifugal separation tanks. Though the cream is pasteurized, it is not homogenized, as homogenization ...

Evaporated Milk

Evaporated Milk © KBR / flickr.com / 2007 / CC BY-ND 2.0 Evaporated Milk is a thickened form of milk made by putting milk under a vacuum and removing half its water. It is then homogenized, sealed in cans and sterilized through the canning process. Some ...

Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche is a form of condensed milk made in Latin America It is called "Dulce de Leche" in Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico; "manjar blanco" ("blanc mange") in Chile and in Panamá, and "arequipe" in Columbia and Venezuela. It is usually made ...

Solidified Condensed Milk

Solidified Condensed Milk (aka Khoya) is made in India from condensed buffalo milk. It develops a slightly carmelized flavour during the processing. It can be used in curries and in Indian desserts. To make it, the milk is heated to about 180 F...

Sweetened Condensed Milk

Sweetened Condensed Milk © nachar/ pixabay.com / 2014 / CC0 1.0 Sweetened Condensed Milk is made by putting milk under a vacuum and removing half its water. It is then sweetened with sugar or corn syrup, then sterilized and homogenized. It ...

Goat's Milk

Goat's Milk © Denzil Green Goat's Milk has a slightly sweet and salty taste to it. It can even taste particularly funny if the female goats have been eating onions, or they have been near a male goat or can smell one nearby. Unlike cows, goats ...

Gold Top Milk

Gold Top Milk © Iain Sinclair Gold Top™ is the trademarked brand name of a very thick, yellowish milk that comes from either Jersey or Guernsey Cows or is a blend of milk from both, from anywhere in England, Scotland or Wales. It's 5% fat. Wh...

Kefir

Kefir is a dairy product that is somewhat like a yoghurt thin enough to drink. In consistency, it's like a thick, pourable cream. It is made by fermenting milk with yeasts and bacteria. The bacteria it contains include Lactobacillus Caucasus, Leuconostoc,...

Kefir Grains

Kefir grains are not actually grains at all, nor are they, as some will say, a mushroom species found in the mountains near the snow lines. They are a mixture of bacteria and yeast living in a symbiotic matrix that clump together. Under a microscope...

Koumiss

Koumiss is a fermented milk drink. It is mostly made from cow's milk, though it was originally made from horse's milk, and some stables in Russia still produce it as a side-business. The starter used is a combination of fungus and yeast. Koumiss...

Non-dairy milk

Non-dairy milk. Mattie Hagedorn. Veganbaking.net / flickr / 2010 / CC BY-SA 2.0 Non-dairy milk (aka plant milk) is a cloudy, white beverage with a visual semblance to milk, but made from plant material rather than obtained from animals. In...

Almond Milk

Almond milk is a "milk-like" liquid that is made from water and almonds. The almonds are crushed, then soaked in water, then blended into the water, after which any remaining almond pulp is strained out leaving just the almond "milk." It is sometimes...

Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is a liquid made from water and coconut flesh. It is not, as most people might guess, from the water or juice drained out of a coconut. Instead, coconut milk is made by infusing water with grated coconut, just as almond milk is made by...

Oat Milk

Oat milk (aka oat drink) is a solution of water and finely ground oats. It has no real flavour, either pleasant or unpleasant. It thickens up in cooking, like cow's milk. It can even be used in custards and cakes, mashed potatoes, etc. You can buy...

Rice Milk

Rice milk is a white liquid that looks somewhat like milk, but which is made from water and cooked rice and has no dairy in it. The flavour is slightly-sweet from sugars naturally present in the rice.

Soy Milk

Soy milk is a white liquid made from water and soy beans. There are different techniques of making it. In the Japanese way of making soy milk, uncooked soy beans are soaked in water overnight. In the morning they are drained, then mashed with some...

Powdered Milk

Powdered Milk is milk that has been dehydrated to remove all the water, leaving just the solids behind in a powdered form. It was originally designed as a way to preserve milk. To make it, first about 1/3 of the water is evaporated from the milk under...

Household Milk

Household Milk is a term that was used in Britain during the Second World War for government-issued powdered skim milk. It was actually labelled "Household Milk." Rationing of liquid fresh milk had begun in Britain in November 1941. Distribution...

Instant Skim Powdered Milk

Instant Skim Powdered Milk is a powdered version of skim milk. See "Powdered Milk" for a discussion of how it is made. To use, it is usually mixed up with water first, though some recipes may have you add it directly as a powder. It mixes up more...

Malted Milk Powder

Malted Milk Powder is a dry mixture of malted barley flour, wheat flour and powdered milk. The malted barley and wheat flour have water added to them, and are simmered to make them a "mash" (as is made by brewers.) The simmering converts the starches...

National Dried Milk

National Dried Milk was a powdered, full-cream milk fortified with vitamin D. It was intended for feeding to children at a time of milk rationing in England during World War Two.

Raw Milk

Raw Milk © Randal Oulton Raw Milk is unpasteurized milk. This phrase is usually used in reference to cheese-making. Cheese connoisseurs swear that pasteurizing milk affects the taste of the cheese. They say that while the flavour of pasteurized ...

Whey

Whey is a by-product of cheese and tofu making. In cheese-making, Whey is the liquid left over after the fat and protein in the cheese have coagulated to make curds. The whey will, however, still contain some protein that other cheeses can be made...

Yoghurt

Yoghurt © Denzil Green Yoghurt is milk to which a bacteria ("Lactobacillus bulgaricus") has been added, which thickens the milk, helps to extend its shelf life, and gives it a tangy taste. The bacteria feeds on the lactose sugars in the milk, changing ...

Balkan Style Yoghurt

Rather than being made in a single large vat, as other yoghurt is, Balkan Style is made in smaller bins. Many people can't see any difference worth mentioning, though, between it and plain yoghurt, either in texture or flavour, and there's none in...

Dhai

Dhai is a yoghurt made in the Himalayas from Yak or Chauri milk. The milk is boiled, then cooled to about 99 F (37 C.) A small amount of Dhai from the previous batch is added to act as a starter. The mixture is then allowed to set and ferment overnight. Dhai...

Doi

Doi is an Indian version of yoghurt that is usually made at home. It has less water and less whey than European styles of yoghurt. Bacteria is added to whole milk to ferment and congeal it. The resulting Doi will take on the shape of the container...

Greek Yoghurt

Greek yoghurt is a very creamy, thick yoghurt with a higher butterfat content (about 9%, compared to 3.5% for normal yoghurt.) It is the best yoghurt to use for cooking. Substitutes Whole milk yoghurt (highest fat content you can lay your hands...

Deep-Fried Food Recipes

Desserts and Sweets Recipes

Dishes

In food terminology, a dish is a prepared item of food, completely ready to be served and eaten, whether with cutlery or out of hand.A dish is prepared via a set of directions contained in a recipe, even if the recipe is informal and even if is not written...

Deep-Fried Foods

There is a legendary, though fictitious, fable in advertising known as the "broccoli factor."The story goes that there was a survey in New England in the 1950s or 1960s of how much broccoli mothers fed their children. Feeling guilty that they should be...

Deep-Fried Beer

Deep-Fried Beer is a small, sealed square of pastry with beer as its filling, that is deep-fried and served hot. The technique was invented and patented by Mark Zable of Texas, who entered it in the fried food competition at the 2010 Texas State Fair,...

Deep-Fried Butter

Deep-Fried Butter is a food item that won the 2009 fried food competition at the Texas State Fair. They were an entry by Abel Gonzales Jr. He offered four versions: plain, garlic, grape of cherry (the flavouring was in the butter.) It consists of...

Deep-Fried Macaroni and Cheese

Deep-Fried Macaroni and Cheese consists of Macaroni and Cheese, formed into balls, coated with a batter, then deep-fried on a stick and served on the stick. Fancy versions use several different types of cheese in the Macaroni and Cheese. Some add a...

Desserts

Desserts © Denzil GreenDesserts are sweet foods served at the end of a meal. Dessert is essentially a French concept. It was the French who, in the 1600s, divided sweet parts of the meal from the sour and savoury parts. Until then, European cooking ...

Aboukir Almonds

Aboukir almonds are a candy, a type of "petit-four." To make Aboukir almonds, whole almonds are blanched, then roasted, and set aside. Almond paste is then coloured green or pink, and pressed into a ball or an oval. A hole is pressed into the top...

Applesauce

Apple Sauce © Denzil Green Applesauce is a sauce made by cooking apples until they go break down into a purée. Sometimes, flavouring (such as cloves or cinnamon) and a sweetener might be added. In commercial operations, machines wash, peel, c...

Banana Split

A banana split is a chilled dessert made from split bananas, ice cream, and sweet sauces and garnishes. It is traditionally served in a long dish.

Bananas Foster

Bananas Foster is a dessert. To make Bananas Foster, bananas are peeled, sliced lengthwise in half, and sautéed in a heated mixture of melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla and banana liqueur for about 5 minutes. When they are heated, flaming rum ...

Belgian Waffles

Belgian Waffles (pictured are those of the type known as Liège Waffles) © Denzil Green Belgian Waffles are an American take on styles of waffles made in Belgium. In Belgium, there's not really any such thing as a waffle of that exact name. Belgian W...

Bhapa Doi

Bhapa Doi is an unsweetened Bengali dessert which is essentially steamed yoghurt. It has the texture and consistency of soft cheesecake. It has a sweet, mild taste. Cooking Tips 1 1/4 cups (10 fluid ounces / 300ml) evaporated milk (aka condensed...

Cakes

Cake is a term used to describe a very broad category of food. A cake can be a large sweet item, or a small unsweetened item that is more used more like a bread. In a very small number of instances, it can even by a lozenge -- viz Pomfret Cakes. An...

Alaska Florida

Alaska Florida Charles Ranhofer, the American chef of Delmonico Restaurant fame, gave a recipe for a dish resembling Baked Alaska in his 1893 book "The Epicurean." He referred to the dish as "Alaska, Florida", and gave directions for it to be...

Apple Potato Cake

Apple Potato Cake is a version of fadge particularly popular in north-eastern Ireland around Hallowe'en. You take the potato mixture that you are about to make your fadge with, and divide it in half. Press one-half out flat to make a bottom layer,...

Banbury Cakes

Banbury Cakes are small puff pastries with a mincemeat-type filling inside them.

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...

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.

Bundt Cakes

Bundt Cake castle design © Denzil Green A Bundt® Cake is a cake of any nature that has been baked in a Bundt® pan. The Bundt pans are more than just a cake pan; they are like "cake moulds" of various designs, so that cakes that come out of them ar...

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake © Denzil Green Carrot cake is a cake made with carrots as the featured ingredient. The leavener is usually baking soda. Some recipes add raisins, coconut and even pineapple. The cakes are usually frosted, quite often with a ...

Cassatelle di Ricotta

Cassatelle di Ricotta is a Sicilian dessert made for Easter. There are at least five variations: A cake pan is lined with a sweet-crust pastry dough, then filled with crumbled sponge cake, A filling made of ricotta, sugar, candied fruit, vanilla...

Cheesecake

Most people have no idea how cheesecake originated -- whether it's a product of 1950's kitchen kitsch, perhaps, or whether it's older... much older. It is, of course, actually quite ancient.

Mattentaart

Mattentaart is a round "cheesecake" made inside a puff pastry. Mattentaart is made in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, in the Geraardsbergen area in the south of the province of East-Flanders.

Melktert

Melktert is a South-African "pie". Its name means literally "milk tart" or "milk pie." It is a pie with a crust and a bland custard as the filling, baked in a round pie tin. After baking, it is often dusted with cinnamon. Some versions don't use a...

Mustacae

Mustacae was a Roman dessert served at the end of rich meals The small, individual unleavened mustacae cakes were thought to help digestion. The cakes were made from anise, bay leaves, cheese, cumin, grape must, lard and wheat flour. The cheese...

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate in chocolate cakes is a relatively recent innovation in the kitchen. In 1736, Francesco Arisi complained that chocolate was appearing everywhere in cooking, even in cakes. In 1826, Mary Randolph's recipe for Chocolate Cakes still had no chocolate...

Devil's Food Cake

Devil's Food Cake is a chocolate cake with a medium-dense but light-texture. The cake isn't a traditional chocolate colour; rather, it's a reddish chocolate colour. Devil's Food Cake originally had a mild chocolate flavour. Then, people began to...

German Chocolate Cake

It's a myth that German Chocolate Cake is German. It is so-named because it uses German-style baking chocolate.

Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake is a form of dessert cake very popular in the American south. The term is usually taken these days to mean a chocolate cake with a reddish hue to it, covered with cream cheese icing. The oldest recipes we've been able to find, though,...

Texas Sheet Cake

A Texas Sheet Cake is a big, low cake that is essentially a single-layer version of a German Chocolate Cake, with a simplified cake batter, and simplified presentation. It's a cake you can make for a crowd in under an hour, from start to ready to go out...

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Tunnel of Fudge Cake Tunnel of Fudge Cake is a cake with a fudge and nut centre baked in a Bundt® pan. It originally required Pillsbury "Double Dutch Fudge Frosting Mix", which was later discontinued by Pillsbury. In response to widespread ...

Christmas Cakes

Christmas cakes can be either light or dark cakes with fruit in them that may or may not be iced or glazed. Christmas cakes are quite recent, historically. Up until the end of the 1800s, puddings were made for Christmas, and cakes were made for Twelfth...

Clafoutis

Clafoutis is a crustless pie made in France. The best way in English to describe it might be a baked cake batter flan with fruit in it. The fruit most often used is cherries with their pits left in, but stems removed. To make Clafoutis, a flat,...

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...

Cupcakes

Cupcakes are small, sweet sponge cakes. They are often baked in small disposable ridged cups, of either paper or silver foil, and often frosted afterward. One of the first responsibilities that children are often granted in a kitchen is to be allowed...

Butterfly Cakes

Butterfly cakes are small versions of cupcakes made in muffin tins with smaller cups, and smaller lining papers. They are made from the same kinds of batters that you would make regular cakes: plain, for instance, is usually plain white sponge. You...

Fairy Cakes

Fairy cakes are small versions of cupcakes made in the UK. They are made exactly from the same batters that you would use for cakes; plain ones, for instance, are usually plain white sponge. Fairy cakes are made in muffin tins with smaller cups,...

Gem Cakes (Australia)

Gem Cakes in Australia are small, round sweet cakes, usually unflavoured. They are also called Gem Scones, which is perhaps more accurate, as they are more like small scones. You're meant to serve them with butter, jam, etc. They are quick to make:...

Gem Cakes (New Zealand)

Gem cakes are light, spicy, small cakes made in New Zealand, traditionally in a small loaf shape. Making them small helps speed the baking time. From start of opening recipe book to mixing to baking to table, you only need about 30 minutes. They...

Eccles Cakes

Eccles Cakes © Denzil Green Eccles Cakes are small, flat, individual-portion sized pastries. On the outside, they have a flaky crust, and inside, they are filled with candied peel and currants, mixed with sugar, nutmeg, allspice and butter. The ...

Galette des Rois

For Twelfth Night (Epiphany), the French make a thin, round cake called "Galette des rois." It's also called by some "galette de Noël." It is a cake made of puff pastry in the shape of a low crown, filled with frangipane. It is cut into pieces ...

Galettes

Galette is a French term for a round, flat baked good that can be anything from what in English would be a cookie, a scone, a flat cake or a buckwheat crêpe. In the English speaking world, Galette is generally taken to mean smallish rounds of flaky ...

Gâteau St-Honoré

Gâteau St-Honoré is an assembled dessert made of shortcrust pastry and choux pastry. Shortcrust pastry is used to make the base. Choux pastry is used to pipe a ring around the outside of the base, and to make the profiteroles (balls of pastry) that a...

Gâteaux

Gâteaux is the French word for "cakes"; the singular is "gâteau." Both are pronounced the same: "gah-toe." In French, gâteaux refers to any kind of cake, from cheesecake to sponge to fruit cakes to pound cakes. It can even mean pancake at times, or...

Genoa Bread

Genoa bread (aka "pain de Gênes" in French) is a cake with almonds. In fact, almost half its weight is butter and almonds. The yellow batter is made with butter, eggs and almond paste. Egg whites are whipped for leavening (some versions don't bother ...

Genoa Cake

Genoa Cake © Denzil Green Genoa Cake is a term that can be used to mean several different desserts. (1) In its native English formulation, Genoa Cake is a quirky term (like "Belgian buns") for an English cake made and sold in the UK. With its ...

King Cake

Throughout the entire Carnival season in New Orleans, they make "King Cake", which is a sort of brioche. The cake was originally made just for Twelfth Night, signalling the end of Christmas season. Now Twelfth Night is seen as the start of Carnival...

Kugelhopf Cakes

A Kugelhopf Cake is a German yeast-risen sweet, rich bread baked in a special fluted tube pan called a Kugelhopf pan. There will be nuts, candied fruits and raisins or currants in the dough.It has a crisp surface, and is dry, so it is eaten with coffee,...

Lamingtons

Lamingtons are an Australian dessert. They are small squares of chocolate and coconut covered plain sponge cake about 2 inches (5 cm) tall, wide and long. The tops are smooth, and the sides are rough, because the sides are cut cake. The cake is usually...

Marzipan Potatoes

Marzipan Potatoes are a confection, not actual potatoes.They consist of yellow sponge cake, filled with sweetened whipped cream, covered with a 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) layer of marzipan, and rolled in or sprinkled with cocoa powder. They are about the size...

Melton Hunt Cake

Melton Hunt Cake is a moist fruit cake made in the town of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England, where Stilton cheese and Melton Mowbray pies are also made.It contains dried fruit, almonds, butter, eggs, and rum, and is decorated on top with whole...

Napolitain Cakes

A French style of cake, not called Napolitain on account of any association with Napoleon, but rather because it was made in the "style" of desserts from Naples, which were often layers of different colours, textures and tastes.This style of cake used...

Parkin Cake

Parkin is a soft, ginger-flavoured egg-less cake based on ginger, oatmeal and black treacle.It is moist, sometimes even sticky.It is usually baked in a rectangular cake pan, and cut into squares to serve.It's associated with both Yorkshire and Lancashire...

Pasta Margherita

Pasta Margherita is not pasta, as we think of pasta, but rather a cake that has nothing to do with spaghetti.Recipes vary. Some use flour, some don't . All use powdered sugar and potato starch. Some versions add lemon juice.The simplest recipes for Pasta...

Pasta Paradiso

Pasta here means "paste", as in "pastry" or dough.Pasta Paradiso is a cake, very similar to Pasta margherita.The two cakes can appear similar by the list of their ingredients, but they are different both in the ratio of ingredients, and in the way in...

PET No-Bake Festive Fruitcake

The PET Festive Fruitcake gained its place as a beloved, if quirky, part of the American Christmas cooking pantheon in the second half of the 1900s. The goal of the recipe was to promote the use of PET Evaporated Milk as an ingredient in holiday cook...

PET No-Bake Festive Fruitcake

The PET Festive Fruitcake recipe started appearing in American magazines and newspapers by at least 1954 (based on reputed sightings in the Farm Journal in 1954.) The goal of the recipe was to promote the use of PET Evaporated Milk as an ingredient...

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

To make Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, canned pineapple rings are arranged in the bottom of a baking vessel (a cake pan or a frying pan.) Ideally, a maraschino cherry is placed in the centre of each ring. Some recipes sprinkle chopped walnuts or pecans over...

Pithiviers

A Pithiviers is a type of cake or large pastry made in France.It is usually about 10 inches (25 cm) wide, with a top and buttom crust made of puff pastry, with a dense almond paste ("Crème d'amandes) filling inside. The top is rounded and higher than ...

Pound Cake

A Pound Cake is a rich, dense cake. It can be plain, or have flavouring extracts or citrus rind added to it. There is no leavener in the cake, just the air whipped into the batter while making it.A Pound Cake is made from equal portions of butter, egg,...

Queen Elizabeth Cake: A uniquely Canadian cake

Queen Elizabeth Cake is a Canadian white cake, made rich by the generous addition of dates and nuts. It's frosted with a butter, sugar, coconut and cream frosting. What's unusual about the cake is that after being frosted, the cake goes back into...

Sachertorte

Sachertorte is a famous sponge chocolate cake with apricot jam, iced all over with chocolate.History Notes Sachertorte is famous because it has come to evoke Vienna in many people's minds. It's also famous because of the bitter fight that was waged over...

Sheath Cakes

A Sheet Cake is sometimes called a "Sheath Cake."The word "sheath" started appearing in print in the late 1950s. As of 2006, most food historians are convinced that "sheath" is just a variant pronunciation of "sheet." Some people even question pointedly...

Sheet Cakes

The term "Sheet Cakes" is sometimes used interchangeably with the term "slab cake."Some professional bakers differentiate between the two terms as follows:Sheet Cakes are around 2 inches (5 cm) tall Slab cakes are generally about 3 inches (7 1/2 cm) tall...

Simnel Cake

A Simnel Cake is like a plum pudding inside a crust.The inside part is made from flour, spices, dried fruit and candied peel.Some versions have a crust made from a creamed batter, others from a yeast-dough. Yeast dough ones tend to have saffron in them,...

Slab Cake

A Slab Cake is a large, flat, single-layer, rectangular cake. It is not quite the same as a "Sheet Cake", though both can be used to serve large numbers of people.The usual purpose of a Slab Cake is to provide cake for large birthday parties.The size...

Sly Cakes

Sly Cakes were traditional in Lancashire, England.A Sly Cake consists of two layers of sweet, unleavened pastry, with a filling in between of a spiced mixture of dried fruit.You seal the edges of the two layers, and bake it.The pastry is made in a way...

Sponge Cakes

Sponge Cakes are cakes with a light, airy texture. There are many variations, but they will always be light, as opposed to dense.

Aboukir

Aboukir is a sponge cake. It's baked in a Charlotte Mould, sliced into layers, then reassembled with chestnut cream between each layer. The cake is then glazed with a coffee-flavoured fondant (a thick sugar paste) and garnished with pistachios. Bombe...

Angel Food Cake

Angel food cake is a tall, light fat-free cake based on beaten egg white.

Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska is a flat sponge cake topped with ice cream, covered in raw meringue and baked for a very short period of time in a very hot oven, so that the meringue browns but the ice cream stays solid and cold. It is very impressive and festive, even...

Battenberg Cake

Battenberg Cake © Denzil Green Battenberg Cake is an oblong shaped sponge cake, covered with marzipan. When cut cross-wise, as it is meant to be, the slices show themselves to be composed of 4 squares of cake, checkered yellow and pink. Both ...

English Madelines

English Madelines are different from the French cookies called Madelines. The English ones are actually small, tall individual portion cakes made of Victoria sponge baked in tapering dariole moulds or castle tins. The small cakes are allowed to...

Genoise

A genoise is a type of sponge cake which ends up with a more tender, flavourful crumb than many other types of sponge cake owing to melted butter being added to the batter (other sponge cakes don't use butter.) It's also less sweet than other sponge...

Pan di Spagna

Pan di Spagna is a sponge cake, and therefore made with no fat. It is very similar to a Genoise and to pasta margherita, and, despite the Spanish sounding name, it's actually Italian. It is used as the basis for many other desserts, including Cassata,...

Quillet

A quillet is a small, round sponge cake. To make a quillet, sugar and eggs are beat over low heat until thickened, then removed from the heat. Flour and melted butter are then added. It's baked in round cake tins, then cooled. The cakes are filled...

White Mountain Cake

White Mountain Cake is a white sponge layer cake. It is so named because it's tall -- being a layer cake -- and because it's both a white cake, and a cake frosted with white icing, thus, a white mountain. It uses lots of egg whites for leavener,...

Swiss Roll

Swiss Roll is a rolled sponge cake with a filling, usually jam. You slice it sideways across the end; each slice reveals a spiral pattern.Swiss Roll tends to be the term used for this in the UK and in Canada; in America, the term used is "Jelly Roll"...

Tipsy Parson

Tipsy Parson was traditionally a cake that was soaked in alcohol, and then served with toppings of custard, whipped cream and almonds. Now, it has evolved into a layered dessert that is basically a trifle by another name, though trifle will have fruit...

Torte

Torte (pronounced tor-teh) is a German word meaning cake. It is reserved for fancier cakes -- for simpler cakes, Germans use the word "Kuchen." It is rather like we would use the word "gâteaux" for fancy, schmantzy cakes. Put more simply, if you buy ...

Tranche Napolitaine

Tranche Napolitaine is a French dessert. It is a cake made of Neapolitan Ice Cream and mousse. The layered ice cream is placed on top the mousse. It is served in slices.In France, most people expect the Neapolitan ice cream layers to be red (strawberry),...

Twelfth Night Cake

If Christmas seems to have an insane amount of activity rolled into one holiday, it's because Twelfth Night has disappeared from calendars, with many of its traditions -- plays, parties, cake, wassailing and presents -- now rolled into Christmas.Twelfth...

Twinkies

Twinkies are small, gold-coloured sponge cakes filled with vanilla-flavoured "cream." The cream filling is injected through 3 holes in the top. It's packaged upside down, with the brown top on the bottom.Up till around the 1960s, Twinkies used actual...

Upside-Down Cakes

Upside-Down Cake is a cake that is assembled in the cake pan in an order opposite to that in which you'll ultimately present it. This makes it a self-decorating cake.You put fruit on the bottom of a cake pan. Fruit used includes cherry, cranberry, banana,...

Whirlin Cakes

Currently (2007), what Whirlin Cakes actually were seems to have been forgotten.They were made for Whirlin Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, in Cambridgeshire, England, particularly in the Isle of Ely (not actually an island, but rather a region around...

Wycoller Cake

Wycoller is an abandoned village 3 miles east of Colne, Lancashire. There appear to be two definitions of Wycoller Cake."Traditional Food East and West of the Pennines" says: "Wycoller cake, also known as love paste or courting cake, can still be bought...

Yule Log

Yule Log, also known by its French name of Bûche de Noël, is a rolled-up, iced cake made and served at Christmas time.The cake can be chocolate or a plain sponge or a Genoise, cooked in a long flat pan. You spread a filling out on top the cake, then r...

Candy

See links below for various topics.

Akide Candy

Akide are small hard Turkish candies sold unwrapped in jars. They are made from a sugar syrup, with citric acid and cream of tartar added, and flavoured with ingredients such as cinnamon, bergamot orange, lemons, mint, rosewater or fruits such as strawberries,...

Barley Sugar

Barley sugar is a transparent hard candy. It comes in strips, lozenges, twists, and toys. It is yellowish-brown, unless some red food colouring has been added to make it orangey-brown. Traditionally, Barley Sugar is made from water hulled barley...

Barrat Sherbet Fountains

Barrat Sherbet Fountains are powdered Sherbet sold in a yellow plastic tube with red lettering. The package includes a stick made of liquorice. You can bite the top off the liquorice stick to transform it into a straw through which to suck the powder,...

Butter Brickle

Butter Brickle is both a taste and a texture. It's small, shattered, crunchy pieces of golden-brown coloured, buttery-tasting hard toffee, which are also sometimes sold as "toffee bits." Many Butter Brickle variants now add nuts -- usually walnuts...

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,...

Butterscotch

Butterscotch is a flavour similar to caramel. The flavour of Butterscotch used to be everywhere. It was in sauces and syrups, in butterscotch cream pie, butterscotch frosting, and butterscotch ice cream. It remains a popular pudding flavour in America. It...

Candy Canes

Candy canes are a cane-shaped hard candy with barber-pole stripes on them. They are both a decoration and a candy. It's a myth that they ever had any religious significance.

Chocolate Bars

Mars Bars

Mars Bars © Denzil Green A Mars Bar is a candy bar made and sold commercially by the American company called Mars. Mars Bars internationally are sold in a black wrapper, with the name in red letters outlined in gold. In America, however, they ...

Milky Way Bars

What is sold outside the US as a "Milky Way" bar is sold in the US as a "3 Musketeers" bar. What is sold in the US as a "Milky Way" bar is sold outside the US as a "Mars Bar." As of 2000, Mars Bars are no longer sold in the US. The American version...

Snickers Bars

Snickers Bar International © Denzil Green Snickers Bars are candy bars made by the Mars company. They have a base of peanut butter nougat, which is topped by a layer of roasted peanuts in caramel. The whole thing is covered in chocolate, and ...

Three Musketeers Bars

3 Musketeers Bars © Denzil Green Three (3) Musketeers is a candy bar sold in America and in Canada. It is whipped chocolate nougat coated with milk chocolate. In America, the wrapper portrays the three musketeers: Athos, Porthos and D'Artagnan. ...

Tunnock's Caramel Wafers

Tunnock's Caramel Wafers © Denzil Green Tunnock's Caramel Wafers are a candy bar, consisting of five layers of wafer with four layers of caramel in between. The wafer and caramel layers are the same thickness. The most popular version, a milk ...

Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate Truffles © Denzil Green Chocolate Truffles are chocolate candies, named because they are designed to resemble mushroom truffles. To make them, a ganache paste, made of chocolate, cream and butter is shaped into small rounds, then dusted ...

Dib Dabs

A Dib Dab is a package of sherbet powder sold with a lollipop. You lick the lollipop, dip it in the powder and use that to carry it to the mouth. The brand called Dip Dabs is made by Barrat; the brand called Dib Dab is made by Swizzels Matlow. See...

Flying Saucers

Flying Saucers © Denzil Green Flying saucers are a flying saucer-shaped candy, about 2 inches (5 cm) wide. The flying saucer is formed from crisp, edible rice paper, or foamed corn starch. This shell is coloured, but flavourless. The hollow ...

Fudge

Fudge © Denzil Green Fudge is a soft, creamy, smooth candy that can be made at home or purchased commercially. It comes in a variety of flavours, with chocolate being the most popular. The base is sugar, butter, and cream or milk. Some recipes ...

Opera Fudge

Opera fudge is a plain, white fudge. The basic ingredients are sugar, cream and cream of tartar. It may be flavoured; it may have additional ingredients such as candied cherries, chopped almonds, raisins, etc; it may be coloured with a food dye. The...

Penuche Fudge

Penuche fudge is a brown sugar fudge. The base is just brown sugar, butter and milk. Variations: Some recipes add vanilla flavouring; Some use half brown sugar, half white sugar; Some add chopped nuts or candied cherries; Some...

Higashi

Higashi is Japanese term for small dry, hard or semi-hard candies, with a moisture level of 10 % or less. Some grades of Higashiwill be made with "wasanbon", which is very fine-grained sugar. These Higashi are regarded as the finest. Types of...

Jelly Beans

Jelly Beans © Denzil Green Jelly Beans are a semi-soft, bean-shaped candy, with a firm shell and a soft centre. In all, it takes 6 to 10 days to make a Jelly Bean. The centre of a Jelly Bean is made from a mixture of sugar, corn syrup, lecithin, ...

Konpeitou

Konpeitou are candies made in Kyoto, Japan. They are small balls made of sugar about the size of a finger tip. Some describe them as star-shaped, but they are more like small mines, with sugar spikes on them. At the core is a roasted rice kernel. To...

Liquorice Allsorts

Bassetts Allsorts © Denzil Green Liquorice Allsorts is a candy mixture. On average, there are about 10 different types of candies in an all-sorts mixture, depending on which brand you buy. Some of the candies in the mix are pure liquorice, others ...

M&Ms

M&Ms are small, chocolate candies coated in a smooth, solid sugar coating. The colours of the coatings can be brown, green, orange, red, blue, yellow and tan (originally violet.) They are made in Hackettstown, New Jersey. They were created by...

Mackintosh's Toffee

Mackintosh's is a British golden Toffee with caramel flavour, made by Rowntree-Mackintosh. It is soft enough to be chewy, but hard enough to still be breakable. In New Zealand, it is sold by Allen's. It is also popular in Canada, so much so that...

Maltesers

Maltesers © Denzil Green Maltesers are a candy. They are small balls of crunchy malt honeycomb covered with milk chocolate. They are crunchy when you first bite into them, then they dissolve in your mouth. They are popular in Australia, Canada, ...

Marrons Glacés

Marrons glacés are candied chestnuts. Making them is very labour intensive; consequently they are considered a delicacy in France and usually purchased.

Opera Creams

Opera Creams are a "fondant" candy. They are chocolate coated, rich, sweet and creamy. The insides can be flavoured in different ways. They are traditionally made and sold in winter months, and are particularly popular in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Opera...

Peeps

Peeps © Denzil Green Peeps® are a candy made of marshmallow and coated sugar by the Just Born company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Ingredients include sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, gelatin and carnauba wax. They come in varying shapes, with t...

Pomfret Cakes

Pomfret Cakes © Dave Spellman / flickr.com / 2006 / CC BY 2.0 A Pomfret Cake is actually a lozenge, not a cake, traditionally made in Pontrefact, Yorkshire. It's made from liquorice thickened with flour and sweetened with sugar. The lozenges ...

Pralines

Pralines are a candy made by binding almonds together with a sugar syrup. You can eat the candy whole as is, or crush it to be used as a topping or a garnish between layers of a dessert. To make Pralines, almonds are toasted, then stirred into a...

Red Liquorice

Red Liquorice © Denzil Green Many people who despise black liquorice will eat the red -- that's because Red Liquorice is not really liquorice at all. It does not contain any liquorice extract or anise flavouring. Red Liquorice is sweeter than ...

Salt-Water Taffy

Salt-Water Taffy Salt-Water Taffy is a marketing name for a certain type of taffy sold as small pieces, generally coloured, and usually individually wrapped in colourful paper wrappers, twisted at both ends to fasten it. Individual pieces of Salt-Water...

Sherbet (Candy)

Tube of Sherbet Candy Powder © Denzil Green In the United Kingdom, the word "Sherbet" means a candy powder that is both sweet and tart at the same time. The powder also fizzes when it comes into contact with water, such as the moisture in your ...

Taffy

Taffy is a candy made from water, butter, and either sugar or molasses. Some commercial makers may use corn syrup as the sweetener, and fats other than butter (such as vegetable oils.) Flavourings such as lemon, vanilla, etc, may be added, especially...

Toffee

English Toffee © Denzil Green Toffee is a hard and brittle candy. The base ingredients to make it are a sugar (either sugar or molasses), butter, and water. Some commercial makers may use corn syrup as the "sugar", and fats other than butter ...

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight Turkish Delight is a candy with a gummy, rubbery texture, though some mass commercial versions can be quite hard. It is made from sugar, rose water, corn starch, and water, with the addition of cream of tartar to help prevent the...

Turrón

Turrón is a nougat made in Spain from honey, egg whites, and toasted almonds. It is similar to Torrone in Italy. It can be sold as a rectangular slab, or come as a round cake between two thin waffle cookies. You can get Turrón year round, but it i...

Walnut Whips

Walnut Whips © Denzil Green A Walnut Whip is a candy. It consists of a tall mound of vanilla-flavoured, soft fondant cream on top of a flat base of chocolate. This mound is then covered with glossy milk chocolate in a whirling pattern. Half ...

Cassata

Cassata is a sort of a Sicilian version of trifle. It is a moulded cake, usually rounded because it is formed in a bowl, but it can also be made in a rectangular pan, or in a springform pan (though granted this is a modern innovation.) To make Cassata,...

Cassata Gelata

Cassata Gelata is often referred to as ice cream. Though it is a frozen desert, referring to Cassata Gelata as ice cream is misleading. Rather, you make a cream mixture from whipped cream, egg yolk, sugar, lemon rind, milk, and cook gently on the stove....

Cherries Jubilee

Cherries Jubilee is a dessert consisting of sweetened cherry and brandy sauce over vanilla ice cream.

Chiboust Cream

Chiboust cream is pastry cream with stiffly beaten egg whites folded into it. It can be flavoured with chocolate, liqueurs, orange zest, and / or vanilla. Vanilla is the most common flavouring. It can be served plain and chilled on its own, or used...

Compote

Compote has two meanings as far as food is concerned. It can be a dish that you eat, or, a dish that you put food into. As something you eat, it is a dessert of fruit, fresh or dried. It can be a single fruit or a combination of fruit. The fruit is...

Cookies

Cookies © Denzil Green Our current English word "cookie" is really very hard to define. An attempt at a definition: a small, usually crisp cake that can be eaten from the hand in a few bites. It is flat, though sometimes it may be raised slightly. ...

Abernethy Biscuits

Abernethy biscuits are round, flat, crisp semi-sweet biscuits made in Scotland. They are made from flour, sugar, baking powder, fat, eggs, milk, lemon zest and caraway seed. The most well-known commercial Abernethy Biscuits are made by "Simmers."...

Berger Cookies

Berger Cookies (showing the underside of one) © Denzil Green Berger Cookies are made by DeBaufre Bakeries in South Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Each cookie consists of one large vanilla wafer, about 2 inches (5 cm) wide. It is topped with thick, ...

Brittany Butter Cookies

Brittany Butter Cookies © Denzil Green Brittany Butter Cookies are rich, crumbly shortbread-like cookies based on butter made in Brittany, France. The base ingredients are flour, butter, eggs, sugar, salt. The cookies are round, and sometimes ...

Children's Rusks

Farleys Childrens Rusks Children's Rusks are different from regular rusks. They are like small cookies. The recipe has changed over the years, and is now soya flour, rice flour, starch, and sugar. They are given to infants while they are teething. For...

Chocolate Wafers

Chocolate Wafers are crisp, thin cookies. Sometimes in England the cookies are coated with chocolate: either white chocolate, milk chocolate or dark chocolate. You can also get kosher ones, or ones from made spelt flour. Sometimes the crushed...

Chorley Cake

Chorley Cake is actually a cookie, sometimes described as a very small cake. It is not overly sweet. Chorley is a small town south of Preston in Lancashire, England. The cookies are vaguely similar to Eccles Cakes; some say they are similar to Garibaldi...

Drop Cookies

Drop cookies are cookies that are formed by dropping spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet. The dough rarely actually "drops" on its own accord; another spoon or a finger is used to push it off the spoon. Perhaps the best known drop cookie in North...

Amaretti

In English, some people call Amaretti cookies; some call them macaroons. They are a crisp cookie with a slightly chewy centre but as they age, they get crispy all the way through. They are made from ground almonds, egg white, and sugar. Some recipes...

Anzac Biscuits

Commercially-made Anzac Biscuits © Denzil Green Anzac Biscuits are dry, crunchy, chewy coconut oatmeal cookies. Though they are flat, they start out as drop cookies which melt out on the cookie sheet. They are made from oatmeal, shredded coconut, ...

Benne Wafers

Benne wafers are thin, crisp cookies popular in the southern United States, where they have been made since at least the 1700s. Their featured ingredient is sesame seeds. To make the cookies, you toast the sesame seeds first to develop their flavour,...

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...

Hermit Cookies

The name "hermit" is used for two different types of cookie. Both are rich spiced cookies with raisins, and often, nuts in them. But one is a drop cookie, very similar to Boston Cookies, while the other is a rolled out or flat version made as "bars." The...

Macaroons

Macaron à la pistache (Pistachio Macaroon) © Paula Driedger Macaroons are small, soft, chewy cookies (aka biscuits in the UK.) They are made from beaten egg white, sugar, and either almond paste or ground almonds. A coconut variety swaps in s...

Ratafia Biscuits

Ratafia biscuits are small, round, light brown almond-flavoured biscuits. They have a light texture from the whipped egg white used to leaven them, and end up crisp, but chewy. Traditionally, Ratafia Biscuits didn't usually have any grain flour...

Flødeboller

A Flødeboller is a Danish cookie. It has a round, flat biscuit base, topped with a stiff dollop of egg white beaten with sugar syrup, and dipped or otherwise coated in melted chocolate. The base can be biscuit or marzipan. The biscuit bases are ...

Forfeit Cookies

Forfeit cookies are cookies that have inside them a written "forfeit" -- something funny or embarrassing that the recipient must do. Think of them as "mis-fortune" cookies. Served at the end of dinner parties.

Fortune Cookies

Fortune Cookie © Denzil Green Fortune Cookies are crispy cookies, that are hollow in the centre. Or rather, they are a shell formed of cookie, folded into a bow shape. Inside the cookie, there is a strip of paper. On the paper is printed a sentence ...

Frappe (Biscuits)

In Italian, "frappe", pronounced "FRA-pay", are fried biscuits. They are made of flour, fat, egg yolks, egg, sugar, salt, and white wine. You make a dough of the above, roll it out, cut into shapes and deep-fry until golden brown. You then drain...

Galletas Marías

Galletas Marías, aka Marie Biscuits, are a plain cookie, similar in taste to animal crackers, and are round with a border around the edge. The word "Maria" or "Marie" is imprinted in the centre. The cookies started as a Peek Freans cookie. On 23 ...

Garibaldi Biscuits

Garibaldi Biscuits © Denzil Green A Garibaldi Biscuit is a a flat, rectangular cookie. Some describe it as a "cookie bar." There is a thin top and bottom layer, each of not overly sweet dough that is crisp when cooked. The top is glazed. Both ...

Gaufrettes

Gaufrettes are thin, crisp, fan-shaped wafers made with a waffled pattern on their surfaces. They are cooked in a round shape on a special gaufrette pan (often referred to as an "iron") which gives them the waffle pattern. Gaufrettes have a rich,...

Gingerbread

Gingerbread can be in the form of a soft risen cake, a flat hard cookie or biscuit, or an actual quick-bread in the shape of a loaf. It can be dark or light in colour.

Girl Guide Cookies

Girl Guide Cookies © Denzil Green Girl Guide Cookies are cookies sold by the Canadian Girl Guides to raise money for their activities. The cookies are made commercially for them by the Dare company, and sold twice a year to the public (as of ...

Girl Scout Cookies

Girl Scout Cookies are cookies sold by the American Girl Scouts to raise money for their activities. $700 million worth are sold a year (as of 2010.) The cookies are made commercially for them. There are two authorized makers of the cookies as of 2010:...

Goosnargh Cake

Goosnargh Cake is a rich, shortcake-style cake, or large cookie. It is about 4 inches (10 cm) wide, and about half an inch (1 cm) tall. The dough has coriandor and / or caraway seeds in it; the cookie is sprinkled with caster sugar. The cookies...

Graham Wafers

Graham Wafers © Denzil Green Graham Wafers are flat, crisp wafers made from graham flour and sweetened, often with honey. They are considered a sweet biscuit rather than savoury biscuit or cracker. You can buy the crackers already ground ...

Iced Zoo Biscuits

Iced Zoo Biscuits are sweet, crisp rectangular cookies 1 1/2 inches wide by 2 1/4 inches long (40 mm x 57 mm) with a dollop of firm, coloured icing similar to Royal Icing, and on top of that, the shape of an animal in white icing. The icing is usually...

Jaffa Cakes

Jaffa Cakes © Denzil Green Jaffa Cakes are cookies (or sweet biscuits) that have a firm, spongey base. The base is spread with orange jelly and then topped with chocolate. They were first made by McVitie's and launched in 1927. Many supermarkets ...

Jammie Dodgers

Jammie Dodgers © Denzil Green Jammie Dodgers are a British cookie made by the Burtons company in Cwmbran, Gwent, Wales. The cookie (aka biscuit in the UK) consists of two pale-coloured, crisp, shortcake biscuits, with a layer of raspberry-flavoured ...

Kimberley Biscuits

A Kimberley Biscuit is a biscuit (cookie, to North Americans) made by the Jacobs company and sold primarily in Ireland. A Kimberley consists of two small, brown round biscuits that are mildly-ginger flavoured and quite soft, with a soft marshmallow...

Krembo

Krembo. Supplied courtesy Mrs Levy, Tel Aviv © Denzil Green Krembo is a cookie made in Israel only from October to February. It consists of a thin round biscuit at the bottom, with a marshmallow-like foam on top of that. The whole cookie is ...

Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers © Denzil Green At first blush, it's difficult to imagine why Ladyfingers are called Ladyfingers. Most ladies you can imagine would faint if they woke up in the morning and found their fingers so fat. They are finger-shaped dessert ...

Lebkuchen

Lebkuchen are thick, spiced, soft, cake-like cookies (aka biscuits) made in Germany. There are many different shapes and forms. They are made from flour, honey, ground almonds and spices. Spices can include anise, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger...

Madelines

Madelines are a French sponge cookie, sometimes likened to small "genoises." They have a distinctive shape which is traditional for them, which comes from being baked in a special pan to make them look like seashells. They are made from eggs, butter,...

Mallomar Cookies

Mallomar Cookies consist of a graham biscuit on the bottom, topped by a dollop of marshmallow. Both are coated with a thin layer of dark chocolate. The chocolate is poured over the assembled cookie, rather than the cookie dipped into it. 70%...

Moonpies

A Moonpie is a biscuit topped with marshmallow, and then coated entirely with chocolate. It is 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide. The biscuit, which tastes a bit like a Graham wafer, is softer and less crunchy than that used in a Wagon Wheel. They now come...

Mostaccioli Cookies

Mostaccioli are Italian cookies made with grape must acting as both a liquid and a sweetener. They were something you made on the once or twice-a-week occasions when you fired up the stone ovens outside to make your bread. More modern versions, though,...

Oreo Cookies

Oreo Cookies © Denzil Green Oreo Cookies are an American dessert made by the Nabisco Company, currently (2010) owned by Kraft. They consist of two chocolate wafers, with a vanilla filling inside. Over the years, several variations have been ...

Pasticci

While "Pasticcio" is a savoury dish in Italian, the plural form of the word, "pasticci", takes on a different meaning altogether. It has come to mean "cookies."

Pim's Biscuits

Pim's Biscuits © Denzil Green Pim's Biscuits are a cookie, similar to Jaffa Cakes. The cookie consists of a soft, sweetened round sponge biscuit, which is topped with a layer of jam, which in turn is then covered glossy chocolate with the name ...

Pizzelle

Pizzelle are thin, crispy Italian cookies made particularly at Easter and Christmas from a flour and egg batter.

Refrigerator Cookies

Refrigerator Cookies are cookies baked from cookie dough which has been chilled first, then simply sliced and baked. They are less messy to make than having to roll the cookies out out on floured surfaces, and usually come out of the oven with relatively...

Rolled Cookies

Rolled cookies are cookies made from a rolled-out cookie dough. The opposite is "drop cookies." The cookie dough is prepared, then rolled out, usually on a floured surface. Cookies are then cut out of the dough in the desired shapes, placed on a...

Shortbread

Shortbread © Denzil Green Shortbread are sweet, dense, rich Scottish cookies. The dough can also be used as shells for tarts. Traditionally, shortbread was made as one large cookie in a round shape, with notches on the edges to evoke in one's ...

Shrewsbury Biscuits

Shrewsbury biscuits are light, hard, crisp cookies. They are made from butter, eggs, flour, spices and rosewater. Some variants add sherry and / or currants. The dough is rolled out thinly, cut into shapes, pricked with a fork, and baked. Shrewsbury...

Tunbridge Wells Wafers

Tunbridge Wells Wafers, aka Romary Biscuits, are a historical commercial biscuit (i.e. cookie for North Americans) which has not been made since 1981. They were flat, oval-shaped, thin, delicate, light biscuits about 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide that came...

Rosettes

Rosettes are a flat, shaped pastry made in Sweden and Norway from a thin batter. The pastries, about 4 inches (10 cm) wide, are deep-fried, drained, and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. They come out crispy, lacy, sweet and satisfyingly greasy. The...

S'mores

S'mores are square cookie sandwiches with a warm filling inside made in North America. Traditionally, they are made when camping. They are made with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate. These are ingredients that are easily transported...

Sad Cake

Sad Cake is a large, unleavened cake. We'd think of it these days more as a cookie or biscuit on steroids. It is up to 12 inches (30 cm) wide. It is usually round but can be square. The dough for it is made of plain flour, lard, sugar and water....

Speculaas Cookies

Speculaas cookies are spiced, shaped cookies made in the Netherlands, as well as in northern France and Belgium. Customary shapes include windmills, fruit, madonnas, animals, children, Saint Nicholas, children's initials, etc.

Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies are cookies that require a cookie press to make them, because they are "spritzed" ("squirted") out through a cookie press. When baked, they always come out as flat cookies. In North America, they are ubiquitous at Christmas, and are...

Tunnock's Snowballs

Tunnock's Snowballs © Denzil Green Tunnock's Snowballs are a round ball of soft, foamy, glossy marshmallow that is dipped in chocolate and coated with white shredded coconut. The marshmallow is made with egg white and syrup. The snowballs ...

Tunnock's Teacakes

Tunnock's Teacakes © Denzil Green Tunnock's Teacakes are not really a teacake, as in something you'd bake at home or get from a bakery. They are more of a cookie or biscuit. The bottom is a shortbread biscuit topped with a glossy, thick, soft, ...

Vanilla Wafers

Galveston Daily News, Texas. 7 June 1930. P 14. Vanilla wafers are small, crisp but soft plain vanilla-flavoured cookies. They are seen now as rather plain Jane. Consequently, they are perhaps now used more as an ingredient in cooking than...

Wagon Wheels

Wagon Wheels © Denzil Green Wagon Wheels are a chocolate-coated cookie and marshmallow sandwich sold with packaging that has a Wild West theme. Some have compared them to Smore's. There is a top and bottom biscuit layer, with mallow in the middle ...

Whippet Cookies

Whippet Cookies © Denzil Green Whippets are commercially made cookies that popular in Quebec. Each cookie consists of a crunchy round biscuit bottom, topped with a splodge of marshmallow, then coated in pure chocolate. The original is just ...

Yatsuhashi

Yatsuhashi are Japanese pastries made of mashed red beans wrapped up in rice flour skins. They are made in the form of very thin, flat triangles. You can see the filling in the centre through the pastry. The pastry part is made from rice flour (a...

Cranachan

Cranachan is an easy-to-assemble Scottish dessert. In concept and execution, it is a bit like a trifle. You fold toasted oats, honey and Scotch whiskey into very thick cream (double cream). Ideally, you let it sit overnight (refrigerated) for flavours...

Cream Tea

"Cream tea" doesn't have anything to do with putting anything dairy into your cup of tea. You can take your tea black (or "clear", as some people say), and still be having a cream tea. In Britain, the word "tea" often refers to a meal, and "cream tea"...

Crème d'amandes

Crème d'amandes is a sweet almond paste. It is used in croissants aux amandes and in making Crème Frangipane. It is also used to fill galette des rois, and pithiviers. It is made from equal parts (at least in the metric measurements used by the F...

Crème Plombières

Crème Plombières is Chiboust cream (pastry cream with stiffly beaten egg whites folded into it) into which fruit is also folded. It can be served chilled on its own, or in individual serving-sized pastry shells, or as a garnish for sponge cake.

Cumberland Rum Butter

Cumberland Rum Butter is a sweetened dessert sauce. It is classed as a "hard sauce", as it is meant to be spooned, rather than poured, onto a dessert. It is based on butter, flavoured with rum, nutmeg, and Barbados sugar. Sometimes a raw egg yolk...

Custard

Custard is like a pudding, made from egg and milk. The coagulation of egg proteins thickens the milk during cooking. Though Custard is generally thought of as a dessert item, and sweet, there are also recipes for savoury Custards such as Fish Custard...

Almond Pastry Cream

Almond Pastry Cream is a sweet pastry cream flavoured with blanched, finely-ground almonds (as in almond flour, not almond meal.) It can be used either as a topping or filling. In the classic French version, you make it by flavouring pastry cream...

Crema Calatana

Crema Calatana is a version of Crème Brulée made in the Catalonia area of Spain. The custard is flavoured with peel from citrus fruit.

Crème Brûlée

Crème Brûlée © Denzil Green Crème Brûlée is a baked custard. It's made with cream instead of milk, to make it richer, and like a regular baked custard, has eggs for both added richness and to help it set. After the custard is cooked, a layer of sug...

Crème Caramel

Crème Caramel is like Crème Brulée, in that it is also a baked custard. Unlike Crème Brulée, though, instead of using all cream, it uses cream and milk. Before the uncooked custard is poured into the baking dish, the bottom of the dish is covered with...

Crème Pâtissière

Crème pâtissière is a custard that is halfway between custard sauce and baked custard. It is used as a filling for baked goods such as Eclairs, Cakes, Boston Cream Pie, and Mille Feuilles. Language Notes The French don't have a word for custard, so...

Custard Powder

Custard Powder © Denzil Green Custard Powder is not actually custard which has been dried into a powder. It's mostly a starch that has been coloured yellow, sweetened and flavoured so that when hot milk is added the starch will make not only thicken ...

Instant Custard Powder

Instant Custard Powder © Denzil Green Instant Custard Powder is a powder that you make custard sauce from simply by adding hot water, with no additional cooking or work beyond stirring required. It can be prepared and served from a measuring jug. It ...

Migaine

Migaine is a French term for a mixture of egg and either milk, cream or crème fraîche, or a mixture of the three. It can be used to form the basis of a custard in savoury pies such as quiches or in sweet pies such as fruit tarts. When used for sweet d...

Pastry Cream

Pastry cream is basically custard whose thickening has been aided with flour and/or starch. The the egg yolk in the custard does most of the thickening, though the starch does help out, too. It is a basic component in many French and Italian desserts....

Pots de Crème

Pots de Crème are small pots of soft custard, usually flavoured with vanilla or chocolate.

Spuma di Zabaione

Spuma di Zabaione is zabaglione with whipped cream stirred into it after cooking.

Zabaglione

Zabaglione is a foamy egg yolk sauce very much like a pourable custard sauce. To make it, eggs are beaten with liquid over a water bath until they thicken, get foamy and increase in volume. The liquid can be water or alcohol such as Marsala, Cognac,...

Zabaione Gelato

Zabaione gelato is a term for versions of zabaglione that are definitely meant to be served cold. These are always sweetened versions of zabaglione meant as a dessert. "Zabaione Gelato" sometimes use a small amount of gelatin. History Notes In...

Deep-Fried Mars Bars

Deep-Fried Mars Bars are battered and fried chocolate bars. The chocolate bars used are Mars Bars -- caramel and nougat covered in chocolate. The batter used is the same batter as is used for fish and chips. The caramel and chocolate melts; the batter...

Doughnuts

The definition of a doughnut is very hard to pin down, particularly as the name itself doesn't really make any sense. In theory, the word "doughnut" can be applied to any piece of sweetened leavened dough that is fried. Occasionally, though, they...

Aebleskivers

Aebleskivers are small Danish pancake balls, with filling in the centres. They are quite small, with only about two to three bites in each one. The filling is usually fruit in some form.

Baignettes

Baignettes © Paula Trites Baignettes is a French word for small doughnuts. Large doughnuts are more likely to be referred to as "beignets." Typically, Baignettes are often presented as small, doughnut balls with no hole in them, dusted after ...

Beignets

Beignets is a French word for doughnuts. When used in America, though, the word takes on the meaning of a specific doughnut made in New Orleans. These are small, square doughnuts about 2 inches by 2 inches square (5 by 5 cm.) There is no hole in them. The...

Kanom Krok

Kanom krok are puffed cakes cooked in pans in Thailand. They are very small, about 2 to 3 cm (1 inch) wide. They are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. They can be savoury or sweet. They are eaten at breakfast and for snacks. The batter is...

Munki

Munki are Finnish jam doughnuts made from white wheat flour risen with yeast, and kneaded. They are cooked by frying them up in oil. Like most jam doughnuts, there is no hole in them. There are a few variations. The jam inside can be raspberry...

Oliebollen

Oliebollen are a Dutch dessert. They are bite-size doughballs that usually have fruit in them such as pieces of fresh apple and / or raisins. The balls are deep-fried in oil or lard, and sprinkled with sugar. They are particularly popular at New Year. History...

Pets de Nonnes

In France, Pets de Nonnes ("nuns' farts") these are small deep-fried fritters, or doughnuts if you wish. They are made throughout France. They are made from choux pastry that has been made with milk instead of water. Small pieces of the dough is fried,...

Tresse

Tresse © Paula Trites Tresse is an Acadian dessert. It is a yeast-raised bun. The dough is pieces of plain bread dough, that are braided, then deep-fried to cook them. It is served warm with a side dish of caramel sauce to dip pieces i...

Dream Topping

Dream Topping is a whipped non-dairy topping sold in the UK for desserts that is made at home by the consumer from a powder. It is sold in envelopes. Each Dream Topping envelope has 1.3 oz / 36 g of white powder in it. You add 125 ml (4 oz / 1/2...

Dream Whip

Dream Whip © Denzil Green Dream Whip is a whipped, non-dairy topping sold in North America for desserts that is made at home by the consumer from a white powder. [1] There are 2 packets of the powder in a small box of Dream Whip; 4 in the large ...

Dutch Crunch Topping

Dutch Crunch Topping is a topping sprinkled on top of desserts or plain breads before baking. It comes out crunchy or crusty. For desserts, it is made from ingredients such as brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and oats. Dutch Crunch can be also used...

Eton Mess

Eton Mess is an English dessert. It consists of whipped cream, sweetened with a little sugar, that has crushed meringue cookies and mashed strawberries folded in. Usually, a small amount of kirsch or port is mixed in with the strawberries before...

Flan

The word flan can mean many things in the culinary world. It can be a dessert with a low, flat pastry base made of flour (either short crust or sponge), or, it can be a large baked sweet custard. Or, it can be a savoury dish.

Flan (custard)

Flan, as made in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries is a milk-based sweet custard topped with caramel sauce. This is sometimes referred to by English speakers as a "leche flan" ("milk flan").

Flan (Pastry)

A pastry-style flan is a low, flat dessert. It can have as its base either short crust pastry, or a flat, shallow sponge cake.

French Toast

The basics of making French Toast involve whole egg and milk being mixed together. Slices of leftover bread are dipped in the mixture, then fried until browned on both sides. It ends up with a custardy texture, and is served hot. After these basics,...

Fruit Desserts

Apple Betty

Apple Betty is a style of baked fruit dessert, having alternating layers of buttered bread crumbs and spiced, sweetened fruit. Apples are by far and away the most common fruit used. You will often see it called "Apple Brown Betty" ("brown" coming from...

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...

Cobbler

A cobbler is a deep, oven-proof dish with a filling topped with a thick biscuit dough topping and baked in an oven. The filling is usually sweet, and usually fruit, but sometimes savoury fillings are used to make it a main course instead of a dessert. If...

Crumble

A crumble is a spiced flour, sugar and butter mixture that is "crumbled" over top a filling before baking. The filling is usually fruit. There are also savoury crumbles. If you are looking for the difference between a crumble and a cobbler, the...

Fool

A fool is made by stewing or mashing fruit into a sweet purée, then folding the fruit into either double cream or custard. It is served cold. In North America, where the cows seem genetically unable to produce double-cream, whipped cream is used as ...

Fruit Pies

Fruit Pies © Denzil Green Fruit pies are very easy to make. There's really just one set of general principles to learn, and then you can do thousands of variations on those few general principles. You can print out this page, cut out the table, ...

Norfolk Biffin Cakes

Norfolk Biffin Cakes were in fact not cakes as we think of "cakes", but rather baked Norfolk Beefing apples, sold cold. These were slowly cooked whole, then cored, then rubbed with sugar. You would eat them cold or room temperature. To eat, you...

Pandowdy

Prepared as for a cobbler, but before the baking is finished, you take a spoon to break up the top crust and push pieces of it down into the fruit. This is what was called "dowdying." Most recipes are for Apple Pandowdy, but you will also from time...

Peach Melba

Peach Melba is a peach and ice cream dessert, with a raspberry sauce. It was first created in the early 1890s by chef Auguste Escoffier for singer Dame Nellie Melba.

Peaches à la Madame Récamier

Peaches à la Madame Récamier is a dish of peaches that have been poached, then are served in a dish with sugar syrup and cream poured on them. History Notes The recipe is recorded by Réné de Beauvoir in the May 1857 issue of Monde Ilustré. He attr...

Rumtopf

Rumtopf (literally "rum pot") is a large sealable container holding fruits preserved in alcohol. The idea was that you added layers of fruit as they came into season. For that reason, strawberries usually constituted the first layer. They are placed in...

Slumps

Slumps is baked fruit, usually apples, that are stewed and topped with a dumpling. Language Notes Called "grunts" in Massachusetts.

Fürst-Pückler-Eis

This could be thought of as a German version of the French "Tranche Napolitaine." It is an ice cream dessert. Ice cream is layered into a long spring-form pan, then frozen into layers. One layer is usually chocolate, with the other two layers usually...

Halvah

Israeli Halvah © Denzil Green So you think you know from Halvah? There are many versions of Halvah: Greek, Indian, Iranian, Israeli, Pakistanian, Turkish, etc. Every country thinks their version of Halvah is the best, or that it is original ...

Hattit Kit

Hattit Kit is a Scottish dessert made from milk with sugar and a flavouring such as cinnamon or nutmeg. It is essentially a fresh, soft-curd cheese. In its preparation, it is very similar to Crème Fraîche. To make the "genuine" recipe, you would u...

Ice Cream Cones

Ice Cream Cones © Denzil Green An Ice Cream Cone is a edible cone that ice cream is served in. Traditionally, the outside will have a waffle pattern imprinted on them. A usual cone is a soft-textured one, made from sugar and flour. They may ...

Kolaches

Kolaches are Czech pastries, traditionally round. Good ones are made of fluffy, sweet yeast-risen dough. Many Czechs think they are always made of sweetened dough, but it's not necessarily the case in other Eastern European traditions, or even in their...

Manju

Manju is a Japanese bun filled with bean paste. They are white, rubbery looking balls with a soft but stretchy texture. They are usually cooked by steaming, but some are baked. Some are sold on sticks. The dough is made from rice flour, wheat...

Marshmallows

Marshmallows are a light, spongy candy made of gelatin, sugar, egg white, corn syrup, vanilla flavouring. They used to just be white and vanilla-flavoured, but now come in many colours and flavours. To make them, liquid, whipped marshmallow is extruded...

Marshmallow Cream Spread

Marshmallow Cream Spread © Denzil Green Marshmallow Cream Spread is made from essentially the same ingredients as marshmallows are (corn syrup, sugar syrup, vanilla flavour, and egg white), but in different proportions and without the gelatin so ...

Pâte de Guimauve

Pâte de guimauve is a sweet, French marshmallow paste made from egg whites, sugar and gelatin. It contains no real marshmallow root. It is flavoured with vanilla or rosewater. The paste is pressed into a wide, flat pan, let dry for 12 hours on one ...

Meringue

Meringues are sweetened, beaten, cooked egg whites. They are cooked in an oven to varying degrees of crispness. For three centuries now, chefs have told us to make meringue in copper bowl. The copper helps to stabilize the foam and make it harder to...

Meringue Italienne

Meringue Italienne is a meringue made by whipping hot melted sugar into beaten egg whites. It is made from egg whites, sugar and a small amount of water. It can be: used as a frosting as is; folded into something such as pastry cream to...

Meringue Powder

Meringue Powder © Denzil Green Meringue Powder is a powder that can be used to make meringues from. It is very often used, however, as an ingredient which adds body to icings such as royal icing, buttercream and boiled icing. It is made from ...

Mishti Doi

Mishti Doi is a thickened, reddish-coloured yoghurt sweetened with jaggery used as a snack or dessert in India. It is not usually made at home, it is usually bought. It is sold in small, unglazed clay pots. The unglazed pots absorb any excess water...

Mousse

Mousse is a foamy food preparation.It can be sweet or savoury.In sweet mousses, the foam usually comes from egg white or whipped cream; in savoury mousses, it usually comes from gelatin.Savory mousses will have puréed or ground meat, fish or vegetables ...

Orange à la Norvegienne

Orange à la Norvegienne is a French dessert, reminiscent of a Baked Alaska. It is made of oranges stuffed with ice cream. You chill the oranges till they are very cold. Meanwhile, you make a meringue from egg whites and sugar. You cut open the ...

Pasticcini

Pasticcini is an Italian word for small pastries and baked goods. It means literally "small pastries." The term includes small cakes or muffins, éclairs, pastry horns, cookies, squares (bars in the UK), tarts, etc.

Pies & Tarts

Pies & Tarts © Denzil Green A pie -- and a tart -- is an item cooked with a crust. The crust is usually a pastry crust made from wheat flour; there will usually be a bottom crust, and often a top crust as well. Some pies may have only a top ...

Alderman's Pudding

Alderman's Pudding is a version of Bakewell Pudding, made without the brandy and the chopped peel (or fruit.)

Bakeapple Pie

Bakeapple pie is a Canadian term for a pie made from cloudberries. There are actually no apples in the pie; "bakeapple" is another word for cloudberries. The pie is traditional in the Newfoundland and Labrador regions of Canada. It is most typically...

Bakewell Puddings

Bakewell puddings are actually pies with a soft, creamy filling with a soft brown crust on top. They are made in Derbyshire, England. You make a deep-yellow coloured puff pastry from a fat such as butter or half butter and hard lard with twice as much...

Bakewell Tarts

Cherry Bakewell Tarts © Denzil Green There are three types of Bakewell desserts that often get confused, because the names are similar, and they all have jam spread over their bottom crusts. Bakewell Pudding A Bakewell Pudding is a large item, ...

Butter Tarts

Butter tarts, as made in Canada, are tarts made with melted butter, brown sugar, egg, walnuts, and white vinegar. The dessert originated in Scotland and was brought to Canada by Scottish settlers.

Chess Pie

Chess Pie is a very sweet pie. It can be heavy-going after a meal. Some people like it better on its own, with strong coffee to wash down the sweetness. The filling for it is made with melted butter, sugar, cornmeal, vinegar and eggs. This is poured...

Crostate

A crostate is an Italian tart, or pie. It is usually not very tall, though occasionally deep dish ones are made. It is meant to stand on its own, outside a pie pan, when baked. The shell is made of pasta frolla (occasionally pasta sfoglia can be...

Ecclefechan Butter Tarts

Ecclefechan butter tarts are Scottish tarts made with melted butter, brown sugar, egg, white vinegar, and nuts and / or currants. Canadian butter tarts and American pecan tassies are later variants

Lemon Pie Filling

Lemon Pie Filling (tinned) © Denzil Green Lemon Pie Filling is used to make desserts. The most typical use is Lemon Meringue Pie, though squares, tarts and other desserts can also be made from it. The filling is thick and spreadable. The filling ...

Lombardy Custard

Lombardy custard, aka "crustade lumbard " is a prune , date and bone marrow custard pie. It dates from at least the early 1400s in England. With its mixture of meat and fruit, the recipe is still firmly rooted in the Middle Ages. Note that the pie...

Manchester Pudding

The term "Manchester Pudding" is sometimes used as an alternative name for Queen of Puddings; other times, it is used to mean the same thing as Manchester Tart. In its own right, though, it is a sweet bread pudding baked in a pastry-lined dish. The...

Manchester Tart

Manchester Tart is a custard pie consisting of a pie shell, with a layer of jam on the bottom, with custard poured in and baked. Some variations used puff pastry for the shell instead of short-crust. The jam can be strawberry, raspberry or blackberry. Some...

Marlborough Pudding

Marlborough Pudding is a custard-based pie baked in a single bottom crust. The custard is made from cream, eggs, sugar, puréed apples (aka apple sauce), lemon (and in some versions, wine.) Some variations grated the apples instead of puréeing, some u...

Mincemeat

Mincemeat © Denzil Green Mincemeat is a mixture of dried and candied fruit , raisins , currants , sugar, suet , apples , brandy , spices , and nuts . Many variations are possible and available, including vegetarian versions, alcohol-free versions ...

Molasses Pie

Molasses Pie is made in a pie crust with no top crust. The filling is made from beaten eggs, molasses, sugar, butter, brown sugar and a few tablespoons of flour as a thickener. Some recipes add a bit of baking soda. In most, the quantity of sugar...

Osgood Pie

Osgood Pie is closely related to Chess Pie and Vinegar Pie. Some people say it is Chess Pie with raisins added. Others give a distinct recipe of egg yolk, sugar, and butter creamed together, with vinegar for tang (1 to 3 tablespoons depending on...

Pecan Tassies

Pecan Tassies © Denzil Green A Pecan Tassie is a pecan tart. The filling is made the same as you would for pecan pie, from sugar, butter, eggs and a starch, but instead of being poured into one large pie shell, the filling is poured into individual ...

Portuguese Custard Tarts

Portuguese Custard Tarts © Denzil Green Portuguese Custard Tarts are flaky-pastry tarts with a baked custard filling. They are relatively small, and can be eaten in three to four bites. The custard goes inside crisp, flaky pastry shells, ...

Poutine à la Mélasse

Poutine à la Mélasse is a pie with no top crust made in the Acadian areas of Canada. It is somewhat like Shoofly Pie and Molasses Pie, which are also made with molasses, or Québecois Tarte au sirop d'erable , except it is made with molasses instead of...

Poutine Carreautée

Poutine Carreautée is a pie with no top crust To make Poutine Carreautée, cubed, salted pork is boiled then roasted and set aside. In a pot, hot water is heated and when it reaches the boiling point, sugar and flour are stirred in, along with the c...

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie is an open-faced custard-based pie with just a bottom shortcrust crust, and no top crust. The custard is orangish-brown, and can be lighter or darker, depending on whether you use dark or light brown sugar.

Raised Pies

A raised pie is a tall, free-standing pie made with hot water crust pastry . The crust, while still being tender, has enough body to stand up without being supported by the sides of a pie tin. They are usually savoury pies containing meat. A famous...

Shoofly Pie

Shoofly Pie is an open-faced pie made by particularly by Amish people of German heritage in Pennsylvania (known misleadingly as the Pennsylvania "Dutch.") A take on treacle tart, it is like Molasses Pie, but with crumbs in it. It is one of the simplest...

Taffy Tarts

Taffy Ttarts are made with butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract, mixed together and baked in tart shells. They are basically the same as the Scottish dessert, Butter Tarts, without the dried fruit or the nuts. There is also a completely different...

Tarte à la mélasse

Tarte à la mélasse is a version of molasses pie made in Québec and in Acadian areas of Canada and New England such as Maine. It is made from boiling water, corn starch, and an equal amount of brown sugar and molasses. You mix the brown sugar, mo...

Tarte au Sucre

Québécois-style Tarte au Sucre © Paula Trites Tarte au Sucre is a French term meaning "sugar pie." The star ingredient for the filling of the pie is sugar -- either cane or beet sugar. It is now considered "traditional" in the Waterloo an...

Tortini

Tortini means "little cakes" in Italian (from the word "torta", meaning "cake".) This, of course, essentially means it can be just about anything, from muffins and cupcakes to pie to quiche. Some tortini can be like savoury puddings, only with cream...

Transparent Pudding

Transparent pudding is actually a pie with a cloudy filling, like Pecan Pie filling, without the pecans. The filling is made from milk, butter, eggs, sugar, and flour, mixed and cooked in a pot until thickened, then poured into a puff-paste pie shell,...

Vinegar Pie

Vinegar Pie is pie that uses vinegar to give it a tangy taste. It was probably made with a vinegar such as cider vinegar, rather than the modern distilled white vinegar. Vinegars to avoid appear to be white vinegar and malt vinegar. The vinegar...

Zougnes

Zougnes are tarts whose filling is made from apples (peeled and diced), cranberries, raisins and salt pork (simmered for an hour, then diced.) The pastry crust is made as you would a pie crust, but with the addition of an egg and baking powder, and...

Pokerounce

Pokerounce is an English Medieval bread dish that we could now class as a dessert. To make it, heat slowly in a pan honey with spices such as cinnamon, ground ginger and galangal, being careful not to let the honey boil. Cut a slice of toast into...

Poor Knights of Windsor

Poor Knights of Windsor is a dish that is very similar to French Toast. Unlike French Toast, however, in making Poor Knights of Windsor you don't mix the eggs and milk together. Sugar and sherry are stirred into a shallow dish of milk. Egg yolks are...

Poutine à Trou

Poutine à Trou are apple pastries mostly made in the Acadian area of south-east of New Brunswick in Canada. They are balls of pastry with a hole in the top. In English, they would perhaps best be understood by referring to them as Baked Apple Dumplings. To ...

Puddings

Pudding has both a broad meaning and a very specific mention, depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on. In the UK, Pudding has a very broad meaning and just means "dessert." This broad usage appears to have started in the 20th century. If...

Angel Delight

Angel Delight © Denzil Green Angel Delight is an instant dessert, much like Jello® Instant Pudding in North America, but it whips up lighter with more air in it. To prepare it, to 1 package of the powder you add 1/2 UK pint (300 ml) of cold m...

Bavarian Cream

Bavarian Cream is a spoonable dessert. It is pale yellow, very light in texture, and very smooth. It is made from custard, whipped cream, gelatin and flavourings. The custard is made with egg yolks in it, and has the gelatin added, then the whipped...

Bizcocho Borracho

Bizcocho Borracho is a Spanish dessert. Ladyfinger cookies are soaked in espresso and either brandy or rum, then laid out in layers with custard and bitter chocolate between the layers. Instead of custard, you may also find sweetened mascarpone...

Blancmange

Blancmange is a sweet English pudding somewhat like gelatin in texture and appearance. Often though not always white, it can be flavoured and decorated. It has its roots in a medieval Arabic dish that once had meat in it.

Bread Puddings

Bread pudding is a pudding made from bread, usually leftover or stale bread. It is made in various cuisines: Argentine, Belgian, British, Creole, French, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexican, Southern US, etc. In fact, it was very prevalent in all cultures...

Carrageen Mould

Carrageen Mould is an Irish milk pudding thickened with seaweed. It ends up something like a blancmange. It is made from milk, dried Carrageen (aka the seaweed known as Irish Moss), and sugar. Some versions add egg; some add flavouring such as lemon...

Junket

Junket is a dish of milk curds. It is served cold, often with stewed fruits. It has a very delicated flavour and texture. To make it, you heat milk to tepid, mix in rennet and let stand without stirring for at least 30 minutes. Then, you sweeten...

Macaroni Pudding

Macaroni Pudding can be described as a take on rice pudding. It is a a custardy pudding with cooked macaroni as the base, instead of rice, tapioca, etc. Basic ingredients, besides macaroni, are milk, butter, and a bit of nutmeg for flavour. Some...

Nun's Tummies

Nuns Tummies Portuguese are egg puddings. They are made from sugar, water, egg yolk and cinnamon. The sugar is carmelized, and water added to it to make a syrup. Some recipes add almonds to the syrup. The syrup is taken off the heat, allowed to...

Panocha

Panocha is a thick, gruel-like pudding made in Mexico from two types of wheat flour. One is ordinary white wheat flour, the other is "panocha" -- flour made from sprouted wheat. To make Panocha, you carmelize sugar until it is a light brown, add water,...

Posset

Posset was originally a thick drink served hot. Now, it is a thick, flavoured cream served as a dessert, and served chilled. It used to be made from boiled milk, with some alcohol in it such as beer or wine to curdle it, and some sugar perhaps,...