Food and Cooking
Glossary
C
Calzone
A pizza that's folded in half and baked so that the filling
is enclosed completely - similar to a Cornish pasty or turnover.
Calzones are usually made as a single serving. It's popular
street food in Italy, particularly in Naples where pizza is
said to have originated. People fold them in quarters and eat
them with their hands while they're on the go.
Cannellini Beans
A small, white, kidney-shaped bean. You can buy cannellini beans
dried or tinned - borlotti beans make a good replacement if
you can't find them. Cannellini beans are good for using in
salads and casseroles. The dried variety needs to be soaked
in cold water before cooking.
Capsicum
This is the generic name for the pepper family, which includes
the large, sweet, mild peppers (green, yellow, orange and red
are the most common), which are also called bell peppers or
sweet peppers, as well as any of the hundreds of hot chilli
peppers. Peppers have many culinary uses.
Caramelise
The process of either heating sugar to a point when it melts
and resets as a hard glaze, as on the top of a crème
brûlée, or cooking small or cut fruit or vegetables
in water and sugar until they become brown and glazed. You can
invest in a cook's blow torch to caramelise the tops of desserts,
but a very hot preheated grill is usually adequate to do the
job.
Cardamom
An aromatic spice indigenous to south India and Sri Lanka, cardamom
seeds come from a plant belonging to the ginger family. They're
contained in small pods about the size of a cranberry.
Carpaccio
A classic Italian dish, served as a starter, of very thin shavings
of raw beef fillet, served cold with olive oil and lemon juice
or with a mayonnaise or mustard sauce.
The dish is often topped with capers and sometimes onions. Although
true carpaccio is made with beef, 'carpaccios' of other thinly
sliced raw meats, fish or even fruits are becoming more frequently
sighted on restaurant menus.
Cashew
The smooth creamy-white kidney-shaped kernel is rich in vitamin
A and has a high fat content. In Europe cashews are usually
eaten dried, roasted and salted as a snack or in salads. Unsalted
cashews are generally used for cooking and they're particularly
popular in south Indian cuisine, used whole or ground and often
added just before serving. They're also used in Chinese cookery,
in main dishes such as noodle salads and stir-fries.
Caul Fat
The lacy, fatty membrane encasing the internal organs of an
animal. Pork caul is often used for wrapping faggots or pâtés.
It comes in thin sheets and you can buy it from traditional
butchers.
Caviar
True caviar is the salted and matured eggs or roe of the female
sturgeon. Most caviar comes from the Caspian Sea and is processed
in Russia and Iran. Beluga is the most expensive variety, followed
by Oscietra and Sevruga, all of which are produced from different
species of sturgeon.
Cayenne Pepper
A red, fiery hot spice ground from the pod and seeds of dried
chillies. A pinch of cayenne over devilled kidneys or stirred
through gravy for game birds adds a gutsy kick and heightens
the flavour of the dish. It's also good used sparingly in vegetable
or lentil soups, in curries or sprinkled over stir-fried prawns
or over crispy whitebait.
Celeriac
A large, knobbly root vegetable, the base of the stem of certain
types of celery. It tastes quite similar to celery, although
it also has a slightly nutty flavour. It's in season from mid-September
to the end of April.
Celery Seeds
Dried seeds of celery, with a bitter taste. They're used in
bread making and in egg and fish dishes. Celery seeds are ground
with salt to make celery salt, used for making Bloody Marys.
Chantilly Cream
Sweetened, vanilla-flavoured, whipped cream used for desserts
and puddings. It's sometimes flavoured with liqueur. Chantilly
is a medieval French market town just north of Paris, famous
for its whipped cream, and there's no shortage of patisseries
serving pastries piped full of Chantilly cream!
Charcuterie
Charcuterie is a generic term for the products traditionally
sold by charcutiers (pork butchers), and includes all products
based on pork meat or offal, including cured and cooked meats,
fresh and smoked sausages, pâtés, black puddings
and salamis. It also refers to the shop itself that sells these
kinds of products. Order charcuterie in a restaurant and you'll
be served a platter of cuts of meats and sausages prepared in
various ways.
Chestnut
The fruit of the sweet chestnut tree (Castanea sativa) that
is edible when cooked. Chestnuts can be simply roasted and eaten
whole or they can be added to other dishes such as stuffings
or casseroles. Chestnuts can also be dried and ground to make
flour, which can be used with other flours to make cakes or
pasta (chestnut flour contains no gluten).
Chickpea
A small legume that was first grown in the Levant and ancient
Egypt, and is now used in cuisines all around the world. In
Indian cookery, finely milled chickpea flour, called gram flour
or besan flour, is used to make some kinds of batter. Chickpeas
are a major ingredient in many Middle Eastern dishes, such as
hummus (the Arabic word for chickpea). In the US, chickpeas
are known as 'garbanzos'.
Chicory
A vegetable and/or salad leaf comprising a white bulb of tightly
packed elongated cones of overlapping white leaves with pale
yellow leaf tips. In the U.S. known as Belgian endive. It’s
essentially a salad vegetable with a mildly bitter taste, but
it can be cooked too. It's particularly good wrapped in ham,
covered with a béchamel sauce and oven baked.
Chiffonade
Thin strips or shreds of vegetables (classically, sorrel and
lettuce), either lightly sautéed or used raw to garnish
soups. With lettuce, the aim is to cut it as thinly as possible
so you end up with delicate, frilly ribbons.
Chilli
Chilli peppers are much smaller than sweet peppers (see capsicum)
and can be green, yellow, orange, red or black. Don't be fooled
by their small size - they pack a fiery punch! There are more
than 200 known varieties and they differ greatly in size, colour
and level of hotness.
Chipotle
A mild, dried chilli with a deep smoky flavour, commonly used
in Mexican cooking and in the cooking of the American south-west.
It's frequently used in commercially produced chilli sauces.
Choux Pastry
A very light, double-cooked pastry usually used for sweets and
buns. It's made with plain flour, salt, butter, eggs, milk and
a little sugar (if it's being used for a sweet dish). It's used
to make profiteroles, eclairs and choux puffs and is the basis
of the dramatic dessert gâteau St Honoré - a shortcrust
pastry base topped with a ring of choux pastry, then a layer
of choux balls filled with whipped cream and glazed with caramel.
Chowder
A thick, chunky seafood soup from North America, of which clam
chowder is the best known. The word chowder comes from the French
'chaudière' - a heavy, three-legged iron cauldron in
which fishermen made stews fresh from their day's catch. Chowder
is believed to have originated in French Canada and made its
way down the coast to New England.
Chump
A cut of either lamb or pork taken from the lower back. Sold
as chops, or with the bone removed as steaks, it's ideal for
grilling and barbecues but also delicious if baked slowly in
the oven.
Cinnamon
This warm, sweet spice comes from the bark of a tree native
to Sri Lanka. The bark is removed, dried and rolled up to make
a tube.
Cinnamon is sold dry as sticks and as a powder. You can try
to grind your own cinnamon from the bark but it's difficult
to get it fine enough. It's best to buy ground cinnamon in small
quantities because the freshness and flavour quickly disappear.
Cloves
Cloves are the dried flower buds of an evergreen tree native
to eastern Indonesia. It's a versatile spice that can be used
in drinks and in sweet and savoury dishes. The pungent, sweet
flavour of the clove lends itself perfectly to meats such as
beef or venison, as well as fruits such as apples, oranges and
plums and to pickled vegetables. Spike an onion with cloves
and place it into a meat stew or casserole, add a few cloves
to chilli con carne, spice up boiled rice or pop a clove into
a bouquet garni. When baking a ham, spike the boiled ham with
cloves so that the flavour permeates the meat during baking.
Apples and cloves are a perfect combination and cloves are also
an essential ingredient of mulled wine or warm punches.
Coconut Milk and Cream
Coconut milk isn't the liquid from inside the nut, but the extract
of freshly grated coconut flesh. The flesh is first soaked in
hot water, then allowed to cool, after which the liquid is strained
off. It's available in tins from Asian and Caribbean stores
and larger supermarkets. Coconut cream is sold in hard blocks.
It can be diluted with hot water before using or added straight
to the simmering liquid in the pan. Both give a distinctive
taste and smoothness to curries, sauces and rice.
Cod
Popular white sea fish with flaky flesh, available fresh or
frozen, whole or as steaks and fillets. It's a resident of cold
northern waters, but has been overfished for several years and
is becoming scarcer and more expensive each year. Fresh cod
is incredibly versatile. It can be poached, baked, fried, or
grilled and served with or without sauce. Proper deep-fried
battered cod is worth mastering at home.
Coriander
Coriander tends to be associated most with Asian and Central
and South American cooking. Both the fresh leaves and the berries
- which are dried and called coriander seeds - are used for
cooking. The herb has a fresh, citrus taste and is best added
to dishes just before serving in order to get maximum flavour.
Cornflour
Cornflour - or cornstarch as it's known in the US - is the finely
powdered white starch extracted from maize kernels, which are
soaked and ground to separate the germ and the bran. It's virtually
tasteless and is used as a thickening agent. It cuts down the
need for fat as, unlike other flours, it blends to a smooth
cream with liquid.
Court Bouillon
A spiced aromatic liquor or stock used mainly to poach fish
and shellfish. It simply gives flavour that would be lacking
if the fish were cooked in plain water. Wine, vinegar, lemon
juice, sliced onion, herbs or spices may sometimes be added
to the court bouillon, which is usually prepared in advance
and set aside to cool before using.
Couscous
Couscous is a small granular type of pasta which is made by
sprinkling durum or hard wheat semolina grains with cold salted
water and rolling and coating them in fine wheat flour. It's
a staple ingredient in North Africa. Couscous is also the name
of a dish in which the grains are steamed over a spiced stew
of vegetables and/or meat or chicken.
Cream of Tartar
Cream of tartar (potassium hydrogen tartrate) is a component
of baking powder. (Baking powder comprises baking soda and cream
of tartar.) Cream of tartar is a by-product of winemaking; it's
derived from refined tartaric acid, which forms on the inside
of wine barrels, or from the whitish crystals (known as 'white
diamonds') that precipitate out of some wines. It's used in
baking and in making desserts. It gives a creamy texture to
icings and is used to stabilise and increase the volume of beaten
egg whites, so is often used in making meringues.
Crostini
Traditionally a festive Italian appetiser, 'crostini' means
'little crusts' in Italian. Baguette-style bread is thinly sliced
and lightly toasted and then topped, usually with pâté
made from a variety of ingredients such as mushrooms, chicken
livers, capers, garlic and ham.
Croûtons
Small cubes of bread that have been fried and then drained and
cooled. As they cool, they develop a crisp texture and are used
as a garnish for soups or in salads such as Caesar salad or
fattoush. In salads, add them at the last minute to prevent
them from going soggy, and leave them out if the salad is served
with a starchy meal such as pasta, potatoes or rice. They can
also be used for stuffings.
Cumin
The small, crescent-shaped seeds of a plant called Cuminum cyminum,
which are used as a spice. It has a warm flavour and quite a
strong, pungent aroma.
Cumin seeds can be used whole or ground into a powder. They're
frequently used in Indian cooking and are a regular component
of curry powder, as well as being used in the Indian spice mix
garam masala. Cumin is also used in Mexican cooking.
Curry
From the Tamil word 'kari', meaning 'spiced sauce', comes this
catch-all term, used to refer to any number of hot, spicy, sauce-based
dishes. The term curry itself isn't really used in India, except
as a term adopted by the British to categorise a number of different
Indian soup or stew dishes, nearly always containing onions,
garlic, ginger, turmeric, chilli and vegetable oil.
Custard
Traditional British dessert sauce made with egg yolks, sugar
and milk and/or cream flavoured with vanilla. Proper homemade
custard is an absolute dream, but don't cut corners or it just
won't be the same. The key thing when making custard is to heat
it just enough to thicken, but not too much so that it curdles.
A neat trick is to add a little cornflour which will help stabilise
the eggs.
