Category Archives: The Culinary Alphabet in Reverse

The Culinary Alphabet …..Series 3… the letter E

Welcome to series 3 of the Culinary Alphabet…WHERE the middle letter is E…

Nothing is as it seems here…this new series is the brainchild of Chel Owens who writes at A wife, My Verse, and Every Little Thing…my followers are so good to me they think up all sorts of permutations of the Alphabet…not sure if they want me to call it quits or what they will come up with next…Chel like Pete, however, will be called on to make her contribution every two weeks…they don’t get off scot-free…so I hope you have started brainstorming Chel…haha x

So what’s in store? In this series the A, B, C, etc will be the middle letter, for example, Brawn, Cabbage, and Yucca… how easy that will be who knows I am sure some of the letters of the alphabet could cause the grey matter to rebel or implode…haha…I also don’t want to use plurals to form a word as I may need that word for another letter and its sort of cheating I think…unless of course I really get stuck…which I am sure will happen…

Today it is words where the middle letter is E... vinegar on your chips … with a nice slice of homemade bread or maybe you are having pizza with extra pepperoni …spoilt for choice it seems…How about a cup of tea to help you make up your mind.

Bream:

Bream, is a common European food and game fish belonging to the carp family, Cyprinidae, found in lakes and slow rivers. This delicate white fish can be baked, fried, grilled or steamed.

Bread:

Eaten around the world it comes in many forms…Arepa Bread is a flat, round, cornmeal patty that is eaten in Venezuela and Colombia. It can be baked, fried or cooked on a charcoal grill, with fillings like grated cheese, ham, black beans, chicken salad and avocado, shredded beef or Perico (Venezuelan-style scrambled eggs). I will be sharing the recipe at a later date x

Wholemeal Bread made with whole flour has nothing taken out…the flour is coarser in texture than white flour, brown wholemeal flour is the finely ground meal of whole wheat berries. Bran and germ are retained during processing, making wholemeal flour higher in fibre and more nutritious than white flour.

Casserole:

Getting down to the basics, a casserole is any food that is cooked and served in the same dish. They are typically baked and can consist of proteins like beef, chicken, or fish, a variety of vegetables, or almost anything else you can think of. … Then, it is cooked uncovered in an oven.

Cream:

Think strawberries and cream or scones with jam and clotted cream…A versatile cooking ingredient it comes in many forms…It can be a rich dairy product or if made with coconut cream it is vegan and dairy-free…

Crepe:

A version of a pancake my pancakes are similar to crepes as I make mine very thin…They can be sweet or savoury and in my book always a delightful treat.

Cress:

Egg and cress sandwiches are my favourites since childhood…made with garden cress we used to grow it on the window sill or you can get the peppery watercress which is grown in water…both are delightful in a sandwich or a salad…the watercress is lovely wilted in rice it just gives the rice that peppery taste and is lovely with chicken or pork in an orange-based sauce…with watercress rice...Delicious.

Watercress is also packed with nutrients and often called a superfood.

Goosefish:

The monkfish, or goosefish which is its official name, is a type of anglerfish that lives on the bottom of the ocean throughout the Atlantic.

Grapevine:

No! not a record by Marvin Gaye...but for you an Acappella version…

it is however a vine that grows the grapes that your favourite vino is made from…

Knead:

The best thing to relieve stress is to get kneading that bread…in breadmaking, kneading is a process used to mix the ingredients and add strength to the final product…Your beautiful homemade bread.

Nigella Seeds:

One of the oldest spices known to be used, nigella seeds were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb and are mentioned in the Bible’s Old Testament. The tiny black seeds have a slightly bitter taste with some of the pungency of onion, but also offer many other subtle nuances of flavour.

Their appearance means they are commonly called black onion seed, but they have nothing to do with the onion family.

Pepperoni:

I love Pepperoni on pizza and in paella…a  variety of salami, made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chilli pepper.

Polenta:

Polenta is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled…it seems that polenta chips are quite popular on the cooking programmes.

Ramekin:

A small glazed ceramic dish used in cooking and for serving dishes like a souffle or a creme caramel…sometimes made from other materials.

Rosella:

A pretty fruit with fleshy flowers…The Rosella fruit   One of my favourite flowers that I use for jam/jelly/chutney or dried I make a nice tea from it which is reminiscent of blackberry tea for me or Ribena.

When I first saw this beautiful fruit I had only ever seen them dried before not fresh…it was something new to try… I just love it when I come across something I have not used or seen before…I get so excited.

Rosella grows easily here as it loves a tropical climate it is also a very pretty plant the species grown here in Thailand has broader leaves and pink rather than cream flowers and the leaves are used more than the fruits.

Sauternes:

Are a French sweet wine…a golden wine which can be very expensive and is often sold in half bottles…From the Graves region in Bordeaux sweet wines are not my favourite…but they are a very popular dessert wine around the world.

Sieve:

A metal or nylon kitchen utensil held in a frame…used for straining solids from liquids and reducing to a pulp also for separating coarser from fine particles from flour or other dried goods.

Speck:

Speck is a type of cured, lightly smoked ham. It’s typically made in South Tyrol, a province in northeast Italy known for its snow-capped Dolomite mountains and strong German-Austrian influence. Although a close cousin to prosciutto Crudo, speck is worthy of its own distinction when it comes to cured hams.

Spelt:

Is an ancient grain…also known as hulled wheat or Dinkel wheat. Nutritionally, it is very similar to wheat. However, comparisons have shown it to be slightly higher in zinc and protein.

Tangerine:

Is a type of mandarin orange…The difference is in the skin The tangerine has a darker orange skin the mandarin skin is a lighter orange.

Tea:

Is an aromatic beverage made by pouring boiling or hot water over cured or fresh leaves…it is said there are over 20,000 different teas in the world…it can be broken down to black, white, green, yellow and oolong…

A Britsh tradition …the kettle goes on for many occasions, funerals, divorces, births, happy news, sad news or just because…Black tea has always been the most popular but other teas are now slowly gaining ground…my favourite is Oolong…What’s Yours?

Vinegar:

Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace chemicals that may include flavourings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol or sugars by acetic acid bacteria.

That said my abiding memory is eating freshly cooked fish and chips out of newspaper sitting beside the sea…

Vinegar of course now comes in so many types and I use some of them quite regularly in my kitchen those being Apple Cider Vinegar. Balsamic Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar, Black Vinegar, White Vinegar and fruit Vinegar…Vinegar deserves a whole post, not just a few lines but for today…that’s what it is…What’s your favourite vinegar?

That’s all for today for the letter E…

Thank you so much for your visit I hope you have enjoyed the read…See you tomorrow for another episode of made from scratch… Love Carol xxx

The Culinary Alphabet …..Series 3… the letter D

Welcome to series 3 of the Culinary Alphabet…WHERE the middle letter is D…

Nothing is as it seems here…this new series is the brainchild of Chel Owens who writes at A wife, My Verse, and Every Little Thing…my followers are so good to me they think up all sorts of permutations of the Alphabet…not sure if they want me to call it quits or what they will come up with next…Chel like Pete, however, will be called on to make her contribution every two weeks…they don’t get off scot-free…so I hope you have started brainstorming Chel…haha x

So what’s in store? In this series the A, B, C, etc will be the middle letter, for example, Brawn, Cabbage, and Yucca… how easy that will be who knows I am sure some of the letters of the alphabet could cause the grey matter to rebel or implode…haha…I also don’t want to use plurals to form a word as I may need that word for another letter and its sort of cheating I think…unless of course I really get stuck…which I am sure will happen…

Today it is words where the middle letter is D...A list of ingredients or a Hot Toddy on a cold and rainy day or a soothing cup of Burdock tea… but if it is a warm one a nice Vodka with a soda of your choice and there are certainly lots of sodas to choose from…

Burdock:

Burdock is such a pretty plant which is found in many countries around the world…Burdock root, also known as gobo, is popular in Asian dishes. It works very well in stir-fries, braised, roasted and soups. Burdock root can also be peeled, sliced and eaten raw or on a salad. It resembles a radish with a slight artichoke flavour when eaten this way.

Used and drunk as a tea in traditional medicine…People take burdock to increase urine flow, kill germs, reduce fever, and “purify” their blood. It is also used to treat colds, joint pain (rheumatism), gout, bladder infections, complications of syphilis, and skin conditions including acne and psoriasis…

Many treatments are offered here and I know many of my friends who take them…Because in my younger days I had 2 adverse reactions and quite bad ones to something I had taken/given ..one was a diet potion the other was a drug I was given while in hospital …I was young and stupid regarding the first incident the 2nd was I was told an adverse reaction which could not have been foreseen…so please before taking any supplements check with a health practitioner and make sure you read about any contraindication.

The reason I am saying this is a dear friend of mine is taking a turmeric concoction but when I asked her what else was in it she replied that she was told it was a secret family recipe…this always rings alarm bells with me and I hope I am wrong…I like to know exactly what I am taking and also what are known side effects which we all know doesn’t happen to everyone…I don’t want to be the one it does happen to…

Candied:

Candies fruits have existed since back in the 14th century…preserved by being coated and impregnated with sugar syrup… one of my favourites is candied ginger…most fruits and nuts can be candied but so can flowers. and even yams..This delightful video shows how you can candy violets…

A 17th-century technique…

Cider:

Made from apples or pears…my preference is a dry cider…made from crab apples as long ago as 3000 BCE by the Celts…Cider has a colourful history and some cool names like Angry Orchard Green Apple Hard Cider. …A very popular drink in the West Country(UK) and Ireland The UK has the world’s highest per capita consumption, as well as its largest cider-producing companies.

Coddled:

Is to cook an egg in water that is below boiling point…A  coddled egg.

Eggs are coddled for a Caesar dressing in order to make the yolk slightly thicker. This in turn allows for a slightly thicker dressing.

Curdled:

If a liquid curdles, or you curdle it, it gets thicker and develops lumps known as curds…

Fondant:

Is a type of icing used to decorate or sculpt cakes and pastries…or it is a delicious chocolate pudding with a wonderful molten centre which if properly cooked just oozes out when you dig your spoon in…we have seen those cookery programmes where the fondant is a disaster and solid…

Fudge:

Something I love is a hard fudge-like butter tablet or a soft buttery fudge…I cannot resist either but do prefer the harder fudge-like butter tablet.

Griddle:

A griddle is a heavy flat bottomed iron plate for cooking… it has little ridges across the bottom which when heated gives you those loves char marks on your steak.

Groundberry:

A creeping shrub of eastern North America having white bell-shaped flowers followed by spicy red berry-like fruits and shiny aromatic leaves that yield wintergreen oil…oil of wintergreen is the oil obtained from the leaves of groundberry or teaberry which is another of its names…made by steam processing of warmed, water-soaked wintergreen leaves. The leaves and oil are used to make medicine. 

Wintergreen leaf is used for painful conditions including headache, nerve pain (particularly sciatica), arthritis, ovarian pain, and menstrual cramps…I never cease to be amazed at how many plants have medicinal properties…

Haddock:

Smoked haddock with poached egg used to be one of my favourite breakfasts sadly I can’t get haddock here. Haddock is a saltwater ray-finned fish known as a “true cod” it is slightly more flavoursome than the cod which has thicker fillets and is firmer..Haddock is most fishmongers choice for fish and chips as the flavour pairs better with the batter.

Hotdogs:

Hotdogs probably don’t need any introduction …found at every football match and other big venues they seem to be many peoples food of choice … consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. It can also refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausage) or a frankfurter (Frankfurter Würstchen, also just called frank).

Lardons:

Also called lardoon, is a small strip or cube of fatty bacon, or pork fat used in a wide variety of cuisines to flavour savoury foods and salads. In French cuisine, lardons are also used for larding, by threading them with a needle into meats that are to be braised or roasted.

Macadamia:

Indigenous to Australia specifically New South Wales, central and southeastern Queensland.

Medoc:

The Médoc is a region of France, well known as a wine-growing region, located in the département of Gironde, on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux.

Muddled:

To muddle means to press the ingredients against the side of the glass with a muddler.   Muddling helps to release the flavours of the fresh ingredients so that they bind with the alcohol better…as in a Mojito one of my favourite cocktails.

Best drunk on a balmy summer evening…

Poundcake:

Quite simply a Pound cake is a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar…then cooked in a loaf tin or a bundt mould.

Sapodilla:

The Sapodilla tree can grow as tall as 100-feet high…originally native to Mexico but now found all over the West Indies, Florida, Thailand, The Philippines and India…a super sweet fruit which one ripe does not store well…if picked too soon you will see a white latex oozing out of the stem it is this latex which is called chicle which is the same tree sap which the original Chiclets gum was made from…nowadays because of cost gum manufacturers use  synthetic rubber but it how the tree also got the nickname of the “chewing gum tree”

Sardine:

My abiding memory of sardines is when we used to holiday on the Costa Del Sol and vendors would cook these delicious little fish on the beach…belonging to the herring family they are small. oily forage fish…my hubbies favourite way of eating these is mashed with a little vinegar on toast.

Sourdough:

My first sourdough loaf

I’m sure over the last year sourdough has gained a few more converts…made with a live fermented culture, a sourdough starter, which acts as a natural leavening agent…which means no commercial yeast is required to make your bread just some of the starter…

Swordfish:

Swordfish is a low fat, low-calorie fish which provides an excellent source of selenium.  Sold in steaks it is a mild-tasting, white-fleshed fish with a meaty texture. Swordfish is particularly good grilled, either as a steak or kebabs, and it’s also delicious broiled and sautéed.

Vodka:

A clear distilled alcoholic beverage…originating from Poland, Russia and Sweden and trust me my Russian neighbours taught me just how to drink vodka…traditionally made from potatoes, wheat or rye there is a vodka made in the South Of England from milk and aptly named ” Black Cow Vodka”

That’s all for today for the letter D…

Thank you so much for your visit I hope you have enjoyed the read…Please feel free to leave a comment as you know I love to chat…Love Carol xxx

The Culinary Alphabet with a little twist…Food terms ending in the letter X (loX)

 

Good morning everyone and Pete… time for another post which is this crazy idea from one of my fellow scribes …but food fun…this week its food or cookery terms that end with the letter X… surprisingly I  found a few …All good fun once again!

Next week is the final post of the series which has been fun and a learning curve…never to old to learn new tricks…lol

Beeswax:

Made from the honeycomb of the honeybee and other bees. The mixing of pollen oils into honeycomb wax turns the white wax into a yellow or brown colour.

In foods and beverages, white beeswax and beeswax absolute (yellow beeswax treated with alcohol) is used as a non-gelling thickener.

Mixed with a combination of olive oil, honey and beeswax it has been shown to reduce dermatitis and psoriasis.

Another tip is that if you have some pure beeswax you can use it to grease your baking tins and after a few uses it will build up and dispense with the need to grease the tin…I also came across a lovely sounding recipe for canels which given that I was researching beeswax and candles at first I thought it was a typo so clicked the link and they are beautiful little French pastries…

A  small French pastry flavoured with rum and vanilla with a soft and tender custard centre and a dark, thick caramelized crust. It takes the shape of a small, striated cylinder up to five centimetres in height with a depression at the top. A speciality of the Bordeaux region of France, today it is widely available in pâtisseries in France and abroad.

Which brings me nicely onto number two in my list…

Bordeaux:

Is a region in France and it is also one of my all-time favourite red wines…not forgetting the memorable Bordeaux white wines the taste is sublime…Having already completed a marathon(26.2)miles I would happily dust of my running shoes and partake in this one…Marathon du Medoc…

If you are a lover of a great Bordeaux then read this…Vintage Guide.

Breadbox:

As its name suggests it is where to keep your bread…

Choux:

A beautiful pastry dough think profiteroles and eclairs…

Cox:

No, it’s not an orange…for those of you who have read previous posts…lol…it is an Apple a beautiful apple and one I miss…Known however as the “Cox’s Orange Pippin” first grown in 1830, at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, England, by the retired brewer and horticulturist Richard Cox.

An apple which is not too sweet and has a slightly sour note…probably one of my favourite eating apples…

Sauté a quartered and peeled Cox’s apple in butter with a handful of sultanas until golden. Add a lug of calvados, a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice and continue to cook until just tender. Delicious served with ice cream and pancakes…Delicious!

Flax:

Also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, Linum usitatissimum, in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fibre crop in regions of the world with a temperate climate.

Now classed as a superfood the health properties of the flax goes back centuries…In fact, Charles the Great ordered his subjects to eat flax seeds for their health. So it’s no wonder they acquired the name Linum usitatissimum, meaning “the most useful.”

Fruit and Veg Box:

If you cannot grow your own then local fruit and vegetable boxes are fruits and vegetables which are in season, freshly harvested and you are supporting your local farmer win-win all round…You may find something you haven’t tried before which always a bonus …they can also work out more cost-effective and delivered to your door…It doesn’t get much better than that…

Gateaux:

 

Yes, it’s a fancy cake...a celebration cake…BUT what is the difference between a cake and a Gateaux? A cake is a sweet dish which is made out of flour, eggs, sugar and leavening agent. … Whereas gateau is derived from French which means sponge or foam cake. The main ingredients are flour, eggs and no leavening agent will be used. It has more layers when compared to a cake.

Gravadlax:

A Nordic salmon dish made by using a cure of salt, sugar and dill…usually served as an appetiser…thinly sliced and served on bread with a dill and mustard sauce called hovmästarsås, or served with boiled potatoes instead of bread.

Lox:

A fillet of brined salmon often served in bagels with cream cheese…

Mirepoix:

A sautéed mixture of diced vegetables (such as carrots, celery, and onions), herbs, and sometimes ham or bacon used especially as a basis for soups, stews, and sauces. Also, one way to show of your knife skills as a chef …often young chefs are charged with doing this and spend hours honing that craft as every single piece should be the same size, not an easy task…

Roux:

Is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stovetop, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness.

There are three types of roux: white, blonde and brown. They all contain the same ingredients equal parts flour and fat—but the colours differ based on how long you cook the mixture. Again a job for a young chef…

Smokebox:

They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes from a basic homemade one to quite a fancy one…

Don’t have a smokebox and want to smoke some fish or meat now? Easy…

Toadflax:

Common Names: 
Yellow toadflax, Butter and eggs, wild snapdragon, common toadflax, ramsted, flaxweed,
Jacob’s ladder.
Is a wild, edible nutritious food in some parts of the world it is considered an invasive plant.
A natural medicine the whole plant is used by natural/herbal practitioners and has been for
hundreds of years.
♦♦♦♦♦
Next week is the final post Y and Z…What comes next? Still the alphabet…but
a different topic which I hope you will enjoy…

That’s all for today I hope you have found something interesting and unknown…I hope Pete can oblige with something I haven’t mentioned ending in X…I am so kind to Pete…haha…x

Stay safe, have fun and laugh a lot as you know what I am going to say it is free and proven to be good for your health…..Laughter aside…My thoughts and prayers are with all the people who have been or will be touched by this Covid-19 virus…the new lockdowns and ongoing travel restrictions…stay safe be aware and social isolate where required and we will beat this thing…Vaccination programmes are taking off around the world so many of you will now have had your first jab it does seem that there are still those who are wavering or just flatly refusing…my thoughts on that?

Thank you so much for your visit today I hope you have enjoyed the read…Please feel free to leave a comment as you know I love to chat…Love Carol xxx

The Culinary Alphabet with a little twist…Food terms ending in the letter V (chicken kieV and W ( talloW)…

 

Good morning everyone and Pete… time for another post which is this crazy idea from one of my fellow scribes …but food fun…this week its food or cookery terms that end with the letter V…not surprisingly I only found a few …which means I joined  V with the letter W which was a tad easier …a few more…some new to me, some quite old terms but…All good fun once again!

Chicken Kiev:

A boned and skinned chicken breast stuffed with garlic butter then rolled in breadcrumbs…and cooked very nice with a salad…

Ingredients:

• 4 skinless chicken breasts
• 125 gm dried breadcrumbs
• 50 gm parmesan cheese grated
• 2-3 egg beaten(depending) on size
• 50 gm flour
• Pinch paprika pepper
• Oil for frying
• For the garlic butter:
• 6-8 cloves garlic finely chopped or crushed
• 150 gm butter
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• Juice ½ lime/lemon

Let’s Cook!

Place all the garlic butter ingredients in a bowl and season well. Mash with a fork until well combined, shape into a sausage shape using cling film to help you shape it, then tightly wrap and chill or freeze until really firm. It can be made up to 3 days in advance. When firm, slice each into 4 even pieces.

Lay a chicken breast on a chopping board and use a sharp knife to make a deep pocket inside the breast. The easiest way is to push the point of a knife into the fat end, keep going halfway into the fillet. Be careful not to cut all the way through or the butter will leak out when cooking. Repeat with the remaining breasts.

Push 2 discs of butter inside each chicken breast, press to flatten and re-seal with your hands. Set aside.

Mix the breadcrumbs and Parmesan on one plate, and tip the eggs onto another. On a third plate, mix the flour with paprika and some salt.

Dip each breast in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs, repeating so each Kiev has a double coating (this will make them extra crisp and help to keep the butter inside).

Chill for at least 1 hr before cooking,

To cook, heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4.

Place kievs onto greaseproof paper on an oven-proof tray. Spray with a small amount of olive oil. Once the oven is heated, place kievs in the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the outside is golden and crispy.

Enjoy!

Schav:

Is a cold, flavourful Russian soup made from the herb Sorrell… cold green borscht a summer soup.

Uzbeki Plov:

Plov (sometimes also called “osh”) is widely considered to be the national dish of Uzbekistan. It’s a hearty rice pilaf and you’ll probably notice that the word “plov” and “pilaf” are essentially the same. A rice dish cooked with lamb or beef with onions.

The letter W:

Brew:

To prepare (beer, ale, etc.) by steeping, boiling, and fermentation or by infusion and fermentation OR to prepare (a drink or other liquid) by infusion in hot water brew tea.

Cashew:

Cashews are a kidney-shaped seed sourced from the cashew tree — a tropical tree native to Brazil but now cultivated in various warm climates across the world. Although commonly referred to as tree nuts, and nutritionally comparable to them, cashews are really seeds

Keto Chow:

Keto Chow is a nutrient-rich, meal replacement for anyone who craves convenience and ease on the keto diet.

Coleslaw:

apples- white cabbage-carrots

Apple coleslaw

A delicious salad made from shredded cabbage with a mayo dressing. Coleslaw can be served as a side with fish or meat as a topping on a baked potato…Quick and easy to make it can be made in 5 mins…

Corkscrew:

A gadget which can be used to open a bottle with a cork or it is also the name of a pasta…a shape that originated in Southern Italy and translated means “small wheels”

Chow Yee Kow:

Is a Chinese fish stir fry… Pieces of firm fish stir-fried with vegetables.

Feverfew:

A plant native to Asia Minor and The Balkans although it is now grown around the world. A traditional herbal medicine which is commonly used to treat migraines…

Instantly recognised as belonging to the daisy family.

Honeydew:

Honeydew melon, or honey melon, is a fruit that belongs to the melon species Cucumis melo (muskmelon). The sweet flesh of the honeydew is typically light green, while its skin has a white-yellow tone. Its size and shape are similar to that of its relative, the cantaloupe.

Kinnow:

A mandarin hybrid…is a high yield mandarin hybrid cultivated extensively in the wider Punjab region of India and Pakistan. Although it looks very similar to an orange it is a lot juicier and has a more sour taste than the orange which is sweeter. The kinnow contains about 2.5 times more calcium than a regular orange … Also, the peel of this fruit is as beneficial as any other citrus fruit.

Mallow:

Mallow is a plant used in traditional medicine…Mallow is a plant. People use the flower and leaf to make medicine.

Mallow is used for irritation of the mouth and throat, dry cough, and bronchitis. It is also used for stomach and bladder complaints.

To treat wounds, some people put mallow in a warm moist dressing (poultice) and apply it directly to the skin, or add it to bathwater.

In foods, mallow is used as a colouring agent…

Marrow:

A cousin of the immature courgette and zucchini…a big cousin as marrows can grow to quite a size…they are then something my mother used to make for dinner…Stuffed Marrow… 

Bone Marrow:

The bone marrow of animals is widely used by humans as food. It consists of yellow marrow contained in long bones. There is also red marrow, which contains more nutrients than yellow marrow. It may be found in bone-in cuts of meat purchased from a butcher or supermarket…

It seems to have become very popular again over the last few years in culinary circles…Cooked they are also a favourite with my dog Saangchai he loves to chew on a marrow bone.

Mayhaw:

The mayhaw, the fruit of the mayhaw tree, is a lesser-known berry that is harvested in—you guessed it—May. They’re actually hawthorn berries that ripen and drop in early summer, around the month of May.

Paw Paw:

 

Native to Eastern North America it is a large yellowish to brown fruit. From the outside, it can be mistaken for Papaya but the flesh of Papaya is bright orange and pawpaw has a yellow flesh

Stew:

Meat and vegetables cooked in a gravy and then served..to me it seems an old fashioned term that now is referred to as a casserole…My mother used to make a good, tasty beef stew…lovely with dumplings nothing like it on a cold winters day…

Tallow:

A rendered form of beef or mutton fat…it is solid at room temperature and provided it is kept in an airtight container it can be kept for a long period of time without refrigeration.

Many refer to tallow as an ‘old fashioned fat’ because historically, it was the primary fat used for cooking and frying thanks to its unusually high smoke point. However, tallow was replaced with refined vegetable oils (such as canola), when some studies claimed that saturated fats cause heart disease.

Most commercial soap bars are made with tallow! Tallow hardens and lathers well, and can be used in place of other vegetable oils, such as palm oil, that are commonly used in soap making.

Tallow can also be used in candlemaking…just melt then cool in a canning container add a wick and allow to harden…easy…

That’s all for today I hope you have found something interesting and unknown…I hope Pete can oblige with something I haven’t mentioned ending in V or W…I am so kind to Pete…haha..x

Next week it will be culinary terms ending in the letter X …chouX…

Stay safe, have fun and laugh a lot as you know what I am going to say it is free and proven to be good for your health…..Laughter aside…My thoughts and prayers are with all the people who have been or will be touched by this Covid-19 virus…the new lockdowns and restrictions..stay safe be aware and social isolate where required and we will beat this thing…xx

Thank you so much for your visit today I hope you have enjoyed the read…Please feel free to leave a comment as you know I love to chat…Love Carol xxx

The Culinary Alphabet with a little twist…Food terms ending in the letter U( tirasamU)…

Good morning everyone and Pete… time for another post which is this crazy idea from one of my fellow scribes …but food fun…this week its food that ends with the letter U…surprisingly I found a few…some new to me…All good fun once again!

The Amanatsu:

Is a citrus fruit whose use has long been popular in Japan and has a characteristic sour and slightly bitter taste. Amanatsu peels are rich in Vitamin C, citric acid and pectin and make ideal ingredients, particularly for summer confectionery. Amanatsu oranges are believed to be a hybrid of a pomelo and sour orange and are native to Japan. Amanatsu oranges can be extremely sour and are typically harvested and stored for a short period before they are consumed. This storage period reduces the acid within the flesh creating a sweet-tart flavour. particularly valued for their bright flavour and fragrant zest, Amanatsu oranges are often used fresh and are a staple ingredient in Japanese cooking.

Baijiu:

A Chinese Liqueur… Baijiu is made by fermenting cooked sorghum, and occasionally other grains, along with a starter called jiuqu (“jiu” for alcohol and “qu” for koji, a fungus used to make soy sauce, miso, and sake).

Casu Martzu:

Often called the most dangerous cheese in the world, casu marzu is an Italian delicacy defined by its illegal status and the maggots that infest it.

The best comparison that can be made is to the taste of very ripe gorgonzola cheese. Though, what you’re actually tasting is larvae excrement.

Contreau:

A popular orange flavoured liqueur…crepes flamed with Contreau…Yes, please!

Fondu:

Just image melted chocolate and a strawberry …

Or a Swiss melted cheese served in a communal pot (caquelon or fondu pot) over a portable stove (réchaud) heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks.

Either way, both are very delicious…

Gateau:

The tale of two cakes!… It seems that while a Gâteau is a cake, a cake is not necessarily a gâteau.

Cakes are more likely to have a buttercream frosting, whereas gâteaux are more likely to have a rich buttery between-layer ingredient, and generally has a thinner icing. Like many French things, a gâteau is just fancier.

Hyuganatsu:

Hyuganatsu is a citrus fruit originally grown in Miyazaki, and tales say the first tree was found in a house in MIyazaki around 1820. Since then the fruit has been named “Hyuganatsu” and cultivated in various places.

An orange as I know it generally has white pith which is bitter and we do not eat…This summer Orange is different called white fluff…The bright white dress (albedo) between the outer peel and the fruit, which has a mildly sweet flavour is savoured and eaten as it boosts the flavour of the fruit.

Irn Bru:

Often classed as Scotlands other national drink is a soft carbonated drink. Packed full of E-numbers, including yellow and red food colouring, both of which are believed to increase hyperactivity, Irn Bru isn’t the best choice for the kids. With a high-calorie count and added caffeine, it’s not one to choose if you’re on a diet or have problems sleeping either.

Kabosu:

Kombu:

Yeah, its not a citrus fruit… it’s an edible seaweed popular in East Asia. widely used in Japanese cooking for its umami taste. Rubbery in texture it is not recommended to eat…added to soups and stews to increase the nutrition punch, and add that umami (deep savoury) flavour, Once cooked, remove the kombu… a bit like I remove bay leaves…

Kuruma Fu:

They are wheat gluten rings…legend tells us they were created for Buddhist monks to replace the meat in their diets.

Tiramisu:

Is a delicious Italian coffee flavoured dessert…made of ladyfingers (finger-shaped) sponge cakes) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.

Tofu:

Yes…Tofu!

https://carolcooks2.com/2021/01/25/meatless-monday-week-3/

Yuzu:

Because the yuzu is considered a citron, the juice is very minimal, thus often expensive. Outside of a few Asian cuisines and particularly in Japanese cultural circles, yuzu is seldom grown or used because it’s rather rare.

That’s all for today I hope you have found something interesting and unknown…I hope Pete can oblige with something I haven’t mentioned ending in U…I am so kind to Pete…haha..x

Next week it will be culinary terms ending in the letter V…shaV…

Stay safe, have fun and laugh a lot as you know what I am going to say it is free and proven to be good for your health…..Laughter aside…My thoughts and prayers are with all the people who have been or will be touched by this Covid-19 virus…the new lockdowns and restrictions..stay safe be aware and social isolate where required and we will beat this thing…xx

Thank you so much for your visit today I hope you have enjoyed the read…Please feel free to leave a comment as you know I love to chat…Love Carol xxx

The Culinary Alphabet with a little twist…Food terms ending in the letter T(chestnuT)

Good morning everyone and Pete… time for another post which is this crazy idea from one of my fellow scribes …but food fun…this week its food that ends with the letter T…this letter is similar to S in so much that you can find many words ending in nut, beet, root, plant, fruit …Which meant I could choose many words so I have tried to find foods which don’t have the addition of those words but are a fruit, vegetable or term in their own right although there are some exceptions…all good fun once again!

Arhat:

A fruit native to Southern China and here in Northern Thailand…named after the Buddhist monks who first cultivated the fruit centuries ago it is also known as Monk Fruit or Buddha Fruit.

Arrowroot :

Arrowroot powder is a versatile ingredient and often used in gluten-free recipes. Arrowroot powder is extracted using simpler, more traditional methods, without the use of high heat or harsh chemicals, unlike cornflour.

Gaining in popularity in the Western world as a thickener… people are looking for substitutes and alternatives to cornstarch, either due to corn allergies and sensitivities or to avoid anything GMO and pesticide-laden.

Not only a thickener it can also be used in baking…blended with other flours for desserts and baking bread…arrowroot mixed with dried herbs can be used as a coating to your fried chicken.

Just be aware that you cannot substitute it on a 1:1 ratio..think gloopy mess trust me I know x…If replacing cornstarch start with a 1/3-1/2 ratio until you get your desired consistency.

Blackcurrant:

I have happy memories of picking blackcurrants with my grandma for her jam making and the purple fingers and mouth she used to tell me I ate more than I picked. Something I can’t get here even dried not sure why that is…The blackcurrant is packed with vitamin C and I envy anyone who has bushes in their garden…I can remember the taste and that little pop of sour…

Carrot:

An orange root vegetable although it does come in other colours purple(my fav), black, yellow, white and red it is instantly recognisable I would think…That crunchy, tasty highly nutritious vegetable is a staple in my kitchen it can be boiled, steamed, roasted made into soups, added to sets and casseroles, slaws are just eaten raw with hummus and don’t forget carrot cake …heaven… my daughter had a carrot cake as her wedding cake in Jamacia…not your ordinary carrot cake slightly more decorative and sumptuous…

Carrots are a particularly good source of beta carotene, fibre, vitamin K1, potassium, and antioxidants. They also have a number of health benefits the perfect health food…

Candlenut:

I have heard of candlenut but know little to none about it…Difficult to establish where the Candlenut is native to due to it being quite early on distributed throughout the new and old world tropics…it has quite a varied past and many names around Asia…Wikipedia

Chaat:

Chaat or chat is a savoury snack that originated in India, typically served at roadside tracks from stalls or food carts across the Indian subcontinent in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Chestnut:

Roasted chestnuts I have early memories of chestnuts being roasted in the embers of the fire or on bonfire night in the ashes…later in life when I was taken to London by my aunt and Uncle it was a treat to buy them from the kerbside vendors…indeed they can also be found roasted in a similar way here…it is only as I have become more of an experimental cook that I have used chestnuts in my cooking.

Is it a fruit or a nut?

Botanically, most nuts are the seeds of a fruit, while true nuts — such as chestnuts, acorns, and hazelnuts — are fruits in and of themselves.

My favourite chestnut is the water chestnut…the one you find in Chinese dishes that lovely crisp bite they don’t have a hard shell-like the chestnuts of my childhood but a soft black skin…

Healthwise…they can be eaten: boiled, roasted, and dried, or in the form of jam, flour, soups, in pasta dishes, in cakes and desserts… They are also excellent sources of vitamins and minerals (such as manganese, molybdenum, copper and magnesium).

Of course, there were also the fruits of the horse chestnut...Who remembers playing conkers as a kid…it was such fun until the health and safety brigade got involved…I mean I have had few black eyes from a conker but it never killed me and now…I’m not even going to get started…

Confit:

Seems to be quite fashionable now especially on TV cookery shows…Confit is any type of food that is cooked slowly over a long period of time as a method of preservation. Confit is a cooking term to describe food cooked in grease, oil or sugar water, at a lower temperature, as opposed to deep-frying.

Eggplant:

Eggplants, aubergines or brinjal are all one and the same depending on where in the world you hail from…a low-calorie vegetable which provides a range of nutrients and fibre…very popular in the Meditteranean and also in Asia…

Here in Thailand eggplants are used in curries, dips, eaten raw my favourite are those little purple ones eaten raw…or the big, purple glossy one can be grilled with parmesan, made into a moussaka, or sliced and layered into a lasagne…one of my favourite ways is brined with cabbage…

Pak Dong…Is Thai pickled cabbage which comes in many forms from just cabbage or cabbage and green onions this version has added small yellow eggplants…

Ingredients:

  • 1 white cabbage. cut or torn into pieces.
  • 8 large spring onions chopped
  • 12-15 sm yellow eggplants halved
  • Coarse Salt.

Let’s Pickle:

Layer Cabbage, Onions, eggplants and salt in the dish add a little water. Mix it all together with your hands.

We then leave the dish covered on the kitchen top or in the sun for 1 day.

Pickled cabbage with egg plants

Then drain and lightly rinse and add more salt if required. Cover and leave for 2/3 days or until it reaches your ideal taste. With pickled cabbage, it is purely down to personal taste some like it saltier or sour more than others. Just play with it and you will soon discover your ideal version.

My daughter in law who is Thai doesn’t like it as sour as we do… she doesn’t like the Winegar taste as she puts it… Once it reaches your required taste it is ready to eat.

This recipe is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Kumquat:

A kumquat is an edible, orange-like fruit that is native to Southeast Asia. Though the citrus fruit resembles an orange in shape and colour, it’s actually quite small—about the size of an olive. Typically, kumquats are round or oblong.

Kurrat:

Kurrat, or Egyptian leek (Arabic: كراث‎), is grown in the Middle East for its leaves. It is closely related to elephant garlic and leeks and is generally regarded as being in the same species, though it is also commonly listed as Allium kurrat.

Kurrat is a very popular vegetable in Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. Kurrat was found in an Egyptian tomb and has been cultivated for at least 2000 years ago.

Lotus Root:

A popular vegetable in Asia…Lotus roots are usually sliced crosswise to reveal their attractive pattern of holes. They are traditionally added to soups and stews or simply stir-fried, as well as braised in soy sauce. They can also be thinly sliced and added raw to salads. Another favourite way of enjoying them is deep-fried into chips.

Loquat:

What is the difference between a Kumquat and a Loquat? Loquats are in the Rosaceae family the same as apples, pears, peaches and nectarines. Kumquats are a citrus fruit — think of them as the small, tart cousins to the more popular sweet orange. … Both are little orange-coloured oval fruits…

The Loquat is native to China …the seeds, and leaves are packed with powerful plant compounds and have been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years.

Mangetout:

Flat pea pods are also known as snow peas or sugar peas…eaten whole either in stir-fries or curries they are picked while very young …a good source of B1 (thiamin) and folic acid. And because you eat the whole pod, mange tout is a greater source of the antioxidant vitamins A and C than ordinary peas. They are also an excellent source of dietary fibre.

Cons: Overcooking will deplete the nutritional value.

Pluot:

A fruit name I wasn’t familiar with…it is a hybrid fruit…Plumcots…are 50-50 crosses between plums and apricots a Pluot is more plum than apricot and has a smooth skin.

Rocket:

Rocker or Arugula is a leafy vegetable known for its fresh, tart and peppery taste…of Meditteranean origin, it is a low growing annual herb. Fresh salad rocket is one of the greens rich in folates. 100 g of fresh greens contain 97 µg or 24% of folic acid.

Salt:

Often the subject of discussion and portrayed as the villain and that which we should restrict in our diets BUT we can’t live without salt…salt is actually an important nutrient for the human body. Your body uses salt to balance fluids in the blood and maintain healthy blood pressure, and it is also essential for nerve and muscle function.

Salt is also an essential ingredient in cooking…

Salt is also a whole post…in the meantime here is one of Sally’s posts on Salt and as always interesting and factual…

Sculpit:

Is an Italian green often called stridolo, it has long, thin lance-like leaves that can be chopped and added to egg dishes, risotto, salads, soups, and even pizza.

Yeast:

Yeast is a single-celled fungus. … It takes 20,000,000,000 (twenty billion) yeast cells to weigh one gram, or 1/28 of an ounce, of cake yeast. A tiny organism with a long name. The scientific name for the yeast that baker’s use is Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, or “sugar-eating fungus”. A very long name for such a tiny organism ..an essential ingredient in baked goods and bread…

That’s all for today I hope you have found something interesting and unknown…I hope Pete can oblige with something I haven’t mentioned ending in T…I am so kind to Pete…haha..x

Next week it will be culinary terms ending in the letter U…Yuzu…

Stay safe, have fun and laugh a lot as you know what I am going to say it is free and proven to be good for your health…..Laughter aside…My thoughts and prayers are with all the people who have been or will be touched by this Covid-19 virus…the new lockdowns and restrictions..stay safe be aware and social isolate where required and we will beat this thing…xx

Thank you so much for your visit today I hope you have enjoyed the read…Please feel free to leave a comment as you know I love to chat…Love Carol xxx