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Founded in 1941, Barron's Educational Series is a leading publisher of test preparation manuals and school directories. Among the most widely recognized of Barron's many titles in these areas are its SAT and ACT test prep books, its Regents Exams books, and its Profiles of American Colleges. In ...
The term for one of America's favorite sandwiches (the other being the hamburger), which consists of a frankfurter in an oblong-shaped bun with any of various toppings including mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, cheese, sauerkraut and beans. Regular hot dogs are about 6 inches long, while they are also available in foot-long versions. Among the many aliases for hot dogs are wiener dog, frankfurter, frank and tube steak. See also corn dog; pigs in blankets.
Industry:Culinary arts
The term fowl is used generally to refer to any edible, mature, wild or domestic bird. Specifically, a fowl (also called hen or stewing chicken) is a female chicken over 10 months old and usually weighing 3 to 6 pounds. Because of its age, a fowl is best when cooked with moist heat, as in braising.
Industry:Culinary arts
The traditional accompaniment for plum pudding, hard sauce is made by beating butter, sugar and flavoring together until smooth and creamy. The sugar can be confectioners', granulated or brown. The flavoring is generally brandy, rum or whiskey, though vanilla or other extracts may also be used. This mixture is refrigerated until "hard" (the texture of butter). It's often spooned into a decorative mold before chilling and unmolded before serving. Hard sauce is known in England as brandy butter.
Industry:Culinary arts
The tropical, evergreen cacao tree is cultivated for its seeds (also called beans), from which cocoa butter, chocolate and cocoa powder are produced.
Industry:Culinary arts
The type most commonly found in American markets is the Pacific barracuda (also called California barracuda), which usually ranges from 4 to 8 pounds. It's a firm-textured fish with a moderate fat content and is best grilled or broiled. Barracuda can be substituted for wahoo or mahi mahi. The great barracuda, whose flesh is often toxic, can weigh over 100 pounds and can exceed 6 feet in length. See also fish.
Industry:Culinary arts
The United States (mainly California) is the world's leading producer of the English walnut (also called Persian walnut). It's grown in several other countries including China, France, India, Iran, Turkey and Yugoslavia. The English walnut has a wrinkled, tan-colored shell that encloses two large, double-lobed halves. Its sweet flavor makes it a delicious choice for out-of-hand eating, as well as a popular addition for all manner of foods sweet and savory. English walnuts are used to produce walnut oil; they also come in candied and pickled forms. They're available prepackaged or in bulk. English walnuts are a potent source of Omega-3 oils (see fats and oils). See also nuts; walnut.
Industry:Culinary arts
The word "acid" comes from the Latin acidus, meaning "sour. " All acids are sour to some degree. Sourness (acidity) is found in many natural ingredients such as vinegar (acetic acid), wine (tartaric acid), lemon juice (citric acid), sour-milk products (lactic acid), apples (malic acid) and rhubarb leaves (toxic oxalic acid). When used in a marinade, acids — such as wine and lemon juice — are natural tenderizers because they break down connective tissue and cell walls.
Industry:Culinary arts
The word "cala" comes from an African word for "rice," and refers to a deep-fried pastry made with rice, yeast, sugar and spices. Calas resemble small, round doughnuts without a hole and are usually sprinkled with confectioners' sugar.
Industry:Culinary arts
The word "cereal" comes from Ceres, a pre-Roman goddess of agriculture. Cereal includes any plant from the grass family that yields an edible grain (seed). The most popular grains are barley, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, rice, rye, sorghum, triticale, wheat and wild rice. Because cereals are inexpensive, are a readily available source of protein and have more carbohydrates than any other food, they're a staple throughout the world. See also spelt; teff.
Industry:Culinary arts
The word "chocolate" comes from the Aztec xocolatl, meaning "bitter water. " Indeed, the unsweetened drink the Aztecs made of pounded cocoa beans and spices was probably extremely bitter. Bitterness notwithstanding, the Aztec king Montezuma so believed that chocolate was an aphrodisiac that he purportedly drank 50 golden goblets of it each day. Chocolate comes from the tropical cocoa bean, Theobroma ("food of the gods") cacao. After the beans are removed from their pods they're fermented, dried, roasted and cracked, separating the nibs (which contain an average of 54 percent cocoa butter) from the shells. The nibs are ground to extract some of the cocoa butter (a natural vegetable fat), leaving a thick, dark brown paste called chocolate liquor. Next, the chocolate liquor receives an initial refining. If additional cocoa butter is extracted from the chocolate liquor, the solid result is ground to produce unsweetened cocoa powder. If other ingredients are added (such as milk powder, sugar, etc. ), the chocolate is refined again. The final step for most chocolate is conching, a process by which huge machines with rotating blades slowly blend the heated chocolate liquor, ridding it of residual moisture and volatile acids. The conching continues for 12 to 72 hours (depending on the type and quality of chocolate) while small amounts of cocoa butter and sometimes lecithin are added to give chocolate its voluptuously smooth texture. Unadulterated chocolate is marketed as unsweetened chocolate, also called baking or bitter chocolate. U. S. standards require that unsweetened chocolate contain between 50 and 58 percent cocoa butter. The addition of sugar, lecithin and vanilla (or vanillin) creates, depending on the amount of sugar added, bittersweet, semisweet or sweet chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor; semisweet and sweet can contain from 15 to 35 percent. Adding dry milk to sweetened chocolate creates milk chocolate, which must contain at least 12 percent milk solids and 10 percent chocolate liquor. Though bittersweet, semisweet and sweet chocolate may often be used interchangeably in some recipes with little textural change, milk chocolate — because of the milk protein — cannot. Liquid chocolate, developed especially for baking, is found on the supermarket shelf alongside other chocolates. It's unsweetened, comes in individual 1-ounce packages, and is convenient because it requires no melting. However, because it's made with vegetable oil rather than cocoa butter, it doesn't deliver either the same texture or flavor as regular unsweetened chocolate. Couverture is a term describing professional-quality coating chocolate that is extremely glossy. It usually contains a minimum of 32 percent cocoa butter, which enables it to form a much thinner shell than ordinary confectionery coating. Couverture is usually only found in specialty candy-making shops. White chocolate is not true chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor and, likewise, very little chocolate flavor. Instead, it's usually a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin and vanilla. Read the label: if cocoa butter isn't mentioned, the product is confectionery (or summer) coating, not white chocolate. Beware of products labeled artificial chocolate or chocolate-flavored. They are, just as the label states, not the real thing and both flavor and texture confirm that fact. Chocolate comes in many forms, from 1-ounce squares to 1/2-inch chunks to chips ranging in size from 1/2 to 1/8 inch in diameter. Many chocolate chunks and chips come in flavors including milk, semisweet, mint-flavored and white chocolate. Chocolate should be stored, tightly wrapped, in a cool (60° to 70°F), dry place. If stored at warm temperatures, chocolate will develop a pale gray "bloom" (surface streaks and blotches), caused when the cocoa butter rises to the surface. In damp conditions, chocolate can form tiny gray sugar crystals on the surface. In either case, the chocolate can still be used, with flavor and texture affected only slightly. Under ideal conditions, dark chocolate can be stored 10 years. However, because of the milk solids in both milk chocolate and white chocolate, they shouldn't be stored for longer than 9 months. Because all chocolate scorches easily — which completely ruins the flavor — it should be melted slowly over low heat. One method is to place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Remove the top of the pan from the heat when the chocolate is a little more than halfway melted and stir until completely smooth. Another method is to place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and, in a 650- to 700-watt microwave oven, heat at 50 percent power. Four ounces of chocolate will take about 3 minutes, but the timing will vary depending on the oven and the type and amount of chocolate. Though chocolate can be melted with liquid (at least 1/4 cup liquid per 6 ounces chocolate), a single drop of moisture in melted chocolate will cause it to seize (clump and harden). This problem can sometimes be corrected if vegetable oil is immediately stirred into the chocolate at a ratio of about 1 tablespoon oil to 6 ounces chocolate. Slowly remelt the mixture and stir until once again smooth. See also chocolate syrup; gianduja chocolate; mexican chocolate; tempering.
Industry:Culinary arts
