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Know Your Ingredients: Porchetta
If there's one ingredient that may be able to oust bacon as the prized protein of the moment, it's porchetta. It's been appearing everywhere in farmers markets, Italian restaurants, and sandwich shops around San Francisco.
Pronounced "por-ketta," porchetta is an Italian specialty of slow-roasted suckling pig.
Know Your Ingredients: Ginger Beer
For a refreshment so popular, it's interesting to note how many misconceptions exist about ginger beer.
The drink, which originated in the mid-1700s in England, was first known as a fermented alcoholic beverage made from sugar, ginger, water, and a starter culture known as ginger beer plant. But today, the name "ginger beer" is actually a misnomer, as most commercial ginger beer is a soft drink, and contains no alcohol.
Definition: Freekeh
Also known as farik or frikeh, freekeh (pronounced "freek-kah") has been gaining traction in Western cuisine. Freekeh is an Arab grain made of young green durum wheat that's harvested when the seeds are yellow, and still soft and moist. They are then sun-dried, roasted, polished, and cracked.
Know Your Ingredients: Bresaola
At the Fancy Foods Show, I found myself drawn to paper-thin slices of dark, purple-hued cured meat. I quickly learned that the ultratender, sweet meat was something called bresaola, also known as beef prosciutto. Bresaola is an air-cured, spiced, and salted cut of beef that is aged for several months.
Burning Question: Are Sorbet, Sherbet, & Sherbert the Same?
Spotting a wide array of frozen desserts at this year's Fancy Foods Show reminded me of a burning question that hasn't melted away: Are sorbet, sherbet, and sherbert all the same?
Despite the fact that the legal definitions of sorbet and sherbet could be used interchangeably, there is a distinction among American frozen dessert manufacturers. Sherbet — which is alternatively spelled sherbert — is a frozen fruit and dairy product that contains anywhere from 1 percent to 3 percent milkfat from milk or cream.
Know Your Ingredients: Kecap Manis
I've come across several recipes that call for kecap manis in the past, but have never tried the sauce for myself. So when I came across it at the Fancy Foods Show, I was eager to learn more about it.
Kecap manis (pronounced KEH-chup MAH-nees and also spelled ketjap manis) is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce with a molasses consistency and a dark brown color.
Definition: Banchan
Banchan (pronounced "bonchon") refers to the assorted sides served alongside a main course in Korean cuisine. About a half dozen banchan are served at any meal; the best known are kimchi — pickled dishes, made of either fermented cabbage (baechu), daikon radish (mu), or other vegetables like scallions (pa) — although they might also include japchae (glass noodles), marinated tofu, or even American potato salad.
Typically served in small portions that are meant to be finished (and replenished if necessary) at every meal, banchan are shared amongst everyone at the table.
Know Your Ingredients: Plantains
When your palate needs a breather from Winter squash and root vegetables, consider another starchy fruit that's available year-round: plantains. Plantains belong to the banana family but tend to be firmer, starchier, and less sweet than the "dessert" bananas that we're used to.
These potato-like fruits are a fixture in South and Central America, as well as other tropical areas.
Definition: Seitan
Seitan (pronounced "say-tahn") is a protein source made from the gluten of wheat that is often found in vegan, macrobiotic, and East and Southeast Asian food. Also known as wheat gluten, wheat meat, or gluten, this wheat-based meat substitute is an alternative to soy-based products such as tofu and tempeh. Like meat, seitan, which is often sold in Western health markets in strips and cubes, can be braised, deep-fried, grilled, or simmered in soups.
Know Your Ingredients: Air-Chilled Chicken
Those of you who are on the lifelong quest to make the perfect roast chicken, should turn your attention to something called air-chilled chicken. To Americans, this term might be a relatively new or even foreign one, but in other parts of the globe, such as Europe and Asia, this three-hour, specialized chicken-raising process has been popular for decades.
Conventionally raised chickens are typically dunked in iced, chlorinated water to bring down the chicken's temperature after it's been slaughtered.
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