- Industry: Printing & publishing
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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 ...
Also called Chinese steelhead and black trout, this lean Pacific fish is a favorite in Chinese communities. It has a delicious, delicate flavor but can be troublesome because of its network of tiny fine bones. It is suitable for most methods of cooking. See also fish.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called Chinese white cabbage, pak choy, pak choi and white mustard cabbage, bok choy is a mild, versatile vegetable with crunchy white stalks and tender, dark green leaves. It resembles a bunch of wide-stalked celery with long, full leaves. Choose bunches with firm, white stalks topped with crisp, green leaves. Bok choy is available year-round in most supermarkets and should be refrigerated airtight for no more than 3 to 4 days. It can be used raw in salads, in a stir-fry or as a cooked vegetable. Bok choy is related to but not the same as chinese cabbage.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called choux paste, pâte à choux and cream-puff pastry, this special pastry is made by an entirely different method from other pastries. The dough, created by combining flour with boiling water and butter, then beating eggs into the mixture, is very sticky and pastelike. During baking, the eggs make the pastry puff into irregular domes (as with cream puffs). After baking, the puffs are split, hollowed out and filled with a custard, whipped cream or other filling. Besides cream puffs, choux pastry is used to make such specialties as éclairs, gougère and profiteroles.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called comino, this ancient spice dates back to the Old Testament. Shaped like a caraway seed, cumin is the dried fruit of a plant in the parsley family. Its aromatic, nutty-flavored seeds come in three colors: amber (the most widely available), white and black (both found in Asian markets). White cumin seed is interchangeable with amber, but the black seed has a more complex, peppery flavor. Cumin is available in seed and ground forms. As with all seeds, herbs and spices, it should be stored in a cool, dark place for no more than 6 months. Cumin is particularly popular in Middle Eastern, Asian and Mediterranean cooking. Among other things, it's used to make curries, chili powders and Kümmel liqueur. See also spices; herb and spice chart.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called corn smut, maize mushroom and huitlacoche, this gourmet rage is actually a bulbous fungus (technically known as Ustilago maydis) that attacks ears of corn and makes the kernels swell to 10 times their normal size. The corn's color turns an ugly medium- to dark-gray verging on black. Although most U. S. farmers consider it a plague and destroy infected ears, the Aztecs are said to have prized cuitlacoche (in Nahuatl cuitlatl means "excrement," cochi means "black"). Enthusiasts say that cuitlacoche has a smoky-sweet flavor that's a cross between that of corn and mushroom. Cuitlacoche is currently being cultivated in limited quantities in California, Florida, Georgia and Virginia. It's sold canned and frozen in some gourmet markets. It can occasionally be found in specialty produce and farmer's markets (during corn season) and can also be purchased by mail order. Cuitlacoche is used in a variety of dishes including sautés, soups, casseroles — in general, any preparation where cooked mushrooms would be appropriate.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called corn sugar and grape sugar, dextrose is a naturally occurring form of glucose.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called custard apple, this large tropical fruit tastes like a delicate combination of pineapple, papaya and banana. Irregularly oval in shape, the cherimoya has a leathery green skin that has a scaly pattern not unlike large, overlapping thumbprint indentations. The flesh, peppered with large, shiny black seeds, is cream-colored and the texture of firm custard. Now grown in California, cherimoyas are available from November through May. Purchase fruit that's firm, heavy for its size and without skin blemishes; avoid those with brown splotches. Store at room temperature until ripe (they will give slightly with soft pressure), then refrigerate, well wrapped, up to 4 days. Serve cherimoyas well chilled. Simply halve, remove the seeds and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Cherimoyas contain a fair amount of niacin, iron and vitamin C.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called Danish blue cheese, this rich cow's-milk cheese is milder and less complex than roquefort, but has a zest all its own. Known as one of the world's best blues, the versatile, semisoft Danablu can be sliced, spread and crumbled with equal ease. It's excellent with fruit, dark breads and red wines. See also blue cheese; cheese.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called Danziger Goldwasser, this full-bodied liqueur is flavored with caraway seed, orange peel and spices. Its name, which translates from German as "gold water," comes from the fact that it has minuscule flecks of gold leaf suspended in it. The gold leaf is harmless to drink.
Industry:Culinary arts
Also called double Gloucester, this dense, satiny, golden yellow cheese is one of England's finest. It was once made only with the milk from Gloucester cows (now almost extinct) and until the end of World War ii single (smaller) Gloucester rounds were also available. The mellow, full-flavored double Gloucester comes in large, flat rounds or tall cylinders — both with a natural rind. It's a fine, multipurpose cheese equally as good with a meal or after it. See also cheese.
Industry:Culinary arts
