Head cheese is the unappetizing term for a kind of French charcuterie made from, well, the meat of a pig's head (minus the brain).
Fromage de tête (known as brawn in the U.K. and Hog's Head Cheese in Louisiana) is set in an aspic made of reduced cooking juices, seasoned, and molded into a terrine.
It is sliced and served cold or at room temperature, usually as a first course accompanied by a small salad or bread and is surprisingly found on tables around the world.
Coq au vin is the name of a classic old French stew that used to mean rooster, or cock, cooked in wine. Old birds who'd been kept around for years needed to be braised slowly to soften up their meat, and the sauce for the dish was thickened with the cock's blood.
These days, we use chicken when making a coq au vin, and a roux to thicken the sauce.
The dish also contains ingredients including lardons, onions, mushrooms, carrots, chicken stock, brandy, garlic and seasonings in addition to the wine. Coq au vin is typically served with pasta, steamed potatoes or latkes.
Rillettes is the name of a silky French spread made out of pork, rabbit, goose, duck or poultry that is confit, or cooked in its own fat, or additional lard. It is served cold, smeared on toast or fresh baguette slices, and often accompanied by the little French pickles known as cornichons.
In France, you can find pork, chicken or even salmon rillettes, which are made using added olive oil and butter, in the supermarket as well as specialty shops. Rillettes are rich and usually eaten in small quantities, as an appetizer or packed as part of a picnic.
Kosher salt is a bright-tasting white, coarse-grained salt made without additives (such as iodine).
It is called kosher salt in North America (elsewhere it's referred to as coarse-grain salt) because it is used to aid in the preparing of kosher meat that is salted after butchering in order to draw out the animal's blood. Kosher salt works particularly well because its large grains don't immediately dissolve on the surface of meat, drawing in liquid instead.
But you don't have to keep kosher to appreciate kosher salt, a favorite of cooks everywhere for its large flaky texture and clean taste that works in a variety of dishes.
If you're new to kosher salt, be aware that it doesn't always dissolve completely in baked goods and that its grains vary in size according to the manufacturer, so be sure to check the box for measurement conversions. The large flakes of kosher salt make it a nice finishing salt to sprinkle on dishes before serving.
What's the point of letting dough rise?
What's the point of letting dough rise?
If you don't allow your bread dough to rise, you'll end up with a heavy and disagreeable loaf.
When you let dough rise, you're giving yeast a chance to leaven the dough. This happens when fermentation produces carbon dioxide gas that puffs it up. Dough should be left to rise in a warm place without draughts and covered with a clean kitchen towel to prevent a crust from forming.
The formal name for this process is proofing (sometimes calling proving).
What does it mean to proof dough?
What does it mean to proof dough?
Proofing is the formal name for the process that happens when you let dough rise.
During proofing (or proving), yeast leavens the dough when fermentation produces carbon dioxide gas that puffs it up. Dough should be proofed in a warm place without draughts and covered with a clean kitchen towel to prevent a crust from forming.
Depending on the recipe, dough may be proofed once or more.
What's the point of kneading dough?
What's the point of kneading dough?
Kneading dough makes it more elastic and resilient. The kneading process develops gluten in flour and helps to create air pockets that trap carbon dioxide gas formed from the yeast's work. All this will result in a lighter loaf once baked; insufficient kneading will lead to a leaden lump of bread.
The kneading process takes place before proofing, in which dough is left to rise in a warm place. Bread dough may be kneaded again once it has been proofed, to deflate gaping air pockets and lend the bread a more even texture.
Ancestor of gumbo, bouillabaisse is a fast-cooking French fish stew that was invented in Marseille and is a staple of provençal cooking.
Originally a fisherman's meal cooked up on the beach, dozens of fish varieties may end up in a so-called authentic bouillabaisse, but everyone agrees that it must contain rockfish. This aromatic soup also includes shellfish like muscles and crabs, plus aromatics and vegetables such as fennel, carrots and tomatoes, as well as olive oil, saffron and orange zest. Normally the ingredients are marinated for a few hours, then boiled quickly to cook the fish.
The fish and broth are eaten separately. Bouillabaisse broth is either poured over dried bread or served with garlic-rubbed, rouille-topped croutons.
British bread puddings are a family of desserts that go back as far as the 17th century and are popular in the U.S. Bread pudding is a handy way to use up stale bread. Either bread crumbs or stale bread cubes are soaked in an egg custard mixture of milk or cream, eggs and sugar -- plus vanilla or other spices like cinnamon and nutmeg -- then baked. Bread pudding can be eaten hot or cold, plain or made even more rich with a sauce like crème anglaise.
Bread pudding can be complicated with chocolate, nuts, dried fruits or other flavorings and can be made with sweet breads such as brioche. The homey traditional British baked dessert Queen of Puddings is made from a breadcrumb-thickened egg custard that is baked until set, then topped with raspberry or black currant jam and covered in meringue. It is returned to the oven to color the meringue and served hot, with lots of double cream.
Bread and butter pudding is another matter, a kind of baked French toast in which buttered bread is layered with raisins or other fruits, covered in a milk and egg mixture and baked.
Leaveners or leavening agents are substances that are used to make bread and other baked goods -- such as cakes, cookies and muffins -- rise.
Bread rises thanks to yeast, a fungus that ferments when mixed with dough, converting sugar and starch into ethanol and carbon dioxide that allows it to rise. Yeast comes in fresh or dry forms.
Pure sodium bicarbonate, baking soda will not only fluff up your muffins, it can also put out a grease fire, clean your teeth and deodorize your carpet. When you cook with baking soda, you need to balance it out with an acid like lemon juice or buttermilk. Otherwise, your muffins may have a bitter, soapy flavor.
A combination of baking soda and a few other ingredients, most notably cream of tartar, a dry acid, baking powder usually comes in a can. Out of baking powder? Make your own by mixing one part baking soda with two parts cream of tartar.
Yeast, that magical microscopic fast-multiplying fungus that makes bread dough rise and beer and Champagne effervescent, comes in various fresh and dry forms. When mixed with flour and liquid at a warm temperature to make dough, yeast ferments, converting sugar and starch into ethanol and carbon dioxide gases that allow the bread to rise.
Fresh yeast: Fresh yeast is a type of baker's yeast that comes in squares. It is light beige and has a yeasty fresh smell (if the odor is too strong or the color is too dark, it is past its prime). It must be refrigerated. When you're ready to use it, fresh yeast is mixed with lukewarm water and sugar until it froths up from fermentation and can be mixed in with other ingredients. Once dough rises once, it is punched down and allowed to rise again before baking.
Active dry yeast: Dehydrated baker's yeast keeps longer than fresh yeast. Regular dry yeast is activated by adding lukewarm water and a bit of sugar and left to foam up before mixing with other ingredients and allowed to rise twice before baking. Instant, fast-acting or quick-rising yeast can be mixed in with other ingredients and only needs to rise once before baking.
Brewer's yeast: Not suitable for baking, brewer's yeast is a non-leavening yeast used to make beer and as a dietary supplement.
Nutritional yeast: This deactivated yeast is grown on mineral-enriched molasses, then pasteurized to kill the yeast; unlike live or brewer's yeast, it tastes good and is also an excellent source of protein, B vitamins and minerals that help stabilize blood sugar.
Yeast starter: The yeast starter was the leavening method for bread before commercial yeast was developed in the 19th century. It is a mixture of yeast, flour, sugar and water that is fermented and kept refrigerated until needed, then brought to room temperature and used to make a fresh batch of dough by refreshing it with water and flour.
Queen of Puddings is the grand-sounding name for a homey traditional British baked dessert made from a breadcrumb-thickened egg custard that is baked until set, then topped with raspberry or black currant jam and covered in meringue. It is returned to the oven to color the meringue and served hot, with lots of double cream.
It's part of the British bread pudding family of desserts that go back as far as the 17th century.
