The smoke points of an oil (or butter) is precisely what it sounds like: the temperature at which it begins to release clouds of smoke. At that point, the oil is breaking down and has a very narrow window of time left until it burns and should be tossed out.
The smoke point is different for different kinds of oils. Vegetable oils are tougher and can reach a higher temperature before smoking, making tehm good for frying. (The commonly accepted temperature for frying is somewhere between 365F-375F.) Butter burns easily, and olive oil has a pretty low smoke point, so they’re better for sautéing at relatively lower heats.
Here are a few examples of oils and their smoke points (get your thermometers ready!):
Sunflower Oil -- 440F
Canola Oil -- 400F
Butter -- 350F
Extra Virgin Olive Oil -- 320F
Panko is a type of breadcrumb that is most often used for frying in Japanese cooking. It's made from traditional Japanese wheat bread that has been dried and shredded into flakes. The process produces breadcrumbs that are larger and flakier than ordinary breadcrumbs.
We like panko because it doesn't get soggy or fall off when baked or fried. Plus, it maintains a bit of a crunch when regular breadcrumbs tend to turn soggy.
Many large grocers carry panko in the international food section, and you're sure to find panko at an Asian market. In a pinch, you can substitute crushed saltines (or some other light cracker) for panko.
Recipe: Butternut Squash Tempura With Soy-Lime Dipping Sauce (Cookthink)
Recipe: Oven-Fried Chicken (Cookthink)
Reference: What is an oil's smoke point? (Cookthink)
A latke is a potato pancake. Most people think of the potato pancake as a Jewish dish, but potato pancakes of some sort exist in potato-eating cultures around the world.
Your basic latke is made by frying grated potatoes in oil until nicely browned on both sides, and seasoning them with salt and pepper. Some latke recipes add egg, chopped or grated onion, minced garlic, milk, melted butter or herbs and spices to the preparation.
Latkes can be eaten plain as a snack, with a side salad, topped with applesauce or sour cream, as an accompaniment to roasted meats, or with a fried egg on top. The French sometimes serve potato galettes with coq au vin. The Poles stuff them with goulash. Jews eat them during Hannukah, but only because they are fried, not because they play a special role in the religious holiday. The Swedes add grated potatoes to a pancake batter, while Germans and Austrians eat them with garlic, salt and butter.
Potato pancakes can also be made by simply dropping a pile of grated potatoes into hot oil and frying until browned and cooked through, then seasoning them with salt and pepper while they're still hot.
Related: Brys' Latkes With Fried Eggs And Caviar (Cookthink blog)
Video: How to make potato latkes (Handmade TV)
A flame tamer or heat diffuser is a metal disk that sits between the bottom of a pan and the burner on a gas stove or a barbecue.
Like heavy-bottomed aluminum or copper pots which are designed to control heat distribution while cooking, flame tamers help diffuse and spread heat to prevent burning and help ensure that food cooks evenly.
Russet or Idaho potatoes have a high starch and low moisture content, meaning they bake well, are fluffy when mashed and make excellent French fries. Because they tend to fall apart when cooked, use a waxy variety when making a potato salad or a gratin.
Potato starch or potato flour, made by grinding cooked, dried potatoes, is a gluten-free thickening agent. Be careful not to boil a preparation once it has been thickened with potato starch. Potato starch is also an approved ingredient for Jewish Passover preparations, because it is not grain-based like cornstarch.
Store potatoes in a cool, dark place. Refrigeration will turn their starch to unwanted sugar, making them grow unpleasantly dark when cooked.
A croque-monsieur is a hot ham-and-cheese sandwich popularized in France after it was first served in a Parisian café in the early 20th century.
Still popular in cafés, bars, bistros and kitchens across France, it consists of thinly sliced Gruyère cheese and lean sliced ham placed on buttered bread, which may be covered in a cheesy Béchamel sauce and broiled in the oven au gratin (or, more rarely, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs before pan-frying in butter). Sometimes the sandwich is topped with a tomato slice and other cheeses and meats can be substituted; add a fried egg, and you've got a croque-madame.
Related: What is a gratin?
What exactly is thick-cut bacon?
What exactly is thick-cut bacon?
Sliced American bacon is cut from a side of cured and/or smoked fatty pig belly and sold in packages without its rind.
It comes in three sizes: Thin-sliced bacon has about 35 strips per pound; regular-sliced bacon has 16-20; and thick-cut has just 12-16 strips per pound.
Bangers and mash is quintessential British comfort food. Traditional pub grub and a common everyday dish on British tables, the bangers are traditional British pork or beef sausages, and mash is slang for mashed potatoes. Bangers and mash are traditionally served by placing fried sausages on a pile of mashed potatoes and dousing them in an onion gravy.
While bangers and mash is a classic working class dish, it's also found gussied up on gastropub menus where it may be prepared with any number of fancy sausages or gravies.
The term "banger" is said to refer to the sausages' tendency to explode -- or bang around -- in the pan when cooked over high heat.
Cooking pork is fraught with pitfalls. Fry a chop too fast or cook it too long and it will petrify. Though the National Pork Board advises serving pork while still pink (about 154F), some home cooks blanch at the very thought of blushing pork, even though its well-done alternative has all the sensual appeal of sawdust.
The problems arise from the nature of pork and the ways that nature is changing. Of all the commonly eaten meats, pork has the densest muscle fiber and the lowest moisture content (about 50 percent as opposed to chicken at 65 percent), which means it has a tendency to dehydrate more during cooking.
In the past pork was always cooked to 170F, or well-done. At that internal temperature the only thing that saved it from being hopelessly dry was the fact that its hefty fat content, which melted into the meat during cooking, made up for its lack of moisture.
But in recent years there has been a concerted and successful push by pork producers to lower the fat levels of pork (the other white meat), with the result that the nutritional numbers on pork look better than ever, but its tendency towards dryness has been laid bare. A growth in interest in heritage breeds of pork, like Berkshire and Yorkshire, that have substantial marbling and flavor, attempts to counteract pork’s march towards desiccation.
When heated, meat protein contracts, forcing any water held in the muscle fiber outward. The hotter the flame, the more the fibers tighten. Traditionally cooking meat means searing the surface at very high temperatures. For moist meats, like beef, which can be served rare, the dried surface and moist interior adds sensory charm, but for pork, the effect is opposite.
Because pork is dense, heat does not pass through it easily. Consequently, when cooking temperatures are very high the surface of the meat gets excessively hot before enough heat can penetrate through to the interior. By the time the meat is fully cooked most of the moisture is gone.
The obvious solution is to slow down the cooking. Pork should be browned briefly, and then the temperature should be lowered to allow the rest of the cooking to take place as gently as possible. Heat transference is helped by adding liquid, which tenderizes meat fibers more efficiently than dry heat while continually adding moisture.
A Bengali whole five-spice mixture made from equal parts mustard seed, cumin seed, fennel seed, fenugreek and nigella seed, panch phoron is used to season fish (as well as vegetables, lentils and chicken).
The spices are fried in oil or ghee until they pop to release their flavor and aroma. At this point, the spice mixture can be poured over cooked dishes to add flavor, or used as a base before vegetables, lentils, chicken or fish are added to the pan to finish cooking.
A pescetarian is somebody who eats fish or other creatures of the sea (excluding mammals) but otherwise does not eat meat.
Pescetarians are sometimes called pesco-vegetarians, but they are not strictly vegetarians. Some pescetarians eat eggs and dairy.
A griddle is a flat cooking surface usually made of cast-iron that is used to make griddle cakes, pancakes, drop scones and crumpets.
Griddles are used in France to make crêpes and galettes; Indians use them to make chapati; and Malaysians use them to cook stuffed roti breads. The Spanish cook just about everything a la plancha.
The advantage to cooking on a griddle -- also called a hot plate -- is high heat and a slick surface that requires minimal added fat. Meat, squid, or calamari cooked on a griddle develop a flavorful crust and are ready in no time.
