Glossary of Culinary Terms

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Click on a letter for links to glossary of culinary terms.

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SAMBAL ULEK (SAMBAL OELEK) - A paste made by crushing red chillies with
a little salt. Can be made by crushing chopped de-seeded chillies in a
mortar with salt, or purchased at some delicatessens or Asian food
stores.

SANTEN/COCONUT MILK - Can be bought in cans or in powdered form, or made
as follows: To 2.5 cups boiling water add the grated flesh of one
coconut (or 4 cups desiccated coconut). Leave to stand 30 minutes,
squeeze coconut and strain. Use within 24 hours. Known as narial ka
dooth in India, santen in Indonesia and Malaysia.

SCALLION - Variety of onion with small bulbs, long stiff green leaves.
Usually eaten raw. Also called spring onion, green onion.

SCOTCH BONNET PEPPER - Capsicum tetragonum. Similar to Habañero
Pepper.

SCRAPPLE - Scrapple is boiled, ground leftover pieces of pig, together
with cornmeal and spices. Good scrapple, particularly served with a
spicy tomato catsup, is food for the gods. Bad scrapple, especially
with too little cornmeal, with too much grease, or undercooked, is an
abomination in the eyes of the horde.

SCUNGILLI - Also a Mollusc Gastropod - "Buccinidae" - found in more
temperate waters than conch, with a darker meat and stronger flavour,
perhaps less "sweet". This is more properly known as "whelk". These
are generally removed from their shell and sold already steamed and
ready to eat. The meat is kind of a circular meat, about 1 to 2 inches
in diameter, perhaps 10 to 20 of these in a pound.

SELTZER - Plain soda water (from the trademark Alka-Seltzer).

SHALLOTS - Small pointed members of the onion family that grow in
clusters something like garlic and have a mild, onion-y taste. Not the
same as green/spring onion.

SHIRO GOMA (shee-roh GOH-mah) - Japanese for "sesame seed." This
version is the hulled white sesame seed used in many Asian recipes, like
stir-fry.

SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS (SHEE-TAH-KAY) - Also called Chinese black mushrooms
and forest mushrooms, they have a meaty flesh with a full-bodied woodsy
flavour.

SPANISH ONION - see Bermuda Onion

SPRING ONION - see Scallion

SQUASH - a family of vegetables. All but two have a thick, hard,
usually inedible rind, rich-tasting meat, and lots of seeds. There are
also things called summer squashes, which have edible rinds, milder
meats, and usually fewer seeds. An example of this type is the
Zucchini.

SWEDE - US rutabaga

SWEETBREADS - According to the OED, sweetbread is "the pancreas or
the thymus gland, of an animal, esp. as used for food (distinguished
respectively as _heart_, _stomach_, or _belly_ sweetbread and _throat_,
_gullet_, or _neck_ sweetbread): esteemed a delicacy." Sweetbreads
generally come from young animals, usually calves or lambs, although
pigs' can also be used. Older animals' thymus and pancreas are
significantly smaller and tend to be much stronger in flavour.

SWEETMEATS - A sweetmeat, according to the OED, is a "small shaped
piece of confectionary usu. consisting chiefly of sugar or chocolate
with flavouring or filling, or of fruit preserved in sugar."