Ultimate Cook Book_ 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas - Bruce Weinstein [430]
Milk. In most recipes where milk is used, we’ve given you a choice among whole, low-fat, or fat-free. We’ve indicated a preference only if it’s necessary to the final dish.
Mirin. This sweetened and seasoned rice wine is often used as a seasoning in Japanese dishes. It’s sold in small bottles and can be stored in the pantry until it clouds, browns, or develops slimy whisps of particulate material. In a pinch, substitute sweet sherry or white wine plus a generous pinch of sugar.
Molasses. This thick syrup is made from sunripened sugar cane and prized for its aromatic, bright taste. We only call for unsulfured molasses. Sulfured varieties are made from immature canes from which the juice is extracted with the help of a noxious gas.
Montrachet. This soft white cheese is named for a town in Burgundy, France, and is probably the most accessible chèvre (or goat cheese) sold in the United States. Perishable, it loses its delicate taste over time, and should be stored no more than a few days in the refrigerator. Look for pure white varietals, not ones covered in ash, seeds, spices, or nuts.
Nuts. All nuts have a shelf life, the oils going rancid over time. To slow down this process, store nuts in the freezer in sealed plastic bags for up to 9 months. There’s no need to thaw before using in recipes.
Onion. Unless otherwise stated, all onions specified are yellow onions. Consider chopping double the amount the recipe calls for and freezing half in a sealed plastic bag to be used in other recipes. You can also use packaged frozen chopped onion, although the quality of some convenience products can be greatly reduced (and mushy onions will definitely compromise a final dish).
Oyster Sauce. This molasses-like, dark red or brown thick condiment from China was once made only from oysters, salt, and sugar; today, almost all bottlings include thickeners and coloring agents. It’s used mostly as a salt additive in Cantonese-style cooking. Cheaper bottlings can be laced with MSG.
Panko Bread Crumbs. A specialty, they’re very coarse dried white bread crumbs, better for frying because of their thick texture, about like dried coconut. (The English name, in fact, is a redundancy since panko means “bread crumbs” in Japanese.) Look for them in the Asian aisle of most markets.
Paprika. Unless otherwise indicated, paprika in all recipes is mild (or sweet) paprika. Paprika is made from ground dried mild chiles; the oils react over time, robbing it of most of its flavor within about 9 months.
Spicy paprika, usually called “hot Hungarian paprika,” is made from far hotter chiles.
Smoked paprika is simply made from smoked, dried, fairly mild chiles; it is an essential ingredient in Spanish and Portuguese cooking and can be found in many large markets in the spice aisle or from suppliers on the Web.
Parmigiano-Reggiano. There is no substitute for this hard, skimmed cow’s milk Italian cheese. Grate it using a cheese plane, a cheese grater, or the small holes of a box grater. Buy small chunks, cut off larger wheels, with as little rind as possible to cut down on any waste. The rind should be stamped with the cheese’s name and origin for authenticity.
Peanut Oil. Store this neutral cooking oil in the refrigerator because it goes rancid quickly, thanks in large part to its relatively high content of polyunsaturated fats, which are free to hook up with just about anything that passes by in their environment. It will cloud and may solidify, but you can return it to its liquid state by placing the bottle in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 5 or 10 minutes. Always smell peanut oil to make sure it hasn’t turned rancid.
Pecorino Romano. There’s a wide variety of Pecorino cheese, with Romano being the most common. It’s a hard, dry, yellow, aged Italian grating cheese, sharper in taste than Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Pepper. Use only freshly ground pepper; keep a grinder out so it’s always available.
White pepper is used largely for aesthetic