Posts tagged “dinner”

Ravioli

John-Bryan Hopkins

Raviolies (plural; singular: raviolo) are a type of filled pasta composed of a filling sealed between two layers of thin pasta dough. The word ravioli is reminiscent of the Italian verb riavvolgere (“to wrap”), though the two words are not etymologically connected.[citation needed] The word may also be a diminutive of Italian dialectal rava, or turnip. The earliest mention of ravioli appear in the writings of Francesco di Marco, a merchant of Prato in the 14th century In Venice, the mid-14th century manuscript Libro per cuoco offers ravioli of green herbs blanched and minced, mixed with beaten egg and fresh cheese, simmered in broth, a recipe that would be familiar today save for its medieval powdering of “sweet and strong spices”. In Tuscany, some…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: dinner, foodimentary, italian, meal, meaty, ravioli, tomato

Brisket

John-Bryan Hopkins

Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest. While all meat animals have a brisket, the term is most often used to describe beef and sometimes veal. The beef brisket is one of the eight beef primal cuts. According to the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, the term derives from the Middle English “brusket” which comes from the earlier Old Norse “brjósk”, meaning cartilage. The cut overlies the sternum, ribs and connecting costal cartilages. Cows lie on this enlarged part of the sternum which carries about 60% of the body weight. In the U.S., the whole brisket has the meat-cutting classification NAMP 120. The brisket is made up of two separate muscles (pectoralis major and pectoralis…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: brisket, dinner, foodimentary, meat, steak

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Wine

John-Bryan Hopkins

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes the sugars found in the grapes and converts them into alcohol. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are used depending on the type of wine being produced. Although other fruits such as apples and berries can also be fermented, the resultant wines are normally named after the fruit from which they are produced (for example, apple wine or elderberry wine) and are generically known as fruit wine or country wine (not to be confused with…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: alcohol, dinner, drinking, foodimentary, wine

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Escargot

John-Bryan Hopkins

Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer. The word is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten. Escargot, IPA: [ɛskaʁɡo], is the French word for snail. It is related to Occitan escaragol and Catalan cargol, which, in turn, may derive from a pre-Roman word *karakauseli. Not all species of snail are edible, but many are. Even among the edible species, the palatability of the flesh varies from species to species. In France, the species Helix pomatia is most often eaten. The “petit-gris” Helix aspersa is also eaten, as is Helix lucorum. Several additional species are popular in Europe; see heliciculture. Snail shells have been found in archaeological Texas, an indication that…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: delicious, dinner, escargot, escargot bordeaux, foodimentary, french, snails

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Quiche Lorraine

John-Bryan Hopkins

In French cuisine, a quiche (English pronunciation: /ˈkiːʃ/) is a baked dish that is based on a custard made from eggs and milk or cream in a pastry crust. Usually, the pastry shell is blind baked before the other ingredients are added for a secondary baking period. Other ingredients such as cooked chopped meat, vegetables, or cheese are often added to the egg mixture before the quiche is baked. Quiche is generally an open pie (i.e. does not contain a pastry covering), but may include an arrangement of tomato slices or pastry off-cuts for a decorative finish. Quiche is predominantly a breakfast dish, however it is acceptable to eat it for lunch or dinner. There is no one recipe known as a “breakfast quiche”…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: delicious, dinner, foodimentary, french, quiche, quiche lorraine

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Shrimp

John-Bryan Hopkins

Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important food source for larger animals from fish to whales. They have a high tolerance to toxins in polluted areas, and may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators. Together with prawns, shrimp are widely caught and farmed for human consumption.A shrimp farm is an aquaculture business for the cultivation of marine shrimp or prawns for human consumption. Commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s, and production grew steeply, particularly to match the market demands of the…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: dinner, foodimentary, shrimp, shrimp curry, soup

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Lamb

John-Bryan Hopkins

Lamb, hogget, and mutton are the meat of domestic sheep. The meat of an animal in its first year is lamb; that of an older sheep is hogget and later mutton. Meat from sheep features prominently in several of in the cuisines of the Mediterranean, for example in Greece; in North Africa and the Middle East; in the Basque culture, both in the Basque country of Europe and in the shepherding areas of the Western United States. In Northern Europe, mutton and lamb feaure in many traditional dishes, including those of the North Atlantic islands and of the United Kingdom, particularly in the western and northern uplands, Scotland and Wales). It is also very popular in Australia; to the extent that many Australians see…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: dinner, Food Holiday, foodimentary, lamb, meat, roast leg of lamb

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Enchilada

John-Bryan Hopkins

An enchilada (pronounced /ˌɛntʃɨˈlɑːdə/) is a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a chili pepper sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, seafood or combinations.Enchiladas originated in Mexico. The people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate corn tortillas folded or rolled around small fish. Writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented a feast enjoyed by Europeans hosted by Hernán Cortés in Coyoacán, which included foods served in corn tortillas. (Note that the native Nahuatl name for the flat corn bread used was tlaxcalli; the Spanish give it the name tortilla.)[4][5][6][7] In the nineteenth century, as Mexican cuisine was being memorialized,…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: cinco de mayo, dinner, enchilada, foodimentary, mexican, spanish

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Scampi

John-Bryan Hopkins

Scampi is a culinary name for some species of lobster, notably the ‘true’ scampi Nephrops norvegicus, and is also used as a name for a style of preparation of these lobsters and other seafood. In both the United Kingdom and the USA, the word has come to define the method of preparation rather than the ingredient, although referring to quite different methods in the two countries. In the United Kingdom, “scampi” refers to a dish of shelled lobster tail meat, that commonly comes prepared coated in breadcrumbs or batter, deep fried, and often served with chips, peas and Tartar sauce.[3] In the Southern Hemisphere, other species of lobster are used instead, such as Metanephrops challengeri. In the USA, “scampi” is often the menu name…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: dinner, foodimentary, lobster scampi, scampi, shrimp scampi

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Rib Roast

John-Bryan Hopkins

A standing rib roast is a cut of beef from the rib section, which is one of the eight primal cuts of beef. The entire rib section comprises ribs six through twelve of the animal; a standing rib roast can comprise anywhere from two to seven ribs. It is given the name “standing” because it is most often roasted in a standing position, that is, with the ribs stacked vertically and the vertebral processes on the bottom. An alternative is to cook with the rib bones on the bottom and the vertebral processes removed for easier carving. A standing rib roast, if sliced when uncooked, would yield a number of rib steaks. Rib eye steaks result from removing the bones and most of the fat and lesser muscles (tail).

A colloquial and popular term for this cut is “prime rib”. Historically, this name stands out regardless of the grade. In addition, the USDA acknowledges this historical note by not requiring the cut “to be derived from USDA prime grade beef”.^[1] The technical name, per URMIS (Uniform Retail Meat Industry Standards), is “Beef Rib Roast”.^[2]

A slice of standing rib roast will include portions of the so-called “eye” of the rib as well as the outer, fat-marbled muscle (spinalis dorsali) known as the “lip” or “cap”.

The traditional preparation for a standing rib roast is to rub the outside of the roast with salt and seasonings and slow-roast with dry heat. In the United States, it is common for barbecue purists to apply smoke to the uncooked rib roast at low heat for 2-3 hours before dry roasting.

In the United Kingdom, Yorkshire pudding is frequently served as a side dish with prime rib. In many restaurants specializing in prime rib, several entire roasts (of varying degrees of doneness) will be placed on a large, heated cart, and carved at tableside. This style of service can be found throughout the Lawry’s chain, Morton’s of Chicago, as well as at independent establishments such as San Francisco’s House of Prime Rib.

In the United States, the standing rib roast has NAMP classifications 109 through 112D.^[3]

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: dinner, food, foodimentary, history, news, prime rib, protein, quality, steak

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Ham

John-Bryan Hopkins

Ham is the thigh and rump of pork, cut from the haunch of a pig or boar. Although it may be cooked and served fresh, most ham is cured in some fashion. Cuts referred to as ham in the U.S. are also called gammon in the U.K., South Africa, Isle of Man, and Ireland.

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: dinner, foodimentary, ham, pork, thanksgiving

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Fondue

John-Bryan Hopkins

Fondue is a Swiss communal dish shared at the table in an earthenware pot (caquelon) over a small burner (rechaud). The term is derived from the French verb fondre (to melt), in the past participle fondu (melted). Diners use forks to dip bits of food (most often bread) into the warm semi-liquid sauce (commonly a cheese mix). Heat is supplied by a wick or gel alcohol burner, or a tealight. While cheese fondue is the most widely known, there are other pot and dipping ingredients. A recipe for a sauce made from Pramnos wine, grated goat’s cheese and white flour appears in Scroll 11 (lines 629-645) of Homer’s Iliad and has been cited as the earliest record of a fondue. Modern fondue originated during…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: cheese fondue, dinner, dinner set, fondue, foodimentary

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Empanada

John-Bryan Hopkins

An empanada is a Spanish and Portuguese stuffed bread or pastry, also known as “impanada” in Italy. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing. In Spain, empanadas are usually large and circular in shape and are cut into smaller portions for consumption, whereas in Portugal and South America empanadas are normally small and semi-circular (this type of empanada is commonly known as empanadilla in Spain). Empanadas are also known by a wide variety of regional names (see the entries for the individual countries below). In Spain the dish is known as Galician empanada or simply empanada, whereas in Portugal it is only known as…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: delicious, dinner, empanada, empenada, fine dining, foodimentary, foreign, spanish

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Baked Scallops

John-Bryan Hopkins

With many varieties to scallop preparation, the selection of the type of scallop may be the most significant step you make in choosing to prepare a meal with this highly regarding seafood. Understanding the structure and development of scallops, the difference between the two major types; bay and sea, and identifying levels of freshness will prepare you to become the seafood culinary expert. Scallops have been highly regarded as not only a culinary treat but also as a significant piece of decore. With beautiful shells, the scallop is a bi-valve mollusk which uses an oversized adductor muscle to open and close. It is this muscle, within the shell, that we routinely consume in the United States. Baked scallops are a favorite treat of people…

Categories: Food Facts

Tagged: baked scallops, dinner, fine dining, foodimentary

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Turkey Neck Soup

John-Bryan Hopkins

Turkey Neck Soup is (unlike the equally distasteful sounding Bird’s Nest Soup) pretty much what it says – a soup whose stock is made from turkey necks. It is of course a soup American in origin, what with the Turkey being also American in origin. It’s also an example of what is now known as “Nose to Tail” eating, making use as it does of a part of the bird that one might not usually consider eating, but that really shouldn’t be wasted. As such, historically it also derives from the culture of the ‘Less Than Wealthy and Therefore Less Than Wasteful.’ Good, wholesome and sensible down-home food, which also explains why most of the references and recipes I found were from the Deep South. It figures frequently in menus from BBQ restaurants, so is evidently a staple.

The neck of the turkey is actually quite meaty. It’s fairly tough meat, what with the constant turkeyish activities of pecking and gobbling. Now tough meat actually has a lot more flavour than tender meat; you just need to cook it longer to get it tender, which brings out even more of the flavour. Which makes it perfect for soup.