Discover how to make the most of more CoNtrIButorS than 2,500 different ingredients including vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices, meats, fish, shellfish, cheeses, oils, grains, and flavorings. C.J. JACKSON—FISH AND SEAFOOD C.J. is Director of London’s famous Billingsgate Seafood Training School, Buy where she teaches and demonstrates. T NICHOLA FLETCHER—MEAT H the perfect peach E Nichola is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on meat. She currently i l writes for The Financial Times. l u s JEFF COx—VEGETABLES T Jeff is an expert on vegetables r and the author of 17 books on a food and gardening, including T The Organic Cook’s Bible and DK’s E Store d The Cook’s Herb Garden. cilantro to avoid wilting JILL NORMAN—HERBS AND SPICES c learn to buy, store, prepare, cook, preserve, and eat more than o THE illusTraTEd cook’s book of An award-winning author and o long-time editor of Elizabeth David’s 2,500 ingredients from around the world. k classic cookbooks, Jill Norman is also the author of DK’s Herbs and Spices: • ’s The Cook’s Reference. b use this definitive visual reference to choose the best in-season produce, o learn good preparation techniques, or discover new flavor pairings. o JENNY LINFORD—DAIRY, NUTS, and SEEDS k Jenny is a prolific food writer, and author • PrePare of fifteen cookbooks and ingredient guides. o This is the must-have kitchen companion for anyone who appreciates good food. f 2,500 of the world’s best with classic recipes bell peppers quickly and efficiently JULIET HARBUTT—CHEESE Juliet is the world’s most highly respected cheese expert, cheesemaker, and cheese consultant for the Central Market supermarket chain in Texas. CLARISSA HYMAN—FRUIT Clarissa is a freelance food and travel writer, winner of the 2007 Glenfiddich Food Writer of the Year award, and author of The Spanish Kitchen, The Jewish Kitchen, and Cucina Siciliana. CooK JENNI MUIR—GRAINS, RICE, PASTA, and NOODLES a jack mackerel to enhance its flavor Jenni is a food writer, and the author of A Cook’s Guide to Grains, which has been nominated for the Glenfiddich and André Simon awards. JUDY RIDGWAY—OILS, VINEGARS, and FLAVORINGS Olive oil expert, consultant, author, and broadcaster, Judy specializes in all aspects of taste and flavor. The author of four books This definitive cook’s bible answers on olive oil, including Best Olive Oil Buys Around the World, she has written every question you could ever have Discover more at more than 60 books on food and wine. www.dk.com on choosing and using ingredients. Printed in China $35.00 USA $40.00 Canada T H E C O O K ’ S B O O K O F I NG R E D I ENTS T H E C O O K ’ S B O O K O F I NG R E D I ENT S DK PUBLISHING LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH, AND DELHI Photographers Gary Ombler, Roger Dixon, Jon Whitaker, Lorenzo Vecchia, Gary Seagraves, Petrina Tinslay, Nicki Downey, Will Heap, Chris Villano, Deepak Aggarwal Project Editor Norma MacMillan Editors Helena Caldon, Fiona Corbridge, Mary Scott, Belinda Wilkinson Designer Miranda Harvey Picture Researcher Jenny Faithful CONTENTS FOR DORLING KINDERSLEY Senior Editors Laura Nickoll, Scarlett O’Hara Design Consultant Heather McCarry Art Editors Kathryn Wilding, Elly King, Caroline de Souza Editorial Assistant Kajal Mistry Design Assistants Elma Aquino, Danaya Bunnag Editorial Assistance Sarah Ruddick, Alastair Laing, Andrew Roff INTRODUCTION 6 Senior Jackets Creative Nicola Powling Managing Editors Dawn Henderson, Angela Wilkes Managing Art Editors FISH & SEAFOOD 12 Marianne Markham, Christine Keilty US Editors Nichole Morford, Margaret Parrish, Delilah Smittle MEAT 100 US Recipe Adaptation Peggy Fallon Production Editor Maria Elia VEGETABLES 180 Senior Production Controller Alice Sykes Creative Technical Support HERBS 280 Sonia Charbonnier First American edition, 2010 NUTS & SEEDS 314 Published in the United States by DK Publishing 375 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014 SPICES 326 10 11 12 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 178693—October 2010 Copyright © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-7566-6730-6 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 or [email protected] Color reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore Printed and bound by Toppan, China Discover more at www.dk.com DAIRY & EGGS 362 FRUITS 410 GRAINS, RICE, PASTA & NOODLES 478 OILS, VINEGARS & FLAVORINGS 508 INDEX 526 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 544 INTRODUCTION In the past twenty years, food lovers and cooks the world over have witnessed the phenomenal growth of a vast global market. It is as if a seemingly constant and burgeoning stream of produce is there for the asking—exotic fruit and heirloom vegetables, rare- breed meat and poultry, remarkable fish and seafood, artisan cheeses and cured meats, rare spices and herbs, authentic sauces and flavorings. The list goes on and more keeps coming, sometimes making us feel like excited children in a candy store. Since good cooking is about good ingredients, we need the knowledge necessary for making informed choices. We need to be able to recognize quality—ingredients that are the best of their kind, produced with care and pride. We need to know when food is in prime condition, how to store it, ripen it, prepare it, cook it, or preserve it in the most appropriate way. Regardless of where we live, if we are to make the most of this rich global market, we need to be aware that everyday ingredients in one part of the world may seem unusual or exotic in another. If we don’t recognize ingredients or know what to do with them, we are likely to pass over items that could enrich our culinary repertoire. The Cook’s Book of Ingredients provides the in-depth information you need to do all this and more. It will fascinate and inform beginners and experienced cooks, professional chefs, passionate foodies, and even the mildly curious whose interest has been kindled by the sheer wealth of produce available. Every page of this book reveals an ingredient that simply must be tried, or a new piece of information about a familiar ingredient. Space is devoted to lesser-known regional items, with foods such as beremeal and biltong given the same attention as chicken and cheese. For every ingredient, there is a short introduction describing provenance and seasonality, together with insider information on how to assess quality and freshness, and clear explanations of how best to prepare and cook the ingredient. Following this are recommendations for flavor pairings with compatible ingredients that will open the mind of even the most accomplished cook. The book includes more than 200 classic recipes, distinctly regional but well known the world over, chosen to showcase a particular ingredient and to help you explore its flavors further. These are classic recipes from around the world in which the ingredient is star. This colossal culinary encyclopedia has been produced by a team of expert food writers, chefs, and connoisseurs, backed by worldwide regional consultants. Photographers have traveled the globe to far-flung food markets, from Barcelona’s Boqueria to San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza to Tokyo’s Tsukiji in search of the very best ingredients to illustrate the book. Their work is shown in 2,500-plus photographs of a complete spectrum of foods: fish and shellfish; meat, poultry, and game; vegetables; herbs; spices; dairy and eggs; fruits; nuts and seeds; grains; rice; pasta; and noodles, oils, vinegars, and flavorings. Had this book been produced twenty years ago, it would have been a slim volume with fewer photographs. Missing would be some of the exotica that long-haul travel has made commonplace, along with the melting pot of foods emerging from our increasingly multicultural society. Fewer pages would be devoted to the wealth of fresh produce that modern harvesting and refrigerated transportation systems have made possible. The book would also be lacking some of the in-depth knowledge and culinary expertise that the internet makes so speedily accessible. In the 80s and 90s, supermarkets ruled the roost; decades later they remain the essential one-stop shop for many of us in the West. That said, our growing passion for food has been matched by a significant rise in delicatessens, butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers, farm shops, and farmers’ markets. Their shelves are packed with produce, much of it in season and locally grown, opening up yet more choices. Mail-order food companies are increasing, too. We can order every imaginable ingredient, from exotic spices and heirloom beans to foie gras and oven-ready squirrel, by e-mail or phone—though this rather misses the sensory pleasure of looking, touching, and smelling to evaluate what is on offer. The time has never been better for the curious cook. Every day the pantry grows, with foods that were previously geographically or culturally isolated now being shared at tables around the world. With this unprecedented abundance, we can return from our travels, inspired by the food we have eaten, and create the same dishes at home—from an aromatic Thai curry or spicy Mexican mole to Spanish paella or Hungarian goulash. Whether we live in Dallas or Dijon,