- Industry: Printing & publishing
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Founded in 1941, Barron's Educational Series is a leading publisher of test preparation manuals and school directories. Among the most widely recognized of Barron's many titles in these areas are its SAT and ACT test prep books, its Regents Exams books, and its Profiles of American Colleges. In ...
A natural sweetener made from a filtered, evaporated mash of ground corn and sprouted barley. Found in health-food stores, malt syrup has an earthy, full-bodied flavor and is 75 to 80 percent as sweet as honey. Plain malt syrup is sweeter than the hop-flavored style, which has a bitter edge. Malt syrup may be substituted for other syrupy sweeteners. It's also referred to as malt extract.
Industry:Culinary arts
Rectangles of beef about 2 inches by 3 inches, usually taken from the chuck cut. Short ribs consist of layers of fat and meat and contain pieces of the rib bone. They're very tough and require long, slow, moist-heat cooking. See also beef.
Industry:Culinary arts
One of the two main classifications of shellfish (the other being crustacean), mollusks are invertebrates with soft bodies covered by a shell of one or more pieces. Mollusks are further divided into gastropods (also called univalves), such as the abalone and snail; bivalves, like the clam and oyster; and cephalopods, such as the octopus and squid. See also conch; cuttlefish; mussel; periwinkle; scallop; whelk.
Industry:Culinary arts
A tiny, crescent-shaped piece of puff pastry used as a garnish, usually atop hot food.
Industry:Culinary arts
Hailing from Africa and parts of southwest Asia, the ostrich is a huge flightless bird that can weigh up to 250 pounds and reach up to 7 feet in height. Ostriches have long been raised for their skin, feathers and meat, the latter of which is compared to very lean beef. Ostrich meat is showing up more and more on restaurant menus, a direct correlation to the fact that the United States now boasts hundreds of ostrich ranches. Though some specialty meat markets may carry (or will special order) ostrich meat, it is still uncommon.
Industry:Culinary arts
This finely ground flour is made from soybeans and, unlike many flours, is very high in protein (twice that of wheat flour) and low in carbohydrates. Soy flour is ordinarily mixed with other flours rather than being used alone. It has a wide variety of uses such as for baking and to bind sauces. In Japan, it's very popular for making confections. Soy flour is sold in health-food stores — sometimes under the name kinako — and in some supermarkets.
Industry:Culinary arts
Like the papaw, the papaya is native to North America (and in some regions, also called pawpaw). But with those two comparisons the similarities end. The papaya tree is a horticultural wonder, growing from seed to a 20-foot, fruit-bearing tree in less than 18 months. Papayas are cultivated in semitropical zones around the world and can range in size from 1 to 20 pounds. The papaya variety found most often in the United States is the Solo, grown in Hawaii and Florida. It's large (about 6 inches long and 1 to 2 pounds in weight) and pear shaped; when ripe, it has a vivid golden-yellow skin. The similarly colored flesh is juicy and silky smooth, with an exotic sweet-tart flavor. The rather large center cavity is packed with shiny, grayish-black seeds. Though the peppery seeds are edible (and make a delicious salad dressing), they're generally discarded. Look for richly colored papayas that give slightly to palm pressure. Slightly green papayas will ripen quickly at room temperature, especially if placed in a paper bag. Refrigerate completely ripe fruit and use as soon as possible. Ripe papaya is best eaten raw, whereas slightly green fruit can be cooked as a vegetable. Papaya juice (or nectar) is available in many supermarkets and health-food stores. The fruit contains papain, a digestive enzyme that is used chiefly in meat tenderizers. Papaya is a very good source of vitamins A and C. See also babáco.
Industry:Culinary arts
This deep-fried bread is round, flat and unleavened. It's made with whole-wheat flour, water and ghee or other fat — the dough is almost identical to that for chapati. Poori is very popular in northern India as well as in neighboring Pakistan.
Industry:Culinary arts
One of China's cherished fruits for over 2,000 years, the small (1 to 2 inches in diameter) litchi has a rough, bright red shell. The creamy white flesh is juicy, smooth and delicately sweet. It surrounds a single seed. Native to Southeast Asia, the litchi is cultivated in subtropical regions including California, Florida and Hawaii. Fresh litchis are available from June to about mid-July. Choose those with brightly colored skins free of blemishes. Place in a plastic bag and refrigerate unshelled for up to a week. Shell, seed and eat plain or as part of a fruit salad or dessert. Canned and dried litchis are available year-round. When dried they're often referred to as litchi nuts because they resemble a nut — the shell turns a dark reddish brown and the flesh becomes brown and crisp. They're eaten as a snack, much in the same way as nuts or candy.
Industry:Culinary arts
A manufacturing technique used to give chocolate a smooth texture. See chocolate for a more complete description of this process.
Industry:Culinary arts
