Glossary,Cooking and Recipes.

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Buterscotch, Toffee - soft crack stage (syrup dropped into cold water separates into hard but not brittle threads) 270-290 degrees

Brittle - hard crack stage (syrup dropped into cold water separates into hard brittle threads) 300-310 degrees

Baba - a small sweet cake made from enriched yeast dough, often flavored with candied fruits and soaked with a rum or syrup after baking.

Baking powder - A chemical combining an acid with bicarbonate of soda to form the gas which enables baked products to rise.

Baking soda - Also called bicarbonate of soda and sodium bicarbonate is a leavening agent which is used as an essential ingredient in baking powder. When used alone, recipes must include some type of acid to neutralize the resulting sodium carbonate in the finished product. Buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, and citrus juice are adequate acid to use.

Batter - A flour-liquid mixture for pancakes that is thin enough to pour. Batter, used in pancakes, waffles, muffins and cakes, easily drop from a spoon.

Borscht - A rich soup contain beets and cabbage. Other ingredients may include potatoes, beans, meat, mushrooms, greenery, served with sour cream.

Buttermilk - it is liquid, which left after butter is churned solid. Buttermilk is the byproduct of butter making.

Caramel - firm ball stage (syrup dropped into cold water holds shape unless pressed) 242-248 degrees

Chutney - The name for a large range of sauces, jams or relishes used in Indian cooking.

Cilantro - A green herb, similar in appearance to parsley.

Clabber - Milk which has soured to the point where it is thick and curdy but not separated.

Dough, used in breads, rolls, pie crusts and most cookies, is typically thick enough to be rolled, kneaded, or pushed from a spoon with finger.

Divinity, Taffy - hard ball stage (syrup dropped into cold water holds shape but is pliable) 250-268 degrees.

Drippings - Fat and juices drawn and left from meat or poultry as it cooks.

Evaporated milk - Preserved milk that has much of the water content removed through evaporation. Similar to condensed milk, but not nearly as sweet.

Flour:
Cake Flour: A high starch flour made from soft wheat. Ideal for baking.

Bread Flour: A high gluten flour made from hard wheat. Perfect for yeast breads.

All-Purpose Flour: Half cake flour, half bread flour. Suitable for all applications.

Whole Wheat Flour: A high fiber flour that contains the wheat germ. Usually blended with other flours.

Self-Rising: A mixture of all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.

Fudge, Penuche - soft ball stage (syrup dropped into cold water can be picked up but flattens),234-240 degrees

Half-and-Half - This combination of equal parts cream and milk.

Kebab - Cubes of meat cooked on a skewer, often with vegetables.

Pecans - An oil-rich native American nut.

Ravioli - Pelmeni - little pasta pillows filled with mushroom, meat, vegetable, or other fillings.

Syrup - spun-thread stage (syrup dropped from spoon spins 2 inch thread, 230-240 degrees.

Saltpeter - Potassium Nitrate. A common kitchen chemical used in preservation

Samovar - Russian metal tea urn heated from an inner tube, in which charcoal is burnt. The samovar appeared in Russia in the 18 the century. It was made of copper and brass. It was an indispensable utensil in all homes. Wood-burning samovars has occupied an honored place in Russian homes for more than 250 years. Not only the centerpiece of the table but a prized family heirloom as well. Keeping water hot all day (and often, all night, too) so it could be added to the teapot to make a piping hot cup of tea, anytime. Early samovars, from the Russian "sam" (self) and "varit" (to boil), were heated by burning charcoal or wood. The famous Russian Tula city factory is producers of fine samovars since 1745.

Shashlyk - Skewered, broiled marinated lamb.

Shortbread - A butter-rich cookie, often seasoned with lemon, cinnamon, ginger, almonds and cumin.

Shortening - Although good at holding air, shortening has little flavor. It is just a fat solid. Stick with butter for baking.

Sieve - A fine, mesh strainer.

Sorrel - Somewhere between an herb and a green, sorrel has a sour, lemony flavor. It is used to flavor sauces and is great in soups.

Tumeric - A bright yellow spice used primarily in commercial curry powder. It is also used in sweet pickles and for various dishes requiring a yellow color. This is used as a coloring substitute for saffron.

Turmeric - [Indian] a rhizome that is dried and ground, then utilized to spice and color dishes bright yellow. Primarily used in Indian and Southeast Asian cooking.

White sauce - A sauce whose base is butter, flour and a liquid such as stock, milk or water.

Zbiten - an old Russian beverage made from cognac or vodka, honey, herb tea and spices.

Zabaglione- An Italian custard made with egg yolks and wine or juices, which are beaten vigorously over hot water to form a rich, creamy dessert. The custard can then be poured into glasses and chilled to be eaten later, or eaten warm with fresh fruit. Marsala is the most common wine used, though any sweet wine such as Madeira, Champagne, or Sauterne may be used.

Abundance of vegetables:
Potatoes must be cooked at least 3/4 of the way before freezing.

You can freeze the pumpkin after you cook it but I have a coupleof suggestions for you: 1. make sure to get as much of the liquid outof it as you can and 2. freeze it in measured amounts you want to usefor a recipe.

I freeze chopped string beans, washed green peas, broccoli and cauliflower broken into small florets, peeled and grated carrots and beats, cooked mushrooms.

There many healthy and tasty dishes in Russian cooking.
Psychologists maintain that the emotional effect of food is no less important than the fact that it contains substances essential to support human life. Appetizing food leaves pleasant memories, while tasteless food leads to an accumulation of negative emotions and decreased vigor.
Shchi and kasha feed of our - this old saying shows how important these two dishes are in Russian cooking. In former times shchi and various kinds of kasha (pudding-like dishes made of various cereals) were the basic diet.
Kasha (porridge) was not only the staple fare of peasants, but a dish for special occasions as well. There could be no feast to celebrate the completion of the harvest, a wedding, or to mark a funeral without kasha. For these occasions it was usually rice kasha with honey and raisins. Indeed at that time the whole wedding feast was called a kasha. And the word "kasha"- (porridge) is found in many proverbs and sayings.
Making shchi has always been considered a great art. It is not for nothing that the proverb goes:
"A good housewife is one who makes good shchi, not one who makes nice conversation."
Rissoles are among the most popular Russian dishes. People are not only fond of pork and lamb chops and cutlets, they also like rissoles made from minced beef, lamb, pork and veal. There are also chicken, fish, game, kidney-bean, cabbage, carrot, and many other kinds of rissoles. Rissoles are served with various vegetables and sauces.
Rissoles are normally shallow-fried, but deep-frying them is a more traditional method. This is how the popular Pozharsky chicken rissoles are cooked. Deep-frying requires a lot of very hot butter. When deep-fried, the whole surface of the meat is quickly covered in a thick, crisp, yet not tough or over-cooked crust, and then continues to cook slowly while the butter penetrates right through the rissoles.
The sturgeon is a large fish, sometimes weighing almost 200 kilograms, but the usual weight is a few dozen kilograms. Sturgeon can be found in various places in the Soviet Union: in the Black, Azov and Baltic seas, in the Siberian rivers, in lakes Baikal ..., but the greatest number are caught in the Caspian Sea.
Sturgeon has graced Russian tables since ancient times. The famous black caviar, in its soft and pressed varieties, comes from sturgeon and related species. Sturgeon is used to make fish soup and fish solyanka; it is eaten boiled, coated in bread-crumbs and fried, roasted in pastry or on a spit. But various baked dishes have always been the pride of Russian cookery, and this is especially true of baked sturgeon.

From time immemorial various mushroom dishes have been part of Russian cooking. Mushrooms are served both as ingredients in soups and the main course, and as dishes in their own right.
Mushrooms can be preserved by salting, pickling or drying.
Pastry dishes play an important part in Russian cooking. They include pelmeni, blini, noodles and many others. But pies and tarts are the pride and joy of any Russian housewife. "A home is made by pies, not by walls," "A birthday is not a birthday without pies," "Arrows complete a quiver, and pies a dinner" - these Russian sayings bear witness to the long-standing popularity of pies.
You don't see them on the table every day, but when you do, it means that there is something to celebrate and that guests are expected.
You can see all kinds of pies on the table: open tarts and covered pies, pies made from yeast dough, unleavened dough and puff pastry, large ones and small ones, round ones and square ones, made with meat, fish, cabbage, potatoes, mushrooms, berries, curd cheese and jam....

Russian cooking contains a great variety of desserts. Some are very ancient and exotic, but lunch usually concludes with stewed fruit or kissel.
Kissel has been a favorite dish for many centuries. It comes as no surprise that when the heroes of Russian fairy-tales find themselves in a land of marvels, they see rivers of milk with banks of kissel. Kissel is made from fresh or dried fruits or from berries, fruit juice, syrup, jam, milk and some other products.Russian Recipes