Author: CuisineWriter
A Short List of Menu Terms
A list of the most commonly used terms that you will most-often see in a menu. These terms are usually exact words or derivations from their originating country’s cuisine, so the country of origin is listed along with the term. Ahi Ahi is the Hawaiian name for yellowfin and bigeye tuna. Aioli (France) Aioli is […]
Chef Hierarchy
One upon a time, a customer simply had to eat what the Chef was cooking that day in any given restaurant. That all changed with the introduction of the Brigade System by Georges Auguste Escoffier. His experience as a French Army Chef led him to develop the Brigade system of chef hierarchy. This way he was […]
Italian Cuisine
Italian Cooking Although Italy is now a cohesive, boot-shaped country, that wasn’t always the case. Once, Italy was little more than a collection of city-states constantly warring with one another. These city-states shared few cultural traditions and no common language. That changed in 1861, when the Italy of today was formed. Even so, the people […]
On Tasting Olives and Oil
“….From the moment I first tasted it, olive oil won over my appetite. I can drink it from the bottle. But for the longest time I hated all but the blandest, the most buttery of olives. If I’ve persevered toward liking them, it was because my tongue knew that somewhere buried in that bitter flesh […]
Cinnamon
Cinnamon, the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree, was used by wealthy Romans as perfume and others as an aphrodisiac. During the rainy season, when the bark is pliable, it is harvested for cinnamon production. As the bark dries, it forms long quills that are either cut into sticks or ground into powder. Two […]
Growing a Lemon
A lemon tree is a subtropical plant, and in its natural habitat, its fruit is green and only slightly acidic. For lemons to develop their tart flavor and yellow color, the temperature must dip below 50 degrees F/10 degrees C but remain above freezing. (If temperatures drop below freezing mature lemons on a tree will […]
A Very Brief History of Hot Chocolate
Before the well-known English company, Fry & Sons worked out how to manufacture chocolate into a confectionery bar in 1847, chocolate had only been used as a drink for millennia. Chocolate was initially brought back to Europe by the Spanish Conquistador Don Hernán Cortés, who toasted the Aztec King Moctezuma with a gold goblet of his […]
Worcestershire Sauce
Photo by Edsel L “Despite its name, Worcester sauce was originally an Indian recipe, brought back to Britain by Lord Marcus Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal. One day in 1835 he appeared in the prospering chemist’s emporium of John Lea and William Perrins in Broad Street, Worcester, and asked them to make up a batch of […]
Dining Etiquette Tips and Pitfalls
Photo by Sheng P. Beginning Developing the habit of taking a moment to observe which starting method will be operative at an event can be very useful in preventing awkward mistakes. It will ensure, for example, that an agnostic guest never finds himself with laden fork pushed halfway into his mouth just as the host […]
American Table Manners
Photo by Kevin Spencer The Role of Manners? There is not much call for a complete working knowledge of table manners in America today. Many families only gather all at once around the dinner table at holiday feasts, and most restaurants are too casual to require, or even to allow for, more than basic good […]