Exotic Ingredients Flashcards
What is togarashi
It is a small, hot, red Japanese chile available fresh and in various dried forms—rounds, flakes and powder. Togarashi is also known as ichimi.
Read more at: http://www.foodterms.com/encyclopedia/togarashi/index.html?oc=linkback
What is Rayu Oil? In what sauce is it found?
Basically, a “spicy Sesame oil”. There are many versions of this on the internet…a basic recipe is:
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped scallion, white parts only
1/2 cup toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon ichimi togarashi or ground ground Chinese red pepper
1 tablespoon coarse Chinese red pepper flakes
It’s in the lobster sauce for the sushi…
What is masago?
It is the roe of the Capelin fish, a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. In summer, it grazes on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin also eat a great deal of krill and other crustaceans. Whales, seals, cod, squid, mackerel, beluga whales and seabirdsall prey on capelin, in particular during the spawning season of the capelin while it migrates southwards.
Capelin is an important forage fish, and is essential as the key food of the Atlantic cod. The northeast Atlantic cod and capelin fisheries therefore are managed by a multispecies approach developed by the main resource owners Norway and Russia.
In some years with large quantities of herring in the Barents Sea, capelin seem to be heavily affected. Probably both food competition and herring feeding on capelin larvae lead to collapses in the capelin stock. However, in some years there has been good recruitment of capelin despite a high herring biomass, suggesting that herring are only one factor influencing capelin dynamics.
In the provinces of Quebec (particularly in the Gaspé peninsula) and Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, it is a regular summertime practice[by whom?] to go to the beach and scoop the capelin up in nets or whatever is available, as the capelin “roll in” in the millions each year at the end of June or in early July.[citation needed]
Commercially, capelin is used for fish meal and oil industry products, but is also appreciated as food. The flesh is agreeable in flavor, resembling herring. Capelin roe (“masago”) is considered as a high value product. It is also sometimes mixed with wasabi or green food coloring and wasabi flavor and sold as “wasabi caviar”. Often, masago is used as a substitute for tobiko, flying fish roe, due to its similarity and taste although the mouthfeel is different due to the individual eggs being smaller and it is less crunchy than tobiko.
What is Zatarain’s Seasoning? In what dish is it found?
Ingredients in the original Zatarain’s Crab & Shrimp Boil:
Mustard Seed, Coriander Seed, Cayenne Pepper, Bay Leaves, Dill Seed, Allspice, Cloves.
Zatarain’s is a food and spice company based in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States.
The company was started in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna by Emile A. Zatarain, Sr., who took out a trademark and began to market root beer in 1889. He expanded his product range to include mustard, pickled vegetables, and extracts. Then he moved into the spice business and became known for New Orleans and Cajun-style products. In 1963 the family sold the business. The company was acquired in 2003 by McCormick & Company, the world’s largest spice company.[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatarain’s
What is kombu?
Kombu is a variety of bull kelp. In Japan a huge range of seaweeds (kaiso in Japanese) are harvested for food purposes. You may be familiar with wakame, iwa-nori, dried nori etc. In Japan kombu is often eaten “as is”, but is usually used as a “base”; to create a stock, much as in the West we use chicken or beef to create stocks. Kombu-kelp contains glutamic acid, which enhances flavour and gives the body to kombu stock.
What is mirin?
Mirin (味醂 or みりん?) is an essential condiment used in Japanese cuisine. It is a kind of rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content.[1] The sugar content is a complex carbohydrate formed naturally via the fermentation process; it is not refined sugar. The alcohol content is further lowered when the liquid is heated.
What is miso?
Miso (みそ or 味噌?) is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and the fungus Aspergillus oryzae, known in Japanese as kōjikin (麹菌?), and sometimes rice, barley, or other ingredients. The result is a thick paste used for sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso soup called misoshiru (味噌汁?), a Japanese culinary staple. High in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals, miso played an important nutritional role in feudal Japan. Miso is still widely used in Japan, both in traditional and modern cooking, and has been gaining worldwide interest.
Miso is typically salty, but its flavor and aroma depend on various factors in the ingredients and fermentation process. Different varieties of miso have been described as salty, sweet, earthy, fruity, and savory. The traditional Chinese analogue of miso is known as dòujiàng (豆酱)
What is sriracha?
Sriracha (Thai: ศรีราชา, [sǐː.rāː.tɕʰāː] ( listen)) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt.[1] It is named after the coastal city of Si Racha, in the Chonburi Province of Eastern Thailand, where it was possibly first produced for dishes served at local seafood restaurants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha_sauce
What is yamagobo?
The taproot of young burdock plants can be harvested and eaten as a root vegetable. While generally out of favour in modern European cuisine, it remains popular in Asia. Arctium lappa is called (牛蒡), pronounced “gobō” (ごぼう) in Japanese or “niúbàng” in Chinese, in Korea burdock root is called “u-eong” (우엉) and sold as “tong u-eong” (통우엉), or “whole burdock”. Plants are cultivated for their slender roots, which can grow about one metre long and two centimetres across. Burdock root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, and pungent flavour with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned or shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes.
Immature flower stalks may also be harvested in late spring, before flowers appear; their taste resembles that of artichoke, to which the burdock is related. The stalks are thoroughly peeled, and either eaten raw, or boiled in salt water.[5] Leaves are also eaten in spring in Japan when a plant is young and leaves are soft. Some A. lappa cultivars are specialized for this purpose. A popular Japanese dish is kinpira gobō (金平牛蒡), julienned or shredded burdock root and carrot, braised with soy sauce, sugar, mirin and/or sake, and sesame oil. Another is burdock makizushi (sushi filled with pickled burdock root; the burdock root is often artificially coloured orange to resemble a carrot).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctium
La Costena Hot Sauce
A Mexican Brand of hot sauce.
