by Tom Stobart
Borlotti. By far the most popular variety in Italy striated with red and very similar to the Spanish pinto. They are usually soaked overnight in Italy, but this is not usually necessary.
Canellini. Generic names for Italian white beans, particularly large ones such as bianco de Spagna (see above). Canellini would be the usual accompaniment to cotechino or a bollito misto.
Dried bean or haricot sec. Unless the beans are very old, the modern opinion is that they have a better flavour and are more digestible if they are not soaked, although traditionally and in old recipes they always are. It was usual to soak them overnight; the chef who gave me the recipe for Serbian bean soup (see below) claimed that the beans ought to be soaked for three days, though in very cold water. Modern authorities say that beans should be soaked for only a few hours at most. The objection to soaking is that it starts enzyme changes which would lead to germination; in warm weather, it may also start fermentation by microorganisms. This is obviated by putting the beans into boiling water, blanching them for 2 minutes – which upsets the enzymes, kills the beans and most of the organisms – and then soaking them for 1 or 2 hours. (Softening the skins in tough varieties can be helped with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda.) However, in most cases it is sufficient to put the beans into cold water and bring them gradually to the boil. Mature beans should always be cooked slowly – according to size and variety, they will need cooking for 3 hours or more. Many recipes leave them in a low oven overnight. One of the best ways is to do them in a pressure cooker. Wash the beans, put them in the pressure cooker without salt and cover them with cold water. Seal, bring up to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Cool the cooker under the tap, open it and drain the beans. Now put them back with suitable flavourings (onion, cloves, bouquet garni, garlic and other seasoning if necessary) and salt. Cover them with boiling water, seal and bring up to pressure. Cook for 40 minutes (according to size).This method produces very digestible beans.
Serbian Bean Soup
This is a dish to warm you after skiing. Select large white dried beans and soak them in icy mountain water for 3 days. Boil them for 3-4 hours (preferably in water in which bacon has been boiled). Now brown an onion in oil with some chopped fat bacon, and add some canned red peppers with a little of their water, tomato purée and paprika with enough water for soup. Add salt and pepper, a little caraway seed, some *Maggi and the beans. Let the soup cook slowly for several hours. Thicken if necessary with a little flour, and continue cooking until the raw flour taste goes. Adjust the seasoning – the soup should be very slightly sour – and serve with sour cream. Bean soup is even nicer if a little minced beef is added to it.
*Flageolet. Small, pale creamy-green bean, a very delicate variety, greatly prized in France.
Fresh shell bean. The beans are ripe and the pods have turned to parchment, usually yellowish and perhaps splashed with scarlet. According to variety, the beans may be large or small, red, white, purple, black and yellow, either in one colour or eyed (with a dark spot round the hilum, where the bean is attached to the pod) or mottled, streaked, squiggled or splotched in brown or reds. Beans are as pretty as bird’s eggs, but the patterns are destroyed by cooking. Appearance is no indication of flavour or of cooking quality. Some strains throw a high proportion of hard seeds, others have thick, tough seed-coats. A bean is not necessarily tender because it is small. (One of the reasons why it is so difficult to duplicate the good brands of baked beans at home is that the canners have developed their own tender-skinned varieties, which are probably better than any you can buy in the open market.) Fresh ripe beans cook without soaking. Put them into boiling water (which most people salt) and cook gently until they are tender.
After boiling, beans are dressed in many ways, some of those preferred by bean-lovers are very simple. In Spain, a meal may be begun with a plate of boiled beans into which each person mixes chopped parsley, chopped onion, pimentón, olive oil and vinegar according to his taste. In Venice, a dressing is made by warming some parsley and anchovy in garlic-flavoured oil and adjusting with a little vinegar. This sauce is mixed with the beans and left to mature for 10 minutes before serving.
Green bean or haricot vert. The pods may be large or small, flat or cylindrical, green, yellow, waxy (wax-pods are also referred to as butter beans in some places just to cause confusion), blue, purple, or green streaked with purple.
For gardeners, it matters whether the beans are dwarf (US, bush beans) or climbing (US, pole beans) and, in warm countries, where more than one crop can be grown in a year, whether they are long-day, short-day or day-neutral varieties, and cooks need to know if the beans are stringless. Kidney beans are very sensitive to frost, so in northern countries can be grown only in summer, although they are available out of season as imports. In the past, they were preserved for winter by salting, but now that frozen and canned beans are so commonly available, salting is rarely undertaken except by those who have a glut in the garden and no freezer. Salted beans never had gastronomic qualities in their own right, like salted and fermented cabbage (sauerkraut).
Before cooking, green beans are topped and tailed, and, if they are not stringless, the strings pulled out. The beans are then dropped into boiling water. Whether or not this should be salted is a matter of argument. Some French experts consider that the salt is best added towards the end of boiling, which should be fast. Beans cook in 10-20 minutes on average, depending on the size – some of the thin varieties cook very quickly – and also on whether you like beans well cooked or al dente, still a little crisp. Of course, they need less cooking if they are to be cooked again in butter. Some varieties have a much better flavour than others.
Navy bean. Small, white American bean, the type often recommended for Boston baked beans.
Pea bean. Californian or New York pea beans are small white beans often used for baked beans.
Pinto bean, from the Spanish for painted. Pintos and white beans are the most common in Spain and in many other countries; pintos have bright red markings.
KIMCHI. This staple Korean relish, served at every meal, is highly characteristic of Korean food. There are dozens of different types, but essentially kimchi is made from sliced or shredded vegetables – cabbage, cucumbers, onions, radishes, garlic, chillies – and sometimes fruit, all fermented in brine by lactic-acid producing organisms and often with added spices and fresh ginger. This method of preserving food for the winter is an ancient one and is still an annual task for which all the family have to be mobilized each autumn. In warm weather, the fermentation takes little more than a day, but in the cold it takes longer.
The jar of kimchi for the winter is buried under the ground and taken out as necessary; it usually has a very bad smell. Emasculated kimchi sterilized in jars, is sometimes found in specialist shops.
Kimchi
Cut 450 g (1 lb) of white cabbage into 2½ cm (1 in) squares, and salt them for 15 minutes using about 2 tablespoons of salt. Wash the salt off the wilted cabbage with fresh water, drain and mix with 4 shredded spring onions – the green part included – 2-3 chopped cloves of garlic and a small, chopped fresh chilli. Add a small piece of fresh ginger, finely sliced, and a tablespoon of salt. Put the mixture into a jar and cover with cold water. Shake the jar to dissolve the salt and stand it in the sun for a day. If the weather is warm, fermentation may be completed in 24 hours but in cold weather it will take considerably longer, perhaps 5 days. When the fermentation is completed, the jar of kimchi may be kept in a refrigerator for several weeks.
KINGCUP. See marigold.
KIPPER. See herring.
KIRSCH or kirschwasser. See cherry, fruit brandy.
KIRSEBOER. See liqueurs and cordials.
KISHK is a Lebanese and Syrian staple food which is made in autumn after the harvest has been gathered and thrashed for use in the winter. Milk, yoghurt and *burghul are mixed and allowed to ferment. Each day, for a period of nine days, the mass is kneaded, after which the fermentation is complete and the product is spread o
ut to dry, usually on clean cloths on the flat roofs. When it is completely dry, the kishk is rubbed to a powder between the palms of the hands and stored in a dry place. Its usual use is as a porridge, made by frying several cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of *qawwrama (preserved sheep fat) and then adding 2 tablespoons of the kishk. Frying is continued for several minutes. Finally, a cup of water is put in with some salt and the whole is boiled to the consistency of a porridge.
KITCHEN CARAMEL. See browning.
KIWI FRUIT or Chinese gooseberry. See gooseberry.
KNACKWURST. See frankfurter.
KNEADING. A process known and carried out ever since man learned to make bread. Flour, mixed with water, has to be worked hard to turn it into a dough, whether the dough contains yeast or is intended for such simple unleavened breads as the chapatti. Kneading not only mixes the ingredients but develops the elasticity of the *gluten in the flour, the quality that is responsible for the structure of the bread, particularly when the loaf is expected to rise and stand up. It is difficult to describe the point to which kneading should be taken – words often used to describe the dough are ‘springy’ and ‘silky’. Average times for kneading would be 5-7 minutes, depending on the energy and weight that are put into it.
[Kneading – French: pétrir German: kneten Italian: impastare Spanish: amasar]
KNOL-KHOL. See kohlrabi.
KNOTTED MARJORAM. See sweet marjoram.
KNUCKLE. In veal and pork butchery, the knuckle is the lower part of the back leg.
[Knuckle – French: jarret German: Kniestück (veal), Eisenbein (pork) Italian: garretto Spanish: jarrete]
KOHLRABI or knol-kohl. One of the many forms of cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes, but is sometimes elevated to a separate species, B. caulorapa. It has the stem swollen into a bulb from which the leaf stalks arise. There are greenish-white and purple varieties. An excellent vegetable, something like a turnip but with its own individuality, popular in Europe and the Orient, less so in Britain and the US.
[Kohlrabi – French: chou-rave German: Kohlrabi Italian: cavolrapa]
KOLA NUT. See cola nut.
KOKUM. The kokum of Indian cooking comes from a tree (Garcinia indica),which grows wild in the Western Ghats and is closely related to the mangosteen (G. mangostana). It bears deep purple fruits, with four to five large seeds (from which kokum butter is extracted), and the pulp of the fruit, though much inferior to the mangosteen, has a pleasant, sour taste. It is dried – sometimes the fruit is sliced and dried, but sometimes only the skin with attached pulp – and used as a souring agent in South Indian cooking. It is slightly laxative (like tamarind, which it resembles, though tamarind is much sourer). Thoroughly dried samples can be ground to a powder and used as a condiment.
KOMBU *seaweed is an essential ingredient, with katsuobushi (dried bonito), of the Japanese basic stock, dashi.
KOSHER. From the Hebrew kasher meaning right, kosher food has been prepared (or, with meat, killed) by Jews and approved by the rabbi for consumption by orthodox Jews in accordance with their *religious food laws.
[Kosher – French: casher German: Koscher]
KOUMISS. A sour-milk drink originally made from mare’s milk by tribes in the eastern part of Russia (Uzbek, Bashkir, Kirghiz) and containing as much as 2-2½% alcohol, the strength of very weak beer. According to Marco Polo, it was drunk by Genghis Khan. Today, less glamorously it is in great demand in Soviet sanitoria. Because mare’s milk contains less *casein than cow’s milk, it forms a much finer and weaker curd particle and so is exceedingly digestible. Though originally made in skins, it is now prepared in wooden pails as follows: To 2.5-3 It (4½-5¼ pt) of mare’s milk are added 1.72-2 It (3-3½ pt) of sour cow’s milk, and the two well stirred together. The temperature should be 25-26°C (59°F) at which temperature it is kept for further fermentation and the production of gas and alcohol.
KRUPEK or krupuk. A large crisp made from dried prawns, a favourite Indonesian accompaniment to a meal. These crisps are bought ready-made even in Indonesia and need only to be fried in deep oil and well drained. If they are not available, the smaller Chinese prawn crisps are an acceptable substitute.
KULTHI BEAN. See horse grain.
KOMMEL. The German word for caraway and also for the caraway-flavoured liqueur, said to have originated in Riga (in Latvia, now part of the USSR), but which has for long been made in Germany, Denmark and Holland. Different makes vary in sweetness, aroma and strength.
KUMQUAT, a native of China, is smaller than the citrus fruits, to which it is closely related, only 2-4 cm (1-1⅔ in) in diameter. They are juicy and acid, with few seeds and a sweet, edible rind. Although often grown for ornament, they are also candied or canned whole. Two species, the oval kumquat (Fortunella margarita) and the round kumquat (F. japonica) are the most important.
KYRYNGA. A Central-Asian sour milk product, made from cow’s milk, and slightly gassy and alcoholic. The method of preparation is very like that used for *koumiss and involves wooden vessels which have become impregnated with the necessary organisms and so provide a natural starter, as long as they are not cleaned out.
l
LABIATES are members of the plant family Labiatae, which includes lavender and dead-nettles. They have stems that are square in cross-section and characteristic flowers with the petals joined to form a tube usually with two lips. The fruit is a cluster of four nutlets. The labiates often have aromatic leaves and are the most important family of herbs as they include, among others, basil, marjoram, mint, oregano, pennyroyal, rosemary, sage, savoury and thyme. A labiate vegetable is the Chinese artichoke.
LABLAB BEAN, Hyacinth bean, bonavist bean, or Egyptian bean. This small bean (Dolichos lablab) is much cultivated in warm countries – South and Central America, the West Indies, China, Africa and South East Asia. lt is a native of India, a twining, attractive bean which is used dried or green. Even the leaves are edible and the green pods are often pickled in India, where it is called wal or val. The dried beans are usually brown with a white central hilum.
LACTIC ACID (CH3.CHOH.COOH) is the acid of sour milk. As a chemical, it is used in the laboratory but never in the kitchen. Nevertheless, it is an important preservative and is commonly found in foods, in particular where lactic-acid-producing bacteria have been at work on sugars.
The formation of lactic acid goes on not only in the souring of milk but also in the making of *sauerkraut, dill pickles and *kimchi – in fact, in all pickles that depend on acid fermentation (rather than on the addition of vinegar).The lactic acid formed when milk sours stops putrefactive organisms; if these are allowed to multiply they not only produce nasty tastes and bad smells but some are dangerous. This is why lactic acid bacteria are used as cheese starters (curd that isn’t soured goes bad very quickly) and why yoghurt can be kept for many days in the refrigerator. Preparations in which fish is fermented with sour cream or milk also depend on lactic acid fermentation for their preservation. With time, the lactic acid is itself attacked by other types of micro-organism and is broken down, so that mould-ripened cheeses which are sharply acid when young become sweet when matured. Lactic acid is formed in the working muscles of living animals. In animals that have been killed, it appears in muscles when meat first hardens and plays an important part, with enzymes, in the maturation and tenderization process during *hanging.
[Lactic acid – French: acide lactique German: Milchsäure Italian: acido lattica Spanish: àcido làctico]
LACTOSE or milk sugar is the natural *sugar of milk. Like sucrose (cane sugar), it is a disaccharide which forms hard crystals, but it is much the least sweet of naturally occurring sugars and is not normally used in a pure form. It is present in the whey of coagulated milk and is the food of the bacteria which sour milk by making lactic acid. During digestion, lactose is broken down into glucose and galactose.
[Lactose – French: lactose German: Milchzucker Italian: lattosio Spanish: lactosa]
LADIES’ FINGERS. See okra.
> LADY’S BEDSTRAW. A wild plant (Galium verum) of the madder family with tiny yellow flowers. It grows all over Europe (except Russia) and in Western Asia. In the past, the flowers were much used as a vegetable *rennet to curdle milk.
[Lady’s bedstraw – French: gaillet German: Labkraut Italian: caglio Spanish: gaglio]
LADY’S FINGERS. See banana.
LADY’S SMOCK or cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis) is a crucifer which is a common meadow plant of Europe and North America. It has four-petalled, pale mauve or white flowers. Though not as plentiful as it was (because of the ploughing up of pasture), it is one of the first plants each year that is sufficiently common to be worth including in a spring salad. It has a cress-like flavour.
[Lady’s smock – French: cardamine, cresson des prés German: Wiesenschaumkraut Italian: billeri, cardamine, crescione dei prati Spanish: cardamine]
LAEVULOSE. See fructose.
LAMB. See mutton.
LAMB’S LETTUCE. See salad.
LAND JÄGER. See sausage.
LANGOSTINO. See shrimp.
LANGOUSTE, spiny lobster, or southern lobster. This is the French name for the spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas and other species) which is also confusingly referred to as the crawfish (in contrast to *crayfish), an artificial distinction since the two are alternative spellings of the same thing. The Revd J.G. Wood called Astacus fluviatilis ‘the common cray-fish or craw-fish of our rivers’ in his Natural History of 1863. He calls the langouste the Spiny lobster, sea cray-fish or red crab. It was not then much esteemed in Britain and it is still not seriously fished in many areas (its habits are not identical with those of the lobster). It is confined to the warmer waters of the southern and west coasts, but is better known on the coasts of France and in the Mediterranean, where it is avidly sought. There are similar creatures on the other side of the Atlantic and other oceans – those of South Africa’s Cape Province are particularly well known. Langoustes are essentially like lobsters, but without the big claws. It would be best to steal the French word langouste – as we have stolen and exchanged so many others (especially as they are called langosta in Spanish and Languste in German). In Italy, where the langouste is much more common than the lobster, it is called aragosta. The langouste grows to about 50 cm (20 in) maximum in length, but there are other larger species, variously coloured but not much different in other respects. Preparation is generally as for lobster. Commercially available frozen crayfish tails are the abdomens of marine langoustes.