by Tom Stobart
[Lovage – French: liveche German: Liebstückel Italian: levistico Spanish: ligústico]
LUGANEGA. See salsiccia.
LUMPFISH. See caviar.
LYCHEE, litchi, or other spellings. The lychee (Litchi chinensis) is native to subtropical areas of southern China and Thailand. The fruit is borne in clusters on small trees. Typically – but varying from type to type – ripe lychees are about the size of a plum, with a beautiful red, leathery, knobbly or spiny skin. Very shortly, the skin goes brown and becomes rather brittle. Lychees are gathered at once in whole bunches – they keep better that way. If they are for export, this is done when they just begin to turn red and are not fully ripe. The skin is very thin and easily separates, and inside is a juicy fruit, looking like a jumbo peeled grape. It even tastes something like a grape, though it is much more scented. There is a single, large, dark (and bitter) pip. Lychees will keep for up to three months in the refrigerator at around 5°C (40°F) and are best eaten chilled. The fruit cans well, and canned lychees taste remarkably like fresh ones. Dried lychees – Chinese nuts – have been either dried in the sun or kiln dried, and rattle when shaken. They are a common product and taste like raisins. Lychees also deep-freeze well and will no doubt become more available in the future.
The lychee was certainly being cultivated in China 2000 years ago, and there is a possible reference 1500 years before that. It was tried in Europe in the 19th century, but the climate is not right, for though it seems possible to grow lychees in some Mediterranean areas, the fruit needs heat and high humidity to come to perfection. In the dry conditions of a southern European summer they crack open and go bad while ripening. In fact, the lychee is choosy. However, it thrives in parts of South Africa (from where lychees come to Britain), and has been tried in southern Florida and California.
Closely related to the lychee is the Iongan (Euphoria longana), commonly grown along with it in China. Though a smaller and inferior fruit, it has the virtue of ripening later, when the lychees are over. Tropical fruits of the same family are the rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), native to South East Asia and something like a lychee but with dense tendrils instead of warts covering the fruits, and the pulasan (Nephelium mutabile), with red or yellow tubercles. In both the tropical species, the edible flesh adheres to the seed. All these fruits belong to the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) which also includes the *ackee, but few other edible fruits.
LYE. Originally an alkaline solution made by boiling white, calcined wood ashes in water, then filtering and concentrating by further boiling. It consisted largely of carbonates of potassium and sodium. Soap was originally made by boiling lye with fat, lye and lime being the only alkalis available until fairly late in history. Almost any task now performed by caustic *soda was performed in the past by lye. One such process is the accelerated removal of bitterness from green olives. Today the word has dropped out of use in Britain, but in the US it has come to mean a dilute solution of caustic soda.
[Lye – French: lessive German: Lauge Italian: liscivia Spanish: lejía]
m
MABOLO. A close relative of the *persimmon.
MACADAMIA NUT or Queensland nut. Macadamia ternifolia (hard shell) and M. integrifolia (easier to crack) are native to the coastal forests of Queensland and New South Wales, where they grow wild along the edges of rivers and creeks. The value of the nuts was first noticed about a hundred years ago, and the trees are now cultivated in the southern US, South Africa and even in the Caribbean and Mediterranean regions.
An important production centre is Hawaii, which exports roasted and vacuum-packed macadamias. The nut is rounded, with a kernel shaped something like a hazel, but with no skin. It is white, sweetish and very oily. In fact, a salad oil is expressed from macadamias and they make an excellent nut butter. Some sorts of macadamia nut are very difficult to crack, but they will keep in the shell for several months. Kernels which have been removed will keep only if dried and cold-stored at 4°C (39°F) in sealed containers.
Macadamias are recommended as a substitute for the *candle nut in Indonesian cooking, and they will no doubt find other uses as their popularity grows. They are a delicious dessert nut.
MACARONI. See pasta.
MACCHERONI. See pasta.
MACE is the dried aril – a sort of cage – surrounding the seed of the nutmeg (Myristica fragrans). It is bright red when fresh, but is pressed flat and dried until it looks like creamy-brown seaweed. It has a taste something like nutmeg, but subtly different, and is more expensive. Mace is difficult to grind as it is very oily, but *grinding is easier if you are able to mix less oily spices, a little raw rice, or even flour with the mace.
[Mace – French: macis, fleur de muscade German: Muskatblüte Italian: macis Spanish: macia, macis]
MACERATION. Soaking materials in liquid, usually water or watery solutions, to soften them. The effect can be mechanical or physical – as when dried tissues reabsorb water and swell, or when gummy substances cementing cells together are leached out. The softening can also be brought about by chemical changes (due, for instance, to acids or alkalis) or to the action of micro-organisms or enzymes, which have been encouraged by water. See soaking.
[Maceration – French: macération German: Einweichung Italian: macerozione Spanish: maceración]
MACKEREL (Scomber scombrus), a small relative of the Atlantic bonito, is found on both sides of the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Mackerel, which come in shoals, are caught in large numbers and are an important food fish. In Britain, they are in season all the year, but are best in April, May and June. They should be eaten as fresh as possible; it has been claimed that they can cause poisoning when stale, but in fact they are merely unpleasant. In eastern Mediterranean countries mackerels are salted in brine and dried. Hot-smoked mackerel is a delicacy in its own right. In Britain, mackerel is soused, like herring, in vinegar and water, but there are superior French methods of pickling in white wine. Like most oily fish, mackerel is excellent grilled and has bones which are easily dealt with. It needs a sour sauce, which in France is often made with gooseberries.
[Mackerel – French: maquereau German: Makrele Italian: sgombro Spanish: caballa]
MADAGASCAR BEAN. See butter bean.
MADEIRA. The Portuguese introduced vines into Madeira in the early 15th century, and by Tudor times sweet madeira wines had become popular in Britain; malvoisie or malmsey wine was particularly famous. Madeiras are blended wines fortified with cane spirit and are distinguished from other fortified wines by the heating they undergo during maturation, which is said to duplicate the temperature changes of a voyage around the world in the hold of a ship.
Madeira is heated very gradually – either in the cask or in large tanks – taking a month to reach a temperature which may be as high as 50°C (122°F); it is then kept hot for 4-6 months and cooled equally slowly. Madeiras are shipped in four main types:
Sercial. The driest and lightest blend, with a unique flavour often described as nutty. Sercial is an aperitif wine and, as the driest madeira, is the one best used in cooking as a flavouring.
Verdelho is darker and rather sweeter than sercial. It is the madeira to be taken with cake (hence Madeira cake) and is excellent to drink with soup.
Bual or BoaI. Rather sweet, with a delicate taste, this is the lighter of the two dessert Madeiras.
Malmsey, dark, sweet, fruity and very fragrant, is a fine dessert wine with almost the qualities of a liqueur. Its use in cooking would be limited by its sweetness.
Madeira is internationally used as a flavouring in many dishes; in soup (particularly turtle), in aspic, in sauces for meat and ham (e.g. jamon asado al vino de Madera), for sauce au madère and in cakes and jellies. It is also sometimes used with carrots and gives a strong, rather characteristic vinous flavour. Madeira is an excellent item for the kitchen shelf – if it is recorked after opening, it keeps almost indefinitely. As a drink, it is rather neglected in these days except in Scandinavian countries.
Possibly confusable with Madeira are wines called malvasia in Italy and elsewhere. The name comes from Monemvasia, the port in southern Greece through which the sweet wines of the Aegean Islands were shipped in ancient times, and from the malvasia grape brought from there and introduced to Italy, Madeira and elsewhere. A malvasia, whether from Frascati near Rome, from Sardinia, from Stromboli or Salina (the Lipari Islands), or elsewhere, is a strong, golden-yellow dessert wine, which is sweet and usually best served cold. It has not been given the estufa heat treatment of a Madeira malmsey.
[Madeira – French: madère German: Maderawein Italian: vino di Madera Spanish: vino de Madera]
MADRAS GRAM. See horsegram.
MAGGI is the proprietary name of a hydrolysed vegetable protein preparation which is sold for use as a ‘meaty’ flavouring.
MAGNESIUM (Mg) is a silvery metal which burns giving a brilliant light, leaving white magnesium oxide. It occurs naturally in dolomite, magnesite and seawater, its sulphate is Epsom salts. Magnesium is an essential element in chlorophyll, and so is present in all green plants. It is also one of the important elements in the human body, and a deficiency can be a cause of ill health.
Amongst the rich sources are almonds and Brazil nuts, soya beans, whole-grain oats and wheat – and therefore wholemeal bread – cocoa and shrimps. The diet of people living on convenience foods, refined sugar, fats and soft drinks (as is sometimes the case in the ‘civilized’ world) is likely to be deficient in magnesium, and there is some evidence, although not conclusive, that this deficiency may be a contributory factor in heart disease.
[Magnesium – French: magnesium German: Magnesium Italian: magnesia Spanish: magnesia]
MAIDENHAIR FERN. This feathery fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris) can be found growing wild in shady, damp places in Europe and America. It was used as a decoration on wedding cakes in the pre-plastic era, and it can be boiled to make a mucilaginous liquid, even a jelly. This has little taste of its own, but often has flavour added, and commercial syrups, known by their French name as capillaire, can taste like scented soap. According to Boswell, Doctor Johnson liked to add capillaire to his port.
[Maidenhair fern – French: capillaire commun, cheveux de Vénus adranthe German: Frauenhaar, Venushaar Italian: capelvenere, adianto Spanish: culantrillo]
MAIDENHAIR TREE. See ginkgo.
MAIZE, corn (US), or Indian corn (Zea mays) has been cultivated in both North and South America for at least 3000 years, according to radio carbon dating of remains found in caves; it was the only cereal of the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations – the name maize is from the American Indian má-his. Maize was brought to Europe by the Spanish in the late 15th century, and was later taken by the Portuguese to Asia. In the early days there seems to have been popular confusion as to where it came from, because the British, French and Dutch called it ‘Turkey’ corn, (the Turks, ‘Egyptian’ corn, the Egyptians, ‘Syrian’).
Today, maize grows in every country with sufficient warmth and water, if not for human food then at least for animal fodder. About half of the world’s crop, though, is grown in the corn belt of the Mississippi basin – Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. No wild forms of maize exist today.
Maize is a heavy-yielding crop, but is not very satisfactory as a staple for humans. It does not have the gluten needed for leavened bread and is also lacking in available niacin, a deficiency of which causes pellagra. This problem is made worse by the fact that maize is mostly eaten by poor people who cannot make up their vitamin requirements from other sources (e.g. in Central and Southern Africa where it is called ‘mealies’). Gerard demonstrates a sound knowledge when he writes: ‘Turkey wheat doth nourish far less than either wheat, rye, barley or otes. The bread made thereof is mealy white without bran: it is hard and dry as Bisket, and hath in it no clamminess at all: for which case it is hard of digestion, and yealdeth to the body little or no nourishment; it slowly descendeth and bindeth the belly as that doth which is made of Mill’ [millet]. And with prophetic insight he goes on: ‘We have no certaine proofe or experience concerning the virtues of this kind of corn, although the barbarous Indians which knoweth no better, are constrained to make a virtue of necessitie, and think it good food; whereas we may judge that it is more convenient food for swine than for men.’ It is true that Benjamin Franklin, writing in 1766, was stung to rise in its defence: ‘Indian corn, take it for all in all, is one of the most agreeable and wholesome grains in the world – johnny and hoecake hot from the fire is better than a Yorkshire muffin.’ But although maize is certainly good, the verdict of history is that, given the choice, people prefer wheat.
There are hundreds of types of maize, ranging from tiny popcorn varieties smaller than a finger to the enormous 50-75 cm (2 ft) long cobs of the Jala valley in Mexico. The colour ranges from yellow and white to red, blue, brown and variegated. The main types and products are as follows:
Corn husks are sold ready-prepared for making tamales. Otherwise, the point and bottom parts of these outer coverings of the ears of corn must be cut off. If they are dry and not flexible, pour a kettle of boiling water over them and leave them to soak for several hours until they are pliable. They must then be drained and dried on a cloth before filling, as directed in Mexican cookery books.
Cornmeal. Early American settlers adopted the Indian ways of using maize and adapted them for their own cooking. The meal they used was ground from locally grown varieties of corn. Thus, southern cornpone, ashcake, hoecake and spoonbread were made of dent (see below), while Rhode Island johnnycakes and cornbreads were made from the less starchy flint (see below).There was a general preference for white varieties of both types, although yellow meal was preferred for a few purposes, such as mixing with pork bits to make scrapple. The most primitive indigenous use was to make cakes out of meal and water, then bake them in the ashes of the campfire. When they were cooked and still hot, the ash could be quickly washed off and they would dry instantly, ready for eating. Settlers, of course, used iron sheets and ovens. Modern meal, ground in roller mills by several methods (and usually with the germ extracted to make it keep better) does not make the authentic, rough article. For this, it is necessary to find meal ground by stones in the few remaining old grist mills, which are usually powered by water.
Dent. This is the most commonly grown commercial corn, the type of the American corn belt. In this grain, the hard coat covers only the sides of the grain, so that a dent forms at the top. Dent corn may be yellow or white. It is starchier than flint corn.
Flint. The grains are entirely surrounded by a flinty, hard skin. As flint varieties mature early, they were grown in the more northerly parts of the US. However, growing flint today is unprofitable as yields are low, and thus flint varieties are less grown than formerly.
Hulled corn. *Hominy.
Mamaliga. The Rumanian equivalent of polenta, this is a maize flour dish which is no doubt descended from the gruels of other cereals made by the Romans in their colony of Dacia Felix. Although it is a simple peasant dish, there are gourmet versions dripping with butter and melted cheese.
Polenta. Maize is extensively grown in northern Italy. It is a staple food north of the River Po, in a strip south of the Alps and running through Piedmont, Lombardy, Trentino and the Veneto. Ground maize, forma gialla, may be coarse or fine. To cook it, water is brought to a boil and salted before maize flour is stirred in. The proportion varies according to the dish and the quality of the maize flour, but 300 g (11 oz) to a litre (1¾ pt) of water is average. Polenta becomes very thick and should be cooked for about 40 minutes (20 is the absolute minimum), so it is quite likely to stick and burn, which is why it was traditionally cooked in a copper cauldron hung over the fire. The taste of polenta is strong, and many people do not like it. However, it can be excellent with cheese and rough red wine; it is even better, if allowed to cool, then sliced and grilled.
Popcorn. The grains may be pointed or round, but are always small, hard, an
d flinty. When they are heated, the starchy interior swells, but is confined at first by the hard skin. When pressure builds up, the grain suddenly bursts – pops, in fact – and turns inside out. Popcorn is nothing new; it was known to the Incas.
Soft corn, flour corn, or squaw corn. This has soft, mealy grains and is preferred by the Indians and by people in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. It will not normally be met with by the cook elsewhere.
Sweetcorn has a relatively high sugar content. It is grown mainly in the cooler areas and is eaten fresh and unripe as a vegetable. There are over 60 varieties from which to choose. To be at its best, sweetcorn should be picked and put into boiling water within minutes, which means that really perfect sweetcorn can never be bought in a shop. Boiling should be only for a few minutes as longer cooking, far from making it tender makes it tougher.
Waxy corn has the carbohydrate almost all as a waxy substance called amylopectin, and it is used commercially for various purposes but not normally in cooking.
[Maize – French: Maïs German: Mais Italian: granturco Spanish: maíz]
MALABAR NIGHTSHADE. See spinach.
MALAGA. Wines from the mountain hinterland of Malaga in southern Spain are handled through that port and bear its name. Malagas are sweet wines, made mainly from the Pedro Ximenez sherry grape. In the making, malagas have similarities to *marsala in that they are sweetened with evaporated grape juice (in Spain, called arrope, in Italy, mosto cotta). They usually also contain color (literally colour) or pantomina, similar to arrope but evaporated down still further to a very dark, thick, pasty mass. Sugar is further increased in the wine by drying muscatel grapes on mats in the sun for one or two days (wine from these is called vino tierno) and by stopping fermentation before it is complete by adding alcohol (calebre or vino maestro).Varying the proportions of these elements before maturing them in casks for two years or more produces a great variety of malagas: seco, dry; palido, pale; dulce, sweet; semi-dulce, semi-sweet; oscuro, dark; negro, black (very dark).