Ingredients
What’s the difference between Manchego cheese and halloumi cheese? Do you know the best way to cook langoustines? And what about samphire – what even is it? In our Ingredients section, we explain every ingredient you’ll ever find on the shelves, and how to cook with each one.
Mandoline
A mandoline is a piece of equipment used to slice fruit and vegetables very thinly, with ruthless efficiency and consistency.
Radicchio
Radicchio is a type of chicory, looks a little like a small cabbage and has beautiful white and crimson streaks on its leaves.
Swiss chard
Swiss chard is a green leafy vegetable belonging to the beetroot family, with a crunchy stem that can be red, white or yellow in colour.
Clarified butter
Clarified butter is rendered butter once all the milk solids have been removed. When butter is melted, it separates into three layers. The top layer is a white frothy foam (the whey), to be skimmed and discarded. The bottom layer is the milk solids.
Goji berries
Goji berries are grown in East Asia, are similar in size and texture to a raisin and taste like a cross between a cranberry and a cherry.
Palm sugar
Palm sugar is formed by taking the sap from the flowering stalks of a palm tree and boiling it down. It should have a crumbly texture
En croûte
'En croûte' means, quite simply, ‘in a crust’. This French dish involves wrapping ingredients in a layer of pastry before baking in the oven.
En papillote
The French term 'en papillote' means to wrap food in a parcel before baking in the oven. It helps seal in flavour, retain nutrition, and keeps everything moist as it cooks in its own steam.
Prosciutto
Prosciutto is an Italian dry-cured ham made from the hind leg of a pig. It has a sweet and salty flavour and is often served raw and thinly sliced.
Concassé
Concassé comes from from the French word 'concasser', meaning to crush or grind. Tomato concassé, for example, is a tomato peeled and deseeded then finely chopped or diced.
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