Capocollo - A specialty of the Parma region of Italy, capocollo is a sausage made from pork shoulder and flavoured with sweet red peppers. It is pressed (rather than chopped), put into casings, and air dried.

Capon - The term for a castrated chicken that is fed a special diet until it is slaughtered at the age of 6 to 9 months.

Cawl - see Crépine

Cardamon - the dried unripened fruit of a plant from the ginger family, the pods are perfumed and rich in flavour.click here for more

Caramelize - To sprinkle food with a small amount of sugar and saute or grill until browned. To heat sugar until it forms a caramel.

Carraway - The seed of a member of the parsley family with warm aniseedy undertones. click here for more

 

Carve - To slice meat across the grain for serving.

Cep - The edible boletus mushroom with a large bulbous stalk. Always better when young can be eaten raw in salads cut into thin slices but are great cooked in stea=ws, omelettes or cooked in a white sauce. Dried they add a distib=nctive flavour to sauces. In Italy they are known as porcini.

Chiffonade - finely shredded leaf vegetables or herbs.

Chitterlings - The small intestines of animals, usually pigs. They are cleaned, simmered, then served with a sauce or used as a sausage casing. Chitterlings are also added to soups or battered and fried.

Chop - To cut food into pieces. Can range from small to large in size.

Chorizo - A spicy, highly seasoned, coarsely ground pork sausage flavored with garlic, chili, and other spices. Widely used in Mexican and Spanish cooking.

Choux Paste - A pastry made by boiling water or milk and butter, adding flour, beating in eggs. Choux Pastry is used to make profiteroles, eclairs and Paris Brest. see Recipe

Chutney - A sauce or relish containing fruits, spices and herbs.

Cinnamon - A spice made from the curled inner bark of a species of laurel click here for more

Clarified butter - To heat butter until melted and milk solids rise to the top. Skim off milk solids, or use gravy separator before using butter for sautéing. This helps keep butter from burning. Video clip of how to Clarify Butter

Clove - One small section of a segmented bulb, such as garlic. Also a spice. click here for more

Core - To remove the inedible center portion of a fruit or vegetable.

Coriander - A delicately flavoured herb with a spicy seed click here for more

 

 

 Corn - 

	Blue Corn - Simply a variety of flint corn with a dark bluish to red color that when ground produces a blue color flour. Blue corn is grown predominantly in the Southwestern part of the United States. It has been a staple food of the Pueblo Indians dating back centuries. The corn has a coarser texture and a nuttier flavor than other varieties of corn used for flour. Far less of this corn is commercially harvested for a variety of reasons.  The corn is simply not as hearty as 'dent' corn varieties.  It frequently produces multiple stalks that fall over and cause problems with harvesting equipment and in general produces a lower yield. The primary use for blue corn is to produce blue corn tortillas. Tortillas made from blue corn flour are frequently denser than a white corn tortilla, but I find that it has more flavor.  It is also used to produce Nixtamal which in turn is used for tamales, tortillas, or pozole.
	Corn Husks - The outside sheath that covers a cob of corn.  The husks can be used fresh or dried. Normally the dried husks are soaked and used to wrap foods such as tamales.
	Flint Corn - Called flint because of it's dense, hard exterior. This is also referred to as Indian corn.  Both red and blue corn, as well as popping corn are types of flint corn. This type of corn is primarily used for animal food.
	Hominy - Essentially it is the same as nixtamal. Dried field corn that has had the hull and germ removed. The fresh version bears little resemblance to the canned product.  Hominy is used to make traditional Mexican dishes such as Pozole (soup). It can also be dried and ground and used for hominy grits.
	Maize - From the American Native Indian word, mahiz. This is the term the Europeans gave "corn".
	Masa - Masa is the Mexican word for "dough".  It refers to the corn dough used to make tortillas, tamales, as well as other traditional Mexican dishes.
	Masa Harina - Is "dough flour".  The fresh masa is force-dried and ground into a fine powder.  It may then be reconstituted with water or other liquids and used to make tortillas.
	Nixtamal (nixtamalado) -  Dried maize which has been lime treated and partially cooked.  Available in Mexican grocery stores. This can be used to grind and make tamales or tortillas, or used for hominy or pozole.
	Red Corn - Another type of Flint or Indian corn. Occasionally used to make flour for tortillas.  Normally used for animal feed. from gourmetslueth.com

Coulis - A liquid purée of fruit, vegetables or seafood. Coulis can be used as sauce or are added to soups and sauces to give body and flavour. They are named after a couloir which is a type of funnel.

Courgettes - baby marrows are available in many varieties, shapes and sizes. The colour varies from green to yellow and the shape from long and thin to spherical. The flavour is watery and earthy. The tenderest, sweetest courgettes are those about 10-15cm (4-5 inches) long. Courgette are prepared by slicing off the top and end, then either leaving whole for roasting or stuffing, slicing for stir fries and soups, dicing or making matchsticks for casseroles. They can be grated or julienned and tossed in lemon juice and served raw as a salad. Try steaming in slices and tossed in butter with chopped mint.

Couscous- a pasta made from durum wheat which resembles grain. The finished dish is served with a tagine and/or harissa: see also recipe for Parsnip cous cous

Crépine - A thin membrane veined with fat that encloses the stomach of animals - used to make crépinettes. Also known as cawl or toilette, it is used to hold together ingredients in certain dishes such as terrines, faggots, stuffed cabbage leaves.

Crosne or Chinese or Japanese artichoke also known as chorogi is a spiral shaped tuber that  look a bit like giant caterpillars, though they taste similar to Jerusalem artichokes. Preapare by rubbing with coarse salt to remove the skin or cook unpeeled.They're popular in France and can sometimes be obtained from oriental and asian Markets.

Crouton - Hard toasted or fried pieces of bread used to garnish.

Crudités - Raw vegetables and or fruits served as an appetiser. These are generally cut into sticks or batons or thinly sliced and seved with dips or cold sauces. Carrots, celery, peppers, red cabbage, mushrooms, fennel, fresh broad beans, radishes, sliced of avocado, or tomatoes amongst others can be used.

Cube - To cut food into uniform 1cm (half-inch) squares.

Cumin - Also known as jeera, cumin is the seed of a plant similar to cow parsley and a distinctive spicy warm rather than hot flavor click here for more

 

 

 Cure - To preserve meat by either smoking, drying, pickling or salting.

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